The Heart of Homeschooling

This week I’m talking about why it’s important to reflect, take stock, evaluate how the year went. So you can tweak what needs to be tweaked and set yourself up for the best school year yet next year!

I’m sharing the reflection questions I use for my own homeschool and then the ones I use when I’m thinking about how I personally did as the homeschool teacher. They’re both important to think about. 

In this episode I hope you embrace how far you’ve come this year or in all of the years of homeschooling. When you look at those reflection questions you’ll be able to see how much you’ve learned over the year or years.

And finally, I’m going to try to help you be comfortable with sharing your experiences and advice with those moms coming behind you who are going to be asking you how you do it all. 

When moms at church or anywhere else you go find out that you homeschool, they have a million questions, right?

Now I know you might not feel like the best choice to be advising other moms who ask you about homeschooling. 

But I’m going to give you some Biblical and practical encouragement to embrace the level of experience you already have and just share it with them. 

You’ve got a lot of wisdom to share, I promise!

You can grab a copy of the end of school year reflection questions here.

Visit my site, homeschoolingwell.com, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!

This week I get to share another conversation I had with my friend and former life coach, Sarah Cramer.  I mean, she’s still a life coach, she’s just my  former life coach. 

But I’m excited about this conversation even more than last week’s because this is what I really  wanted to talk to Sarah about. 

She’s helping me through some fear I’ve been struggling with which I fully share in the episode. 

She shares her own personal struggles with fear of homeschooling, fear of losing her children, fear of moving across the country and gave a little professional advice as well, which I very much appreciated. 

I had a suspicion she would be the right person to help me with what I’m going through because I figured she must have come up against a lot of fear. For starters when she made the decision to live in that RV and homeschool her kids in it for the past year. 

And I was right! She’s got a lot of wisdom in there. 

So if you’ve ever struggled with fear related to homeschooling, you know things like, “I’m afraid this will ruin my life if I do it, or ruin my children’s education, or they won’t learn enough to get into college,” all those fun thoughts that run through our minds.

Or if you’ve got fear about anything else going on in your life like I do, then this is the episode for you!

You can visit my site, homeschoolingwell.com, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!

I brought my friend Sarah Cramer back on the show for the next two episodes. This week she’s sharing about how she’s surviving and thriving homeschooling her four active boys in an RV this year, traveling the country. 

We probably all think we could use more space to school our kids, but Sarah’s going to give you a whole new perspective on that. 

She’s figuring out how to get it done in 400 square feet. 

I also got to pick her brain on how she keeps all of her boys’ attention spans on math and all the other things when they’ve got awesome things to get to every afternoon. 

And even though none of us are parked at the Grand Canyon, I don’t know about your house, but there are A LOT of short attention spans in my house at this time of year. 

The trampoline in the backyard feels just as exciting when the weather’s nice. 

Sarah’s got some ideas for what we can all do to keep moving with school even when everyone’s itching to get out and go. 

You can follow along with Sarah's RVing adventures on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/the_coaching_cramers/

You can visit my site, homeschoolingwell.com, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!

This episode is all about the habit of taking action! 

Because sometimes it’s easier to THINK about something or maybe be “encouraged” when you hear someone else talking than to actually DO it. 

That’s a lot of us! 

Or probably ALL of us at some point in time in one area of our lives or another. 

And the thing about homeschooling is it’s a super duper action oriented vocation. Action, action, action all day long. 

Whether it’s the actual teaching, the organizing, the cleaning up from it or the planning, homeschools are always in motion. 

But even in the rest of our lives we might have really good ideas about what we could do with this, that, or the other thing, but we just can’t seem to get moving.

Or maybe we like to learn about new things and research things, but never get started implementing them. 

Because it’s tough! 

So this week I want to talk about how to get things out of our heads and move from idea to action. Or maybe from conviction to transformation if you feel like there are some spiritual things going on your life you need to take action with. 

Visit my site, homeschoolingwell.com, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!

We’re still going with the “Good Habits For Mom” series. And this week I’m talking about the good habit of practicing contentment. 

Biblical contentment in every area of our lives. Even homeschooling. 

A little while back I couldn’t figure out why I had stalled out in my spiritual growth and personal development. It seemed like I was finally making strides toward becoming the woman God wanted me to be for years and then I hit a brick wall. 

I couldn’t figure out what was going on. 

And then God brought to my heart and mind that I had an issue with not being content in those areas of my life that I was stuck in. More to the point, I had a discontent heart.

So if you’re anything like me, or every other human that has ever walked the planet, you’re going to identify with all the things I’m talking about in this week’s episode!

Visit my site, homeschoolingwell.com, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!

We’re moving through the series, “Good Habits for Mom.” And this week I’m talking about the habit of always considering your husband. 

Because even though we’re in the trenches all day, every day in the home with the kids and all the stuff, there’s an entire other adult with a stake in all of this. And the Bible says we have to respect him. 

So what does he think about what’s going on in your home, with your homeschooling and how much or little would he actually like to be involved?

You already know, putting some good habits in place for relating to your husband is foundational to a thriving home life, but I just want to remind you again and maybe give you some ideas for how you can do it.

I have to confess, I have a soft spot for husbands since losing mine several years ago and having to step into the role of head of our household myself. 

I have a little bit of a unique perspective on the marriage relationship because of it, and I would love to share it with you!

Because having a better understanding of where your husband is coming from will go a long way in smoothing out all the rough edges of your days and even trickle down into your homeschooling. 

I guarantee it!

Visit my site, homeschoolingwell.com, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!

We’re moving forward with the series, "Good Habits For Mom.” And this week it’s all about the habit of doing the next right thing. 

‘Cause that’s hard to do when you’re an autonomous homeschooling mom home alone all day with a bunch of kids and a bunch of school work and a bunch of housework. 

No one’s telling us what to do or when to do it. 

So what do you do first, what do you do next, how do you keep moving forward? 

It’s a lot to sort out with no real guidance from anyone else!

I've got a couple of tips and tricks for you and I’ve got 3 questions you can ask yourself to keep you on the track you want to be on:

1. What am I fit for?
2. What's the frog?
3. What does my husband say?

You can download our family's  school schedule here for some examples of how our days flow. And my personal schedule here to see how I know what to do next every day. 

Visit my site, homeschoolingwell.com, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!

This week I’m kicking off the “Good Habits for Mom” series talking all about your MORNING ROUTINE. 

Whether you need one or already have one, I’ve got some tips and encouragement for getting you started on the right foot every single day. 

Whether you’ve got littles, bigs, an only child or a pack of 8, you need that peace and quiet and time to gather your thoughts before anyone else is stirring in your house. 

It’s just a gentle entry to the day and a total sanity saver before it’s off the homeschool races. 

So let’s figure out how to make it happen! 

Visit my site, homeschoolingwell.com, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!

For years, I’ve been telling myself that if I just had more time in my schedule, or a more organized schedule or a more whittled down schedule, I would be able to be more present with my kids when I spend time with them. 

I tweaked my schedule for years and it got a little better for sure. 

Then covid came along and my schedule was whittled down to something I couldn’t have ever imagined. 

I finally had all the time in the world for my kids! 

And guess what?

I spent a lot more time with them, but I wasn’t all that much more present. 

I learned what's going on is we've all been born with a specific orientation to time. Each of us is either past, present or future oriented and that determines our behavior and the lens through which we see everything. And it sure as anything, determines how present we are with our kids in our homes and homeschools. 

You can visit my site, Homeschooling Well, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!

Homeschooling through the winter can be a total drag. It’s the darkest, coldest part of the year. We don’t have as many field trips, playdates, park days and everyone starts climbing the walls. 

If we let that get on top of us, we can start thinking negative thoughts about our abilities or whether or not we should even keep going. 

But that’s just winter talking! It tells us all the same thing. 

I’ve got some tips for surviving, and maybe even thriving during your winter homeschooling. If you start with some appropriate expectations, ditch the perfectionism and don’t take yourself too seriously, you’re going to be breezin’ through like a champ.

You can visit my site, Homeschooling Well, for this episode's transcript, show notes and all of the other resources I have to help you homeschool well!