Our “X” Factor

This past weekend I was able to visit my best friend since 3rd grade. We’ve been through a lot of firsts together and I was beyond grateful to share another with her, seeing her transition into motherhood.

This is not the time or place to share all of the intricacies of the joys of the weekend, however, it was interesting that even at a few days old, this new momma was already considering ideas around school for her little one.

She doesn’t live in our area so Indi-ED at this time, we’re expanding and perhaps one day we’ll be in her neighborhood but currently, is not an option for her. She’s followed our journey. She can see the value. She watched as I received messages from students sharing about their travels and summer adventures and how excited they were to return to school.

Yes, students (and families) communicating with teachers over the summer in positive anticipation of the school year.

As we reminisced and noticed stark differences I shared that while we do a million things differently at Indi-ED than what we had to endure, and quite frankly what most traditional schools are still doing, what it comes down to is our “x factor” is our families.

They are all different in many ways, but who isn’t. Cultural background, makeup, income levels, prior educational experiences, ages, academic levels, professions, etc.

But there are more things that we unite on that create our positive school environment.

We all believe in actively contributing. We all believe in positively communicating. We all believe in seeing each others’ strengths and assuming the best case scenario. We all believe in supporting one another. We believe that mistakes are opportunities. We believe in working through challenges together. We believe in being grateful. We believe in the value of knowing one another’s stories. We believe that everyone deserves the space and time to become their best. We believe that becoming a quality human is just as important as becoming a quality student. We believe that hard work is necessary. I state all of these as beliefs that I know to be true because I’ve seen our families put them and so many others into action.

Any adult knows how powerful these mentalities are in an any working relationship-personal, work, or otherwise. So why wouldn’t those same values be of significance with the people who spend the second highest amount of time with your children be any different?

I say it all of the time, we’re so grateful to have so many “good people” around us at Indi-ED. And after our first family event of the year, I know that our new families joining us this year only contribute further to that.

So while there may have been some jokingly apprehensive conversation around the future educational plans for my friend’s little one, it was a solid reminder of why I’m so grateful to offer what we do to our families and to have their genuine support. Those cute little babies belong to people who love them more than anything else in the world and they grow up into little people who are learning to navigate this thing called life for themselves. We’re happy to support and we don’t take our impact for granted.

#TeamXFactor