I simplify by using a student led curriculum for the core subjects ( christian light education) science, history and the specials we do lapbooking and notebooking. Also I always check in on myself because I need a lot of breaks as an introvert.
You are speaking the truth! Thank you!!! I don’t have a homeschool room, I have 5 kids from toddler to 10 yrs old Today we didn’t have any “school”...the only school they had today was how not to act as a mom🤦🏻♀️Total fail today but I know And have been reminded now to give this to Him again! Thank you.
Thank you so much for this video. It really spoke to me about giving my home school to God. I have been feeling overwhelmed and stressed and anxious but it doesn’t have to be this way. I can give it to HIM! Thank you for the reminder
I have been watching quite a few homeschool mama’s and you are my favorite mama to watch! I love how you are so encouraging and how real you are! Thank you so much for the inspiration! ❤️ When I 1st started out, I wasn’t sure if I would be capable of homeschooling my son without failing him. I chose an online cyber school for his kindergarten year & then again for this year in 1st grade. It was a great help to start when I had no idea what I was doing. The more we go through this journey, the more and more I want to do this on our own. So, I have been researching curriculum and talking with other mama’s & watching videos online. I’m hoping I am making the right choice but I am confident we can do this for 2nd grade! Thank you again! 😍
I am not even sure how I came across your channel, but I so needed this video. I am in my 9th year homeschooling and this year has been rough! I am not excited about it and really struggling this school year. Thank you for your words! I definitely subscribed!
YES about grouping subjects together!! It takes so much of the pressure off. And the standards in our homeschools not being the same as the world's- phew, that's a hard one to let go of but when you do 🙌🙌🙌
My daughter is still going to school, but I am thinking of homeschooling and my daughter wants me to homeschool. I'm so overwhelmed and I don't know how to start or what works. Thank you for posting. I will follow your channel and Mandy's now. God bless.
We are in our 7th year of homeschooling and I can say YES to all of these!! 💯😅🙌🏼🙌🏼 One thing I would add that helped us is to think about what your philosophy of ‘education’ is. If you believe ‘education’ looks like what happens at public school, you will try to mimic that. But if you believe education is learning/preparing your children for the lives God has created them for, then anything you do to help guide them towards that is education. For example, if you have one child that loves art and is a talented artist, incorporate a lot of art into your homeschool. If you have one that is fascinated by astronomy, buy lots of astronomy books/watch astronomy videos. If you have one that wants to know how everything works, read books about machines and let him build/take things apart. (I have all three of those kids lol...!) Get to know *your* kids and help them develop their innate skills. And yes-STOP comparing! Comparison will make you feel like a failure..... Instead, practice gratitude!! More is caught than taught they say, and if you’re grateful, the kids will be too! ❤️
I am also a homeschool mom of 3 boys - 5th, 4th and kinder. This is our 1st year homeschooling and it is tough! I enjoy the extra time with my kiddos that used to get eaten up by school, but I feel so stressed every day trying to get through the subjects because I have to work every afternoon as a piano teacher (which I now have to teach online and that is also new and challenging!). Anyways, I have been enjoying your channel and your encouraging words. Really appreciate the reminder to LET IT GO TO GOD. I keep forgetting to do that.
Thank you for your encouragement, sweet mama! I need the reminder to let go and let GOD, every day! But...we are right where we are supposed to be. You are doing a great job, sweet mama. 🤗❤❤❤
SPOT ON!!! You know I'm a newbie, what 5 weeks in?? And yea I have the HS room, but def NOT needed...we have that room and honestly...it holds ALLL THE STUFF, we HS in LR, outside, snuggled in our beds, any and EVERYWHERE Sooo right, make it work for you AND the kiddos...i have a tween - well hes a night owl 🤷♀️ at first i was like nope gotta be up n ready by a certain hour--kinda defeated the freedom of HS.....and soooo, we are trying to tailor to our children, he gets his independent work done as he sees fit - frees me up to work with my littles, my early birds and then our group subjects are in afternoon....WHATEVER WORKS Great tips as always 👌 ❤
Thank you for your advise this is my first time homeschooling and i have been struggling with if I'm doing enough all I'm doing is gather round and teaching textbooks and sometimes feel like they need more, also doesnt help when people ask if i feel my boys will fall be hide because im home schooling and then i second guess if i made the right choice. Thank you for your encouragement
Comparison is awful. I have to remind myself daily to stop comparing myself to "normal" people. I'm not normal and I'm ok. I have ADHD and raising a child with ADHD. Hot mess right here lol but thats ok because its about progress not perfection
This was so fantastic!!! I’ve been homeschooling 17 years now. Everything your said is exactly what I’ve learned over the years. Comparison kills. I enjoyed watching this. Thank you for the encouragement. 🌸
One other suggestion...dont be afraid to drop back a recommended grade level on curriculum. My 3rd grader was becoming very frustrated by her Math workbook, so I switched her back to 2nd grade work. She is feeling more confident and is going quickly through this review work. I also did this with my 2nd grader. He loves doing Math now. I also get to gauge how much they retained from last year.
I want to thank you so much for this video. I am drowning and have almost re enrolled my oldest into public school even tho that isn’t my hearts desire. I have been having a difficult time teaching her while trying to teach my preschooler. He is so energetic and can be very tough towards me. On top of that, I have a 2 year old who needs my attention all the time. The kids are always trying to run outside and play with our 3 year old neighbor versus sitting to learn. My oldest loves reading so she wants to read her books all of the time instead of learn. So I have been in quite a panicked mess and this video seriously was a breath of fresh air, thank you
Thank you! I’m still not there with my not so hard right now. I love it but I haven’t found my routine or flow per-say. Your words are so helpful. Week 5 year 1 with a 9yr old boy. Only one ... I know I should not whine while others have multiple kids to homeschool. 🙈 Can’t wait you report our new found God given groove! 🥰🙌🏼🙏🏼♥️
Thank you!!! I follow Mandy the Handmade Homeschooler and she told us to check you out. I can relate to this video. I have been homeschooling for a 1 1/2 years. I am homeschooling my 11th and 5th grader both are struggling learners. The beginning of this school year was rocky. I had to change our curriculum 4 times (they were different subjects). I wanted to cry and I got super frustrated. Last week was week 5 and I think it was our 1st smooth week. I do need to pray about this more and maybe that is where I fell short.
I am so, so happy that you're here! 🤗❤❤❤ Oh mama...yes! It takes so much time to adjust, for everyone. I am glad that you finally had a somewhat peaceful week and I pray that continues as you fall into YOUR flow! 🤗🤗🤗
4 day weeks helped ALOT in middle and younger...now High school it’s challenging...in several areas...curriculum, more in depth reading, and a lot of etc
Thank you! Thank you for the encouragement! Thank you for the motivation! Thank you for the inspiration! Thank you for the good vibes to just do what works best! I’m a mama of two sets of twins (4 and 1) and I’ve seen moms doing all the things, but I quickly had to realize that my journey isn’t their journey and my kids are definitely not their kids. Lol! So I’m taking these words of encouragement and moving forward. :-)
I found you via Mandy's video, and now I have subscribed to you as well. I love homeschool videos, it's my new thing. Lol. You're awesome! I'm binging your channel right now ;)
I sooo needed this!! I’m about tearing up. This year is year 4 and I’m feeling like such a huge failure. But my 10 year old just did some crazy division problems that I didn’t know and I’m like yes!!! 😂 though I can’t give myself credit to that cause he learned the foundation of math in a Private school that used Abeka. I’m really thinking about using Abeka with him next year. And something else for my 13 year old who has a learning disability.
I'm in our 8th year too. I finally have a homeschool room after 4 years without one. We move often. So I'm schooling with new laws and new well I would say groups but currently we aren't meeting with many. Thanks Covid. Anyway Unpacking and school are constantly beating each other. We normally move in the spring so there isnt a ton of school and unpacking battles but... thanks Covid. Anyway, agree agree agree. Thanks for the reminders.
May God bless you for having done this vid.... It may have saved lives and I dont joke, it's not a hyperbolae..... It just soothed my heart on such a hard day. Homeshcooling over in Europe with 5 kids... I know God used this vid today. I send blessings over you and your family in Jesus Christ's name with lots of love and thankfulness. You have no idea....
What exactly do you mean you have lowered your standards and aren't what the world's standards are? Trying to understand! Like you don't expect your kids to memorize math facts, learn how to write as well, learn as much science, etc as they would be if they were in school? I just don't understand because I want to give my kids a better education, not a worse education. Please, no judgement, and I'm not trying to judge, I feel like I'm missing something though!
Your videos are so encouraging, thank you so much for sharing your homeschool experience. Im a new homeschool mom, my daughter is in kindergarten and my son is in preschool. Did you follow any particular curriculum when your children were in kindergarten?? Which one would you recommend??
This is my first year of homeschooling . I have 6 children; 5 of them doing school. I'm teaching grade 7, grade 4, grade 2 and have 2 in grade 1. My youngest is 3. Since the curriculum is harder than public school I ended up putting most of them back 1 grade which is why I have 2in grade 1. I really struggle with how to help everyone and making sure they all get their work done. Since I can't help them all at the same time I stagger the times they do their work, but then I end up teaching all day so that everyone gets finished. By that time I feel burnt out and yet I have to get dinner and all the house work that stays behind so much. I have the children help with housework but still I wish I knew how to make homeschooling easier. If anyone has any tips on how to help with children who struggle with reading I would love to hear them.
Thank you for your wise advices 🙏🏻 I started homeschooling my kindergarten boy and I use your same method, without even know it. Now he knows how to read at 5 years old. I’m so happy 😀 God bless you 🙏🏻
You have no idea how much you have helped me! I ran across you a few weeks back when I was having a really hard week. I’m homeschooling my 4th grader and I have an almost 4 year old. Thank you for sharing your heart. May God bless you for it! ❤️
Spot on re comparison being a thief of joy. I would see beautifully laid out themed tables and feel down that my girl was missing out and I was failing her by not doing enough and providing beautiful resources. Reality is I couldn't afford to do that even if I could access the resources, and my daughter would have looked at and played with it for 10 minutes and be ready to move on to something different. By not following those posts I have found more peace with what I can provide.
So encouraging!! I am struggling with my 6 year old boy (1st grade) and this was such a breath of fresh air to hear that we can change and adapt as needed. Just what I needed to hear today!!
I will never be truly simple. Letting go of expectations and simplifying other areas of my day/life have been a saving grace. But it still is always a back and forth of simplifying when I’m over doing it.
Preach! Comparison 😞🤐 we all get mixed up in it, I know I do sometimes, even with other things other than homeschooling. That reminds me to take your thoughts captive as scripture says in all areas, which I am trying to all the time, mess up but GRACE! 💗
Yes! Take every thought captive and bring it under the authority of God. What does he say?! Right??? I am learning this more and more every single day. Thank you for reminding me. 🤗❤🙌
Yes to all of this, Jamie! I have always done group subjects, and even lump subjects together with unit studies. Everyone’s home learning should look different. We do so much life skills, farm skills, mechanics, etc that goes against what the world thinks we ought to be doing, but the world isn’t our standard. I totally understand what you are talking about!! ❤️
It is so true. Spanish was making me crazy. So I let it go. Now I do the time a little at a time and now it make easy. Sometimes it is my mind not my kiddos that is full. It's hard to empty to begin.
I'm a new homeschooler this year but I knew right away I wanted to combine whatever I could! With that being said we are still only doing the basics and have yet to dive into the group subjects. 😆
THANK YOU 🙌 ❤️ I agree! Yes find what works for you! I changed my schedule also to only do homeschool 4 days a week, because we love traveling so much! And so I concentrate hard on her school and I believe she does as well when she know she get 3 days off. And even then, she still learning like you said in different aspects of our lives we teach!
YES mama! 🤗💜 I totally get you on the 4 day school week! That's how we do things over here, too! Isn't is such a beautiful feeling when it just fits?! 🤗
I needed to hear this today. The guilt and comparison are strong and I needed the reminder to give it ALL to God! Thank you beautiful friend. 🌻 (Ps...I’m also a mom of boys 🙂)
Ugh, I so wish that we could grab coffee & chat in real life 😭 THANK. YOU. for this. Even in something as beautiful as homeschool, the thief relentlessly comes to steal joy and bring destruction amongst ourselves and in our families. Praise God that he put it on your heart to share messages like these and encourage all us mamas to continue to fight the good fight! 💪🏼💛 So needed this today.
Thanks to you I started out with the right mindset from the start. I have 2 girls 13 and 14 and an 8yr old boy. We started with Gather Round and have pulled a few things from other places. We're on week 5 and it has been so much fun. I was going to only do school Mon-Thur. But when Friday came along, they ALL said they wanted to do work that day. So, We do Mon-Fri. But really the learning never ends. This weekend they all picked out their own plants to re pot and take care of. So they've all been doing alot of research on their own plants to know how to care for it. Thanks for your videos!❤💃 If I can do this...ANYONE can! To me it just feels like part of parenting... not a teacher student thing. I'm learning a lot too.😄
I’m new to homeschooling and I’ve made sure that I’ve made this not strict and simple. My mom and sisters are the ones like saying “are sure you’re doing this right” lol I’m happy I see. Thus video I will send it to my. Siblings and mom because you are much more calmer response then how I responded to them
I needed this today! It was such a bad Monday😩 Days like this I feel like I’m failing on all levels, and it’s that much harder to recover the parts of the day you lost. I’m trying to simplify my days, but I just don’t see anything else that can go! Chores I guess....🤷🏼♀️
Great advice. This is our second year homeschooling our daughter who is a freshman in high school now. So as you can see, we got a bit of a late start with her homeschooling. What I wouldn’t give to go back and do it all over again and never send her to public school. I truly wish I would’ve started homeschooling her from the start. But here we are, God has been so good to us! We did a classical education last year, and this year we’re doing more of the traditional style and will hopefully stick with the traditional style all the way through high school. We already have some curriculum that we’re not crazy about, but like you said we are not a slave to the curriculum. If it’s not working, we do some thing else. There’s so much out there that there’s no reason to stick with something that’s not working. Thank you so much for the video. I enjoy watching your channel, and I hope you have a wonderful day!
This is my first year, I’m scared to death still....I have to work Atleast 3 days a week, not an option otherwise for me RightNow. It makes me feel like I’m not enough....like I’m already failing. I want to make this enjoyable for both my son and I. He’s a 7th grader too! I don’t want to do him a disservice by not being enough....I want to give it to God. But sometimes I tend to give it to Him and then take it back!🤦🏻♀️ I watch your videos daily and you are such an encouragement! Thank you for what you do and say....and yes comparison will steal your joy! I deal with this on all levels of my life and I really want to give that up!!!
Oh sweet mama...if only we could sit and have coffee. You sound JUST LIKE I DID. You are doing an amazing job...I already know that!!!! Take a deep breath...take it one day at a time. You are more than enough and you are qualified. Keep on keeping on, mama. I tend to want control of everything too...I'm not proud of it. It takes practice every day. But that's what He wants...for us to realize that we can't do it alone and we NEED Him! You are doing a great job, sweet mama! YOU ARE! 🤗❤🤗
Oh, and btw....we have only been typically doing 3 days of "school" this year so far as well. We are life schooling around here! Living each moment as it comes. 🤗
Yes, girl! Keep it simple! Keep sit down, formal, book work schooling short and sweet! Yes, learn together as a family! 👏🏻 Doing “school at home” is one of the worst things homeschool families could do for their children’s education, in my opinion. Classrooms are unnatural and so not ideal. I’m a former school teacher turned homeschool mom - homeschool is so much better. 🙌🏻 Make it your own, for YOUR kids! ❤️ And yes, girl, coffee sounds like a great idea ha!
