We often let ourselves be distracted, don’t we? But while we’re enjoying the excitement of pursuing something new and sparkly, there’s a danger we’ll lose the important things we already have.
I dart from one project to another as they catch my attention. And then I have a brand new idea and get extra excited. This is it! I drop everything to explore this fabulously delicious fresh idea.
I work out how to make reels and shorts and wonder if I can post them in their vertical format here on my blog as well as on social media. I wander outside my comfort zone and chat live on IG. I turn my IG posts into longer blog posts. I return to podcasting, make graphics, take photos, redesign my blog, and think about books I could write. I’m always looking for new ways to tell the unschooling story.
Yesterday, I wondered if I could make some eye-catching unschool infographics. I was just about to do some infographic googling when I suddenly stopped and said, “Sue, don’t be silly. I thought you’d decided to focus on only one thing. Don’t get distracted.”
It’s true: recently, I stopped trying to do multiple things all at once while watching out for new ideas. I’ve chosen one project I really want to finish, and I’m now concentrating all my energy and time on it: I’m editing my third unschooling book which contains dozens of challenges designed to turn unschooling principles into something real. It’s a practical book with loads of ideas for making unschooling visible in our lives.
Many of the challenges started life as community posts. For a long time, I created a weekly challenge for the Stories of Unschooling Families Community members. Together, we searched for joy, explored our feelings about screen time, pondered trust, shared our fears, examined how we talked to our kids, helped each other turn unschooling into homeschool records, thought about our own learning, looked at the different ways of strewing, became real-life maths detectives, resolved to love unconditionally… Yes, we discussed the challenges, tried them out, reported back, and learnt more about unschooling, our kids and ourselves.
After writing some additional challenges, I created my new unschooling book. Now it just needs polishing up and then formatting. Each day for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been pushing sentences around, changing words, weaving in extra ideas as they occur to me, and the book is moving towards the finish line. As long as I don’t get distracted, I’ll soon be able to say that I’ve written three unschooling books.
Distractions can seem exciting. What will we discover if we turn down a sidetrack to explore them? But what will we achieve if we refuse to accept the tempting invitations, stay right where we are, and continue what we’re doing?
We can be distracted from unschooling, can’t we? When we’re having a wobbly day, we might look around for a new idea that seems more sparkly, exciting and full of hope than our present way of life. We take our eyes off our kids and then fail to see and appreciate all that we already have. We forget that unschooling is exactly what we need, not only on the good days but also on the difficult ones.
How can we let ourselves be distracted away from unconditional love?
And how can I let distractions prevent me from finishing a book that means a lot to me? I can’t.
So, I’m going to keep my head down and get the work done, and, one day soon, I’m going to say, “Why not check out my new unschooling challenges book on Amazon?”!
My new book needs a proper title. Do you have any ideas?
Photos
Some older photos of me and my daughter Imogen holding my first unschooling book, Curious Unschoolers. I’m sitting on the foundation stones of a hut built by German internees during World War I.
A couple of weeks ago, Erin from the Ever Learning blog kindly invited me to talk about Curious Unschoolers and answer readers’ questions during a Zoom conversation. The video will soon be posted in the Stories of Unschooling Families Community.
Now that I’ve told you about my upcoming book, I definitely have to finish it. I’d better get back to work!
As I am distracted from waking my kids, I couldn’t help but comment on the professional and eye-catching qualities of your blog. I hope that when you read this it doesn’t distract you from your plans. I’m currently learning about blogs in a class and this one is excellent. Have a good day!
Leah,
Thank you so much for your kind feedback about my blog! Distraction: oh yes, there are lots of things that could distract us, aren’t there? But some distractions are very welcome and pleasant. Like your comment! Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great weekend!