A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

The method is not the goal. The goal is the goal.

In other words: your allegiance to a method that doesn’t get you to your goal means you’ve made the method the goal and lost sight of your true goal—whatever that may be!

• Love of learning
• Mastery of phonics
• Steady effort in a challenging subject
• Reading…

You are free to scrap any method that doesn’t work to experiment with methods that you shunned, even when your friends disapprove.

The method is not in charge.
The goal is.

If you make the goal the goal, you will adopt any strategy that gets you closer to the goal. But if you make the method the goal, even inadvertently, you may wander in a wilderness of wondering why you never get where you thought you were going.

Liberation comes when you give yourself permission to have a journey in education that is unique to your family (not the one you have been told you must follow or it doesn’t count and won’t work).

This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebogartwriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!

I’ve noticed two strains of homeschooling advice that I want to bust as worthless.

1. That learning is hard. It requires a systematic approach. Because the subjects are hard, buckle down with a program and get it done.
2. That learning is natural. Stop all systems. Go with the currents of a child’s interests and let those teach a child everything he or she needs to know. Get out of the way.

It took me about 20 years to admit two important ideas.

1. It takes effort to get good at anything.
2. You only put in effort if you see a benefit to yourself.

The first concept is why some parents get exasperated and focus on “getting done.” The second concept is why other parents cross their fingers that Tinker Toys will teach trigonometry.

Let’s change the conversation around learning.

• We should be discussing ideas for how to provoke interest in a topic that seems dull.
• We should talk about how to build stamina to keep trying when a child loses heart.

We should be free from proving our membership in a particular philosophy of education (where we prioritize how we appear to adults rather than how our children experience learning).

Want to learn more? Dive into all the free content available on the Brave Writer website (some are listed in the blog’s sidebar).

And for individual hand-holding, join me in the Homeschool Alliance where we address these kinds of issues each month in our Brave Learner Book Club.

“Your best bet is to be gentle with yourself & to surround your homeschool life with people who are advocates for you more than your philosophy of education or parenting.” (A Gracious Space, Julie Bogart)

There are two kinds of support during struggle. First, when you face a challenge in your marriage or health or philosophy of education, many people will back the institution. They’ll tell you how to stay married or what kind of treatment you must follow or which educational philosophy is the rightest. They’ll rally around their beliefs and urge you to hold the line—to persevere in struggle, to not give up on your marriage or doctor or homeschooling.

The second kind of support is for you. No matter what you choose, this person understands that you are more important than institutions or philosophies. The support is unwavering for the person you are. Your success as a wife or patient or home educator is not propping up marriage or medical protocols (or holistic nutrition) or homeschooling.

Rather: support feels like being seen, being reminded of your own ability to choose, to make the call for yourself.

Support is believing more in a person’s well being
than any institution’s preservation.

Get friends like that. They are priceless. They aren’t passive-aggressive, or controlling, or manipulative. They are friends.

This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebogartwriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!