Homeschool advice that sounds good, but is not that helpful 

"Just read to them and then they will learn how to read". Ma'am, I have been reading my kids 5-10 books per day since they were born and it did NOT teach them how to read. They needed explicit instruction.

“No academics until 6.” Okay, but if my four year old is teaching herself to write her name and working on a kindergarten math book for fun, I’m not gonna snatch the pencil from her hand. 🤷🏼‍♀️

One thing I heard recently that made a lot of people angry is this mom says she doesn't play with her kids. She'll read to them, play board games, puzzles, science experiments, baking, walks outside etc etc but playing is off with the siblings or off on their own not with mom. Mom uses that play time to cook dinner, clean, laundry etc. So many people insist her children will feel neglected because she doesn't pretend play with her kids. Unless we give up sleep when will dinner etc get done if we don't have them go off and play on their own?

Soooo true to all of this. Totally agree about the whole “let the house go.” That one drives me nuts!! I need a sense of order and I think my kids do too. I think it’s good for them to see that I prioritize keeping our home clean, as long as homeschool also gets done

A few things that bother me are: If something is hard or your child complains, they aren’t ready. Give them more time. (Especially in relation to reading. That can be the case but typically isn’t.) The other is to not have much of a schedule or routine - that going with the flow is one of the joys of homeschool. No one in my family does well with this. We all thrive off of structure.

Great video! I'll tackle the first one. My oldest is 20. I wish I knew then what I know now. He was extraordinarily busy as a toddler and preschooler, constantly dumping things out, smashing things, making messes, Pulling things out of cupboards when I would go to use the bathroom, looking for constant stimulation. He would have injured himself hundreds of times if I wasn't constantly watching him and following after him and being a helicopter parent which honestly I never expected to be. He put literally everything in his mouth up until the age of 5 including things like dog poop and beatles. It was so exhausting physically and mentally. I was the one who needed to hear Don't worry about the cleanliness of your house. I just had no time and energy for things like mopping and deep cleaning the kitchen. My top priority was keeping him safe and Keeping my sanity. When he was 6, along came my easiest daughter, who just sat and watched everything and was content 24/7 sleeping through the night at 3 weeks old. With a child like that I had time to clean the house and home school and do all the things. So I think that advice is meant to help Parents who have challenging situations and cannot do the cleaning or afford to hire someone to do it.

“ Foster the love of learning” 😂😂 yes! I can’t stand this because ummm hello how is this done? This makes me feel so guilty because I don’t t see this LOVE for the core subjects that’s ever one seems to have

Mine would be "just let them play" and "take a break". I was always like, okay, but what does that LOOK like? I need instructions. 😂

Yes to all of those, especially the last one! And “you need to take ‘school’ out of homeschool”! When did ‘school’ become a bad word?!

I can so relate to what you have discussed. I think so many "sayings" come from a good intention, but we know real life doesn't always work that way.

Oh man, I absolutely love this video. The "letting the house go" is a big one. None of us have it all together. However. It *is* possible to keep our homes in order. Number one is getting rid of clutter. I cannot stress this enough! It was a total game changer for me. I think we all just have a tendency to make things so much harder than they actually are.

I definitely am with you on the clean house. My house is far from immaculate but my stress/anxiety levels go through the roof when it’s in utter chaos. But my friends who don’t experience this can make me feel kinda guilty. One thing I can never understand that I hear all.the.time. In homeschool community is that you don’t have to finish your books. You can still move up to the next grade without finishing.. we never finished our books in school.. I don’t know what crazy school I went to but we did complete all our books! And I understand skipping review problems if your child has it mastered it but to just not finish the last couple chapters etc… like that’s in there for a reason I would think. My kids would miss out on learning important skills if we just skipped the last 20 lessons. Maybe other people have smarter kids that can pick it up easily the next year?? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I like the top three things, but I use them as extra focus (not including devotions, making meals, taking care of kids), but more like I want to focus on this project, or deep clean, etc. Also, I can have such a long list that breaking it up into smaller priorities help me.

Thank you sharing! This is only my second year homeschooling and I have heard all of these many times, almost always without examples or further explanation. It’s not helpful.

My kids help me clean so we can have more play time together. The only thing that annoys me about homeschooling is the people who constantly think my kids need a pop quiz. I taught my kids to say, 'Sorry, I'm not here for that."

Great video! The advice I heard was you can homeschool anywhere and yes that might be true but as a military family anywhere…could literally be anywhere or during a move. Learning to establish a routine for our kids that have so much change around them already and having a place to do school in whatever “home” we are in has been a game changer.

Also, my oldest has special needs and I have heard others with kids with special needs make suggestions/given advice and it’s so unhelpful. We are on our own journey, and I’ve found that trusting my own mama instinct never fails me. I try my best never to give advice 😅

The problem with most advice is that those who are giving it have taken it from their own life experiences, things that happened to work for their family and then they throw it out there as if it's an end all be all answer for everyone. The truth is, none of us know what the heck we are doing 😂 And if we happened to find something that works in an area of our life, great! If someone asks for your opinion, you can offer those solutions as an option to them. But everyone and every family is so different! To assume one solution should work for absolutely everyone and then when it doesn't it's somehow that person's fault...just unnecessary guilt and stress. I would say, finding your own balance is key. There isn't always a quick fix. Listen to the experiences of others and implement things you think might work, and if it doesn't try something else! Don't stress over being different, even if others think you're crazy, which is sometimes easier said than done, of course. We are all always trying to figure it out. That's just life! But don't take my word for it 😉

Yes, THANK YOU!! I have believed these pieces of advice at so many different points. And it has made me nothing but confused. The one I hear a lot is "no formal academics before 6 years old." What am I supposed to do? Just sit here and say no while he's asking to learn? Your words were so wise and encouraging!! Thank you!

Listening while I clean the bathroom while my daughter works on math 😉

Agreed! Finding a happy medium was so beneficial for me!

The "top three things a day" have always thrown me for a loop too! I'm still trying to figure out better ways of prioritizing that are more simple. I've started to say what are my top three focuses but yet have many things on my to-do list. However, I'm still working out The kinks and still finding my way. Thank you for the video. I think these are important clarifications since they confuse so many moms. Thank you! 💜💖

Someone actually told me that its abuse to allow your child to read at 3... im like my son is reading ... he likes it... doesn’t mean every child will read this age... but i mean the boy likes reading... what's the problem? 😅💁🏽‍♀️

Yes! I agree with you on all these. I actually hate “advice” from ppl unless I’m asking for help on something and then I take it with a grain of salt. We all have our own unique personalities and very unique families. So one’s treasured advice may just be someone else’s trash 😂😂😂

Thanks, definitely a visual person and knowing things that need to be done. Looking for balance.

Oh my goodness!! Thank you sooo much for this video!! I sometimes feel like a fish out of water because this is exactly how I think! And to be honest, I do sometimes feel like I'm doing things wrong for MAKING my kids do their work lol. To the point where I sometimes have to give myself a pep-talk about me HAVING to go to school even if I didn't WANT to or LIKE to and I turned out just fine and even graduated with honors. So, it is what it is. LOL! So again.....THANKS SO MUCH! I really needed to hear another homeschool mom having these same thoughts!

Great advice. Everything you said is relatable. Thank you.

"I hope we aren't hearing voices in our heads" 🤣 Hahaha this was a great video. I hate getting vague advice as well. I hear these things so much I thought it was just me who didn't "get it". I used to feel horribly guilty when my kids didn't love every single subject. That I was failing. After several years of homeschooling I've begun to realize that's just not true, but this video was awesome. Thanks for keeping it real. 👍😂

So I actually adhere to the "3 things per day", but I apply it as 3 things "in addition to" our daily routine and tasks. So for example, my morning routine includes bible reading, getting ready for the day, serving breakfast, and breakfast clean up. None of those thing are part of that 3. That is just a daily routine. I also have an evening routine. So my 3 priorities for the day might be 1. Laundry 2. Batch meal prep and 3. Vacuum, and those things would happen in addition to our regular routines and our homeschool checklist which is a daily routine.

Loved this !! Totally agree 👍 ❤

My soapbox: “your child can’t get behind.” This is an unpopular opinion but I’m here to tell you your child can get behind and will get behind if you don’t pay attention and continue to make progress consistently. I have been homeschooling for 15 years and always come across the desperate mom with a high schooler that is behind in math and not ready to take a college entrance exam, or standardize test and want to attend college. For certain things in life, there are some minimum requirements and if you don’t keep up, you will be left behind. I’ve seen it a lot. Don’t fall pray to that.

“Hopefully we are not hearing voices “ Lol I bet your fun to hang out with in person 😂

I’ve never heard the choose 3 on the to do list today. But my therapist did say to me, “ you have a lot on your plate. You have 6 baskets for each day, how will you choose to fill them. What will you prioritize?” This was very helpful to me as we were and are still having medical problems. So between that having babies, schooling, cleaning cooking, my priorities begin with making sure we are fed and medications are given. Then goes onto making sure we bathe, then school, ect… if I didn’t get to my 5th or even 6 basket of the day, like making beds, washing the dishes that didn’t fit into the dishwasher I started, or even working out, that’s okay because they were the last baskets and weren’t crucial to get through the day. However, most days striving to fill my 6 baskets is important to me. If one or two are left unfilled we have to be okay with life. When other moms say just enjoy it goes so fast, I think to myself that’s so true, but I’m doing the best I can and enjoying the most I can. I think I mostly am peeved by the moms who are choosing not to homeschool their children aren’t okay with us choosing to homeschool. But also won’t stop comparing the two even through there’s nothing to compare because every school and child is different.

I left a comment but it disappeared 😅... maybe its somewhere 😂anyways liked the video Lauren!

Best video I have seen in a long time.

hoarders 😂 … I understand what you mean that was funny …. But yes it bothers me too …I usually just clean everyday little by little 😊 I agree with all you said

The advice I hear all the time that doesn't work is - pick circculum that works for your child not what works for you as a parent. While I do agree we should take into consideration our child's learning style, as the teacher we can't teach if the curriculum doesn't work for us as the teacher. Also in life, in jobs, in adulthood, we don't get to pick everything. We can't pick the computers work gives us as employees, we don't get to pick the job's policies, and even in college you don't get to pick everything that works for you. I think teaching a child to adapt, cope, and be flexible is what's important. Maybe your child hates to write so you cater to your child by picking a fun interactive language arts curriculum that teaches zero writing skills, it's a disservice to your child because they will have to write in life - emails, text messages, presentations, etc.

I think that for cleaning there are always systems that can be set up so the house stays clean with minimal daily effort 😊

When my oldest was about to start kindergarten i had several people question me about our decision to homeschool our kids. I had someone “advice” me after i told them we are homeschooling not to let my kid ride the bus to school cuz buses are scary and even after saying well we are homeschooling it doesn’t matter cuz we are homeschooling for her to keep telling me not to use the bus. What i have found interesting strangers have been more positive about us keeping our kids home for school than people i know. We had our third baby in July and had people question if I could still teach my kids with a baby. Not much advice as much as a look like i am nuts. 😆

Absolutely loved this. Yes to all of it 😊❤