Sailing Thru Failure

Sailing Through Failure versus Getting Caught in the Eddies of Disappointment

This morning I ran across a wonderful short video that a homeschooled girl (Hannah) made demonstrating her rubber-band powered paddle boat.

What a wonderful demonstration of how positive a homeschool fail can be! She starts the video by discussing how she made the boat and why she colored the bath water. Then she winds the paddle up on the back of her milk-carton boat, puts it in the water, and….

…. it doesn’t go.

So unfazed, she takes it out an talks about how she designed the pencil-struts that hold the paddle so that they can move up and down in the water. She readjusts her boat, winds it back up, puts it into the water, and … success!

Isn’t that a great example for our kids to learn from? If it fails, don’t falter, just try again.

And, when you think about it, that lesson of determination is really a good one for us as homeschool moms as well. Honestly, how many times do we have a fail each week? Do we just move on, adjust, and try again without a second thought?

I try to, but often my process includes just a wee bit of disappointment, even though I really ought to embody that girl as she demonstrates her boat.

How about you? Do you sail through failure, or get caught in the eddies of disappointment?