Chasing Unicorns and Riding the Waves: Navigating the Good Days and the Bad
Patterns for Life Chapter 10 audiobook
No matter how quickly the day turns sour, even and especially when it is our fault, we always have the option of responding with repentance. What repentance looks like will vary, but because we are at home, we have the freedom to call a time-out. We can stop what we are doing and change course right in the middle of the day if need be… What we choose to do when our plans derail can be as potent a lesson as all the assignments we had carefully plotted out on our original agenda.
Patterns for Life, Chapter 10
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Now that we’ve looked at all twenty of Charlotte Mason’s educational principles, we’re moving on to chapter 10, which is all about Ideals and Imperfection. Short though it is, it’s one of the most important chapters in the book.
We all need to have Ideals that we strive to live up to — striving to be better than we are is an important aspect of our growth in the Christian life. But sometimes in striving for the ideal, we refuse to acknowledge the regular and persistent obstacles that crop up, and in refusing to acknowledge them, we find ourselves out of touch with reality.
Sometimes those obstacles come in the form of our own failures, sometimes in our perception of the failures of others, and just as often they come in the form of unexpected interruptions to The Plan.
When we find ourselves faced with the unexpected, our response can go a long way in teaching our children how to be flexible and persistent; how to be accepting of things that are beyond our control and to continue to work toward a goal in spite of obstacles.
Sometimes we can assess obstacles in light of our ideal and make the necessary changes to move ourselves closer to it, other times we have to accept that our reality will never be the same as our original ideal, no matter how much we may want it to be.
Living a life of repentance brings us face to face with failure, while simultaneously offering hope in knowing that we can get back up and try again. We strive for the Ideal, while seeking God in the Real.
Learning how to let go of old dreams and create new ones, learning how to embrace our reality while constantly striving to improve it — these things are not for the faint of heart! It takes much sweat and tears to come to terms with these kinds of things and it takes lots of prayer and repentance as well. Wins and losses are part and parcel of a homeschooling life and we have to learn how to handle both well.
Some questions to think about:
What are some dreams about homeschooling that you have had to let go of?
What are some realities that you have learned to embrace?
What things are you able to do regularly that line up with your ideal? What is one thing that requires reassessment from you?