Cruising through April, and that exciting news for a homeschool Mom. May is next! With that a much-needed break. As homeschoolers, we often get categorized as “weird”, even though the reality is that the homeschooling scene has really changed. As we are homeschoolers I never want to add to the negative image homeschooling is starting to shake off, so I work hard to keep an organized and on point in our homeschool life. But I gotta confess homeschool life isn’t always what it appears to be…
Moms need summer break too
I know as a homeschool parent, I should be studious. I should be reading and organizing school rooms, going through papers and organizing and comparing school curriculums. However that’s all the boring stuff, and part of the wonderment of childhood was living carefree. That’s what summer does. I love having more outside teaching moments and just life learning trips to the pool or the water park. I love having the kids run in the sprinkler while I work in the garden (which if you follow us on Instagram which I seriously think you should, we have already been able to do this year). Seriously, I look forward to the less strict schedule, and I can’t wait till my kids spend entire days in their swimsuits or a pair of shorts and save me tons of laundry! (It’s the little things in life wink, wink ?)
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Dear Homeschool Mom, You’re tougher than you think
It’s not always wildly successful
In the homeschooling realm, there is sort of this image that homeschool moms are perfect or all-knowing. That they have the perfect curriculum or combination of materials. Many do have education backgrounds and according to them have kids far above the rest of the crowd. Then there is me….. well what can I say, except, I am definitely not that homeschool mom. So I have dove in at times with different things, curriculums or plans that I thought would be great. Then I learned that I was not getting the results that I had imagined, so I scratched that and started looking again! I have used all sorts of different curriculum, and maybe that would be a good future post to give my pro’s and cons of all of the different curriculums we have tried. I thought that I had to do this all perfect approach, but in reality, homeschooling is much more of a journey, and like all journeys has its own highs and lows.
Sometimes I question myself & my sanity
I know in life we all have those days when we just ask why! Why me? Why this? Why now? Well being a homeschool mom can definitely do that to you. However what I have learned is that every big goal or difficult task will do that to us. A goal of running a marathon would give us moments we want to quit too, but sticking with it is what produces the results. So in my times that I want to throw my hands up, I usually take a breather, gather myself, and run at it again. Some days that is easier said than done, but done it will get!
It still gets exciting too
I usually start to geek out at the end of a school year or the end of the summer getting excited over the next year. Maybe it’s new ideas I want to try or new curriculum we will try. Like this next year Chaisen, the oldest, will be learning about stars and be using star maps. I am so excited to get that started. I love and get all excited when I find a curriculum or some learning tool that is just skyrocketing their learning. Like finding a new set of readers (halfway through the school year) that just propels Aspen’s first-grade reading. If I am being really honest being a homeschool mom keeps me learning as well, that is also so exciting. I never want to get to a point where I as a mom, wife or person stop learning.
I secretly think we are the lucky ones
Other people look at us and think “poor you”, “you have your hands full”, “oh what a chore” but I secretly think I have gold. Like when we went to the Kansas Cosmosphere a few months back, and we have a family learning trip that everyone loved so much. I think to myself “how many other moms get to do this?” Spend time with all their kids learning and watching the joy light up their faces. I remind myself they will all grow faster than I can imagine, but I get to be there for all those great moments. And they, the kids get to be there learning with each other, building lifelong friendships and strong family bonds.
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My Homeschool Year (Memory Book)
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. -Benjamin Franklin
So maybe every day in the life of a homeschool mom is not fun or exciting, nor is it always organized and perfectly planned. But heck who has that? No one I know. Life for everyone is a journey. For me, I try to make the journey one where I am steering the ship. A life without the “I wish I would have’s”. I get to parent just once, I get just these short years. I plan to make the most of my time in mom role, which is also teacher role. Striving to make the most of my hectic, school-work, broken-crayon, dried-out-marker, paper-grading, field-trip-taking Mom Life♡♡♡
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Beth is a mother of 6 living on a handful of acres in an old farmhouse in central Kansas. Beth has a background in the military and health and fitness however her passions come from her homestead life. Beth is an enthusiastic homeschooling mom, avid organic gardener, chicken & goat wrangler, who is obsessed with herbs and natural remedies and maintaining an all-around Do-It-Yourself lifestyle. Beth loves to share all she has learned about and sustainable living. While striving for a healthy, natural life, family-centered life.