Our first year of homeschooling was filled with so many emotions. If you are a homeschool mom or considering it, keep reading to learn my top lessons.
Our first year of homeschooling started in the fall of 2020. My husband and I had decided that we would homeschool our younger two starting in the fall. The idea was that we would take it one year at a time. Homeschooling our kids had never really crossed my mind, however, it has always intrigued me. Yet, I was often faced with the common worries that we all face when we consider homeschooling. Pushing the worries aside, we jumped into homeschooling.
In a surprising twist, we ended up loving homeschooling and will continue homeschooling our youngest two this year. If you are a homeschool mom or considering it, I think you will find these lessons helpful!
Lessons from Our First Year of Homeschooling
Start your day being filled up.
Homeschooling has been one of the hardest things I have ever done as a mom. I could go from thinking we are doing a great job to threatening to drive my kids to school in the blink of an eye. I had many moments of despair and frustration.
What I realized was that in those moments, I was drained. I started waking up early so I could spend time in prayer, reading my Bible, doing some yoga, or taking a walk. After being filled up, I was able to pour out. There were still frustrating moments but I no longer felt overwhelmed.
Give yourself and your kids time to adjust.
I started homeschooling when my son was in third grade and my daughter in first grade. It was an adjustment as they figured out what it meant to learn at home. At first, I felt like nothing was working, but I soon realized I needed to give us all time to adjust. After a few weeks, we got into a good rhythm.
Do not recreate the schoolroom at home.
This is such a tempting thing to do. I found myself trying to recreate school at home and it never ended well. The beauty of homeschooling is that you can do what you want. Take some time to think about what you want your school to look like.
Surround yourself with a community.
As much as I love being home and am an introvert, I quickly realized there is a need to have community. This is key for moms and for their kids. Over the course of our year, we slowly created a little community that turned into a Wild and Free group. It was the most unexpected blessing of the year.
Having a community is key because you need other moms around you to encourage you when you are frustrated. Every homeschool mom is going to have moments where they want to quit. You need people to listen to you, laugh with you, and cheer you on.
Take time to learn.
The beauty of homeschooling in this time period is that information is everywhere! There are so many podcasts and books that can be great resources.
My favorite podcasts:
My favorite books:
The Call of the Wild & Free
Teaching from Rest
Stick to what you planned, unless it is a complete disaster.
I can get off track very easily when I see something that looks like a good idea. While it is good to learn as I shared in the point above, we have to do so without getting distracted. This year, I am heading into it with a more focused mind. I have decided that when I see good ideas, I will write them in my notebook. Then I can possibly add them in or just save them for the future.
Obviously, if a curriculum is not working at all, make the change. You do not need to suffer all year long!
You have nothing to prove.
It is easy to fall into the trap of trying to prove to others that you are doing a great job. There can be family members or friends who may question your decision to homeschool. As a result, we can slip into trying to prove to others that we made the right choice.
We have nothing to prove. We need to be living to please God alone.
These lessons from our first year of homeschooling are just a handful.
There were so many more but these were the key ones. What lessons would you add to this list?
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