Encouraging Each Other

Sue Elvis is a mother of 8 with stacks of stories to tell. She generously shares her Stories of an Unschooling Family on her blog, YouTube channel, podcast, Instagram and most recently in her books, Curious Unschoolers and Radical Unschool Love.

And these stories are epic. Not in their length, most of them are short reads. And certainly not fantasy. Sue’s stories are epic in the best possible way.

True stories of ordinary days with extraordinary significance…

These are the opening words of the post Curious Unschoolers by Sue Elvis: A Book Review, written by beautiful Hayley from the Taking a Kinder Path blog.

Last night, I said to my daughter Imogen, “I think I’m finished. I’ve got to the end of writing about unschooling. Instead, I’m going to write stories about books and movies, and draw silly pictures, and take photos and not post them online…” Do something different.

There’s a lot of wonderful unschooling writers out there. Maybe I’ve done my bit and my voice is no longer needed. Well, that was what I was thinking yesterday. But this morning, after reading Hayley’s review, I’m not so sure.

I want to thank Hayley for her very kind words. Writing reviews takes a lot of time and effort. I really appreciate how Hayley read my books and then turned her thoughts into such a fabulous review. I smiled the whole time I was reading it!

Will you hop over to Hayley’s blog and read the full post? I hope so! While you’re there, why not stop by and say hello? Then poke about a bit. Hayley has written many excellent unschooling posts. I am hoping she’ll assemble them into a book.

Then when you’ve finished reading, go and encourage someone. It’s amazing how a few kind words can turn someone’s world around. They can make a huge difference.

Finally, if you’re feeling discouraged or wondering if what you have to offer is actually needed, remember that you have a unique voice. No one can offer the world the same things in the same way as you.

So go out there and make a difference!

(Those words sound familiar!)

Something Extra

In my post Go Out There and Make a Difference, I wrote:

Do you ever compare yourself to someone else who’s doing similar work to you? Do you feel discouraged if they seem to be more successful than you? Perhaps you feel like giving up. Why bother? Well, don’t give up. You have a unique voice. So do I. So does everyone. No one can do things in the exact same way as us. We all have an important job to do. And we have to get out there, do it, and make a difference.

The same is true for our children. I’m always saying to my family, “Go out there and make a difference!” It doesn’t matter if they are cantoring the psalm on Sundays, performing on a stage, teaching a classroom of children, listening to someone, or even washing the dishes, I say those words. I remind them that we can do everything in such a way that our efforts make a difference to the people around us and to the world we live in.

Maybe, it’s important to keep reminding our kids that they have an important role to play, especially if they’re tempted to compare themselves to others who stand in the spotlight because of their visibly amazing achievements.

If you haven’t already listened, you could check out episode 78 of my podcast!

Photos

A couple of weeks ago, Imogen and I took our books to a local river for a photography shoot. We climbed high to an area of beautiful sandstone rocks and got a huge surprise. Looking down, we could see that the river wasn’t flowing. The drought had turned it into a series of pools. It was very sad. But… over the past few days, we’ve had some rain. Lots of it! The dams have filled up. Maybe the river is once again flowing. We shall have to visit again with our cameras very soon!

A Music Video

A couple of years ago, Imogen made several music videos at this location. If you watch Something Just Like This, you’ll see the flowing river and the magnificent rocks!

So, I’m wondering if you need some encouragement. Can I help you in any way? Perhaps I could add your blog to my resources page. I’m thinking about writing some more bits and pieces posts and adding links to other bloggers’ unschooling posts. What do you think of that idea?