I don’t know about you, but sometimes homeschooling feels so complicated to me. I love it, but it is messy, overwhelming, and definitely not easy sometimes. Often, though, when we find it most overwhelming is when we are trying to do too much, get too creative, and so on.
I want to share with you some ways that I think are incredibly helpful to simplify and make homeschooling a more enjoyable experience.
- Let it go
I hate to go all “Frozen” on all of you, but this is truth. What are you hanging onto that just isn’t cutting it? Is it guilt? Take time to examine why that guilt is hanging around. After you’ve examined it, get rid of it. Kick it to the curb. Or maybe it’s that curriculum you bought that you thought would be AMAZING? I get it. I am very frugal and I think long and hard before I spend our hard earned money on anything. However, if it isn’t working, it needs to go. Or is it something else? Whatever it is, your homeschool will be better if you “let it go.”
2. Spend Less Time in Workbooks
Yes, I know this is nothing short of a swear word to some of you. I’m not claiming to be a radical unschooler by any means. Let’s face it, I struggle to find the balance between life lessons and workbooks just like the next mama, but sometimes too much time in workbooks can suck the life out of you and your children. So why not take some time off from the workbooks and re-discover learning through the eyes of your children?
3. Be Yourself
This is related to above. Maybe workbooks help you relax. Or maybe you are an unschooler. Be yourself. Don’t compare yourself to every homeschool blog or Pinterest idea out there. You are you. You are created by God to be you. Your family is unique, your family dynamics are different than every other family. You need to homeschool the way that works best for your family. Once upon a time, I spent a lot of time reading blogs and books about homeschooling. You see, I have a very analytical mind and if things aren’t working quite right, I can tend to go looking for answers to all of my life’s problems somewhere else. You know what happens when I do that? I get very confused. I don’t know what we were supposed to be doing. So it’s really important to know what works best for your family and stick with that.
4. It’s all about relationship
I would like to think that some of the reason that we are all homeschooling is because we would like to have the opportunity to have great relationships with our kids. Sometimes it can be easy to spend all this time “teaching” our children schoolwork, but not actually take the time to build the relationship. Remember you need time to be Mom with your kids, to make memories that don’t involve school time. It’s hard sometimes but I believe it’s worth it.
5. Trust Jesus
This one is last not because I feel it’s the least important, but because I feel it’s the most important. It’s so easy to run to google, to our favorite blogs, and so on when things aren’t going exactly the way we planned. However, Jesus wants to be everything. He really wants us to trust in him. After all, he loves our kids more than we do and he already knows exactly what they will need when they grow up.
Phil 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ Who Strengthens me.”
He wants to be that for us and it’s important that we let him.
Those are some of my tips to simplify your homeschool. Do I always do this perfectly? Absolutely not, but I’m definitely growing and learning this every single day.
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