The Core of What Matters
With just a whisper of cooler nights, we feel the fall returning. It’s my favorite time of the year. Maybe especially now, as an older mama, I appreciate her even more. When I was younger, I thought growing old was something to avoid. Now I embrace it. It comes with its own colors, a natural beauty that comes with life’s lessons.
A softening but also a strength that can only come from walking through the fires life sometimes brings.
Returning to school comes with excitement. And also some fear. There are so many expectations that are not of our own making. I learned that last year as I homeschooled my son. Who knew that 4th grade math could be so difficult! Schools have a set of core standards for what students should know and be able to do. They are very VERY specific. Maybe too specific. But when you are in charge of as many kids as the public school system is, you have to have a target.
As a mom, I would like to propose we set some targets of our own. A set of core standards or values. What do you want your kid to know and be able to do at the end of this year? Of elementary school? Or high school?
More than an array or writing a perfect paragraph, I have 4 standards I would love my kiddo to move toward. These are the same values I have built into all our products at My Gnome on the Roam.
Connect- I want my son to be able to listen to, speak with and understand his teachers, his friends, me, and maybe most importantly, people who are different from him. I want him to be fascinated with differences and not just the ways we are the same.
Create- I want him to feel comfortable enough to make things. Pieces of art, Lego creations, science experiments, music, beautiful messes. I want him to celebrate the messes as much as his successes.
Explore- I want him to be so curious that he springs out of bed in the mornings…well into old age. I want him to always be as full of questions as he is now. I want him to always want to know more than what we have the answers for.
Contribute- Maybe this most of all. I want him to take what he has and share it. Ideas, compassion, money, food, and kindness. I want him to learn the warm buzz of knowing you made someone’s or something’s life better by sharing a piece of it.
To adventures and beautiful messes,
Team Gnome 🌈