{"id":62402,"date":"2021-03-23T10:35:44","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T14:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/?p=62402"},"modified":"2026-02-12T09:53:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:53:06","slug":"you-dont-have-to-finish-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/you-dont-have-to-finish-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"You don&#8217;t have to finish everything you start"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/you-dont-have-to-finish-everything\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-62416 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/road-908176_640.jpg\" alt=\"You Don't Have to Finish Everything You Start\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/road-908176_640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/road-908176_640-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><em>You Don&#8217;t Have to Finish Everything You Start ~<br \/>\nWritten by <a href=\"https:\/\/melissacamarawilkins.com\/book\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Melissa Camara Wilkins<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh my gosh, science is terrible,\u201d I whispered to my husband as we made dinner the other night.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d just spent an hour helping our youngest kids build \u201cmodel animal habitats\u201d out of plastic baggies and straws, according to instructions in a science experiment book. (I\u2019m pretty sure plastic and straws are more like animal <em>hazards<\/em> than animal homes, but that wasn\u2019t mentioned in the book.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>I was whispering because I didn\u2019t want the kids to overhear me, in case they accidentally agreed with me.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Prefer to listen instead?<\/em><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/19091156\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/3ebdc0\/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"90\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI kind of hate science.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUm,\u201d he whispered back, \u201cdon\u2019t you have a degree in science?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Oh. Right. That is true. Research, discovery, questioning and revising our understanding of the world around us\u2026 I am a big fan of all these things.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wait a minute, now I remember! I don\u2019t hate science. I love science!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You know what I don\u2019t love?<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t love digging through boxes of \u201cscience supplies\u201d to find brass fasteners and tiny mirrors and a water balloon only to realize we still need cream of tartar and a toothpick, both of which we probably own but neither of which can we find.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-62408\" src=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-straws.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"575\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-straws.png 575w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-straws-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-straws-550x413.png 550w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-straws-350x263.png 350w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-straws-260x195.png 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 575px) 100vw, 575px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>I don\u2019t love setting up \u201cexperiments\u201d for elementary schoolers that could just as easily have been learned via \u201cexplanations\u201d or maybe \u201ca short YouTube clip.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t love projects that leave seven-year-olds frustrated that their \u201cmodel ant\u201d doesn\u2019t look anything like a real ant, and that the project doesn\u2019t answer any of their actual, legitimate questions about, well, anything, including ants. (For example: How does each ant know where to sleep in the anthill? Who assigns jobs in the ant colony? What\u2019s the biggest ant in the world, what\u2019s the smallest ant in the world, which ants bite, etc., etc.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>I don\u2019t love setting up, then slogging through a project, then cleaning up, at the end of which my kids say: \u201cYeah, we already learned that from Wild Kratts.\u201d<\/strong> Wild Kratts!<\/p>\n<p>Instead of spending the whole afternoon on this, we could have learned it in 22 minutes, with no sticky substances spilled on the kitchen table!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-62407\" src=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-cotton-swabs.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"575\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-cotton-swabs.png 575w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-cotton-swabs-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-cotton-swabs-550x413.png 550w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-cotton-swabs-350x263.png 350w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-cotton-swabs-260x195.png 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 575px) 100vw, 575px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t hate science. I love science. I just don\u2019t love the thing we were doing that was supposed to get our kids excited about science.<\/p>\n<p>This is probably okay, seeing as I don\u2019t remember doing any of these activities during my own elementary school career, and my science education still turned out fine.<\/p>\n<p>Plus\u2014my seven-year-old? She\u2019s my sixth child. All my older kids have learned all about science, without me ever following a recipe for making a giant batch of kinetic sand!<\/p>\n<p><strong>So why were we doing this at all? Do you know who purchased the box of science supplies and the book that told us what to do with them? IT WAS ME.<\/strong> <em>(My seven-year-old may feel that she is very grown up, but she does not have her own debit card for random purchases of batteries, paperclips, and Styrofoam trays.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We usually go for interest-driven options that allow for independent learning around here. No one was even asking for a book of science experiments, so why did I buy this one that requires me to do all the experimenting?<\/p>\n<p>I guess I was worried that my kids wouldn\u2019t learn the scientific method without it, so I clicked \u201cbuy now.\u201d I\u2019m not endorsing that train of thought\u2014it lacks logic, or even, like, thinking two steps ahead\u2014I\u2019m just reconstructing the events that got us here.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, even though I seem to have forgotten an important life lesson about not buying stuff you don\u2019t want to use, I have learned this: <strong><em>you don\u2019t have to finish everything you start.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-62403\" src=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/dont-have-to-finish-pin.png\" alt=\"You Don't Have to Finish Everything You Start\" width=\"459\" height=\"688\" srcset=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/dont-have-to-finish-pin.png 735w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/dont-have-to-finish-pin-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/dont-have-to-finish-pin-683x1024.png 683w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There are things worth sticking to, for sure. But if a learning activity is sucking the joy out of learning, or the life force out of you, <em>or the love out of science<\/em>, that is not a thing to hold on to.<\/p>\n<p>If you (or your kids) suddenly hate science\u2014or read-alouds, or history, or your morning routine\u2014it\u2019s probably not you, and it\u2019s probably not science. <em>(Just like it\u2019s probably not books, or history, or mornings.)<\/em> <strong>It might just be the WAY you\u2019re doing those things.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When something just isn\u2019t working, it\u2019s at least worth asking the question: Is this how this kid learns best? Is this how I work best as a parent? Is there another way? Is there a way that we might find challenging, sure, but also rewarding? Is there one of those?<\/p>\n<p>For us, for science, the answer was yes, there is a better way. There were lots of ways my kids were already learning about science, and they really didn\u2019t need a box of magnets and paperclips and two sizes of eyedroppers to spark their interest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It turns out, I didn\u2019t buy the science stuff to meet an actual educational need. I bought it because of a momentary worry that we might be missing something. There\u2019s a difference.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So I put the box of science supplies away in the closet where I hide things to see if anyone ever asks for them again. <em>(So far, no one has.)<\/em> I closed the door on the whole thing. We don\u2019t have to finish everything we start, and this was one thing we could let go.<\/p>\n<p>And you know what?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Just like that, I love science all over again.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-62404\" src=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-activities-pin.png\" alt=\"You Don't Have to Finish Everything You Start\" width=\"459\" height=\"688\" srcset=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-activities-pin.png 735w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-activities-pin-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homeschool-activities-pin-683x1024.png 683w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Do you also need the reminder that you don&#8217;t have to finish everything you start in your homeschool? What&#8217;s something that you recently put away in your closet, LOL?!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/simplehomeschool.net\/quiz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What&#8217;s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie&#8217;s quiz now<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You Don&#8217;t Have to Finish Everything You Start ~ Written by Melissa Camara Wilkins \u201cOh my gosh, science is terrible,\u201d I whispered to my husband as we made dinner the other night. I\u2019d just spent an hour helping our youngest kids build \u201cmodel animal habitats\u201d out of plastic baggies and straws, according to instructions in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":62416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[342,329,26,361,333],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-62402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-relationships","category-learning-curriculum","category-relationships","category-science","category-subject-guides","tag-science"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>You don&#039;t have to finish everything you start - Simple Homeschool<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If your kids suddenly hate science\u2014it\u2019s not you, and it\u2019s not science. 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