One thing about me that can be so annoying: I am very much an “all or nothing” type of person. I think the term “perfectionist” may have been tossed my way a time or two, and not in a good way. Some people can just wing it or be spontaneous so naturally and beautifully…but I need a plan. A map. A checklist. PLEASE give me a checklist. Guess what? I miss out when I can’t let that go. My kids are not check-list-able.
Let me give you an example. I wanted to do a Geology Unit, so I began planning, pinteresting, ordering books from the library, and collecting the materials I needed. I had so much stuff: geodes to break open, plaster of paris to make fossils, clay to make a model of the earth, a few soil samples from different places, about 40 books from the library; many with book marks already in place for a certain lesson;
But I didn’t start the Unit Study.
I also wanted a rock tumbler and to plan a trip to a local cave. I wanted a nice set of rock samples. In addition to the items I already purchased, I wanted another $150 worth of things. Another week went by (of me planning and the kids wondering what we are gonna learn) and that is when I realized that we had more than enough for three weeks of learning. Even if I never purchased a rock tumbler or the samples, we had more than enough. We have the internet and YouTube; I truly needed nothing to get started. We finally began…and it was amazing! I ended up letting the boys pick out their own rock specimens as souvenirs at a cave visit (way more cool than ordering them from Amazon) and our lessons and experiments were really fun. Planning to learn about geology and starting with what we had was perfect; it evolved into what it needed to be and branched off into directions I wouldn’t have planned.
I do this with a lot of things. Ok, all the things. I can’t homeschool without a homeschool room (Haha, see here). We can’t teach math without a state-of-the-art curriculum for a kindergartener (how will they ever learn that 2+2=4 without a $150 curriculum???).
And…the real testament to my all-or-nothingness: this blog. I wrote this post in Google Docs in 2019 (minus this part) and am just now adding it to my website. You see, I’ve had this site and domain name for years and did nothing with it because I wanted it to be perfect before launching. Well, here it is! Certainly not perfect….but its a start!
What I’ve learned is that by having a loose plan (for my needs) and letting it develop into what the kids need, everyone wins. Learning happens. Happiness happens. Check boxes happen. I feel like I have a plan, they feel like they aren’t being forced to learn.
Try to avoid the all-or-nothing syndrome. Get started where you are and see where it takes you!
