So many families have been thrown into homeschooling without feeling equipped to do it successfully. There are a lot of internal roadblocks that prevent even seasoned homeschooling moms from homeschooling with confidence.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
The Reluctant Homeschooler's Free Starter Kit
Simplyfreeing.com/homeschool
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This Episode Discusses:
Jackie’s story of feeling dissatisfied with her job.
The circumstances that forced her into homeschooling and how she did so all wrong.
Why having a teacher mindset of having to do “school at home” might cause some discouragement.
Why fear often plagues even seasoned homeschooling moms and what we should do in response to that.
If you’re a homeschooling mom, I totally understand what it feels like to be overwhelmed! Homeschooling is a big deal! You need simplicity now more than ever to create a homeschool that works for your family. I created a starter kit for you that will help you prep for your homeschool and not make the same mistakes most new homeschool moms make. It’s totally free! You can download it at simplyfreeing.com/homeschool
Don’t Have Time To Listen? Here’s The Episode All Typed Out
Simply Freeing? Motherhood doesn’t feel simply freeing when you’re on autopilot in a home filled with chaos, stress and a ton of pressure. In order to survive the chaos we NEED the right strategies and mindset to embrace the simple and enjoy the few short years we have with our kids. I believe that we are called to see that we CAN rise up, get out of our head, shut out the expectations of the world and what mom life is supposed to be like and change what’s not working so that motherhood is fulfilling. Join me as we discuss all things motherhood, homeschooling, minimalism, faith and health. My mission is to help you embrace simplicity and find freedom in your motherhood. I’m Jackie from Whole9Family and this is the “Simply Freeing” Podcast.
Hi friends! Welcome back to the simply freeing podcast. This is episode 2 and today we are going to dive in and talk more about the life change that made me rethink everything I was doing in motherhood.
At this point, I was pregnant with Chloë. She’s my second daughter. I had a mixture of emotions because I got pregnant shortly after having a miscarriage so I was really excited to be pregnant so soon after that. At this point in my job, I was feeling pretty discouraged. I was actually in a new school because the initial school that hired me lost some of their funding and I was transferred. I really loved the school that I was in before. It was just a hard time for me emotionally.
Because of this, what ended up happening was that I was becoming increasingly frustrating knowing that I had to drop Haley off at my mom’s each day. I wanted to be the one to spend the day with her.
Going to work was hard and depressing. I would just wait for my students to go to another teacher because I knew that during my 45 minute break that I was supposed to be using for planning, I could sleep. I kept replaying in my mind the fact that I had to leave Haley every single day to go to work and it was really getting to me.
I couldn’t understand these new feelings because I was never like that before. I always believed that I would be a working mom for a really long time. I know much of it was prenancy hormone related, sure, but I believe I was feeling this way for a reason. It was a huge mindset shift that I believe God had given me.
I know that if I was feeling like this before Chloë was born, I knew that after I gave birth I would for sure be taking the opportunity to go on a maternity leave.
During this pregnancy, I began to look into enrolling Haley in her second year of preschool. She would be 4.5 when I gave birth. I envisioning myself being home bonding with my baby and taking naps while Haley was having a blast at pre-k.
Then the record scratched. That’s when Jon suggested that during my maternity leave, I try to homeschool Haley rather than send her school.
Ummm sorry. Homeschool? I don’t do that. I wasn’t homeschooled as a kid. I went to school. Jon wasn’t homeschooled. He went to school. Naturally, our children will be sent to school. What would my parents or my friends think of me? I was absolutely not going to homeschool.
That’s when he suggested that it be sort of a test run. Since Haley was a pretty smart kid, we could try kindergarten a year early. If it ended up not working out, no big deal...she’ll just go to kindergarten the following year.
There I was kind of forced into homeschool life. I knew Jon’s suggestion came from a place of financial stress. One income, a mortgage and a private preschool did not mix. And there was no way I would be sending Haley to public school either...not to judge those of you that choose this route. I just couldn't in good conscience put her there knowing so much of what goes on behind the scenes which I’ll share in another episode.
So after I internally battled my selfishness of wanting to nap with my newborn for a few hours undisturbed during the day, I let the homeschooling idea sink in for a bit it started to grow on me.
I started changing my mind...I was hesitant about this mind change though because I felt that what I was about to do was something really big.
Kindergarten is a big deal right? All the standards...getting them ready to read and making sure that they are equipped and ready to move to the next grade. My school teacher mindset had such an influence on what I believed about what homeschool should look like.
I was going to be "doing school at home" and I was going to rock it. This was easy! One kid to teach instead of 30! I was about to be humbled big time.
My world was about to get much more chaotic and stressful and because I had homeschooling all wrong. We‘ll dive into this in the next episode.
Before we finish up, I want you to think about something that you’ve maybe been fighting against doing or feeling because of fear. Why are you fearing taking that next step?
Maybe you are in a position that you may be homeschooling soon but fear is taking over? Sometimes the choices that bring you the most fear are the ones that you need to be leaning into.
What is it about homeschooling that is making you feel this way?
Do you feel like you'll mess up your kids?
Do you feel a lack of confidence with being a teacher?
Do you feel like you’ll be judged by friends and family?
There are soo many internal roadblocks that come up in the minds of even seasoned homeschooling moms! You certainly aren't alone! I do know that if you take that leap of faith and do something you are so scared of doing, you’ll be so thankful you did. Lean into that fear and let it drive you forward! I'll see you next time!
If you’re a homeschooling mom, I totally understand what it feels like to be overwhelmed! Homeschooling is a big deal! You need simplicity now more than ever to create a homeschool that works for your family. I created a starter kit for you that will help you prep for your homeschool and not make the same mistakes most new homeschool moms make. It’s totally free! You can download it at simplyfreeing.com/homeschool