"The fog of sleep evaporated quickly as the sunlight hit his eyes. He tried to focus on the thing in front of him. Whatever it was, it was smiling."

That is still one of my favorite openings to a story I never really started. My files are filled with these incomplete works. I get an idea and start in, only to run out of time, imagination, or get sidetracked by another great idea.

There's absolutely something to be said for learning to finish projects. It is essential that we develop follow-through and tenacity in our work. We must learn how to get to the end of things and be willing to stop when it's "good enough." Those are important skills. But, in many ways, I don't think we should push ourselves--or our students--to finish creative works, our essays--our attempts.

A silent shard, a sliver,
A ...

I started typing that over two years ago, my mind flooded with words which fit together beautifully, only to reach the second line and go completely blank.

I quietly mourned the loss of a beautiful verse, and then moved on.

The wonderful mastery approach to learning should not be applied to creative writing, artistic works, or technological tinkering. The point is to discover the joy of playing with the medium--be it words, wood, or wingbats. There will be time to hone your skill; to get the punctuation correct, to trace the line without wobbling, to know the theory behind the circuitry. But for now, these attempts open the world of possibility.

What does this mean practically for your homeschool?

Don't detract points for coloring outside the lines.
Don't feel the need to correct spelling in creative works. And if your student is done with the assignment, even if it is incomplete, it may be time to move on to something else.

If you find it hard not to just let things be, make sure your children have plenty of opportunity to do things on their own. I don't think my parents have seen more than a few pages of what I wrote while at home. Most of my practice with writing came from doing it on my own time; time afforded me because I was homeschooled.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

"And remember," I add with all the gravity I can convey, "this is complicated by the fact that he likes you."

I don't recall what the situation was when I gave out this tidbit of advice. I can't remember why it mattered. But it did. For whatever the details, it was important that my little brother liked the girl I was talking to. That was a big part of the issue.

"Don't talk about stuff you don't know everything about, Luke." I don't know how he found out. But he did. And he was mad.

I can still feel the way my heart pounded when I realized that I was wrong. I didn't know everything about the situation. In fact, I knew very little about what was going on. Worse yet, I was faced with the probability that I had confused the issue. I was confident my observations were correct, but not complete. And that incomplete picture had led me to the wrong conclusion. I'm sure my little brother was attracted to her. But I'm unsure, today, if that mattered at all in that situation.

This all floods back as I consider these comments: Do we really use things "out of the box" our early years of homeschooling because we lack the confidence?

Well, yes. Absolutely.

And yet I think this idea--which I see again and again--that we're insecure when we start out, confuses the issue. We're insecure, not because that is part of who we are, but because we don't know what we're doing. Our insecurities are based in our lack of knowledge. And that lack of knowledge is the real issue. Put another way: We rightly lack self-confidence when we have yet to have learned how to do something.

The great news is that you can learn. In fact, you can likely attest to how much you've grown in your abilities to homeschool. And as you've learned how to educate your children at home, you've grown in confidence in your ability to do so. Why? Because you've succeeded again and again.

You can homeschool. But if you're feeling intimidated because you don't know how to do it with your preschooler (or your high schooler, for that matter), we'd be thrilled if you took advantage of the resources you have in homeschool curriculum. Sonlight, as someone once said, teaches you how to homeschool.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

P.S. Already know what you're doing but don't know about something within Sonlight? Not sure which package or product would be right for your students? Chat with a Sonlight Advisor and gain confidence from someone who is here to share with you what she has learned.

"Sweet!"

I'm giddy. My wife, who has uncomfortably hovered nearby for the last half-hour, sighs in relief. "You finally figure it out?"

I proudly show her the product of my labor: My computer's login screen now matches my desktop wallpaper.

Brittany's distrust of my abilities was well founded. I was following unclear instructions on the internet in my attempts to manually tweak my computer's permissions and registry keys. For those who do that kind of thing all the time, no sweat. For someone, like me, who knows only enough to get myself into trouble, it causes my wife more than a little concern. But there's something about renaming the hard drives, tweaking the desktop, and organizing my folders that makes the computer mine.

As homeschoolers, we often do the same with curriculum. We'll tweak and adjust to meet our family's needs. This ability to find--and use--what works is one of the many strengths of homeschooling: We can customize our curriculum so it reflects what our students need. We aren't required to use our educational materials "as is"... in fact, it's important to remember that your curriculum is a tool, not a taskmaster.

As you continue in your school year, remember that even a completely packaged curriculum can be adjusted to meet your needs. Perhaps it's something big, like rearranging the daily schedule to fit your timetable. Or, perhaps, it's something as simple as adding a label to your binder so it matches your pencils...

How about you? What do you enjoy tweaking so it feels more like it's yours? What do you use "as is"?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

I have a problem.

Okay, I have more than just one problem <smile>. Let me rephrase: I have a problem with consumables. My problem is that I hate to consume consumables. I hate using them because, once I do, they're gone! Consumed. No longer in my inventory. Unusable. Unavailable. Depleted.

This problem extends from pens to health packs in video games. For years I refused to floss because doing so consumed the dental floss. My super-cool Space Pen suffers from a similar issue: I think it's awesome. And so, even though I could use it underwater, I don't use it at all. Perhaps because I could use it underwater I don't use it in daily life. 'Never know when I'd need to write underwater,' is the thinking. 'I'll save it for when I really need it.'

I was reminded of my space pen this morning when I noticed the spiral notebook I have living under my desk plant:

Notebook and Plant (and pen)

The notebook has an aluminum cover and faintly textured pages, making it almost as spiffy as my Moleskine. Both notebooks are incredibly cool ...and completely blank. I haven't been able to come up with anything worthy of marring their pristine pages. And where in the world would I find another aluminum-covered notebook?

If you also struggle with consuming consumables which are too cool or perceived to be too difficult to acquire, I've got a suggestion for your homeschool. If you're still struggling with the dental floss thing, I can't help you. The issue is still too close to me...

...where was I?

If you are going to reuse your Core programs (or use it with more than one student), I highly recommend that you purchase the few consumables you'll need for the coming year(s). That way you won't run into the problem I have of not daring to touch them because you'll have exactly as many as you'll need. And you won't have to worry about those items getting replaced with new editions which no longer match your current program.

Can't find what you're looking for? Want some advice from another homeschool mom before you purchase? Just feel the need to talk over your options? Please don't hesitate to chat with a Sonlight Avisor. The Advisors are here to answer your questions and help you avoid missing consumables. Whether you choose to consume those items later or not is another matter entirely...

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Just shot this video with John Holzmann. Passing it along to you:

My Passport to India Welcome Kit

Haven't signed up for My Passport to India yet? It's not too late (though your Welcome Kit may not come in time for the start of the program). Learn how to get your Welcome Kit here.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Picayune: fiddling; small and of little importance

Brought to you by Catherine Johnson

My problem with goals is that I know what I want to do today (roughly what I did last week) and I know what I'd love to be doing in 30 years ...it's the in-between that's hazy. Five years from now? 10?

<shrug> I don't know.

That makes it hard because I don't know how to get from here to there. And without that clear direction, I'm left wondering if what I'm doing right now is "right" or not. And that makes me wonder if a similar quandary drives some of our fears in homeschooling. We want to love learning with our children and we want our children to succeed in life... it's the time between now and then that has us concerned. Are we doing it right? I mean, we certainly don't want to find out that we've been doin' it wrong.

I think this concern that we "do it right" drives questions like: What do you do when a kid flat out refuses to do anything? The wonderful thing is that there are very good answers to these questions (like the one I just linked). And, often, those answers contain a strong recommendation that we relax a bit. Which is nice for a high-strung person such as myself. <smile>

But I'd like to postulate today that perhaps our concern over what we're doing today is too often birthed from a lack of perspective. Could it be that we get so caught up in the current struggle with math, or writing, or reading, or personal development, or a character flaw that we miss the long-term goals. I know I lacked proper perspective again and again during my brief stint as a parent. I think I would have been much served by a few long-term written goals for our family and the girls. Then, no matter what was currently irking me, I could step back and see it in the perspective of where we ultimately wanted to be.

Speaking of perspective, I thought this Scale of the Universe thingy was interesting.

Greg Laden

Have you found written goals have helped you in your homeschool and parenting?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester