As I write this, I’m chillin’ with some jazz music as my 11-year-old helps his ninong, my brother—a sound engineer—clean a lot of audio cables, speaker wires, extension cords and the like. I figure this is a good activity for character development, to help my son learn about responsibility and a good work ethic. I overhear his ninong telling him that he’s doing the job well, and quickly at that.
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After about an hour, my son finished cleaning all the cables from one big bag. (There were more than 50 cables, I was told.) I’m happy and impressed because: 1) He actually did not complain at all! (I was thinking he might…); 2) He did it excellently: he followed instructions, and even cleaned the trickier and harder parts with much attention to detail; 3) He did not give up and continued till the work was done.
I then asked my son how he felt afterwards, and he said, “Accomplished.”
To me, this is a homeschool win because I’ve been praying for my son to grow in this good trait of responsibility. And so when I overheard that my brother had all these cables to sort and clean, I saw it as a learning opportunity and volunteered my tween to lend a hand. So there.
I think it’s important to celebrate homeschool wins, whether academic or non-academic. Because many times, we can easily lose ourselves in the “am I doing this right” or “I’m not a good enough homeschool mom” or any of that type of self-flagellating inner talk. Of course, there will always be room for improvement, but if we only focus on what we haven’t done yet or what we haven’t done right, we fail to see how far we’ve already come and how much good we’ve already imparted to our kids via the homeschool route. (And hint: homeschool can involve everyone in your immediate and extended family, and even beyond!)
So I encourage you to celebrate your homeschool wins. Think about it: what have you done right in your homeschool this past week? And if no one has told you yet, congratulations! (The fact that you’re homeschooling is already a win in itself!)
Feel free to share in the comments what homeschool wins you had recently. Blessings!