How to Make Homeschooling Enjoyable for MOMS!

Home school moms are great at studying their child’s needs and learning styles, problem solving and generally moving heaven and earth to help their kids succeed.

But there’s someone we often forget about. An essential person in our homeschool.

That person is US. The homeschooling mother!

Many of us are so focused on our kids needs, that we ignore our own. I believe this is a major factor in why so many homeschool parents are burned out!

We teachers matter too. Our homeschools and the students will flourish more if we are delighting (or at least able to tolerate) in our home school set ups.

Consider Your Own Personality, Passions and Priorities

When trying to decide on your homeschooling philosophy, or how you’ll structure your days, or what curriculum you’ll use, don’t forget to think about how YOU are wired.

• Are you a type A person who wants to stick closely to the public school path? Check your boxes with a curriculum that a local private school uses.
  
• Are you in a season of life that is overwhelming? Try an open and go boxed curriculum.
  
• Are you spontaneous and adventurous? Make room in your routine for field trips and travel.
  
• Are you creative and crafty? Go all in with those hands on projects and art.
  
• Are you enthralled with books? Choose a literature rich philosophy.

I know myself well enough to know that I don’t like rigid schedules, but I also don’t do well with zero structure.

I am drawn to books, nature and variety.

Here’s a couple things we do that personally help me to LOVE our homeschool.

Avoid Monotony/Add Variety

I do this in a couple ways.

First of all, we keep our lessons SHORT. We also try and mix up our subjects so that we use different parts of our brain and keep ourselves on our toes.

For example, after math, instead of doing science, we’re likely to listen to a poem or do some art. After reading history, break things up by practicing an instrument.

Second, we do a bunch of subjects. On top of the typical subjects, we also do poetry, current events, logic, composer study, social skills, shakespeare, archeology etc etc. But since we keep this subjects short (think 5 minutes for many) it doesn’t bog us down.

ALSO we don’t do every subject everyday, instead opting for a loop schedule. For example, in grade school, my kids do science twice a week, history twice a week, in addition to the history project and the science experiment that do at our weekly co-op. It’s very doable and it keeps our interest.

Ditch Textbooks/Read Living Books

Textbooks are usually written by a conglomerate of academics. They are usually dry, and as Charlotte Mason would say, a regurgitation of facts. The thinking has been done already, all that’s left is to store the information.

Living books in contrast are usually written by a single author that is passionate about their topic. Often times they are in a story format. And most importantly, they are full of ideas. Ideas aren’t neatly packaged like facts, but are larger concepts that need to be chewed on and digested by the student.

This major different leads us to my second thing that makes homeschooling more enjoyable for me (and my kids).

HOW we respond to the material we consume…

Abandon Worksheets/Embrace Narration

Worksheet usually ask specific questions about a text, expecting students to remember facts or the details that a teacher deemed important.

They leave students feeling like they need to care more about what the teacher wants them to learn, than what they themselves can glean from the text. It’s nerve-wracking!

Instead, our family chooses to show what we learn through narrating to each other what we learned from the text.

It seems simple but is hands down the most effective way to learn. (Check out “Know and Tell” by Karen Glass for more info and details on how to use this method.)

Kids have to pay attention the the big ideas of text, organize their thoughts, and communicate clearly. And because of this, they’ll retain so much more of the passages.

But the thing that makes this life giving to me as a parent is I get to see first hand the connections my kids are making, what stood out to them, and living ideas take root in their lives.

It’s better than magic. And it keeps me going when the days get hard.

Scrap the Planner/Use a “Doner”

I have had other moms tell me this small change has completely transformed their relationship to their schooling.

We’ve all heard of and have probably used planners. We consider what our students need to accomplish, we divide that up by the number of days, and we assign specific passages or lessons and write them on the date.

Inevitably, life happens and we get “behind”. The pressure builds and we begin to feel like failures.

Not exactly a recipe for feeling happy and content as a homeschool mom.

Instead of being slaves to a planner, our family simply has a “Done-er”. I write down what we DID do that day. That way I can focus on the positive and not what didn’t happen.

Now don’t get me wrong, this does NOT mean I don’t plan. Far from it.

Three times a year I remind myself of my “why” for homeschooling, I consider what subjects I want to cover, I pick out living books that fit the bill (my all time favorite task!), AND I create an ideal rhythm for our days.

With that structure in place, I don’t have to spend time daily or even weekly doing any planning. I just know our rhythm, grab the books that I’ve already decided on, and we read them.

Not everything I dream up gets done. And a lot of times I add things in mid semester that end up being favorites. But either way, a “Done-er” has been key to keeping my mom-guilt low.

Celebrate

At the end of the year, we spend a lot of time narrating what really stuck with us from the previous year. We don’t just do oral narrations, but also art representations, papers, and even reenactments in front of friends and family. It’s a blast!

It’s amazing how much I can be kicking myself over the plans that we didn’t manage to get to, but once we spend a little time looking back and what we did absorb, I can see the progress and the growth.

So spend time remembering and celebrating. You’re working wonders, Mama!