The Search For Excellence – Part 2
If you’ve read Excellence – Part 1… you’ll know that I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the topic of excellence. My husband had an interesting response when I recently commented to him how much I appreciated a friend and colleague’s aspirations for excellence. He said “Oh, you mean her kids always look good, her house is clean and she’s always well-dressed and “together?” Hmm… that’s not what I was thinking at all! Because by that standard, I would have to say that many of the home schooling families I know are not excellent: kids are wearing rumpled play-clothes, house is a bit cluttered, and mom certainly is no “fashionista”!
So… how do they relate? Well, you can have creativity without excellence, but you can’t have excellence without creativity. (You might have to read that again… and once more.) Let’s allow as fact that to strive for excellence, three qualities must be present: enthusiasm(what we feel), high expectations (what we think), and effort(how we act). If that is the case, those activities naturally describe a process; one where ideas, possibilities, suggestions and/or models are proposed, invented, “bandied about”. Such activity is often messy – and always creative!
So then, what marks the difference between the “slob” and the “excellence-seeker” is clearly attitude. The mess made by the homemaker or child who is too lazy to put things away versus that made as a result of a science project, art project and meal preparation happening simultaneously, may appear on the surface to be the same. The net result in the first case is a lifestyle of laziness. The net result in the latter, however, is an environment where individuals can think out of the box, where they are free to try something different in a desire to do or to be something better. It’s the dream I have for our kids and our homeschool.
The profile shot for the Facebook group HAS (Homeschoolers Achieving Success) is the picture of the moon high in the sky. It’s because my motto is “Shoot for the moon ~ you may not reach it, but you’ll end up so much higher than you would have if you hadn’t aimed for it in the first place!” That’s how to achieve excellence!
During the summer, many of us will be busy planning for the next school year. In preparation, how about thinking foundationally and getting a grasp on “excellence” in your own life? Take some time to rethink and regroup. Resolve to make the attitude adjustment it takes to focus on excellence in your personal life and relationships, in your marriage and family, and in your homeschool. Don’t get mired in mediocrity; elevate your life with excellence!
“…those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.” Titus 3:8b
Pat Fenner offers encouragement to homeschoolers at Help-4-Your-Homeschool.com. For monthly doses of encouragement, inspiration and ideas, sign up for her free newsletter “Sparks for the Flame”.
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