Monday, June 4, 2012

Chasing the Changes, Changing the Pages

So. What has been happening at Walden's Wits? Not much, obviously. This blog is "in transition," to put it mildly. I deliberately let the domain WaldensWits.com lapse because I really didn't want to spend my family's already precious income on what is essentially a vanity. That might change, especially if finances pick up again in the fall like they usually do. While I understand that some folks may not be able to find my blog anymore, I don't know that many folks found the custom name terribly memorable. In the meantime, suggestions for new names on this blog can be e-mailed or commented. This being a personal blog, it's themes will change from time to time, but something on my name or my nicknames will surface eventually and we'll change the name.

My life tends to oscillate between learning and teaching. When I started this blog, I was a gainfully employed husband and father of a toddler and two children under 10. Now those children will all be over 10 in a year or so, and my disability has prevented my full-time employment for most of that time. My family has started a ministry, a business and a few other ventures. I'm having to learn what it means to parent teenagers, how to manage hormones that aren't my own, and to do so without stressing myself out and making my condition considerably worse.

I was a blogger advocating homeschooling as an education choice, which, because of it's own merits, is like advocating safer driving or Arbor Day. In doing so, I felt a little bit like a boy scout helping a linebacker cross the street. Much of the educational community seems to have decided that homeschoolers are going to fight any abrogation of their rights and figured they would be better off trying to "help" homeschoolers back into schools with programs rather than harass or intimidate them. Right now, there's just not that much controversy, not that I sought controversy, but it is what makes some blogs popular.

Instead, I found my best work encouraging others in their efforts to educate their kids at home. Homeschooling is going strong and my wife and I continue to educate our kids exclusively on our own, a freedom we appreciate immensely and continue to support wholeheartedly. But change happens. Our local homeschool group disbanded, and it's emphasis on mothers didn't exactly help fathers engage. Our larger homeschool agency suffered a coup d' état, falling to folks whose views run contrary to our own, leaving us unaffiliated with a conference and without that seasonal boost to get us re-focused.

Rather than focus on these issues, I've wanted to keep my tone positive. The problem came when I held myself back from saying things. It shuts me down and I haven't wanted to write about it. I guess that may keep me out of a fight, but if I want to write, it's not such a good idea.

So. This is truly in transition! I'm not someone to champion a person or cause because anyone short of Jesus Christ is going to have problems and imperfections. I'm so fiercely loyal, I get wrapped up in those issues and my imperfect character and intellect can end up hurting a lot more than myself, and that is difficult to shoulder. I want to help, not hurt, protect, not proselytize, confirm, not condemn. I will continue to aspire to the positive. But I can't keep silent on issues I see. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I don't want to drag everyone in with me. I'll simply recognize the error--hopefully--and go on. In the meantime, I need to give myself permission to just say what's on my mind and not take so much in the way of self-censorship. I might even float the odd fiction piece or poem, even if there's plenty of bad fiction and even worse poetry already out there. I will either add to the dross or let my work be judged worthy of someone else's attention. In the meantime, stay tuned!

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