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© Beverley Paine 2006

Here's a neat trick I learned the other week and it's already starting to pay dividends.

All too often achieving my goal is thwarted by negative thoughts and a sense of despondency when things don't work out the way I want them too straight off.

Instead of looking at the situation as it is, I've learned to say "what is this NOT like?"

Try it: pick something that regularly upsets or annoys you, or in some way blocks your progress or causes chaos in your life. When you ask "what is this NOT like" you cause a shift in your perspective that will help to show you the solution to whatever problem besets you.

This concept ties in rather neatly with the permaculture adage - "the problem is the solution".

By back tracking from this new state (what it is not) I can see the steps I need to take to achieve my goal.

For example, if I am frustrated by my child's lack of enthusiasm for her maths lesson and the day is quickly sliding into one of those 'bad days', I ask 'what is this NOT?' It's not the way I'd want her school teacher to handle the situation. In a flash I see an image of a patient and sympathetic teacher who eagerly takes the time to investigate what is causing the child's learning block. Straight away my heart softens and I'm back on track, focussed on the reason I'm teaching my child at home.

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Beverley Paine with her children, and their home educated children, relaxing at home.

Together with the support of my family, my aim is to help parents educate their children in stress-free, nurturing environments. In addition to building and maintaing this website, I continue to create and manage local and national home educating networks, help to organise conferences and camps, as well as write for, edit and produce newsletters, resource directories and magazines. I am an active supporter of national, state, regional and local home education groups.

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We began educating our children in 1985, when our eldest was five. In truth, we had helped them learn what they need to learn since they were born. I am a passionate advocate of allowing children to learn unhindered by unnecessary stress and competition, meeting developmental needs in ways that suit their individual learning styles and preferences. Ours was a homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning family! There are hundreds of articles on this site to help you build confidence as a home educating family. We hope that your home educating adventure is as satisfying as ours was! Beverley Paine

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