Picture with me a speed boat zooming through the water. Behind it is a large triangular wake. Once students know their greatest talents and passions, they can zoom ahead like a speed boat on a path to learn all they can about that topic. Everything else they need in order to excel in that specialty area they will seek out and learn in the wake of their own speed boat. If they are expected to learn everything about everyone else's specialty areas, it's as if you have tied lead weights to the back of that speed boat and it holds the boat back like anchors from all directions behind the boat. If it continues to try to speed ahead, the boat will actually begin to take on water and, if the lead weights aren't cut off, or the boat doesn't slow down, the boat will sink.

“Are you enjoying homeschooling?” I sat in stunned silence as I contemplated my dear friend’s question. She may as well have been speaking a foreign language. Enjoying? Homeschooling should be enjoyable? My institutional mindset could not compute. As the cogs in my brain kicked into high gear, contemplating this new idea, my friend (and homeschool mother of ten) sat, radiating peace. That single question completely changed my trajectory, and I am forever grateful.

This is why one of the basic building blocks of parenting should be a healthy relationship built on trust and love. But we aren’t perfect, and even when we try our best our kids can still shut us out. No worries, not all is lost.