Recently I was sitting at a stop light staring up at a fancy billboard ad encouraging people in my district to vote “yes” for a $41 million school bond, and it got me thinking about how our public schools spend […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Spring Dilemma: Must We Finish Curriculum?
With the joy and sunshine of spring comes this very familiar reader question each year: “I feel like the end of this school year is coming much faster that I want it to, and I’m worried that I need to finish […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Finding Relief for Homeschool Burnout
There are many reasons why homeschooling parents can experience burnout during the school year. It could be seasonal (a long winter), topical (curriculum feels stale), or more personal (family crisis, illness). It may even get to a point that you […]
Faith & Family
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: Fear
Fear often holds us back in our homeschooling journey and robs us of the joy God has in store for us as we teach our children and create deeper relationships with them. I have yet to meet a homeschooler who hasn’t struggled […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: Not Qualified
One of the top reasons for not homeschooling that I hear from parents is that they don’t feel qualified to teach their children. They believe that if they don’t know Chemistry or Calculus, or whatever the subject, this lack of knowledge will hinder their child’s education. Personally, […]
NextGen Perspectives
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Homeschool Veterans: Pay it Forward!
It is time — past time, really — for me to pay it forward in the homeschool community. I have always liked to help people, but I mostly do it on a one-on-one basis — quietly. However, the past couple of years I have […]
Faith & Family
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: Being Overprotective
There seems to be an epidemic of helicopter parenting in our country today… Or maybe it’s just in my suburban neighborhood. But I also notice it a lot in the homeschooling community. In fact, for many parents, being able to better protect their […]
Real-Life Homeschooling
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Real-Life Homeschooling: A Day in Our Life
Last week I got to thinking about how our homeschool days have been flowing… all over the house. So I decided to take a few pictures of where we “did school” throughout the day to give you a glimpse of what real-life homeschooling looks like for […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: Sensitivity
When I first started homeschooling more than 10 years ago, I felt a lot of pressure and judgment — not only from outsiders, but also family members and even my own children. For those first few years, I was very sensitive and […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: The Schedule
I am one of those list-making/calendar-posting/digital-app-updating Type A mamas who thought I would have no trouble keeping it all together once we started homeschooling. After all, I’m a former editorial manager who steered multiple magazine sections like a tight ship, with an assignments timeline whiteboard up in my […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: Perfect House
If you are expecting to have the same clean, picture-perfect house you had (or imagined you would have) when your kids left the house for six hours a day to attend school, you may be striving for the unattainable as […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: Scope & Sequence
I have written before about my love for lists and all things organizational, and with that came a love of scope and sequences. I love being able to check off a skill my child learns — especially when it is earlier […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: “School”
You might already be asking yourself: What do you mean let go of school? Isn’t homeschooling all about school at home? Yes and no — and the longer I homeschool, the more I understand the “no” side. Let me explain… When we started […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: Writing Plans in Pen
I am a planner. I love homeschool planners, lists, outlines, organizing things, file folders, three ring binders — the whole nine yards. I would much rather shop at an office supply store than any clothing store. I have been known to spend much of our […]
Homeschool Encouragement
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: Comparison
I love going to homeschool conventions. I have written about them here several times. In fact, this year I am helping to plan the OCHEC Tulsa Convention. Last year, though, I discovered something else about myself during my convention experience. […]