How many times have I tried to veer from the course that has been laid ahead of me?  Homeschooling is that course and sometimes I feel like there are a million different avenues that sit before me that can “help” me homeschool my child.  There is always a new book, new method, new computer program, new teaching philosophy, a new something.

One can get caught up in all the bright shiny new things that continually come along and before you know it you feel terrible because you didn’t buy this or that and you feel completely confused.  You feel you lost out because you didn’t see that new method before you started the one you have.  Before long you “think” you  have done it all wrong and your child is now going to suffer because that new curriculum you purchased last year to help her through her learning isn’t good enough. It isn’t as awesome as the new one that you are looking at right now that just popped up in your email for only $399.00!

It is so easy for us as parents to see all the bells and whistles of the new and improved things out there and think they are better than what we have, and you know what??? Who cares!!!!  Our children learned quite well for thousands of years without iPads, iphones and brightly colored curriculum.  Our kids thrived and learned while lying on a blanket outside in the grass drawing what they saw.  We need to remember that we found good things in what we purchased for our kids in the first place and those things will do their job and everyone will be happy.  We need not stress over all the shiny new stuff that is thrown at us each and every day.

We need to teach our kids to stay the course, not because we said so, but because we did so ourselves.  Our kids watch everything we do and repeat it.  Let’s teach them to repeat good things!  Our kids will thrive and flourish with what we have to offer and if we don’t offer them the new and improved method, it is not going to rob them one bit.  Our kids are learners without our help.  And if we stop putting so much emphasis on a particular method and instead make the journey interesting, informative and even fun (you know, the process of learning)… they will see that when they stay with something, no matter what that something is… there is value and they will go far.