When a Loss Is a Win

          Looks like I’m the out of step with the group again. Unlike Shonna (Congratulations!), I didn’t finish NaNo and unlike Kitty, I’m not even close. I haven’t written a word on my NaNoNovel since the day before I wrote my blog about quitting. Should I hold a pity party and grieve my loss? After all, I missed out on a lot of fun and I have an almost empty story document to prove it.

          No! This is a time when the best decision was to break the routine. Like I said last week, we must continually evaluate our routines and daily activities to make sure they are still the best use of our time. The best use of my time this month was to focus on my personal blog for the first couple of weeks and revel in spending time playing with my family the last two weeks of this month. (I still have two more days with my daughter and six more with my son!)

          I am reminded of comments I’ve heard during my seventeen years of homeschooling. Most had the same theme. “They are missing so much. You should send them to school.” When pressed, these critics listed things like proms, PE, time with friends, routines and schedules, football, band, yearbooks and more.

          For every negative presented, though, I saw the possibility for many more positives. They had many of those similar experiences and so much more. I had the privilege of leading and teaching them via delight-directed learning. We studied topics that interested and challenged us, integrating family life and school in a way not possible in classrooms. We went to numerous play dates with large groups of kids. We attended and participated in countless recitals, classes, clubs and special events. We socialized, joined groups and even went to PE. And we did it in a safe, secure and harmonious environment. What they experienced was so much richer than the traditional alternative of classroom learning. I knew I was giving them experiences and an education far more valuable than a few illusory rites of passage like proms, standardized tests and PE locker rooms.

          That is exactly how I feel about this year’s NaNo “loss”. Yes, in past years I have indeed reveled in the insanity of writing a story as fast as possible. I’m sure I’ll do so again. Probably in 2010. This year, though, far more important things captured my attention. Had I spent my time trying to finish a NaNoNovel, I would have missed long talks with my visiting daughter, afternoons spent cooking and baking, hours of family games and movie-watching. Instead of a fun-filled, busy day of creating and enjoying a Thanksgiving feast with the family, I could have frolicked with my characters. In so doing, I would have missed way too much. Had I been caught up in NaNo fever, I would never have written the blogs for my personal website or enjoyed that hilarious game of CatchPhrase with the family.

          I might have lost NaNo, but I am much richer for it. I’m thrilled that Shonna has won NaNo! I’m just as excited for Kitty’s progress (and probable win). And I’m rooting for you to win, too. But I’m resting contented in the fact that I made the right choice.

          Being out of step with those around me has been a constant theme in my life. Perhaps I’m out of step because, as Henry David Thoreau said, I am marching to a different drummer. What about you? Out of step? Evaluate. Maybe it’s a good thing.

          And to all of us . . . Happy, Joyous, Productive Writing!