I have been homeschooling for 10 years now, and I’ve never really questioned our decision to homeschool. I have always enjoyed teaching my kids and being there for the “lightbulb” moments on their educational journeys. Don’t get me wrong: Homeschooling is hard, and I lose my patience and blow it constantly. But…
When I first started homeschooling my two middle-school-aged daughters more than 10 years ago, I remember really struggling with the mother vs. teacher dynamic right off the bat. I thought that homeschooling my girls would bring us closer by adding “teacher” to the roles I already played in their lives.…
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 with some of these fears — myself included. I find…
Even after 10 years of homeschooling, my biggest challenge is still consistency. Because of our lifestyle — owning two busy donut shops — my plans are interrupted on an almost daily basis. Add to that the recent chaos of building a house, selling a house, moving to the new house, and…
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 every textbook and lesson from the curriculum that we’re using…
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 feel like throwing in the towel — but it doesn’t…
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 with some of these fears — myself included. I find…
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, I don’t struggle with this concern or give it merit because:…
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 children is a major reason they decided to homeschool. Although I agree…
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 defensive of our choice to homeschool. I also had a tendency…
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 office leading the way and a project management spreadsheet keeping all my…
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 than they are “supposed” to know something. However, the flip side…