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How To Homeschool When You Wake Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed

Reading Time: 5 min 28 sec

We have all had those mornings where we oversleep and wake up to our kids’ incessant demands for food, justice, and love all at once, and at an unmistakable roar. We stumble to the coffee maker and pray that the coffee will be made at lightning speed as we listen to that roar turn into a circus. We wonder why is there SO MUCH NOISE at 7am?!

We dream of someone else sweeping in and taking over the chaos so we can catch a breather. Unfortunately, a large majority of the time, that sweeper is us. We heave a sigh and pray for patience and the strength to make it through the day. As a mom (and primary teacher) it can be a bummer to know that you set the tone for the day.

Our kids can pick up on our moods through walls and at

opposite ends of the home.

They can internalize our grumpiness, our stress, and our impatience and it will come out in undesirable ways. The Ron Hall quote, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” can be infuriatingly accurate.

So how do you homeschool on days that you just want to curl up under the blankets, put a pillow over your head, and restart the day? How do you not just survive but redeem a lousy day?

We are going to be talking about eight tips for salvaging those grumpy days.

1. Keep The End In Mind

2. Focus on the Have-To’s

3. Follow a Rhythm

4. Go Outside

5. Focus on Relationships

6. Utilize Digital Resources

7. Take Time for You

8. Simple Meals and Fun Treats

1. Keep the End in Mind

We need to begin with the end in mind. If we want to homeschool long term we need to be proactive in practicing self-care. As a homeschool mom, it can be easy to fall into the trap of just going, going, going each day, which leads to a burned out, irritated mama.

We need to keep our long-term vision in place and understand that there are days when we need to give ourselves the gift of rest. I would rather move slowly and practice self-care than burn out and ship my kids off to boarding school.

2. Focus on the Have-To’s

For those days when you can’t stay at home, I would encourage you to eliminate as many outside activities as possible. Your kids would rather have a mom who is loving, kind, and present then a mom who is biting everyone’s heads offs as you rush, rush, rush to activities.

There are some things that we are not in control of and can’t be postponed. However, you would be surprised at how many things we can adjust with a little creative thinking. I know you were planning to visit the library, grocery store, and soccer practice today but can they be postponed until tomorrow or next week? Will the world come to an end if your child misses one piano lesson? Ask yourself what has to happen today and eliminate the rest.

3. Follow a Rhythm

On those tough days give yourself room to move slowly, whether it’s taking time to sip your coffee (instead of gulp), or by taking an extra-long shower. If you have older kids tell them to go play quietly in another room and with littles allow them to play in a pack n play. Your goal is to give yourself grace and space to wake up and move throughout your day.

Kids thrive on predictability. Instead of removing all structure in favor of a lazy day employ the joy of a rhythm. A rhythm has the benefit of a structure without set time limits. Who wants to be constantly chasing a schedule all day when you are already feeling out of sorts? Give yourself permission to move slowly and rest of a rhythm instead of a schedule.

4. Go Outside

One of the best ways to reset the day is getting outside. Even if you don’t feel like moving (I know that feeling), push yourself, and get everyone out the door. It will be worth it!

Go for a walk, visit a park, hike a trail. Time outside will increase your energy, decrease your stress, and burning your kids excess energy, sounds like a win, win to me!

5. Focus on Relationship

Focus on savoring relationships instead of trying to knock out accomplishments. Do something fun together. Engage in a hobby or grab the art supplies and head outside.

Today, I would encourage you to save your strength by avoiding areas of contention and set yourself up for success. You can do this by thinking outside of the box. If you know that math will be a struggle, grab a board game. Snuggle on the couch and read a stack of your favorite picture books, or write a letter to a family member, instead of a reading or language arts lesson.

You can still homeschool by utilizing alternative resources to accomplish your objectives. Focus on relationships instead of crossing off to do’s and it will transform your day.

My Favorite Picture Book Series:

The Katie Series by James Mayhew (Art)
The Sir Cumference Series by Cindy Neuschwander (Math)
Magic School Bus Series by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degan (Science)
Ordinary People Change the World Series by Brad Meltzer (History)
Mercy Watson Series by Kate DiCamillo (Language Arts)

My Favorite Games: See this post for more game schooling ideas

Quoridor– Logic (WE LOVE THIS GAME!)
Story Cubes- Language Arts-Imagination
Wildcraft- Science Study of Herbs
Ticket To Ride First Journey – Geography
Sum Swamp– Money Bags– Clumsy Thief– Math

6. Utilize Digital Resources

Give yourself the gift of letting your children learn from someone other than you. Remember today isn’t every day, and your mental health is crucial to the long-term sustainability of your homeschool.

Take advantage of some of the amazing learning resources via apps, audiobooks, videos etc. Some of my family’s most favorite memories are centered around listening to an audiobook while coloring or painting.

Here are some of my favorite apps:

Reading Eggs/Math Seeds
Piano Maestro (Free)
Duolingo (Free)
Rosetta Stone (Check out this post to check out if you can get this program for free)

Here are some of my favorite videos:

Here are some of my favorite audiobooks:

Also, my all-time favorite resource for slow days is Around the World Stories. You can check it out here!

7. Take Time For You

While your children are engaged in an activity (or taking a nap), take advantage of the time by replenishing your soul. Spend time with Jesus, read a book, engage in a hobby or build a nap into your day.

Taking time to participate in activities that recreate you

is crucial to your overall health.

8. Simple Meals and Fun Treats

I pull out the crockpot or fix easy dinners on tough days. This is not the day to be spending an hour in the kitchen trying out a new recipe (unless you love to cook). Bring out the taco soup and spaghetti!! Or call your husband and tell him its a Chipotle night! 🙂

Don’t forget the snacks! Yummy snacks like a cup of hot chocolate, fresh chocolate chip cookies, or warm banana bread can add some fun (and amazing memories) into your day.

Do you want more practical tips, AMAZING resources, and support on your homeschooling journey? Join our community of moms who are pouring into the lives of their families through homeschooling. Grab your free 10 Tips to Finding Excellent Curriculum checklist (get it below) to help YOU on your homeschooling journey!

What about you? What are your favorite tips for homeschooling on a tough day?

Please feel free to leave me a comment and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!

How to Have a Conversation with God

Reading Time: 5 min 45 sec

Have you ever felt frustrated trying to figure out how to have a conversation with God? We know that talking to him is not staring at the ceiling conducting a one-person monologue while God patiently listens, but we are not quite sure how to move past it.

Let’s think about this for a second, what if you had a relationship where you only talked with that person when you needed something?

You wouldn’t learn the sound of their voice, their humor, their interests, their joy, and their pain. You wouldn’t have a friendship but an acquaintance. There would be no hope of moving past the basic levels of friendship because you have a need-based transactional relationship.

I don’t know about you but I want to know the sound of Gods voice, I want to have inside jokes, I want to sit in his presence, I want his voice to be the one I listen for when I wake up, and the last one I talk to before I go to sleep. I want to have the deepest soul friendship I can possibly have with God. C.S. Lewis, St. Ignatius, King David, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, and countless other unknown people have experienced this type of relationship.

We know we serve a talking God. There are numerous examples in the Bible, starting with Adam and continuing on to the present day. He is always communicating with us. Our role in the conversation is to not only talk, but to practice active listening.

Here are four questions that we need to ask ourselves in order to move past a transactional conversation and into a deep soul friendship with Jesus.

Are you Ready to Hear from God?

2. Are you Practicing Listening to God?

3. Are you Spending Time with God?

4. Are You Pursuing a Soul Friendship with God?

1. Are you Ready to Hear from God?

There are literally thousands of articles, books, and conferences centered around hearing God’s voice, but have you ever wondered what he will say when you do hear him? What he will ask of you?

I love the story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-22. He comes to Jesus expecting one thing (to be praised for his good deeds), and instead, he gets thrown a curve ball, with the challenge to reorder his life to follow God.

I think a lot of us dream that God will speak to us in the same way he visited Mary or Paul in the New Testament. We want booming voices, angelic appearances, and impressive callings.

We want to have the distinction among our peers of someone who

hears directly from the Almighty God.

When God calls someone into foreign missions, or ministry we can’t ignore that there is a romantic prestige to the call. Everyone around them knows that they have been called to a life of sacrifice and service. They are applauded, sometimes misunderstood, and generally acknowledged as a Godly, selfless creature.

But what about when God calls us to not gossip about our enemies, to load and unload the dishwasher without complaining for 92nd time today, to clean up dog poop, and to encourage our spouse after a long day? That calling is not remotely romantic, there is no choir singing our praises, and no prestige for being super Godly, it just sounds like a lot of hard work done without an audience.

We need to ask ourselves, are we desperate for a deep love relationship with God? Or are we trying to find our acceptance and validation in our perceived Godliness?

A soul friendship with God is developed not in front of a crowd, but in the daily, mundane moments of our lives. As we invite him more and more into our day, we encounter the lavish love and character of God, and our lives are transformed.

2. Are you Practicing Listening to God?

Imagine you get the opportunity to have lunch with Mother Theresa or Billy Graham and you spend the entire time talking incessantly about your thoughts, feelings, and problems, barely coming up for air. It sounds like crazy behavior because it is crazy behavior!

When you sit down with one of your role models you want to learn and glean everything you can in that precious time. You ask questions and share your story but you don’t spend the time monopolizing the conversation.

Dallas Willard, says it this way, “People are meant to live in an ongoing conversation with God, speaking and being spoken to.”

When you engage in a conversation with God, imagine you are verbally tossing a ball back and forth. Talking is important but you must also practice listening. Unlike talking, listening takes time and effort. The practice of spending time in silence and solitude has really helped me develop my listening skills.

A practical suggestion would be to start off by setting a timer for two minutes and just be quiet, focusing on the Father. You can slowly increase your time with God as the Holy Spirit leads you. To be real, I have to say that I have found this practice to be challenging, but so CRUCIAL to developing a deep relationship with God.

3. Are you Spending Time with God?

We can get a little obsessed with trying to hear Gods voice that we forget that listening to someone is only a part of a relationship with them. Think about those people in your life where you don’t have to keep the conversation going in order to avoid the awkward PAUSE? You can just sit and be… No performance, no effort, content just to be in each other’s presence. It sounds so life-giving, right?

Unlike our spouse or best friend, God is literally with us all the time. You come to know him through a balance of talking, listening and EXPERIENCING life together.

“Hearing God cannot be a reliable and intelligible fact of life except when we see his speaking as one aspect of his presence with us, of his life in us. Only our communion with God provides the appropriate context for communications between us and him.” ― Dallas Willard

Over time, your experience with God, not just your conversation will serve as a framework for recognizing his voice in your life. When was the last time you stopped and just spent time with God? No requests. No conversation. Just enjoying each other’s presence?

A practical suggestion would be to invite him into your favorite activity or hobby. Say something like, “God I invite you into this time. I want to enjoy your presence and just hang out with you as I participate in this hobby/activity.” Then just be aware of his presence with you as engage in the activity. You bring God joy just by showing up and carving time out of your day for him.

4. Are you Pursuing a Soul Friendship with God?

It is impossible to form a deep relationship if the extent of your interaction is a quick text message every couple of months. You have to invest time, energy and effort in order for the new relationship to grow. This means that instead of using God as a crisis manager you come to him as a best friend, learning to delight in spending time together.

“It is much more important to cultivate the quiet, inward space of a constant listening than to always be approaching God for specific direction.”-Dallas Willard

In order for your relationship with God to grow, you need to take an active role in feeding, watering, and spending time in an environment that will help it grow. Practically, this looks like spending time with God consistently, practicing talking and listening, inviting God into your day, spending time in community with fellow believers, and reordering your life around him.

Let’s be honest, as a mom we can live at the mercy of good intentions. But good intentions don’t build a deep life-giving relationship with Jesus. I’m sorry but I am not going to wait twenty years until my kids are out of the house to go deep in my relationship with God… I need him now! The foundation of learning to have an ongoing conversation with God is in the little choices you make every single day. I promise you it’s worth it!

Are you hungry and ready to experience a deeper life with God? Join our community of moms who are hungry for more Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their families.

Grab your free Deeper Life Beginners Guide (get it below) to help YOU get started on your journey to a thicker life with Jesus today!

What about you? What is your #1 issue when it comes to having a conversation with God? feel free to leave me a comment and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!

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How to Homeschool in a Small Space

Reading Time: 4 min 58 sec

Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to homeschool in a small space? I don’t know about you but sometimes while homeschooling our homes can eerily resemble an episode from Hoarders. Cramped living spaces filled with old curriculum, books, paperwork, supplies, and projects seem to spread like a virus to every nook and cranny.

You sit down to homeschool your child, only to feel frustrated with your inability (and your child’s) to focus due to so many distractions. You organize all of your supplies only to find after a couple of weeks that the clutter has returned.

Your home is supposed to be a retreat but all you see is an endless to-list and an organizing nightmare. You feel overwhelmed, discouraged, and hopeless. You wonder if it is possible to homeschool in a small space without clutter spilling out of every drawer and cabinet!

Every homeschooling parent dreams of perfectly organized spaces where you have plenty of room to spread out and everything you need is always right at your fingertips. I am here to tell you that it doesn’t matter if you have a small or large space. It’s about the practical steps you take to control the clutter.

We are going to be talking about eight practical steps you can take to create a stress-free learning environment:

Stop Saving for a Rainy Day

2. Go Digital

3. Something Borrowed

4. In Plain View

5. Establish a Daily Habit

6. Avoid Sales

7. Utilize Media

8. Only Amazing Resources

1. Stop Saving for a Rainy Day

Do you ever keep resources just in case? You bought a math book, tried one or two lessons, you weren’t thrilled, so you put it back on the shelf, in the hope that it might miraculously be a good fit later down the road.

“If you’re not using the stuff in your home, get rid of it. You’re not going to start using it more by shoving it in a closet somewhere.” Joshua Becker

Let me be honest, if you haven’t used it in the last six months most likely you will never use it. Take a good look at all of your curriculum, whether its books, textbooks, handouts, projects and remove everything you haven’t used in six months. * You might be surprised at how many just in case, books and resources take up precious space on your shelves.

Good intentions do not create an organized stress-free home.

*This does not include staples (such as reading or math books) that you will use to teach your next child.

2. Go Digital

Do you have folders crammed full of handwriting samples, artistic masterpieces, math tests, and brochures from every field trip you have visited in the last six months?

I stumbled on this hack out of necessity when my second (of two) homeschool drawer was crammed to overwhelming with past paperwork. My good intentions of putting my paperwork into sheet protectors never ever happened (can anyone relate?).

Maximize your limited space by utilizing a scanning app to save every document (no drawer required). I have loved the flexibility and the price tag (its FREE) of the Genius Scan App. I scan every document and then upload them directly to the computer. It makes creating a portfolio a breeze (almost) every year. Say Hello to Empty Drawers!

If you find a better app, please let me know!

3. Something Borrowed

One of the ways we can run out of space so quickly is storing that reading or math book for two years until your next kid is ready for it. Did you know that the library is a gold mine of FREE Resources that… wait for it… YOU DON’T HAVE TO STORE!

I am talking about more than the lone textbook you found on your last library search, but a vast amount of material that will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Check out this post 10 Library Hacks to the Hidden World of Free Curriculumfor step by step instructions.

4. In Plain View

An important aspect of homeschooling in a small space is being able to see everything at a glance. When organizing DO NOT stuff drawers or place items behind each other hoping to maximize space.

Take time and evaluate your materials. Here is a good rule of thumb when evaluating your materials

Keep the Best (Is it portfolio worthy?)
Remove Duplicates (Do you really need 8 pairs of scissors?)
Get Rid of all of those Scraps of Paper and Trash
Keep Only what you Love and use Regularly
Store the Same things Together (ex. Keep all pencils or library books in one spot)

5. Establish a Daily Habit

It is imperative when homeschooling in a small space to establish a daily practice of purging and placing everything back where it belongs. It might seem like an obvious suggestion until it comes to putting it into practice.

We choose to declutter at the end of every afternoon. I set a timer for ten minutes and we run about the house putting projects, books, and supplies away in preparation for dinner. Find a rhythm that works for you whether its right after school, late afternoon or during the evening, the point is to do it every day.

6. Avoid Sales

I don’t know about you but I can get a little carried away at those curriculum and library sales and start treating it like I am in the snack aisle of my local grocery store. I come out cash poor, regretful, and wondering where I am going to put all this stuff.

“It’s not a good deal if you don’t need it” -Unknown

Impulse buying can keep our homes, finances, and mental spaces in a place of chaos and clutter. Avoiding window shopping will go a long way in keeping your home free of mess.

7. Utilize Media

Get rid of some of those big heavy textbooks and utilize your digital resources. Not only can you purchase amazing apps and programs but I was shocked to find Rosetta stone language programs, math tutoring, and streaming documentaries (and that was just the tip of the iceberg) for FREE on my local library’s website. You can check out this article for step by step instructions.

8. Only Amazing Resources

Think of yourself as a curator of the best homeschooling resources. Only allow learning tools that you truly LOVE to enter your home.

“Your home is a living space, not a storage space.” Francine Jay

You do this by borrowing, researching, and committing to return items that do not fit your family’s needs. This step takes intentionality and commitment as there is always the pressure to find that perfect resource FAST. This step will play a huge role in allowing you to homeschool in a small space with peace.

So how do you find those AMAZING resources? Grab your free 10 Tips to Finding Excellent Curriculum checklist (get it below) to help YOU on your homeschooling journey!

What about you? What is your #1 concern when it comes to figuring out this homeschooling adventure?

Please feel free to leave me a comment and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!

How to Raise Passionate Thoroughgoing Followers of Jesus

Reading Time: 4 min 48 sec

I have served in a variety of children’s and youth ministry roles over the years and every fall, I would look forward to that new group of incoming students. Every year, you would have 1 or two students who would just knock your socks off. Not with their magnetic personality (though some of them did) but with their desire to know Jesus.

They were young men and women who were unabashed by their hunger for Jesus, they served others with a humble heart, spoke life over the people around them, and were never content with their current experience of Jesus.

They were in a word… Inspiring.

The crazy thing is that those same students are now grown, starting their own families, and are still pursuing a life WITH Jesus.

What made them so different from their peers?

I believe there are four practical steps YOU can take to influence the spiritual life of your child.

Experience God

2. Focus on Heart Transformation

3. Trust in the Holy Spirit

4. You can’t Lead where You Haven’t

Been

1. Experience God

Children learn primarily from their experiences. Think about it, how did your children get to know you? Did they ask other people questions, did they study your family tree, did they spend time talking to others about you? OR did they experience you from before they were born; the sound of your voice in the womb, the touch of your skin as they entered the world, the snuggles, the safety of your presence, the hugs? They know you by EXPERIENCE, not by words.

A life of faith is not school but a real, breathing, organic relationship with Jesus. Your child needs to experience it, not just hear about it. I am not downplaying the crucial role of the Bible in our lives but we need to marry experience and knowledge together to grow as a thoroughgoing follower of Christ. You can do this by intentionally including God into your everyday life.

Light a candle to remind you of God’s presence, use art to help you listen to God’s voice, take a walk in God’s creation, observe Sabbath, use play to help focus your child on Jesus words, etc. (See this post for more practical ideas). Experience is critical for children to establish a strong relationship with Jesus.

2. Focus on Heart Transformation

Who doesn’t want your child to behave a civilized member of society? It’s an obvious question, but as parents (myself included) we can quickly move to focus on behavior modification (You do this and you will get x, y, and z) and completely miss the opportunity of heart transformation.

The heart can be a tricky place as it is where our thoughts and feelings originate. As parents, we can manage behaviors but the heart is harder to control. So what can we do to encourage our children to make Godly decisions even when we aren’t around?

We cannot by-pass heart work. We need to look deeper than external behaviors and notice the movement of their hearts.

In the book Parenting is Heart Work, the author says it this way; “Motivating Heart change isn’t easy. You can force a child to change behavior, but you can’t force a change of heart. Its deeper work. Helping children change their hearts requires a lot of thought, planning, and prayer. More and more parents are relearning discipline so that they can have a lasting impact on their children.”

Prayer is a great and crucial first step in parenting for heart transformation. We can miss out on a beautiful opportunity if we fall into the trap of praying for our kids only when there is a crisis. Covering our children in consistent prayer not only teaches us to be sensitive to the movements of their heart, but also gives room for the Holy Spirit to bring about our own heart transformation.

Prayer is a two-way street, take some time to be silent before God, listening for his voice and being present to him. God is faithful to highlight the issues that you need to be focusing on.

If you are interested in going deeper you can grab the book, Parenting is Heart Work by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller

3. Trust in the Holy Spirit

As parents, we have to have trust in the Holy Spirit. We can try to do everything right and still blow it. We have to remember that parenting works well only when we are utterly dependent upon God and our huge need for grace.

We need to realize (believe, not just say) that on our own we can do nothing, but only by the power of the Holy Spirit, can we make a difference in the spiritual lives of our children. As children are observing the lives of their parents, soaking in their family values, and experiencing Jesus in real ways, they are internalizing all of that information.

“As they are ready, children construct or form their understandings for themselves, with the gracious presence, encouragement, and guidance of God’s Spirit.” Catherine Stonehouse and Scottie May, Listening to Children on the Spiritual Journey.

It does not come down to what you say (though that’s still important) but how you model your life WITH God, and through the work of the Holy Spirit that determines how your child views and interacts with God.

We need to remember that we are working with the Holy Spirit, not the Holy Spirit working with us. We don’t have to have all the answers or be Super Mom. What we have to do is place our children before God, and be continually dependent upon the Holy Spirit to shape our parenting. We can rest in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit will be with our child long after they have grown up.

4. You Can’t Lead Where You Haven’t Been

Seriously, if you want your child to have a living, breathing, transformational relationship with Jesus, it starts with you. Multiple studies have shown that parents are the primary influencers in the lives of their children. You and your relationship with God set the tone for the culture of your home.

“The greatest parenting tip we could share with you is this: Maintain a strong connection to your Heavenly Father. He offers spiritual guidance and direction to help you work through your own heart issues so you can be more effective with your children.” -Parenting is Heart Work

Investing in your relationship with God is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, let alone your children. When they see you turning to God all throughout the day, when they see you on your knees, when they see serving others, you are a modeling a life lived WITH God.

Grab your FREE Deeper Life Beginners Guide and join our community of moms who are hungry for more of Jesus in their lives and in the lives of their children.

What about you? What is your #1 concern when it comes to raising Godly children?

Please feel free to leave me a comment and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!

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How to Avoid these Five Homeschooling Mistakes

Reading Time: 5 min 22 sec

Are you a new to homeschooling or in the thick of figuring out how to start? Are you dreaming of newly sharpened pencils, child prodigies, and Von Trapp family adventures? We are going to come alongside you on your journey and talk about the five common mistakes first-time homeschoolers make and how YOU can avoid them (and save hundreds of dollars).

I have spoken with a lot of new homeschool parents over the years who are overwhelmed, frustrated, burned out and about five minutes away from shipping their kids off to boarding school in Switzerland. They start to wonder about their ability, sanity, and if homeschooling is really doable for the average mom.

Homeschooling is very possible but sometimes we can unintentionally shoot ourselves in the foot by making decisions out of a lack of experience. We need people to come alongside us and help us through the minefields of those early days so that we can go back to enjoying those amazing family moments.

We are going to be addressing these 5 common homeschooling mistakes today:

1.Homeschooling without Direction

2. Duplicating School at Home

3. Bowing to a Teaching Philosophy

4.Requiring Too Much Too Soon

5.A Boxed Curriculum is the Answer

1. Homeschooling without Direction

We have an endless supply of amazing resources for homeschooling mamas and their students. It can get very easy to get caught up running to the latest teaching philosophy, schedule, curriculum, or activity hoping that it will solve all of your learning woes. Now I am all for exploring new teaching resources (We love you, Life of Fred) but it can get very exhausting and can give your kids whiplash if you don’t have a roadmap in place to help you figure out if that latest thing fits your family.

You need to know what your vision and values are because they influence the goals and atmosphere of your homeschool. You can’t set or accomplish your goals if you have no idea what you are aiming at.

For instance, does your vision for the future include children who grow up to be lifelong learners, self-starters, out of the box thinkers and mighty followers of Jesus? Does one of your values include forming quality family relationships?

If so, the decisions you make, your teaching style, activities, schedule, curriculum choices, and atmosphere all should flow out of your vision and values. They are a roadmap to a successful homeschool and when used properly, can help prevent burnout. Do not move forward without taking the time to talk over your vision, values, and goals with your spouse or a friend.

When things get challenging, instead of completely changing direction, and giving into fear and self-doubt, you can rest in the knowledge that you have an overall plan in place. By establishing your vision, values, goals, and atmosphere ahead of time it allows you to not have to make big decisions in a time of crisis.

2. Duplicating School at Home

You have just decided that you are going to homeschool and you are scared but also super excited. You rearrange your home, choose a homeschooling room, and rush out and buy (borrow or steal) desks, chalkboards, and inspirational posters for the walls. Three days into your homeschool adventure you realize that no one wants to sit at cold, hard desks when they can be snuggling on the couch reading books with mom.

Homeschooling is not public school at home. Homeschooling is a way of life. If your only exposure to education has been in a corporate setting, it might be helpful for you to think of homeschooling as private tutoring (with a lot of snuggles, family adventures and laughter thrown in).

Homeschooling is not just when you open your “school books” but all throughout the day, at the grocery store, gardening, listening to audiobooks in the car, while doing the budget, and fixing the sink, you are giving your children the benefit of real-world experience.

Save yourself tons of money, homeschool regrets (and your children a lot of frustration) by taking advantage of the benefits of teaching your children at home; one on one time together, comfy couches, and real-life learning to find out and own what works for you and your family.

3. Bowing to a Teaching Philosophy

As you start to research homeschooling it can feel like there are HUNDREDS of teaching methodologies out there. You are told that time in nature, memorizing information, giving them time to play, structure, no structure, textbooks, only living books, experience, and facts are crucial to your child’s success in life.

The options can not only feel overwhelming but restricting to a new homeschool parent. You get sold on a teaching philosophy and jump in 100% only to find out that it doesn’t quite fit your family. I have seen moms ignore the downsides (every philosophy can have negatives) and keep pressing on only to feel miserable because it is not a perfect fit.

You can save yourself time, energy, frustration, and money by realizing that you will need to adapt any philosophy to your family not your family to the philosophy. This is where knowing your vision, values, goals is crucial to setting the tone of your homeschool. Listen to your mom instincts, and don’t feel pressured to teach in a certain way if it doesn’t fit the needs of your family.

4. Requiring Too Much Too Soon

You are excited to get started on your homeschooling adventure. You sit down with your five-year-old and dive into your new stack of curriculum. The first couple of days are wonderful, and things are moving along brilliantly until suddenly they aren’t.

Your child whines when you get out the books, you find yourself constantly encouraging him to do one last problem or activity. You just find yourself working harder than they are to complete your list of studies for the day. You feel frustrated, demoralized, and you wonder if this homeschooling really works in real life.

Save yourself (and your child) frustration, by focusing on your values (strong family relationships, fostering a love for learning, character development etc.) instead of focusing on checking “educational” boxes.

When you have a ten-thousand-foot view of the future, you won’t get hung up on whether or not you completed the allotted math problems for the day.

Enjoy these early years, they won’t last forever. Encourage your child’s curiosity and rest in the knowledge that they are constantly learning by living life with you at the perfect pace for them.

6. A Boxed Curriculum is the Answer

You spend hours researching a comprehensive curriculum, you want to make sure that every base is covered, and that your kid won’t end up going to college, not knowing how to do long division. You find a curriculum that you think will be a good fit, shell out a couple hundred dollars, only to find to out that you love the math, are “ehh” about the social studies, and absolutely hate the language arts program.

It is rare (and I mean RARE) that a boxed curriculum will meet all of your needs. You know your child, you know their strengths and weaknesses, you know the vision and values of your homeschool, and you are the best person to hand select curriculum. Save yourself hundreds of dollars (do you see a theme here) by choosing the best resources for your child.

When you handpick curriculum, not only is it a smaller monetary investment but if it doesn’t work, you aren’t stuck with it (trying to get your money’s worth) or desperately scrambling to replace an entire curriculum midway through the school year.

Are you wondering HOW do you actually find a great curriculum for each subject? I created a How to Find Excellent Curriculum checklist (grab it below) to help you on your journey.

You Got this Mom!

What about you? What is your number one frustration when it comes to figuring out this homeschooling adventure? Leave a comment, and don’t forget to follow Most Important Work on Pinterest!