Homeschool encouragement to help you keep going when you want to give up
It’s no secret that homeschooling can be really challenging for parents to pull off. Teaching your children everything they need to know for school, plus still having to be the parent all day can be a lot of work. Maybe you struggle with teaching, or find it hard having kids at such different levels who all need your direct help. It can be exhausting. So here is the homeschool encouragement you need when you feel like giving up.
Use these tips when you feel like giving up on homeschooling to keep your motivation going.
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Is homeschooling the right fit for your family?
This homeschool encouragement might not work for you though if homeschooling simply isn’t the best fit for you and each of your kids. If you decide it will be best to send all/some of your kids to “real” school that doesn’t make you a failure or a quitter. It means you’ve learnt from a situation and you’re doing what’s best for everybody.
The important part is to try your hardest. Homeschool might be the perfect fit for your family, but if you’ve run out of motivation you need a chance to keep trying. So take this homeschool encouragement to heart and determine if homeschooling truly is the right fit for everyone in your family.
Hopefully after applying all these homeschool encouragement tips you’ll be reminded that homeschooling is the right fit for your family.
Homeschool Encouragement Tips so You Don’t Give Up
Try out some or all of these homeschool encouragement tips to reignite your motivation for homeschooling your kids. Some tips might have a greater effect on you than others, but they’re each worth trying.
Journal and reflect on why homeschooling is important to you
Why did you start homeschooling in the first place? Sometimes remembering why we’re doing this can be all the motivation we need to keep going.
Do you believe your children thrive in a smaller group? Do you believe they benefit from the one on one teaching? Maybe you feel they’re better able to be themselves by being homeschooled? Do you like the freedom with them not being tied down to a school schedule? Do you like being able to choose what to teach and expose them to?
Spend some time writing, thinking or talking to a friend about why homeschooling is important to you.
If focusing on the goal behind homeschooling helps you then you might want to write it down somewhere that you can see it all the time, maybe in the area of the house you do most of the homeschooling.
Listen to the stories of other homeschool parents
It can be incredibly encouraging to hear the stories of other homeschool parents. Finding out what they’re struggling with and how they’re overcoming the challenges of homeschool can be so helpful for you.
Here is a list of homeschooling podcasts you can check out. There are so many different parents talking about different areas of homeschooling you’re sure to find something that will encourage you.
If you’re interested in unschooling personally I would highly recommend the podcast Fare of the Free Child by Akilah S. Richards.
Stop comparing to other homeschoolers
Listening and being encouraged by other homeschool parents is great, but it’s important not to start comparing yourself to them, or comparing your child to others.
It’s easy to start thinking, “I’ll never be as organized as her,” or “I can’t afford to do all those extra activities with my kids.”
Every homeschool parent is different with their own unique strengths and opportunities. It’s not about what you can’t do for your kids, but what you are able to do. It’s ok if you’re like me and you suck at arts and crafts and have to rely on someone else (even YouTube) to teach art to your kids. That’s ok.
Just as importantly, we have to make sure we’re not comparing our kids to other kids. It’s so easy to get caught up in that, but in the end it’s not helpful for us or for our kids. If you’re constantly worried that they’re not at the right level “for their age” it can end up stressing you out (and in turn stressing out your kid) which just makes learning harder and harder.
If you feel insecure about your child’s knowledge you might need to find a way to work through that. If anytime someone asks if your child knows x,y,z you end up feeling like you are a failure that they don’t know that yet, then you need to find a way to work through that valid feeling.
Learning should be fun, and I’m a big believer in child led learning which allows the child to take the lead in their learning.
It’s ok to make sure your child is on track with what might be expected, especially so you can keep an eye out for any actual concerns, but for the most part kids figure things out at different times from each other.
Remember, there are successful adults walking around today who didn’t learn how to read until long after their peers, and that’s ok. Focus on what your child is good at, and keep exposing them to material they still need to master, but no need to stress you or your child out about it.
Create a new homeschool routine
Maybe your daily setup is what’s draining your motivation to homeschool.
Are you starting homeschool too early in the day? Or maybe it’s dragging out too long? Your routine might be making it harder for you to do a good job at homeschooling.
Here are a few things to consider for tweaking your daily homeschool routine:
- Is everyone in a good mood by the time you start? (Well rested and fed)
- Do your kids have time to feel connected to you before starting and throughout the day? This can be as simple as having some time reading books cuddled on the couch before getting started. Connection is an important part of parenting.
- Are you feeling rushed to get everything done? Do you need to perhaps allot more time for homeschooling, or do you need to focus on less material per day?
- Is it hard to focus on multiple kids? How can you divide up their learning so you’re not being stretched thin?
- Do you have designated breaks where you yourself are taking a break too? (Not cooking or cleaning but actually sitting down and clearing your mind? Self care is important for you as a homeschool parent.)
- Are you all getting enough time outside and moving your bodies?
- Is your routine usually consistent or does it change a lot? If it changes a lot you might find that unpredictability makes your kids cranky which can make you cranky too.
- Is everyone getting enough to eat throughout the day to avoid getting “hangry”?
Take a good hard look at your current routine and feel free to play around with it until you find a system that actually works for you and each of your kids.
Get organized
Planning ahead might not be your strong suit, but keeping your homeschool organized can be a huge lifesaver.
If every day it’s easy to know what you’re going to do and just pick things up and get started it will save you a lot of mental energy.
Keeping all your homeschooling materials organized can help a lot too. Knowing where you’ll find the markers or scissors exactly when you need them can really help.
Here are some storage solutions that might help you, all available on Amazon.
Consider new curriculum or approach
Maybe the motivation dip is due to your curriculum or approach being a bad fit.
If you and your kids are feeling uninspired by the curriculum it could really slow you down. Investing in brand new curriculum might not be an option, but you could find ways to tweak the curriculum or add in different books that might interest your children more.
If you know that a new curriculum is what you need though, check out these reviews of some popular homeschool curriculums.
You might also just want to start using some new fun programs. Here are some popular resources other homeschool families enjoy.
You also might find that you just need a totally different approach to homeschooling. Maybe you want to try out unschooling, or have more educational outings, or start using videos or online resources more.
What is working for another family might not be what works best for your family. This is where checking out some podcasts can really help because you can get a wider idea of what other homeschool families are doing and it might inspire you to make a change too.
Take a break and reset
If after all of this you’re still feeling really defeated it might be time to take a break.
You shouldn’t be afraid to take a break, and it’s even a good idea to plan breaks well in advance for you to have a break to look forward to. This is especially important if you homeschool throughout the summer.
Right now though maybe you just need to take a break from homeschooling so you can take a step back and apply all these tips to be encouraged on your homeschooling journey.
Decide on how long you want to take a break for – a couple days? A couple weeks? Take this time to just let your kids play around and explore. Observe them closely and if might give you some ideas of how you need to tweak your homeschool to better suit them.
You can spend time considering what needs to change in order for you to feel more motivated and committed to homeschooling so when you start back up again you have new energy and motivation.
Find some fun or new things to do during the break. This could be a good time to test out some of those online resources to see what you and your kids might like, and then later you can implement it into your program. You can also try out some of my fun suggestions from this post 28 Fun Things to Do When Kids Are Bored.
Homeschool Encouragement Conclusion
Hopefully you are feeling a bit more encouraged now when it comes to homeschooling, but maybe you still feel a bit defeated. Remember, no one is going to be “perfect” when it comes to homeschooling. That’s not a goal anyone should try to reach for.
Go out there and start applying these tips, discover new things, and you should get your motivation back soon.
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