Reason #728: Soul-Satisfying Success

As I've mentioned elsewhere on my blog, I was a ballerina in my life BC (before children). When you spend 20 years doing one thing, it's no wonder it works it's way deeply into your subconscious. I have learned a lot from my ballet dreams. I've learned how much I value being a mother. I've learned how our bodies facilitate and streamline learning. And I've learned about soul-satisfying success.

A few weeks back I dreamed I was performing a lead in some ballet. The performance had gone well and I was in my dressing room preparing to leave the theater as I listened to the last strains of the music. Suddenly it occurred to me that I'd forgotten to perform the coda - the last piece after a pas de deaux and solo. Though I rushed to the stage, I'd already removed my costume and make-up and there was no way I was making it back to finish what I'd left undone.

It's not unlikely that I dreamed this because I did, in fact, forget to appear for a finale in one performance. Thankfully, I was NOT dancing a leading role at that time. But the panic as I realized my mistake was real, and apparently lives on in my subconscious.

What happened next in my dream was instructive. The ballet was over. My bosses came on to the stage and I was officially in big trouble. Though I realized they had forgotten to teach me the ending to the ballet, I was the no-show performer who had let the audience down, and they were taking the part from me. I might have fought with them, or blamed them for their oversight. I might have lashed out at other dancers, who were standing gloating in the wings, for not reminding me and letting me prepare to leave. Instead, as the theater cleared, I labored to learn and perfect what I had never learned and what I would now never perform. Though my dream performance was done, though my dream role had been taken from me, I still wanted to finish it all, as well as I could. For my own sake. For my own inner peace. I realized when I woke up and processed the dream, that the determination I felt at the end was all about soul-satisfying success.

Soul-satisfying success is self-defined. It may not be to great heights. It isn't about a crowd or approval. It's about not giving up 'til we've done something as well as we care to do it, just for the satisfaction of knowing we can. We can pursue soul-satisfying success in all sorts of endeavors. More recently than ballet, I struck out at every at-bat I had filling in for a better player at a local soft-ball game. My team won anyway, but my satisfaction didn't come 'til I'd gone home after the game and drilled hitting til I could hit the ball. Winning didn't do it for me. Connecting with the ball, even after the moment to do any good for the team had passed, did.

I love homeschooling because our kids have the freedom to pursue soul-satisfying success. If we let it, homeschooling engenders a whole new attitude about accomplishment.  In school, kids' learning is timed, measured, graded. Even in team sports and dance classes, parents pull kids out or discourage them from participation when they don't make the cut or get the part they want. Homeschooling, we may discover our children want to be great at something no one cares about and no one will see. Mostly, there aren't other adults or kid peer groups to impress OR disappoint. There isn't a timer or schedule that dictates we move on before we want to. We can opt out of agendas that dictate how much and what our kids know by when. We can let them listen to their own hearts and find those things they wish to be great at, and be at peace with other things that don't speak to their souls. In my experience, doing so brings great satisfaction in parenting. That feeling becomes what measures accomplishment, instead of what I can list about my kifs or hold up and show off. And it's a good-for-the-soul feeling too!

Recipe for the "Worth the Journey" Sugar Cookies

I made these cookies for a recent Homeschool Parent Social and Panel Discussion. I thought I would let the recipe live here so all can enjoy! I'm calling them "Worth the Journey" Sugar Cookies for two reasons. First, I made them for the panel discussion so anyone who showed up, regardless of what they got out of what was said, would feel the trip was worth it!

These cookies deliver the deliciousness of sugar cookies without the exhausting rolling, cutting, and baking and frosting of multiple batches traditional sugar cookies require. THAT is the other reason they are the "Worth the Journey" Sugar Cookies, and a bit like homeschooling! Like sugar cookies, we can mostly agree an education is a terrific thing. But the traditional way of going about getting an education (or a sugar cookie) is incredibly time and labor intensive. (I've discussed some of the "cost" of traditional public education here.) What if we could enjoy the same delicious fruits of our labor, without the hours and hours away from the people we love most? Homeschooling is the answer for education, and THESE cookies are the answer for sugar cookie lovers like myself. They may taste a little different, but they are as good or better, and all the time and labor they save makes the journey getting to that delicious bite SO MUCH MORE WORTH IT!

Without further ado, here's MY take on the recipe I got by standing up in a church meeting and announcing I needed to speak with the persons who brought the cookies in the pan because I needed the recipe in my life. Hey, "ask and ye shall receive," right? Enjoy!

Cream together:

1 C. butter (room temperature)

3/4 C. coconut oil (warmed slightly to pour - can use vegetable oil, I just don't have any)

1 1/4 C. sugar

3/4 C. powdered sugar

2 TBS water

2 eggs

Mix, then add to wet ingredients:

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

5 C. flour

Mix 'til dry ingredients incorporated fully in butter mixture. Then spread dough into large, greased-with-butter jelly roll pan, and bake at 350 degrees for maybe 16 minutes. (This time is really a guess. The dough doubles in size, and I count them done when the middle is rising, the sides are barely turning a golden color, when the dough loses it's shiny, "wet" appearance, and when I can begin to smell the cookies.... 

so whenever that is...)

As the cookies are cooling completely...

Cream together:

1/2 C room temperate butter

3/4 C. sour cream

dash of salt

Add:

powdered sugar until frosting reaches semi-stiff consistency

Add:

a splash of milk, mixing 'til frosting is a bit too runny

and finally add:

more sugar and a drop or two of almond extract and food coloring, bringing it to the perfect spread-ability and color. Then frost the cookies.

Decorate and DEVOUR!

Our 5 year Anniversary of Culture Club "Cookie Cake." The club placed toothpicks with all the places we'd learned about together before we sang Happy Birthday. (See in previous post, "For Worthy Friends.")

For Worthy Friends

"A friend is someone who knows the song of my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails."

This is just a blog post to sing the praises of great friends. They make the homeschooling journey more interesting, fun, and EFFECTIVE! I can't imagine taking on homeschooling without the dear friends I have made along the way.

In fact, a good friend who decided a few years back to homeschool asked me when she was still in "consideration phase" if my choice to homeschool ever caused me to feel lonely. Having never sent my kids to school, I can't compare my social experience in both circumstances, but my honest answer was that I rarely felt lonely, and had the best friends I could imagine BECAUSE I homeschool.

Some friends have become so close. We have met at park days, or because someone organized something and everyone who liked that same "fun" showed up. Sometimes our kids ages and phases have matched and we have compared notes. I have learned from these mothers patience and confidence. I would not and could not love homeschooling as much as I do without them.

Other friends I know from the distance of crossing busy paths. But still I can find so much that is admirable and inspiring from the things they share. I love hearing their stories as we project together, or watch the kids take in some new experience or adventure. I am strengthened by constantly witnessing the great love these mothers have for their children.

Sweetest, perhaps, are the friends who have been friends from before we had children, who followed their own path to homeschooling, and now homeschooling is yet another experience we can share and hold dear. I love discovering some of the people I admire most have also decided to homeschool. I feel like I am rubbing shoulders with greatness.

I love finding mothers with whom to share the special joys of homeschooling. Joys like noting that my two year old thinks of himself as the best friend and companion of my 10 year old. Or like seeing the kids' odd expressions as we learn some mind-blowing fact together.

With my friends, I can brainstorm fast, healthy lunches, engaging ways to teach grammar, or what to do when your kids insist on doing nothing. We have strengthened each other when doubt threatened our cause. There is ALWAYS a lot of laughing together. And we have shed tears together too.

If you are finding this blog, but have not yet found such friends, I hope the blog can fill in the gap for now. Homeschooling can be intimidating. It can feel like walking out of the circle of light of all that we know. I hope in your homeschooling journey you find that just outside your circle is a bright world full of loving and inspiring friends, ready to show the way and discover it with you.

Our beloved Culture Club friends, all of whom make the homeschool journey sweeter!

Feel the LOVE!

Tonight's project was prepping a visual aid for a homeschooling booth at an upcoming Community Fair. I hogged to myself the task of collecting quotes about what mothers, fathers, children, and families love about homeschooling. As I expected, the answers, unprompted by anything more than the question, reveal the peace and joy that come into lives AND into the learning process with the decision to homeschool. It was so sweet and moving to compile these, I can't help but share!

Please share the reasons YOU love homeschooling in the comments below! :)

WE love homeschooling because….

“My children are a blessing and I love to be with them.” mother of 4

"I get to be around my siblings and I don't have a set time I have to be awake everyday." Tabitha, age 9

“I can sit wherever I want and I can use the bathroom anytime." Matthias, age 11 ¾

“We get to focus on the joy of learning, instead of test mastery. Going at each child's pace, my children can develop a love for the things they are learning.” mother of 4, homeschooling 2 years

“Schooling has turned into a lifestyle for our family instead of a physical destination!" Millville mom of 2 school age kids

"You can wake up and just do it and have it done with!" Peter, age 8

“I have the opportunity to study what I am interested in and because of all my free time, I can pursue my passions.” Camden, age 14

“My group of homeschool friends are great!  They share the same values and have many of the same goals that I do.” Hyrum boy, 14 years old

“Instead of just cooking, cleaning and doing laundry, I also am involved in the enriching experiences of teaching and mentoring.” Hyrum mother of 6

“Our family is so close. We love learning together and having freedom to pursue our interests.” mother homeschooling for 8 years

“I love it when my mom reads to me." Elijah, age 9

"I love homeschooling because I don't want to go to school ALL DAY." Amy, age 5

“It’s FUN!” boy, age 10

“I love nature club” girl, age 8

“Mom, can we do homework right now?” boy, age 3

“We have time to pursue our interests and teach our values to our kids.” Tammy, mom

“The kids can maintain different levels of intensity in different subject areas. This allows them to "specialize" on things that they love.”  Skyla, mom of 3

“Together, we get to experience learning as an adventure to be had rather than a task to be completed.” mother of 4, homeschooling for 6 years

“I can get help whenever I need it.” Wes, age 7

“We can work at different levels in different subjects and progress at our own pace without having to wait for the whole class.” Amanda, homeschooling second grade on down

“We have time to learn, read book after book, take lessons (music, sports,etc.) and still have plenty of time for our kids to enjoy the unstructured, imaginative time so important to their development.” Heidi, homeschool mom of 3

"I can pick some of what I learn instead of just learning something that all 4th graders are supposed to learn." Ellie, age 9

“I can spend more time with my family and I can read more.” 9 year old girl from River Heights

“My teenager is one of my best friends.”

Sarah, mother to a 15 year old daughter

“You get to be with your family all day.”

Delilah, age 7

“I can learn about things I am really interested in.”

10 year old girl from Providence

“My kids have a teacher who loves them.”

Glenn, father of three

“My children are surrounded by those who love them most and time is theirs to figure out life.”

Raecale, mother of five

“The pace and the freedom are a perfect match for us! I love sharing my day with my kids!”

Mandilyn, mother of two

“I have more time to be with my friends." Zachary, age 10 from Providence.

"I can stay at my house if I want to, and I don't have to catch an early bus!" Chayce, girl, age 8

"I have really enjoyed watching my children flourish as we have found what methods allow them to grasp mathematical and literary concepts."  Jillian, mother of 5

“We get to fully shape and enjoy the most impressionable, delightful years of our children's lives.” 6 year homeschooling mom

“It has encouraged close relationships and loyalty between our children." mother of three daughters and one on the way

"Mom, I was BORN to do math!" homeschooled 4 year old