These are days filled with distractions and uncertainty from without. Politics, foreign social shifts, crime, evil clowns (yeah, I have a hard time keeping a straight face even writing that phrase out), even falling space junk and imminent massive earthquakes threaten the peace and harmony of my little homeschool. Not because I subject my children to all these fearful images and eventualities, but because they bombard me every time I open my computer to check the news in the morning or turn on my scanner to figure out why once again police helicopters are lighting up my front yard and making unintelligible pronouncements over the loudspeakers at 2am. If I am not careful, all this uncertainty and tumult tricks my mind into thinking that anything is possible.
If I am not careful, a Steven King clown horror story could play out in my front yard during our math lessons and I would not bat an eyelid. I have thought for a long time about how to keep an even keel through everything that is going on these days without loosing my humanity. I do not ever want to stop caring. But how do I balance caring with being overwhelmed by all the badness there is to care about?
I think that the trick is to pull yourself emotionally away from all that uncertainty and fear and still keep faithful to those all important teachings of love and kindness that keep us human. The trick is to “maintain your frame.” This is a concept my husband taught my kids long ago. It is a leadership technique that allows you to keep calm and focused by keeping your general stance (your frame) calm and strong.
For men, “maintain your frame” has a lot to do with dominance, but for me the concept leads directly to something more important. What follows from maintaining your frame is that you project calm and strength around you. For a mom, this means that your kids are calm which is so important because, as I realized long ago when we began homeschooling, your children pick up nearly all their own attitudes from you. When you project fear or anger or irritibility, and they will without question feel fear and uncertainty. So “maintain your frame” not only helps you, but it keeps your kids secure and calm. And that leads to happiness in your home and children who can focus and learn and be creative and develop into strong adults.
I am not suggesting that you ignore the outside world for that can be dangerous if things get bad, but inside your home you can “maintain your frame” and by doing so you will anchor your whole family (husband included) in a foundation of love and strength and calm.
And I think that is the best you can do right now as a homeschooling mom.
