Homeschool Chronicles: Make Something Better

I'm frozen in front of a blank page, my mind swirling.  What to share?  Where to start?  There's been so much...

And this is what rises to the surface:  don't settle.  Don't settle.  Don't settle.  With our children, with their education, with our lives, with our creativity - don't settle for less than the better you can imagine.  It's easier to accept the status quo, what we had planned, what we've already paid for (darn it!).  The fabric's already cut.  The children are enrolled.  The textbooks bought.  But, don't.  Don't settle.

If it's not working, change it.  Re-imagine what you have to create something better.  Mess around on the design wall.  Cut in a new color.  Cut out what's not working, even when it costs you.  Because why would you choose the lesser path, even just this season, even just this year?  Isn't life more precious than that?  Isn't it (your precious creative time, your children, insert what matters here) worth your best efforts, now, today?  If you can't be proud of what you have in front of you, make something different.  Or, better yet, re-make what's in front of you... Better.



Right now we're in the process of withdrawing Aria from the homeschool co-op program she's enrolled in.  It's a two-day program that was such a great fit for us last year. But this year... it's not.  It's intrusive, distracting.  I thought to finish the year in the program, starting fresh next year, and then wondered why the heck I would accept anything less than our best year possible?  Don't settle.  We can do better, now.



Now my friends and I are plotting and planning our own co-op program for next year.  Because if you have the courage to cut out what disappoints, you create space for something so much better!  I'm fairly bursting with ideas and trying to reign it in.  I love designing systems.  I'd love to orchestrate the whole thing!  But, well, I have this other job (hi, StitchedinColor!) and I'm loyal.  So, we'll keep it small and simple.  But, oh, the possibilities are exciting when you set yourself free!



I had the same sort of experience in the past week with my triangle quilt work-in-progress.  From the beginning, I struggled with the colors.  After putting up the triangles on a temporary design wall (batting push-pinned to the wall) I had to face facts - it wasn't something I'd be proud of making.  So, what the heck?  Remake it!  There's not only one way to layout triangles.  I tried them as diamonds, as zigzags and as hexagons.  Yay for design walls!  The morning after my brainstorm, the hexagons suddenly felt like the only true idea.  So there we are.  And now, I like it!  I really love it!  I think I'll be showing off the finished top tomorrow!

Which is all to say, we're all tempted to give less than our all, to settle for what's easy and obvious.  And sometimes that works just fine.  But..... but, if you're not happy, don't settle.  There's something better for you.  Be brave enough to cut it out.  Reimagine your life, better.