One thing that amuses me is women who say, “Oh, I can’t imagine homeschooling my children.” For a long time, I thought, “What are you doing with your children before and after school if you aren’t teaching them?” It finally occurred to me that the secret is in the word imagine. They can’t, or don’t, imagine it.

Today such phrases as, “If you can dream it and believe it, you can achieve it,” and “Dream big!” are so common that it’s strange to realize that is still “outside of the box.” Even when its advice is followed, it’s usually associated with landing a man on the moon or being the first female in top management.

I think those applications, while appropriate, are too limiting. I think it applies to everyday life too. If I can dream and believe that my kids will finish a project on Argentina, they will, and it will be ready for the International Fair.

We just attended an International Fair, in case you were wondering, and we had a display about Argentina. This was the first time we have ever participated in one of these fairs, but it will not be our last. Were we as focused on Argentina as we could have been? No. Did we learn as much as there is to learn? Not on your life. We barely scratched the surface, but the point is that we finished the project. I had the audacity (in my children’s view) to sign up for a display, and actually expected them to do some research about the country. We did some mapwork on South America and Argentina, learned about some of their customs and government, some of their language with their distinctive accent, and tried out some of their foods (to my husband’s delight). Then we put together a display with food.

I cannot tell you how many “fairs” we have attended but not participated in, but this time we pushed outside of our comfort zone to participate. In short, I imagined doing it. Now that it is done, my children can imagine it and agree that it was a great thing.

Now when people say, “I can’t imagine homeschooling my own children,” I think, “I can’t imagine sending them to school.” Because I can’t. I haven’t practiced that imagination. It is not my desire nor my inclination to subject them to public school. It is my desire to allow them their innocence just as long as they wish. I have sent my children to school so I know what that would be like, but I don’t imagine it. Likewise, I cannot imagine working outside of our home even though that is a common experience. Others do. Even if it isn’t their first (or even second) choice, they imagine it. Imagining is the first step in any endeavor. Car salesmen know that. They work very hard to put a potential buyer behind the wheel of their choice of cars because they know that is the first step to selling the car. So it is everywhere.

So who am I? My picture of myself includes being a homeschooler . . . because that is what I have imagined. That is my reality. Does that make everyone else wrong? No, but it illustrates my point that we become that which we imagine. I graduated in secondary education but could not imagine teaching high school so I became a a technical writer until I had children. Then I finally indulged in my fondest imagination of being a mother and eventually as a homeschool mother.

Finally, do we imagine ourselves as happy in doing what we are doing? That is the biggest, most important skill of all, I believe. If I imagine homeschooling as sheer drudgery, how long will I last? Not as long as I have lasted and definitely no further than this! But if I imagine the breakthrough times of “Ah, hah! I get it!” and the fun projects and making the drudge work a little more fun, I can imagine continuing.

So if can I imagine doing what I am doing or desire to do, and imagine myself radiating joy while I am doing it, it happens. That’s why the days I wake up wanting to growl at the dog are the days I bury myself away from my children so I don’t infect them! And the days I’m excited about doing a project are the days we hit it hard! The days I want to growl at the dog and hit a new subject or project or drudge work out of sheer determination are my disastrous days when there is no good spirit in our home! So today’s definition of “fulfillment”? Doing what I imagine and doing it joyfully!