Written by Erin Vincent of Nourishing My Scholar
Prefer to listen instead?
Bravery: It’s my mantra this year.
Because new things can be scary. But staying away from new things out of fear? That’s even scarier.
Hyping myself up to make a phone call is not out of the norm for this introvert.
I’d much rather be trampled by wild rhinos…
And making yogurt from our local dairy barn’s milk sounded like a fabulous idea, until it was go-time and I found myself nervous.
What if I got it wrong?
But guess what? It was delicious!
Sitting in the kitchen eating homemade strawberry yogurt that I made with my own two hands had me feeling like I could take on the world!
What was I so afraid of?
This year I even found the courage to take on the role of ballet cast director for my child’s theater, in charge of getting dozens of little fairies, sylphs, dolls, and baby princesses on the stage at the correct time.
Have you ever tried to wrangle feral cats? Yeah, that.
But I jumped in with both feet. I asked for help when I needed it and did my best. The ballet turned out to be a monumental success.
I long to emulate courage for my children. Yet most of the time I feel more like a frightened mouse than a roaring lion.
However, bravery doesn’t mean lack of fear. It doesn’t even mean I have to perfect my roar.
Bravery is acting even when fear is present. Acknowledging the fear and moving past it into action is what bravery is all about.
I was fearful to homeschool. I knew it was the best choice for my family, but what if I got it wrong? What if my child missed out? What if I didn’t teach enough? What if I didn’t know enough? What if I failed?
There are so many little nuggets of fear that could paralyze us homeschoolers…loads of pressure to get this homeschool thing right. But the homeschool journey isn’t a perfect little package with detailed instructions that when followed guarantee success.
That perfect recipe is a mythical creature…like Fairies and Unicorns.
It’s a journey of ups and downs. A mess of beautiful fluctuations paired with detours, glitter, and rabbit holes. You’ll find adventure on excursions and diverge from paths you never imagined existed.
This is where the magic happens, like the glorious pink streaks of a sunset that defy your understanding of color, the magic blazes throughout this vacillating journey:
- The warmth and love that comes from giving our best to the most important people in our lives – our children.
- Lending them our strength and wisdom for the short time they still fit in our laps.
- The beauty of facilitating knowledge in an environment of love helps to ease the tightness of fear that sometimes grips you.
And you find yourself smiling at the thought of that fear.
You realize that your littles are always learning. ALWAYS.
The understanding that learning doesn’t come from a schoolhouse or a curriculum finally dawns on you.
Games make great learning tools.
Nature proves herself to be a perfect teacher and you let go of the idea that she should only be visited on sunny days.
Puddles are meant to be jumped in.
You become conscious of the fact that there is no such thing as too many books, read-alouds or snuggles.
Comprehension that fear doesn’t define you on this journey blossoms.
You will ask for help when and where you need it, while discerning that this doesn’t diminish your worth or capabilities.
Perhaps my roar isn’t as squeaky as I once thought.
You’ve got this mama. Let’s be brave together.
What’s something brave that you’d like to do this year?
Weekend homeschool links
Homeschooling is one of those things that look so BIG and SCARY before you begin. The one thing I remember is noticing that learning really was everywhere. Once I saw that-I couldn’t unsee it. I am so proud of you <3
Jen’s latest post: Break Rules, Build Your Child’s Confidence & Beat Mom Guilt!
Awe, thank you Jen! Learning really is all around us.
Erin, this is beautiful. Thank you so much for the reminder that the ebbs and flows are part of what makes this homeschooling journey wonderful.
<3 Shawna
Shawna Wingert’s latest post: St. Patrick’s Day Social Skills Activity: If I Were A Leprechaun
Thank you so much, Shawna!
Fear can really keep us from doing things we want to pursue in life. I tend to be a “what if” person too. Thanks for sharing this. It really does take bravery to homeschool.
Today, I seriously mean TO-DAY, is day one of our Journey. Today is the day I actively choose not to enroll in kindergarten. We have been doing a mock homeschool week and it has been glorious. But today I have had every fear mentioned above. Thank you for your words. I am so grateful.❤️
THis is so beautifully written!!! It is my thoughts and feelings exactly!!! Thank you for keeping it real. Homeschooling is a journey, but so is everything else. It’s a process not a quick project. Learning to breathe deep and go with the flow have been my two struggles but I’ve learned it is definitely not all about school books, we can learn from whatever we are doing at any given moment.
Thanks for sharing! Sometimes I just get paralyzed with fear. I’m going to try to relax and see the lessons everywhere!
I cried & prayed every day that God would stop me, if homeschooling was going to “ruin” my kids’ lives. That was four years ago. When you start seeing how smart & different your kids are, when random strangers keep telling you, time after time, how wonderful your kids are (& you know it’s not because you harassed or bullied them into being people pleasers but instead just treated them with kindness, let them be who they were meant to be, and kept them away from the hoards who weren’t mature enough to not treat them unkindly), it becomes easier to have less fear.
Thank you for that. I want so much for my kids to be kind and they don’t learn that out in the world. I
Deciding to rock this public school boat and jump blindly into the water. I homeschooled first grade & kindergarten 10 yrs ago. Was easy however 6th grade & 2nd grade is different. Due to the stress of school shootings, school walkouts, issues of my childhood led being singled out, put in a corner for days at a different desk, silent lunch silent breakfast isolated recess and other teachers telling their class not to talk to my 12 yr old on the playground….HAS GONE WAY TOO FAR.
Looking for other options CAUSE THIS AINT IT!
So amazed of and proud of and inspired by your courage, Angela! Actually 6th grade and 2nd grade isn’t all that different to the younger years – it all goes back to love of learning, and that can blossom fairly easily in the right soil – when not held back by fear or bullying or all the things above you are mentioning. You can totally do this, and maybe this will also give you a little helpful food for thought: http://simplehomeschl.wpengine.com/new-homeschooler/
You sound so much like me, introvert raising extroverts. We took that plunge 9 years ago with my now 13.5 year old son, then his 11 year old brother. The path has meandered down so many paths and has been anything but a predictable package. Then came my now 7 year old, who adamantly insisted on going to school- big curveball after 7 years of homeschooling He’s in his second year and absolutely flourishing. Will he go forever? I don’t know. I am leery of society and especially of the violence. But, when I look at the whole picture I see that each of my children are in exactly the places that help them to be the best versions of themselves. It is SUCH a process of trust. Trusting your intuition and also the intuition of your children. They are each so different.
It’s scary when you want to home school but your husband is against…and he hasn’t bothered to research home school…he just thinks public school is best. So I’m left to wonder, what do I do? 🙁 Any advice?
Thank you so much for the words of wisdom. I have wanted to homeschool for a long time . I felt like I didn’t have the resorces it would take to teach my kids to go out in the world and be good productive people. I had decided to homeschool and this will help me follow through. It is great to have such suport and enchoragement from others going through the same thing.