In this episode, I discuss the biggest mistake that most new homeschool moms make.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

The Reluctant Homeschooler's Free Starter Kit

Simplyfreeing.com/homeschool

If you enjoyed today's episode, please:

Post a screenshot and tag me, @whole9family on your IG Story so I can repost you!
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday!

To Learn more about me and the resources I have created to help you in your motherhood:
Whole9family.com

This Episode Discusses:

The two sides of the fence that families are on when they think about what’s happening during the pandemic.

The freedom that comes with homeschooling.

Common questions that homeschoolers get asked.

How our lack of confidence, uncertainty and guilt causes us to justify the decisions we make.

How our inner belief about what school should look like at home dictates the success or failure of our homeschool.

Why homeschool clutter can quickly pile up.

Why inconsistency and being unorganized drove me to pursue minimalism.

Some key principles about homeschooling that we often don’t think about when prepping for our homeschool.

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 to episode 3. Today we are going to talk about why being a former teacher made me a not so great homeschool mom and we’re also going to discuss some of the biggest mistakes, in fact it’s probably the biggest mistake, most new homeschool moms make. There are a lot of stigmas about homeschoolers and now, since Covid, families seem to be on 2 sides of the fence...

My kids will have to go back to school. There’s no other way. These parents are outraged. They have to go back to work and their kids need an education. These families did not like their school at home experiences which I totally get and don't blame for them at all. The circumstances around families having to keep their kids home was super stressful. It was not a good litmus test for deciding if you enjoy this homeschool life. Then there are those that say...I can't believe that I actually liked having my kids home. I think I might be able to do this but I'm just overwhelmed. (If this is you, I want to talk to you today. It is not my desire to change the mind of families that feel that a child can only receive a "proper education" in school. Zoom school is not homeschool.

Some families simply don't realize that if they choose to homeschool, they can do school in any way that they please! It really is so freeing and can really transform a family when embracing the idea of homeschooling from a totally different perspective.

Throughout my years of homeschooling, whenever my kids and I would get to the checkout counter at the store, the same questions would inevitably come up. The best questions that got us the most laughs were these... What grade are you in? What homeschooler can answer that. They have no idea what grade they are in. Do you like your teacher? Sometimes they would say no just to be fresh! ;-) Then the conversation would end.

The next common questions I'll share brought up a lot of hesitancy from me and feelings of trying to justify my choices... What school do you go to? My kids looked at me like a deer in headlights almost feeling as if they were in trouble. I’d immediately jump in and say “We’re homeschooled!” because they didn’t answer. It’s like the kids didn’t want to admit that they were homeschooled. And the response varied always...

A few people said, Good for you! I could never do that! My kids and I would kill each other! But most of the time they would look at me with strange, awkward eyes. Remember, this was around 2012 ish and I was in New York which was not a very homeschool friendly state. They would say “Oh...”. It was super awkward.

Immediately, I started to try and justify the decision that we had made as a family by saying, “I was a teacher before deciding to do this!" As if being a teacher in the education system gives me some homeschooling badge of honor.

Let me tell you something... If you feel the need to justify the choices you made for your family...there is a big problem. I want to camp out on this. I want to be really honest here. I was not always feeling this homeschooling freedom I speak about today. I was plagued with a ton of guilt and uncertainty about my choices. This stemmed from me doing something that I see a lot of families trying to do right now and that's recreating school at home and having it fail.

Being able to homeschool means that you don't have to set up a formal classroom. Moms do this with great intentions when they first start out but quickly realize that their "school room" ends up not being used and they get discouraged because they must be doing something wrong. That’s exactly what I did. I went all out in my basement. I had the teacher's desk, the student desk, the pocket chart with schedule cards, the learning charts hung up on the wall...I was going to rock this thing.

Day 1 of homeschool we went downstairs to the schoolroom. I was nursing my barely 1 month old newborn Chloë while teaching haley math and reading skills. She loved it because she's the type of child that really thrives off of the structured learning environment. Every day for maybe 2 weeks we'd get downstairs at some point. Totally different time each day depending on how much sleep I had gotten the night before nursing Chloë.

Slowly, that homeschool room turned into a catch all room for all of the crap in my house that I didn't have a place for and the room wasn’t used at all. It became a room for the I can't stand this mess items that I didn't know what to do with. Basically what I did was create this amazing school that solidified my inner beliefs that real learning only happens in a classroom. What I was actually doing was stifling any homeschooling freedom I had to raise my children to love learning right from the start.

Now, don’t get me wrong some families who are super structured might thrive in an environment like that with a schoolroom at home. It just never worked for me and got me more frustrated than anything else. That unused schoolroom and the additional schoolbooks piled on top of the dining room table where we ended up doing school more often than not, was another failure added to my list.

Why couldn't I just pick a place and stick with it? Why was I unable to stick with the curriculum choices I had made? Why is this so hard. I should just send her back to school. She’ll be happier there. My clutter in my thoughts and in my home was everywhere before I became more minimalistic. The homeschool clutter was the worst because it proved to me the lie that I was telling myself since I was little girl. I wasn't organized. And that feeling of me being unorganized impacted my confidence as a mom and a teacher. This lack of confidence wasn't just about me. It was impacting my daughter. I saw her act out and flounder around because of the lack of structure and consistency that I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to give her.

I didn’t understand some really key principles in homeschooling that would have helped me so much. I didn’t really think through the way my daughter learned. I didn’t think about what she enjoyed. I just wanted to get through the books so that I could check off the box that says, “We did school today!” I was doing it all wrong.

With homeschool Learning and life is beautifully woven together. Learning can happen in a way that’s enjoyable. When you’re able to release those feelings, We’ve got get through this. I’m not doing enough. They’re going to be behind....all those mindset issues the majority of homeschool moms face at one time or another. This is when homeschooling becomes really freeing. It’s freeing because it’s not looked at as a chore anymore. It’s something that can actually be enjoyed.

But how do you do that? How do you get a house full of kids to actually enjoy themselves...To actually enjoy learning in homeschool. It’s not something that happens overnight. It’s going to take some time and a little bit of strategy with regards to how you set up your homeschool and the type of curriculum that you choose. We’ll talk more about that in the next episode.