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4 Undeniable Reasons People Hate Homeschooling (Keep It Real)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

After homeschooling for about 19+ years, I've given up thousands of hours of free time, a lucrative career, put my health on the back burner, and some years I regrettably spent way more time with my kids than my husband. I felt like quitting homeschool many times, hated homeschooling more times that I can count, and many times I've felt like all I was doing was arguing with kids. If I wasn't debating with one of them, I felt like my brain cells were being agonizingly sucked out!After homeschooling for about 19+ years, I’ve given up thousands of hours of free time, a lucrative career, put my health on the back burner, and some years I regrettably spent way more time with my kids than my husband. I felt like quitting homeschool many times, hated homeschooling more times that I can count, and many times I’ve felt like all I was doing was arguing with kids. If I wasn’t debating with one of them, I felt like my brain cells were being agonizingly sucked out by doing another mind-numbing math algorithm.

I’m pulling back the curtain to reveal the ugly side of homeschooling. Today, I’m sharing just 4 undeniable reasons people hate homeschooling because you and I both know there are more. In the spirit of keeping it real and because I want you to know that I’m not a supermom, I hope by exposing to you the overwhelming struggles that homeschooling moms endure, you’ll be prepared to confront them head-on.

I need to tell you a story first. It won’t take too long, I promise. But you need to know where I’m coming from.

In my last weeks of pregnancy with Mr. Senior 2013, he was breech. The doctor told me he wanted to perform a version, an external procedure where the doctor turns the baby. With both hands on the surface of your stomach, one hand is by the baby’s head and the other by his butt. The doctor pushes and rolls the baby to a head-down position.

Is Homeschool Fatigue Really Okay?

With my husband beside me and a staff of doctors ready to do the procedure, my doctor gently reminded me again that this procedure is one of the most painful procedures in childbirth. By not sugarcoating it, I could somehow prepare my mind and body or so I thought.

Though the experience was one of the most agonizing of my life, the result was that my son was born healthy and headfirst after the procedure. Nothing could of prepared me for the pain. No mindset even came close.

Some years of homeschooling are similar. No amount of mental preparation seems to make you ready for the fact that homeschooling takes over your life.

Like that procedure, I needed to have my mind and body ready for the task ahead.

Homeschoooling is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and there are more times than I can count that I hated it.

I’m hoping by sharing these 4 not so glamorous things about homeschooling and a few ways of how I coped that you’ll also be ready when you have times when you flat out hate homeschooling.

►You’re never alone. You can’t even hide out in the bathroom.

Oh sure, homeschool moms will tell you to hire sitters. I did. And when my extended family live closed, I got help. The truth of it is that a lot of homeschool moms don’t have the luxury of family living close or knowing a lot of people in the beginning that they would trust with their kids.

Homeschooling is pretty much about being around your kids most of the time. From the time they were babies, even getting a shower for the day was a major feat. Many days, I cried in frustration because I was not able to homeschool, let alone clean my house. Those years were very hard. They didn’t equal to anything I had coming up though in the preteen years. More on that in a minute.

However, the time did come when my sons were old enough to respect my alone time. At first when they were little, I used a timer. I set it for 25 minutes. The rule was they couldn’t come into my room to talk to me. Like all moms that love their kids there is always exceptions for emergencies and fighting kids, but for the most part they knew to leave me alone. They thought it was a game and I didn’t care. But making a plan for self-care propelled me through that time.

Now, when my young adult sons throw their big hairy arms around me as young men, drive me to places, cook food for me and tell me how much they’re glad I homeschooled them, the hard years seem like a fading mist.

Words can’t even express the love I have for them and how very, very grateful I am that I didn’t get bitter, give in and send them to public school.

No, but homeschooling is not easy.

►Kids are unmotivated, lazy, back talking, and disrespectful.

I’m not talking about other homeschooler’s kids, but about my own kids. Yes, I’ve experienced all of those things.

At the time when those things were happening, I thought it was because we were constantly around each other. It wasn’t.

Instead of being a homeschool issue, it was a discipline issue. It’s hard to see that at the time because homeschooling gets blamed for everything.

I learned homeschooling brings out not only the good in your kids, but the ugly too. When habits haven’t been formed for learning, then you can’t go forward. Homeschooling gets blamed because that is how we spend most of our day.

The truth of it is that negative behavior exhibits in homeschooling because it’s hard work.

The easy thing in parenting is to not deal with the disrespecting at the moment and to blame homeschooling because our kid’s attitude toward any work is much pretty crap all the time.

First, I had to correct their attitudes and save my energy for those upheavals in our day. No amount of homeschooling or excellent and superior curriculum will correct that.

Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart. When you have to diligently parent and meticulously homeschool in the same day, it makes for many rough years.

Because I did both parenting and homeschooling at the same time instead of sending my kids away where bad behavior may possibly be nurtured or overlooked, I’m grateful that I could deal with it as it came up.

I won’t win the parent of the year award now that two of my sons are adults, but I have won their hearts and have a wonderful relationship with them. It’s built on mutual respect, dignity and love for each other.

►People are going to think your kids are “weird” regardless of what you do and how well-rounded out your kids are.

Although two of my sons have graduated with high grades, are successfully pursuing their interests, and have tons of personality, people still look at them and me weird.

And no, we don’t milk goats, raise chickens, or homeschool my kids under a rock. But I don’t have a problem either with people who choose to do that.

It’s important for you to know that I’ve never cared much about what people think about me or my choices. And I’m PROUD that my kid’s don’t get their chains yanked by people who are mindless and bend to every current whim or ideology by the masses.

What will not ever go away is the stigma attached with homeschooling kids. That they are awkward and social misfits. Some days you just don’t want to see the eye-rolling or hear the muttered, “Ohhhh”.

What are the Benefits of Not Quitting Homeschool?

► Many times, the house just doesn’t get cleaned. Easy to deal with when it’s not your home.

I’ve heard a lot through the years about the house cleaning thing. In the beginning, I didn’t have the right attitude either or I thought, again.

As a neat freak, overbearing, critical about the details person, I had to do a lot of soul searching if I wanted to survive homeschooling. Balance is not easy when you already don’t get any time to yourself or have hormonal teens.

Looking back now, I’m so glad that I didn’t give up the need to have clean surroundings, but learned that I was not balanced in how much I needed to do.

All that matters is what you and your husband want when it comes to a clean house. Now, a lot, but not all of our friends are homeschool families like us. They understand books strewn about, projects growing on the counter, and science projects with foul smells in the refrigerator.

The most important thing I learned was that unless I was feeling calm about the house mess, I couldn’t be at my best while teaching. However, I too had to compromise. Instead of doing everything I wanted to do on my house cleaning day, I learned to do the important things to me, like a clean toilet, clean linens, and clean floors.

House cleaning is about compromise and that means it will never be done your way as long as you homeschool.

I’m not finished yet, do you want to know a few more things that you will face in your homeschool journey? Have you encountered any of these things so far?

Look at my 31 free Boot Camp for New or Struggling Homeschoolers where I keep it real, Why My Homeschooled Kids Are Not Given the Choice to Go to Public School and Homeschool Quitters, Dropouts and Wimps (Want to Join Me?).

Hugs and love ya,

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


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3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

It’s a scary feeling choosing a writing curriculum when you don’t have a professional background in education. Also, look at my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

Knowing that thousands of parents embark on teaching their children each year, I too made the leap to choosing the perfect writing curriculum.

But you and I both know that perfect writing curriculum doesn’t exist, or does it?

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

Looking back now that two of my sons are graduated, there were some things I did right although I didn’t feel that way at the time.

WRITING CURRICULUM

Hoping to spare you the same agony I went through because of my aversion to teaching writing, I learned 3 ways to choose the best writing curriculum for a growing homeschool family.

1. There is a right way to teach writing. No smoke and mirrors are involved.

A writing program needs to give you and your children structure and sentence variety.

Short and compound sentences are only two sentence types, but a beginner writer needs plenty of practice developing them.

Moving from basic sentence writing to a paragraph is foundational to strong writing skills.

As your child matures, he widens out in his ability to write creatively, but the foundation is first.

Does your writing curriculum give numerous subject topics, practice with sentence variety and instructions to the non-professional educator?

2. As the moods of your children change, your writing environment can’t.

When it comes to scheduling, I could easily be known as a Nazi mama.

I’ve been hard on myself through the years so that I don’t push too hard.

But years later, I’ve learned my structured environment was key to my boys learning how to write well.

I fully appreciate now that relaxed homeschooling is not lazy homeschooling. Finding balance is key to being a good writing teacher.

A well-rounded writing curriculum should give you guidance through each step of the writing process and tips to accommodate your kids changing needs and moods.

For several years, my sons needed to write about boy topics.

Easy Writing Curriculum Tips

Getting them in touch with their warm and fuzzy feelings didn’t work for them. An excellent writing curriculum really needs to serve the needs of both girls and boys.

In my inexperience, I learned a valuable nugget which is that a structured writing environment nurtures creativity. It worked opposite of how I thought it would be in the beginning.

Instead of focusing on the grade level, a writing curriculum needs to give you a clear picture of the process.

For example, does it move from planning, prewriting, drafting, revising to editing/publish? Does it help you to teach each step clearly?

If the writing curriculum is written for multiple ages, then you can teach to the writing ability for each child.

It’s a costly mistake to buy a writing curriculum that does not give you abundant teaching tips at each stage of the writing process.

For example, just because a child is in middle school doesn’t mean he is ready to write high school essays. After all essays are just a lot of practice in paragraph writing combined to make a lengthy paper.

Practice in paragraph writing can span many grades and it’s more about maturity than age.

When you’re given clear short-term goals and long-term goals of the writing process, your child can advance based on his maturity or simmer at one level for a while.

Again, teaching writing from the novice to the accomplished is about giving kids a structured environment which should be one of the important details in your program.

Writing, like math, is a skill that needs to be practiced each day. Skipping writing for numerous days and then asking your kids to write 5 paragraphs in one setting is pure torture.

Like other skill subjects, writing quickly becomes boring if a child is not writing about what interests him.

Does your writing curriculum give you writing prompts or ideas, encourages your child to write about topics that interest him and remind you to give praise for your child’s good communication skills? It should.

3. Lessons must be geared toward ensuring writing success.

Writing programs aim for writing success, but many miss the mark.

Not having a teaching background makes me require more of a writing program than just telling me about the writing process.

Look at these key bullet points to help you gauge a top-notch writing program.

Writing Structure Gives Kids a Strong Edge

  • Equipping teachers with scripted lessons is the start to creative writing. Like cooking, not everybody needs a recipe but sometimes you need exact measurements. However, in the beginning an inexperienced cook starts with a pattern or recipe and adjusts a recipe as she hones her skill. She adjusts a recipes to fit her family’s needs. Teaching writing is similar. Learn from seasoned writers by carefully following a script and then adjust it to meet your family’s needs.
  • Providing detailed instructions for budding writers is an essential component. New writers seem to have no fear when it comes to ideas. They need structure and guidance daily. The challenges are quite different for a more mature writer.
  • A program should ensure writing success for older writers who have more experience in life but may have experienced many writing failures. They may lack confidence. If a writing program fails to ensure that each writing adventure is a success, why would you choose it?
  • Ample ideas for editing, revising and giving feedback are necessary. My boys never responded to the red pen marks on their paper. It didn’t take many times for me to do that until I realized that writing is very personal. Tips in my curriculum like discussing topics beforehand, having my child explain his thoughts to me prior to writing and having my child listen and watch me as I thought outloud while writing were key teaching points I learned.

Teaching Kids to Write Clearly and Creatively Without Crushing Them

One year when one of my sons was in middle school, I thought he was a very creative writer. At least more so than I was at his age. What I was helped to appreciate from teaching writing was that my son needed to make a point with his writing while entertaining readers.

Having eight pages of words which sparked his imagination was beautiful and creative, but honing it for meaning is equally important.

As a mom of bright boys, I refused to believe that just because boys came later to the writing table that it meant they were delayed.

They were not, they just needed more entertaining than girls. A boy’s need to wiggle, move, and use up their energy had to be incorporated into the lesson plan.

I’m not telling you that teaching writing is easy, but it can be less intimidating when you choose the best writing curriculum. Take your time choosing one and ask a lot of questions.

3 Ways to Choose the BEST Writing Curriculum (for a Growing Homeschool Family)

What is working and not working for you right now?

More Writing Curriculum Tips

Also, look at how to teach writing with these other tips.

It’s a scary feeling to choose a writing curriculum when you don’t have a professional background in education. Knowing that thousands of parents embark on teaching their children each year, I too made the leap to choosing the perfect writing curriculum. But you and I both know that perfect writing curriculum doesn’t exist, or does it? Looking back now that two of my sons are graduated, there were some things I did right although I didn’t feel that way at the time. Click here to grab the 3 tips on how to choose the BEST writing curriculum.

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

The Big List of Unit Study Hands-on (and Hands-off) Curriculum

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Switching from a strictly classical approach to a homeschool unit study curriculum wasn’t a quick decision, but it was the best choice for our family. Besides learning how to homeschool means making the best choice for your family

Homeschool unit studies allow us to work on a mastery-based level on topics that fascinated us instead of learning in small bites.

The Big List of Unit Study Hands-on (and Hands-off) Curriculum

Two things I quickly learned was that prepared homeschool unit study curriculum was not as readily available as curriculum for other homeschool approaches and that not all of my boys wanted to do hands-on activities.

Although there may not seem as many choices for curriculum using the unit study approach, there is still a variety.

Listing some of the ones I’ve used and which ones have more hands-on ideas, I’m hoping one or two here will help you to make the switch to unit studies easier, ease your planning time or just let somebody else take the teaching reins for a while.

Homeschool Unit Study Curriculum

Also, where possible if there is a discount available, I’ll point that out because I like to save money too.

BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS

Beautiful Feet Books is based on history centered literature and I’ve used it for my boys at the middle and high school level.

Be sure to grab the coupon at my article Medieval History for Homeschool Middle School and read about using Beautiful Feet Books.

You can add hands-on ideas here, but it’s not required.

Before Five in a Row

Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row are literature based unit studies based on living books and I used them when the boys were young.

It’s one of my top choices for the younger years and lot of hands-on ideas are sprinkled throughout which I feel is a valuable component for younger grades.

BookShark.

BookShark is the secular version of Sonlight and I classify it as a unit study because of the literature based focused. I love their 4-day a week schedule and this is an all-in-one program or boxed curriculum because it comes with everything you need for a year.

Multiple Ages Unit Study Curriculum

I like BookShark because it allows me to add my own Christian view. Too, hands-on ideas are not required but I love the fact you can add your own activities.

GeoMatters.

Combining our love for geography, history, living books with a Charlotte Mason twist, makes GeoMatters a fun unit study. We loved doing their Trail Guide to Learning.

HomeschoolLegacy. 

This is an all-in-one unit study provider where the planning is laid out for you.

I’ve tried one of the history ones and enjoyed how easy it made lesson planning. And it has a nice balance of both laid out planning and hands-on ideas.

Home School In the Woods.

If you love history like we do and build a lot of your unit studies around it, then you’ll love the approach taken by Home School in the Woods which is through timelines, lapbooks and hands-on activities.

I love how many ideas are given for hands-on projects, but also a good amount of information is given for background information. If you’re looking for long-term hands-on projects, this is a great option.

In the Hands of a Child.

Then this is a lapbook approach to unit studies. The best part besides the fun lapbook is that they can span many ages.

Intellego Unit Studies.

I love these unit studies though they are light on hands-on ideas and are secular.

I’ve used several of these studies when I first started because I didn’t want to have to research all the information. I like them because the background information is well laid out.

Unit Study Curriculum

I normally end up adding my own Biblical content anyway and have ideas for hands-on.

There is very little hands-on required.

KONOS.

Yes, it’s true they are the absolute granddaddy of unit studies and I used them when I first got started. It is a very comprehensive unit study and you can buy just what you want or buy a laid out curriculum. They have more fun hands-on ideas than most other unit studies.

I love the amount of hands-on ideas for each age given, but again it’s not required because there is a sufficient amount of information given without having to do the hands-on activities.

Learning Adventures.

This is one I’ve been eyeballing and would love to try because it includes all my favorites. It’s for upper grades or 4th to 8th grade, it’s based on living books which I try to always use in our unit studies and our passion for history is what is at the center of the themes.

The Big List of Unit Study Hands-on (and Hands-off) Curriculum

I’ll let you know about the hands-on ideas after I use it, but wanted to be sure you knew about it.

Moving Beyond the Page.

This is a favorite when I need a literature based all-in-one unit study.

They have rigorous academics and when you need a more rounded out unit study, they are a great choice.

My Father’s World.

Incorporating classical education and hands-on, this is a very comprehensive unit study approach.

NaturExplorers.

My favorite curriculum for science always uses a living book approach and is hands-on which is why we love NaturExplorers.

From Beautiful Birds to the Fungus Among Us, you’ll find a title your kids will love.

There are a good amount of hands-on ideas which I love because science should be about doing and not just reading.

Nia Unit Studies.


Though a much smaller company, I love that the unit studies take a notebooking approach and are downloadable as e-books. This is a great choice if you want to get started quickly and inexpensively.

I’m hoping to see more titles, but I love mom-and-pop shops.

Homeschool Unit Studies

TRISMS

Having used TRISMS as well, I love the history approach to unit studies. However, it is very comprehensive because it adds in all other subjects.

I love the research aspect of it and there are several activity ideas to include for each theme.

This was challenging for my middle school boys when we started and I loved that aspect of it. I could make it as challenging as I wanted it to be for them.

Hands-on ideas are offered but don’t have to be done.

Weaver Unit Studies.


Weaver has been around for years too and gently covers multiple subjects with a Christian view. If you want to take a more gentle approach, add in more information and want more of a Christian view, then you’ll love this one.

WinterPromise.

This is another wonderful all-in-one program where the themes are based on history using a Charlotte Mason approach.

Also, I’ve rounded up some other curriculum help below.

Whether you’re new to the unit study approach or if you’re like me and your needs change each year, I know you’ll like having this list at your fingertips.

Switching from a strictly classical approach to a unit study curriculum wasn’t a quick decision, but it was the best choice for our family. Homeschool unit studies allow us to work on a mastery-based level on topics that fascinated us instead of learning in small bites. Two things I quickly learned were that prepared homeschool unit study curriculum was not as readily available as curriculum for other homeschool approaches and that not all of my boys wanted to do hands-on activities. Grab this Big List of Homeschool Unit Studies to get some ideas!

7 Homeschool Lies I Want to Tell My Younger Self

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Seven homeschoool lies I want to tell my younger self remind me of how homeschooling is not always easy.

Homeschool Lies

7 Homeschool Lies I Want to Tell My Younger Self. Why do we do that? Grab some super helpful, not shallow tips @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Having the courage to chase away secret homeschool fears is not easy to do when you’re a new homeschooler.

You’re worried about doing everything right; I was no different when I was new to homeschooling.

Fear was one of the biggest obstacles to overcoming homeschooling. If I could turn back time, I would share these 7 homeschool lies to my younger self.

When the Biggest Obstacle to Overcoming Homeschooling is YOU

ONE/ “Tina, don’t fall for it a bit. Your three year old won’t be behind by the time you get to high school.”

Focusing less on what if my children are going to get behind instead of delighting where they were at would have helped me to teach and savor the here and now moment.

TWO/ “Tina, girl, you know you love Star Wars, so remember what Yoda said. There is no try. Do or do not.”

Even coming from a family where my mom homeschooled my youngest sister, I wished my thinking was less of I’m going to try it for a year and more of what an important life changing decision my family had made.

If I had viewed beginning to homeschool like my commitment to having a child, being a new mom, having a new marriage or making big move to a place where you can’t go back, I would have stressed less.

Realizing more time should have been spent on making homeschool a lifestyle change would have been a better use of my time.

THREE/ “Tina, why didn’t you let the boys watch TV more even when school was finished?”

Instead of focusing on extreme rules for our house like not having a tv and no video games, I should have worked more on finding a balance instead of creating extreme schedules for my little kids.

Realizing that some homeschoolers don’t have a tv in their home by choice is good for their family but not ours.

My family likes tv, video games, and techie play things. A balance would have been so much better for us.

FOUR/ “Why didn’t you go out during school hours, Tina? What were you afraid of?

I wished I would have changed my school schedule earlier than I did instead of thinking that during the day I couldn’t go out because it was school hours.

Little did I know that even though I lived in Bodunk, U.S.A., homeschoolers are oozing by the thousands.

Most people have heard of it before. I was the new one, not homeschooling.

FIVE/ “Girl, you’re stressing way too much by prepping Mr. Senior 2013 for visits by grandma. Why do you feel the need to prove to others that you are exactly what your sons need when it comes to teaching them?”

I wished I would have worried less about proving my homeschool success to my in-laws, outlaws, and any other family relationship that I may not have wanted to claim kinship to and focused more on the how-tos of teaching.

SIX/ “Leave the house Tina. It’s okay. Learning is not just taking place within the four walls of your school room. You can actually skip lessons plans. Throw them away if you need to.”

Understanding that field trips, homeschool conventions and open houses are not always in my back yard or even my side of the county, I would have attended more conventions, open houses and gatherings for homeschoolers.

SEVEN/ “Don’t worry about all that homeschool curriculum you’re buying. You’ll be an expert before you know it and if you need it while you’re learning how to teach, then use it. Don’t worry when other people tell you that you won’t use all that curriculum.”

I wished I would have found this quote about the piles of curriculum I had bought and may not get to in a lifetime by Sally Clarkson out of her book Educating the WholeHearted Child, “It is nearly a rite of passage for new homeschooling families to buy curricula that ends up gathering dust on the shelf. Usually, it turns out to require more preparation and involvement than they are willing to invest, or it doesn’t fit their lifestyle. It becomes an investment in experience.What we all learn, though, is that any curriculum is only a tool — it doesn’t really “teach” anything. The attitude and commitment of the teacher is far more important than the tool. So if it doesn’t work, don’t worry. Put your unused used curriculum on the table with everyone else’s and buy real books next time. You’re experienced now.“

Beginning to homeschool doesn’t mean you have to give up the educational tools you learned in public school.

Through the years Tina, I’ve learned that changing my expectations opens the way for a whole new way to learn and that is powerful! THAT is how you grow.

Homeschool fearlessly Tina and rock on!

(Psst, from my struggle I wrote a book for YOU)

Also, Tina look over these posts and gently remind yourself today:

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Public School is NOT Free! (but neither is homeschool)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Public School is NOT free, but neither is homeschool @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Every summer when the boys were little, we packed up and headed to sunny Florida to tour those free tours of new condos to buy. All we had to do was go through a tour and listen to the sales pitch. They were sort of like those time sharing condos, but you really owned the condos instead of paying a fee to share it. The condos were super nice with granite counter tops, huge swimming pools, great on-site cafes and the best part is they were just a few miles from Disney World.

After touring several free tours for the summer, we walked away with a 20 year loan for purchasing a new condo.

The truth of it is that nothing is free. It costs somehow. When I hear homeschoolers say that public school is free I think that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Get the Homeschool Facts!

Sure, it doesn’t cost dollars when you don’t have to buy curriculum, but then again you are giving up the right to have input into your child’s education.

Homeschooling is not free either. It can be free of the cost of curriculum as you can read in my article, Is Homeschooling Expensive, but it costs.

While I adamantly believe that homeschooling is the best choice for every family, it’s important to get the facts first before you homeschool.

Look at these 3 ways that homeschool costs.

ONE/ Homeschool costs your time.

Don’t underestimate the time that it will take to homeschool your children well. You’ll want to use online classes and enrichment activities available to you, but homeschooling is tutoring and tutoring is one-on-one. It’s personal.

There is no getting around it, there is no substitute for personal attention. Whatever changes and amenities like online classes are offered, your children still need your guidance and oversight.

Your time has a price.

Even if you use all free curriculum, it takes time to print material and it costs to print. Through the 17+ or so years I have been homeschooling I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours preparing my own lesson plans and unit studies.

I have soaked up every minute of doing it and I have no regrets. However, I have paid the price.

TWO/ Homeschool costs your energy.

Homeschool moms are true entrepreneurs and do-it-yourself folks in every sense of the word, which requires a tremendous amount of energy and fortitude day in, day out, and year after year.

Just ask any homeschool mom and a common topic is about being exhausted.

Some homeschool mom may even be polite and say they are tired, but who’re you kidding? We’re exhausted many days.

Homeschooling requires not only physical stamina to keep the kids moving forward on their lesson plans, but it calls for constant bridled thought when switching between many subjects for the day.

It’s stressful when you have to stay in a constant mode of teaching.

It’s like not having off a day from work. How many jobs do you know that require 7 days a week of 12 or more hours of constant supervising?

Of course, unlike many careers today, homeschooling has a huge reward or pay off but there are some days and years when that is hard to remember.

THREE/ Homeschool experience costs too.

Not only does homeschool costs time, but success for a first-time job like homeschooling doesn’t just happen. Success comes with experience and there is a price for it.

Whether you read numerous homeschool blogs, consult homeschool books or talk with a homeschool veteran, experience costs.

Fast forward 20 years, we love our condo in Florida and have had many family vacations there, but who was I kidding when I thought a tour was free?

Is Your Educational Choice the Cheapest but yet Costliest?

Even if you are overwhelmed at this point with the choice you made to homeschool, taking time to reaffirm your decision to homeschool will give you a fresh start.

Look at my tips here too:

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.