Flourish at Home

Homeschooling is primarily a family endeavor. Even the name “homeschooling” has the word “home” in it! One of its greatest benefits is the ability to customize one-on-one instruction with your children instead of the less personal group instruction they’d get in an institutional school.

So would it be inconsistent to move some of your homeschooling back out of the home and into a homeschool co-op? Not at all! Co-ops aren’t a good fit for some families, but they’re a great blessing to others. Of course, participating in a co-op (a short form of “cooperative”) requires that you cooperate. You have to give up some flexibility in exchange for sharing the planning, activities, and teaching, but the trade-off can be worth it.

Co-ops can range from very informal to highly structured. Some co-ops focus on field trips, activities, and enrichment, while some cover a few academic subjects, and others cover all academic subjects, often with a full day of classes every week.

I’ve just begun my 19th year of homeschooling. Some years we homeschooled completely on our own, and some years we were in more casual co-ops for a few subjects. For the past 9 years we’ve been part of a formal classical co-op that was a huge blessing to our family, but this year we’re flying solo again. So I’ve had the opportunity to experience the many pros and cons of co-ops.

First, here are some of the many benefits of co-ops:

Of course, there are disadvantages too:

Participating in a co-op can be a help, a joy, and a blessing, OR it can become a hindrance, a crutch, and a burden. There is NO One Right Way to Homeschool. You have to decide what is best for your family. Consider your strengths and weaknesses, what kind of help you may need, what kind of schedule and commitment are a good fit, and what your local options are.

Whether or not you choose to join a co-op, I encourage you to be involved in some kind of local support group. It can be a wonderful source of fellowship, encouragement, and sharing ideas.

Have you participated in a homeschool co-op? How has that worked out for your family? I’d love for you to leave a comment and share your experience with us!

Remember, you’ll find encouragement and practical tips for managing your busy life as a homeschooling family in my book, Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms, available at FlourishAtHome.com.

The post To Co-Op or Not to Co-Op – FAH episode 20 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Moms are masters of multitasking. We have to be in order to survive!

Multitasking is the final tool in my FREEDOM toolbox—7 tools for making the most of our time so we can live balanced, peaceful lives. Here’s a quick review of the tools:

Does it seem strange for the tools to begin with focusing and end with multitasking? Isn’t that contradictory? No, it’s not. The challenge is that you have to figure out when to focus and when to multitask.

Multitasking has gotten a bad rap for the past few years. Some people claim that if you can multitask while you’re doing something, it’s not worth your time to do it. That might apply in the context of running a business, where it could indicate something you should outsource. But in the daily life of a mom at home, somebody has to wash the dishes and match the socks, so multitasking is essential.

Another criticism of multitasking is that it undermines your focus and makes you less efficient, not more efficient. That’s a legitimate concern, but it applies primarily to mental multitasking—especially to digital distractions like computers and smartphones.

I’m not advocating mental multitasking. Rather, I’m suggesting that you look for ways to combine physical tasks with light mental tasks. This is the right kind of multitasking, and if you use it wisely, it can help you do more with your 24 hours a day. As organizing expert Eileen Roth says, “I sincerely believe that you can only do one thing at a time well, but how well do you need to wait in line?”

For example, you can quiz your child on multiplication facts or spelling words while you’re cooking dinner, or you can dust or fold laundry while you’re talking on the phone or listening to a podcast.

Closely related to multitasking is using small blocks of time wisely. In the podcast, I share over 40 things you can do in 5 to 15 minutes.

What are your favorite ways to multitask and use small blocks of time wisely? Please share them with us in the comments!

If you struggle with managing your time and organizing your life to focus on your priorities, you’ll find many more strategies in my book,Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms, available at online retailers and through my website at www.FlourishAtHome.com.

The post Multitasking – FREEDOM Tools part 6 – FAH episode 19 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

How do you respond to the word organization?

Whatever your reaction, this episode is for you.

Organization is the sixth tool in my FREEDOM toolbox—7 tools for making the most of our time so we can live balanced, peaceful lives. Here’s a quick review of the tools:

Organization is essentially self-discipline applied in an orderly way to free you to focus on what’s most important to you. Organizing your time, tasks, thoughts, and things helps you overcome and prevent obstacles to focusing on your priorities.

How organized you are has a powerful effect on the atmosphere in your home. Disorganization creates chaos, while organization promotes peace. Which do you prefer?

If one aspect of your life is unorganized, it spills over into every other aspect of your life. For example, if you can’t find your car keys, you’ll get flustered and be late for your appointment. If you’re sleep-deprived or running late, you’ll be much likelier to forget things and drop things, which will make you even later.

Organization even affects your relationships. If you’re running late and feeling frazzled, you may become irritated and impatient with your family.

It’s important to remember that there’s no one right way to organize. What helps you function effectively may be completely different from what helps your best friend or your mother-in-law function effectively. Isn’t that a relief?

Ironically, it’s possible to over-organize—to spend so much time on organization that it keeps you from focusing on your priorities instead of facilitating them.

Take some time to reflect on your life to identify areas that hinder you, and commit to becoming more organized if it would help your life run more smoothly.

If you struggle with managing your time and organizing your life to focus on your priorities, you’ll find many more strategies in my book, Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms, available at online retailers and through my website at www.FlourishAtHome.com.

The post Organization – FREEDOM Tools part 5 – FAH episode 18 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Discipline—self-discipline, that is—is the fifth tool in my FREEDOM toolbox—7 tools for making the most of our time so we can live balanced, peaceful lives. Here’s a quick overview of the tools:

Self-discipline is a major factor in how you exercise stewardship over the gifts and responsibilities God has given you—including how you manage your time. It’s the tool you use to implement the priorities that you’ve decided to focus on and to eliminate the time-consuming clutter that gets in the way of your goals.

In episode 11 of the “Flourish At Home” show, we talked about setting goals for focusing on your priorities in three major areas: (1) personal, (2) family, and (3) business. Those three categories are also helpful for considering the areas where you need to exercise self-discipline.

Self-discipline helps you avoid the false guilt that moms often suffer when you take care of yourself wisely and avoid the true guilt that comes with self-indulgence and laziness.

To be able to handle all of your responsibilities, it’s essential to make time for personal rest, renewal, and recreation. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep, exercising, eating right, and drinking plenty of water.

Another personal area that requires self-discipline is managing your attitudes and emotions. Work hard to overcome fear, perfectionism, discontentment, self-righteousness, and negativity. If this is a tough challenge for you, episode 9 goes into greater detail on how to honor God with your thoughts, attitudes, and emotions as well as your actions.

Freedom and flexibility are wonderful benefits of homeschooling, but you have to be careful not to abuse that freedom. Whatever your state’s regulations on homeschooling, you are accountable to God for how you train and educate your children.

It’s also important to train your children to become increasingly self-disciplined as they grow older. Learning good habits such as diligence, obedience, responsibility, and promptness will help them throughout their lives.

Self-discipline is essential for entrepreneurs. After all, freedom to do things your own way, on your own schedule, is a major benefit of having your own business. Without the built-in accountability of reporting to an employer, you must be diligent to work hard and honor your commitments to your customers and clients.

If you want struggle with managing your time and disciplining yourself to focus on yoru priorities, you’ll find many more helpful strategies, along with encouragement and inspiration, in my book, Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms. It’s available on my blog at www.FlourishAtHome.com.

The post Self-Discipline – FREEDOM Tools part 4 – FAH episode 17 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

In the previous two episodes, we’ve been talking about my FREEDOM toolbox–7 tools that help us make the most of our time so we can live peaceful, balanced lives. These are the tools:

Today we’ll look at the fourth tool: Eliminate.

Have you ever struggled with trying to do it all? The truth is NO ONE CAN DO IT ALL. We all have to be selective about how we use our time and energy.

If you want to focus on your goals and priorities, you have to eliminate things that don’t support them. This includes counterproductive mindsets, such as the way you think about time; bad attitudes like fear, perfectionism, and negativity; stuff—the physical clutter that slows us down; and activities.

In this episode, we’ll focus on eliminating activities. You can eliminate activities by never beginning them in the first place or by stopping them if you’re already involved. How? Just say no!

Saying no is HARD, isn’t it? You don’t want to let people down or disappoint them. But not everything that needs to be done is something that YOU need to do. Often you can delegate tasks—such as housework, laundry, or cooking—to your children. Or you can outsource responsibilities by paying other people to take care of them for you. This might include lawn care, housecleaning, piano lessons, math tutoring, errands, and so on.

Remember that opportunity does not equal obligation. If you say yes to every opportunity that comes your way, you’ll have to say no to the priorities and goals you have already chosen. If you’re always the person who takes care of everything for every organization you’re part of,  you may find that bowing out allows someone else to step up and use her gifts.

This episode of the “Flourish At Home” show includes practical tips and real-life examples of what I’ve learned about the importance of saying no to too many activities. And you’ll find many more strategies in my book, Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms, available at online retailers and through my website at www.FlourishAtHome.com.

See you next time on the “Flourish At Home” show!

The post Eliminate – FREEDOM Tools part 3 – FAH episode 16 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

In the previous episode, we began talking about my FREEDOM toolbox–7 tools for making the most of our time so that we can live balanced, peaceful lives. These are the tools:

Today we’ll look at the third tool: Educate.

It’s easy for homeschooling moms to get so caught up in educating our children that we forget about educating ourselves! We can get caught up in curriculum, lesson plans, and goals for our children that we completely neglect our own personal growth.

But the truth is that we ALL need to expose ourselves to new ideas and new strategies on a regular basis for all three major life areas: personal, family, and business. You need to sharpen your own skills and broaden your mind, learn new ideas and methods for training and educating your children and running your household, and discover new ways to build your business, if you have one.

In addition, if you want your children to value reading and learning, they need to see YOU reading–for pleasure as well as for learning.

In this episode of the “Flourish at Home” show, you’ll learn a variety of ways to make the most of your reading, such as keeping a reading journal, writing in your books, and keeping a record of your reading.

Maybe you’re thinking, “Sure, I’d like to read more, but I don’t know how I can possibly fit it into my life. I already have too much to do without adding one more thing!” You’ll also discover practical tips for fitting learning into your life, such as taking advantage of the wide variety of formats available now, using audiobooks to multitask, using family time for independent reading as well as reading aloud, and the always-popular reading at bedtime.

Join us for encouragement and practical tips to keep learning and growing throughout your entire life!

The post Educate – FREEDOM Tools part 2 – FAH episode 15 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Would it surprise you to learn that other moms have faced all of these challenges? I’ve certainly struggled with all of them myself!

The truth is that NO ONE CAN DO IT ALL. We all have to make wise choices about what we can realistically do from among our seemingly impossible to-do lists. Every single one of us has to find peace in the space between the ideal and reality.

In practical terms, a lot of this boils down to managing our time well. Time is the environment in which we live our lives and make decisions. It’s our most priceless resource because it’s the one thing we can’t get any more of.

No one will ever have more than 24 hours in a day…but some people use their time much more efficiently and effectively than others. Learning how to protect and prioritize your time will help you be a good steward and use it for what’s most important. We often talk of managing time, but what we’re really managing is our lives.

I’ve come up with 7 tools for making the most of our time so we can live balanced, peaceful lives. I call this the FREEDOM toolbox. The tools are:

Today we’re going to talk about the first two tools: Focus and Reflect. Then, in future episodes of the “Flourish at Home” show, we’ll look at the rest of the FREEDOM tools.

The post Focus and Reflect – FREEDOM Tools to Manage Your Time, part 1 – FAH episode 14 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

In episode 12, we looked at the first 3 of 7 powerful planning tools to help you organize your busy life: Big Dream, Yearly Goals, and Monthly Calendar.

In this episode, we’ll look at how to use the last 4 tools:

If 7 planning tools seem a bit overwhelming, feel free to fit them to tweak your own life. Just remember that no matter how many forms or lists you use, you still have to make decisions in each of these 7 categories.

One mom who implemented this system told me:

These tools have given me a whole new mindset and have helped me to live more proactively. Before, I had good intentions and good plans, but they would often be derailed by life. I feel more in control now, and I’m able to work out the nitty-gritty details much more easily. I’m no longer as apt to drop the ball of planning ahead and working my plan.

If you’d like to get my customizable planning forms free, visit my blog at www.FlourishAtHome.com for a free e-book, From Frazzled to Focused: 7 Planning Tools for Busy Moms. Or if you want my entire system—which goes far beyond these 7 tools, you’ll enjoy reading Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms, available through my website and other online vendors.

The post What Do I Do Next? Planning Tools, part 2 – FAH episode 13 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

As you go about your busy day, do you have a hard time deciding what to do next? How do you focus on what’s most important, and how do you make tough choices when there are more tasks than hours in the day?

What Do I Do Next? Planning Tools (Part 1)

I’ve developed 7 powerful planning tools that will help you set long-term and short-term goals to evaluate, prioritize, and conquer your never-ending to-do list. In this episode of the “Flourish at Home” show, we’ll look at how to make the best use of the first 3 of these tools:

In the next episode, we’ll look at the 4 remaining planning tools. As you work with these planning tools, remember that they are your servants, not your masters. They are intended to help you focus on what really matters most to you. This quote from H. G. Wells is a great reminder: “We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.”

The post What Do I Do Next? Planning Tools, Part 1 – FAH episode 12 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Think you’re too busy to set goals? The truth is that the busier you are, the MORE you need to set goals and create a plan for meeting them! In this episode of the “Flourish at Home” show, I share how setting goals helped me move from the chaos of flying by the seat of my pants to a more peaceful, balanced life. You’ll learn my strategies for setting specific, measurable, big, written, shared goals that will make a powerful difference in your daily life.

If you want more encouragement, inspiration, and practical tips, you’ll enjoy my book, Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms. It’s available at www.FlourishAtHome.com.

The post How to Set Goals that Outlast New Year’s Resolutions – FAH episode 11 appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.