It’s almost September, which means some people are brand new to homeschooling and excited about the possibilities of what a new school year with a radically different approach can bring. Veteran homeschoolers are often ready to hit the ground running with new curricula, new strategies, and a fresh start. Even those of us who unschool or school year round can’t help put get a little caught up in the “back to school” feeling of this time of year.

Sometimes, it can be hard to hold the energy of a new start up as our yard stick because there are going to be days when it all seems to be falling apart. We’ll remember how optimistic we were when we bought that curriculum or planned out that unit study and feel heartbroken when it doesn’t work out. We’ll look at our checklists of morning routines and notice that it’s 3pm and we’re still on step two and feel defeated. There are going to be hard days, hard weeks, hard months, and even hard years.

So I’ve collected a list of some inspirational quotes to come back to when your homeschool day feels like it’s falling apart.

1. “We must meet the challenge rather than wish it were not before us.” -Former Supreme Court Justice William Brennan

Many of us (myself included) are homeschooling because we could not find an educational fit elsewhere. On days when the journey gets hard, I sometimes need to remind myself that facing a challenge doesn’t mean failing and that the educational choices my family has made reflect our best efforts to put what we believe about life and learning into action.

We can always wish for an easier path, but wishing isn’t progress. Action is. The hard days are part of a longer journey, and these wise words from former Supreme Court Justice Brennan come from a man who struggled valiantly to enact his values through action. His passionate dissents, which I remember being inspired by when I studied them in graduate school, show that even when things aren’t going the way you want, you still have to do the best you can.

2. “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” -John Dewey

As someone who has a background as a formal educator, I can sometimes get really hung up on what we are “supposed” to be doing and how our day “should” look. It’s like I have a fictional race in my mind and have invented other imaginary participants who are hurtling quicker towards a nonexistent finish line.

Dewey is an excellent source for a dose of reality splashed heavily with radical optimism about what education can be. This quote captures his belief that learning is a lifelong and individual action. I believe that, too, but sometimes I need a reminder.

3. “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” -Sydney J. Harris

Harris was a Chicago journalist whose words of wisdom were syndicated across the United States. I love this quote because it points to the broader goal of education. We’re not just checking off a to-do list. We are helping our children expand their perspectives and see the wide world around them.

A mirror shows us ourselves and our immediate surroundings, and it is often the foundational basis of early education to learn through that lens. As we grow, we learn to look outward and see more of the world. Even on days when the to-do list gets thrown aside, we are doing the work of turning mirrors into windows through the readings, discussions, and activities we do, and it’s work that matters.

4. “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” -Maya Angelou

Look, educating human beings to be strong, moral, capable adults is hard work. It’s hard no matter who you are or what educational setting you find yourself in. Kindergarten teachers find it hard, grandparents find it hard, college professors find it hard. It’s hard.

Too often, we’re trained to think about the end goal and not the process of becoming. I also like this smart quote from the brilliant Maya Angelou because it reminds me that as hard as things are for me, I’m not the focus here. While I’m growing through the experience of homeschooling, too, it’s my children’s transformation I am getting to witness, and they’re the ones going through the metamorphosis. My job is to be appropriately respectful and a little amazed at just what that entails and to make sure they come out on the other side with the tools they need to become whoever they are.

You’re going to have hard days as a homeschooler, and it’s going to take a lot of trial and error and adaptation to find what works for you at each age and stage of the process. Stepping back and remembering why I’m doing what I’m doing helps me to feel more grounded, and I hope it can give you some confidence in the amazing work you’re doing, too.