Hey there! How’s it going?
I hope you’re feeling good because I have some great news for you. YOU DID IT! We are only about 50-ish hours away from being done with February. D. O. N. E. DONE.
Just in case February feelings start to muddle into March, though, I wanted to leave this month with one last word of encouragement for you. Those words?Never make a decision on the uphill.
Let me explain. Going uphill can be hard, and from what I’m hearing, this month has felt like that for so many people. Our tendency, when things get hard, is to look for a way to make things easier. That’s an okay thing to do. That’s why we’ve been talking all month about showing yourself some grace, connecting with others, and making sure you have the support you need to make it up this hill!
And here’s why I’ve sent all that. It’s because I would hate to see anyone let a hard season derail your long-term plans. Look, you started down the road of Saxon/homeschooling/teaching/whatever for a reason. You had a goal or a vision that first prompted you to pick up that book and start this journey. Now it’s gotten hard. Maybe your student is struggling as new concepts are introduced. Maybe you have a cranky teenager who makes every day feel like a struggle. Maybe you are trying to figure out how to scale so you can manage multiple subjects or multiple kids at different ages and stages.
Any of those things mean you’re currently on an uphill. And I know, it’s harder in this place. If you were literally running up a hill, now’s the time when your lungs would start burning. Your legs would rebel. And all you could think about were donuts. Now’s the time you might be tempted to quit, walk off the course and head to Dunkin.
But the hill won’t go on forever. You will reach the top. With the right support, maybe a change in strategy, or just sheer old determination, you’ll get where you’re going. You’ll make it past this hill.
“Life is filled with metaphorical “hills,” difficult circumstances that test our courage and strength. You can fight against them or you can embrace them. Running has taught me to embrace the difficult circumstances in life, to meet them with hope and faith.”
We may not be physically running here, but educating kids is probably even harder than finishing a marathon. So I say, wait. Struggle for a bit longer before you make any big decisions. Deep winter, both literally and figuratively, is just a season. It will change. Better times are coming. Just like the flowers that are hard at work underground, unseen, the rewards of this hard time will poke through and at some point be visible. The top of the hill is the best place to find the clarity to decide what you need to do next.
P.S. If I can help you further, please reach out to the Facebook group or to me. Also, I’m excited to go ahead and leak out that in just a few weeks’ time, there are some serious new helps and changes coming for Nicole the Math Lady subscribers that should make everything about teaching Saxon simpler and more appealing to you and your student(s). Stay tuned…the best is yet to come!