Last week I celebrated my big 5-0 birthday. Yes, it is a shocker, and the sound of it still sends chills down my spine. It was a great day. The whole family had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, then we went to the new movie “Big Hero 6” (great movie), and then we hosted a party that night with old friends that I hadn’t seen in over a decade.
Against my wishes, my wife had everyone bring a gag gift. I’m a terrible gift OPENER and sat there like a lame-brain opening their gag gifts. One of the gifts was a big poster board poking fun at some of the sayings I’m known for…and one of them was a play on the book Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe, but instead of ‘believe’ it said ‘tell.’
That got me thinking how many of the lies homeschooling moms believe are a result of the lies homeschooling moms TELL. And sometimes you moms are guilty of telling some whoppers.
Now, I know you’re not telling them intentionally or to deceive…you just want things to sound better than they are. So when you’re in a group and certain topics come up, you’re quick to say things like, “We’re having so much fun studying such and such…oh, I’m doing great…we all just laughed and laughed as we sat on the couch reading together…look at what my daughter wrote…”
Sometimes you don’t SAY anything at all, but there is “lie telling” by not telling how things are really going.
I remember talking to one homeschool leader who said, “We just need to put our best foot forward.” He smiled at me like he was being noble. What I should have said, but didn’t think of at the moment was, “Yeah, but our best foot is a LIE.”
You see, Mom, part of the problem with all the lies homeschooling moms believe is that WE tell homeschooling lies. We post the happy stuff, the great meals, the fun trips, and yet ignore or embellish the raw, ugly truth.
So here’s your assignment: if you do Facebook, go out on a limb and tell something truthful. Tell those friends of yours what your school day really looked like. You might even need to go a back a few days and put your “REAL” foot forward.
You’re not doing it because it feels good or because it’s cleansing somehow (which it is). You’re doing it because other homeschooling moms need you to be real…to help them believe the truth.
Only the truth,
Todd
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