You aren't alone if you're a homeschooling mom who is plagued with guilt over homeschooling...
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Resources mentioned in this episode:
This Episode Discusses:
Jackie's story around homeschool mom guilt.
Some common reasons guilt pops up.
What to do at the beginning of the school year to help minimize guilt.
DON’T HAVE TIME TO LISTEN? HERE’S THE EPISODE ALL TYPED OUT:
Lets face it…Being a homeschooling mom who also works from home can be pure chaos! As you’ve probably already noticed, despite the occasional laugh track, life isn’t a sitcom and everyday struggles are rarely resolved in 30 minutes with commercial breaks to keep your sanity in check so the right strategies and mindset are vital for becoming more productive and less overwhelmed with all the things life throws at us. Enter the Simply Freeing Podcast…Episodes for the highly passionate, busy work at home, homeschooling mama ready to break away from cultural norms and raise life long learners. So let kick stress to the curb, throw chaos out the door and order in some peace and simplicity…with a cup of coffee, or 3.
Today I want to talk about Homeschool Mom Guilt. I have so much experience with homeschool mom guilt because I've been home schooling for ten years and in the very beginning in fact, probably 3/4 of the time that I've been homeschooling, I have been plagued with this. I know that this is a common problem. I want to talk about how you can release that from your life because it is a terrible thing to constantly feel inadequate and not feel confident during the day.
Let's talk about where guilt comes from…
Guilt comes from comparison! We are looking at other families, whether it's on social media or it's in person and we feel like we can't ever match up! We feel like we are inadequate. We will never do what they're doing! This was definitely one of my problems. I was always listening to other conversations about homeschooling curriculums. I would think about all the things that I chose to do for my family and think…
Maybe I need to add this curriculum in because that will make my child like math more.
This curriculum that we're doing isn't working.
When you really think about it, this is the worst way to choose your curriculum for homeschooling! You haven’t even considered what those families are like at home! Guilt always comes from comparison.
Guilt also comes from inconsistency in homeschooling. If you struggle with being inconsistent in homeschooling, this is something that is super common! Often, we get inconsistent because we've over prepared and we think that we can do all of these things. Life happens happens, we get busy and we end up not sticking with the things that we committed to do!
Being inconsistent and comparing causes a lot of guilt in us.
Guilt can be taken out of your life if you set better goals at the beginning of the year. I think so many of us at the beginning of the school year have the urge to start homeschooling immediately at the beginning of the school year but if you're not prepared your kids will sense it!
If you really don't feel prepared on a deep level within yourself…If you're not confident, don't start! Wait until you can really truly be excited about homeschooling and have a clear vision for how you want your homeschooling days to look. Your kids can sense a lack of confidence in you! They are not going to be as cooperative and on board with homeschooling if you're hesitant. You're not really going to show up fully if you aren’t prepared in full beyond the homeschooling curriculum. You want to make sure that your goals are realistic and that you can create a life of learning that totally aligns with the unique family that you are.
This is something I talk about in great detail in my course, Lifeschooling Made Simple. I walk you through how you can get super realistic and create goals that work for your family. You don’t want to create homeschooling goals based on the curriculum that you chose. You don’t want to create goals based on what another family is doing. You have to really look at your family and how your family is operating and decide how you want to homeschool based on that! You can learn more about Lifeschooling Made Simple HERE.
One of the things I used to do in the beginning of my homeschooling journey was to purchase a ton of curriculum because I was so excited about it and I kept adding on and adding on and adding on and not finishing it! By the end of the year, I had so much guilt because I felt like I could never finish what I started. I ended up having a lot of noise in my head about how much of a failure I was.
If you feel that you are not really ready to homeschool, instead of jumping in without a clear vision and plan for it because the curriculum came in, take a step back. Take a couple days off to figure out how you can set up your days to bring more peace. This is going to look different for everyone. We all have different things that are really preventing us from showing up well. You have to really figure out what's going to work for you so that you can homeschool in a way that feels more peace instead of feeling so stressed out about it.
Unfortunately, some of us are getting pressured into homeschooling right now because of everything that's going on in the world. If you don't really want to homeschool, the whole vibe of homeschooling is just not good. You really want a feeling of excitement to be within you when you're starting something that's this amazing!
Grab your copy of a simple roadmap for the homeschooling/working mom that will help give you clarity in homeschooling and life!
If you’re new to homeschooling you need homeschooling simplicity. This homeschooling starter kit will help!
I know that homeschooling can be challenging but I also know that it can be an exciting and an amazing experience that will add to your life and not take away from it. It’s all perspective. If you homeschool from a place of confidence you will see a huge difference each day. I hope that this was helpful for you and I hope that it helps you release some of the guilt that you might be feeling around homeschooling!
This has been an episode of the Simply Freeing Podcast. To learn more about me and the resources I have created to help you in your motherhood, head to Whole9family.com. See you next time!