Turtle Lessons About Living and Learning

I am a firm believer that if one takes a moment each day to observe nature, many lessons can be observed and answers given to live a natural lifestyle deeply connected with the earth in which we live. Everything from trees and plants, weather patterns and seasons, to the animals and their behavior all can act as teachers and guides.

What can a turtle teach us about living and learning?

To start :  If slow and steady wins the race.......why then does public schools take the position of the hare and not the tortoise? Why are they is such a hurry to cram more and more information into younger and younger minds and then scream how it is a flawed and broken system that needs to be reformed?  Perhaps they should reconsider the message of the Tortoise and Hare!

Some things we can learn from our Turtle friends:

1.) Keep it slow and steady and you will see progression of learning and not as likely to have periods of burnout or a frustrated child overwhelmed by too fast a pace. Kids learn, well people in general really all learn in their own time, at their own pace and that is perfectly okay. Not over scheduling activities gives us plenty of time to take a laid back approach which allows us to take in more and observe more. By observing more we can rise to the challenge of taking cues from the observations on bringing in and seeking opportunities of things that would light a fire of passion to learning.

2.) How to Shield yourself from negative energies- the outside world can be highly critical of homeschoolers, even more so to unschoolers. Their words can be hard, cold and given without thought based in information, only fear of the unknown. While the outside world can be hard, we can be soft and kind, safely tucked into an environment of love, connection and safe boundaries where natural learning can flourish. We do not need to let the thoughts of others harden us to the core, but we can keep a thick skin on the outside so we go about our lives unaffected by others opinions.

3.) Sometimes life gets in the way, stuff happens, health fails, our world gets turned upside down. Don't give up, while it is extremely difficult to right yourself, and may take great effort, it is NOT impossible!

4.) Home can literally be where ever we go, which works splendidly for gypsy souls, travelers and world schoolers. Home does not have to be bricks and sticks and permanency. Home is not a building, it is what lives inside the building that makes it a home. Where family goes, home goes. Taking our home with us does not mean keeping yourself chained within a small world, but by being able to take it with you, you can become part of a much bigger world.

5.) Develop ideas, and even though they may stay buried for awhile, allow them to hatch naturally. Fully explore your ideas, nurture them, grow them, give them light and let them expand and develop by going with the flow, naturally without rushing it.

6.) That it is okay to retreat  inside to the safety and coziness of your home, you do not always have to be out and about, visible and on the go.

7.) That some of us may seem a little cold and hard on the outside but is just our defense after dealing with too many who don't "get" it. Give it a little time to get to know us, many of us are really quite soft, loving and generous on the inside.

8.) Stay grounded and connected within our daily environment, take a moment to breath in all the goodness in the morning. Take a few minutes to meditate or yoga, breathing exercises and find your calm for the day trying to hold on to that for the duration of the day.

9.) That it is okay to be a teenage, a mutant or a ninja as one friend so humorously puts it! I will not expand on that, I will leave it to your vivid imagination for the deeper meaning!

10.)  As their are varieties of turtles, same is the number of homeschooling methods, find which one works for you. Each species of turtle has very different needs and habitats and you will find this goes for homeschool methods as well.

11.) Know it is okay to take a little longer to get somewhere but take time to always be in the present, taking in everything about your surrounds and what is going on within it. Plan accordingly so you can take your time without having to rush.

12.) Know your goals ( goes for life in general!) and do not let all the little distractions move you off course. Keep heading in the direction of your goals and you will get there!

As you can see, our friends the turtles have a lot to teach us, can you think of  lesson from turtle that is not mentioned here? Leave a comment and let us know!