5 Tips for New Homeschoolers
When I first started homeschooling, I often fell into the comparison trap and spent a lot of time questioning things.
I know that many of you are just beginning your homeschooling journey, so I want to share some advice that people shared with me, as well as a few things I learned along the way that might help if you’re just starting out and are not feeling that confident about it yet.
#1 – Don’t compare yourself to others
This is true in all areas of life but it’s absolutely applicable to homeschooling.
Don’t compare your homeschooling, don’t compare your kids, don’t compare them with other homeschoolers, don’t compare them with each other. There is so much temptation to do that – especially when you see other people’s kids doing six grade levels above their regular grade level and your kid is still eating boogers and you can hardly get him to focus on a darn thing.
Kids are different. They all learn differently and they all have different speeds at which they learn things. You cannot compare, you just can’t.
They say comparison is the thief of joy. It will literally rob you of the joy and fruits of your own homeschool if you’re constantly focused on and worried about what everyone else is doing and how they’re doing it and maybe you’re not doing it well enough. You just have to let that go.
Put your blinders on and run your own race.
#2 – Do what’’s best for your family
You are the only one who knows the ins and outs of your family dynamics. This is so incredibly important.
For example, I have friends that homeschool who have fewer children than I do and they don’t have the same special needs as my children. It can be really tempting to look at what they’re doing and think that looks like fun, they get to do all those things, go on all those field trips... And those might be things that I can’t do with my kids because of their ages, maturity levels, or other reasons.
For me it ultimately helps to know what is best for my family. What is best for my kids?
And here’s the thing, mamas. Remember that you know your children better than anybody else. Despite how much I have loved our children’s teachers through the years, they never are going to know my children as well as I do.
So that is a huge benefit in educating them: You really, really know them and you know what makes them tick, what encourages them. Make sure you are tailoring you homeschool to what works for y’all and your schedule.
You might come across a homeschooling routine video where they get up at 5am, the kids start school at 7:30am and are done by 11am. But your kids like to sleep in and sometimes school doesn’t get started till 10am and you’re not done till 2pm or 3pm.
Who cares?! If that’s what works for you and your family, then go for it!
The beauty of homeschooling is you can make it work for your life and your lifestyle. There are so many different scenarios in which people are homeschooling and making it work for their families. Don’t feel like you need to be doing what everyone else is doing.
#3 – Put your earplugs in
There are going to be negative people and often they will be family and friends. When people don’t understand something, they tend to meet it with opposition. Everyone has a I-knew-somebody-who-was-homeschooled-and-they-were-a-complete-freak story and that’s now their notion of homeschooling.
But you obviously know that’s not true for yourself, so it really is important that you put those earplugs in until you get strong and get your bearings on your confidence. Don’t listen to the outside opinions and noise, because there is going to be a ton of it. It’s hard to feel stable when you’re listening to what everybody wants you to be doing.
Focus on your own race. Really quiet yourself to focus in on your mama heart, what you know is best for you kids and for your family.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t listen to constructive criticism. But remember who that criticism is coming from and where you value their opinion in your life. Do they speak life and encouragement into you and do they have valid concerns? Or are they someone who never has anything positive to say and always breaking you down?
You need to know who this voice is in your life to determine if you should give it any attention. But I would still say to quiet it for a while – get your bearings before you start to bring in that extra outside noise.
#4 – Realize there will be hard times
You probably feel pretty confident that homeschooling is what you want to do. It’s going to be great ultimately, but realize that it will also be really, really, really crappy at times. There are going to be days that you’ll wonder What was I thinking? I cannot do this!!
Just like anything in life, there are going to be hills and valleys, highs and lows. There are going to be days where you feel like this is a nightmare. Just know that everyone feels like that from time to time no matter what method they’re using.
There were days that my kids were in public school and dropping them off was the last thing I wanted to do that day. The same thing will happen when you’re homeschooling. Some days you will think I can’t do it, I can’t stutter through another reading book, I can’t help with another multiplication problem!
You’re always going to have those days, the doubts, the rocky rough times. You’ve just got to stay the course, especially if you feel really, really solid in your reasons for doing that.
#5 – Write a mission statement
I think it’s so important to write yourself a mission statement for your home school. Why are you doing this? What is your heart and mission behind it?
With anything that I do – creating videos, using my Instagram platform, YouTube, blog posts, book, whatever I’m doing – I have to have a solid why. If it’s just to make money, if I don’t have a mission or heart behind it, it will fizzle, it will fade, it will become too much, it won’t be worth it.
Why are you homeschooling your kids? What is it that you feel is the most important?
Go through those pillars, dream about what you want your home school to be like in a perfect world. You know that you’re never going to get that every day, but continue to bring yourself back to that vision for your homeschool.
On days where you feel like nothing is getting done and the day has just gotten completely away from you, you can come back to your vision and mission for your homeschooling. And you might realize the point of this was that I wanted this time with my children. Today my child came and talked to me for 30 minutes about something that’s going on in their life. I knew that I wanted that space and availability to intentionally be there for my kids and I got that today. We might not have checked all the boxes, but I checked this one off, which is the heart and mission behind why we’re doing this to begin with.
There are so many different reasons that people have for homeschooling, so I couldn’t even begin to give you the framework for how to do that other than sit down and really think about it. Why am I doing this?
Actually write it out for yourself so you can come back to your mission statement and look at it when the days are really hard. See how far off from that you gotten and align yourself to that original mission and reason for why you’re doing this.
So those are my 5 tips for newbies. If you are just starting with homeschooling or still feel uncertain, I just really want to encourage you today. I believe so much in this community of homeschooling moms and I know how hard we work at what we do, how much we believe in it, and how much we love our kids and want to see it be successful not only for ourselves but also for others!