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homeschool challenges

Homeschooling Stubborn Teens: Not for the Faint of Heart

November 8, 2017 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

While homeschooling through the years we confront with dogged determination many scenarios which makes us weak at the knees or makes our heart skip a beat. But, nothing comes even close to the enemy in our own midst – our sweet child turned stubborn, unmotivated, and seemingly lazy teen. Homeschooling stubborn teens is not for the faint of heart.

I’ve learned that although it’s easier to blame my teens for everything that went wrong, I too had to learn how to parent differently. As each of my sons reached the teen years, I’ve had to become more resourceful and creative in how I homeschool them.

I've learned that although it's easier to blame my teens for everything that went wrong, I too had to learn how to parent differently. As each of my sons reached the teen years, I've had to become more resourceful and creative in how I homeschool them. Click here to grab these SUPER helpful tips!

Avoiding drama in your house is not all together impossible, but you can curb it and cope with it by learning from my mistakes.

3 PARENTING TECHNIQUES FOR HOMESCHOOLING STUBBORN TEENS

Whether your teen has been homeschooled from the beginning, came willing to homeschool after many years in public school or had no choice, he wants choices now.

One/ Focus on the teen, not the school.

However, before you can get to choices, the number one mistake made by many homeschooling families is to focus on homeschool. Yep, wrong focus right now.

The teacher in us is ready to go, but the mom in us should lead right now. Problems, whether academic or developmental, signal something is wrong.

Although a teen can now vocalize that he hates math or writing and is seen as unmotivated, that’s only the result of what is going on inside.

Before assuming it’s a lack of motivation, step back, and deschool. You can’t move forward until you and your teen are both ready.

Coming into adulthood takes a toll daily on your teen and he needs you now more than ever.

Two/ Deschool now before it’s too late.

Look at ways you can step back, deschool, and focus. Move forward by stepping back instead of butting heads:

  • If he hates math, ask him which subjects he does like. Use that knowledge to plan a routine. For example, get the worst subjects out of the way at his peak time and in a place he chooses. Explain to him that he can make those choices, however, if he is not doing his math because he decided to lie down on his bed, then it’ll have to change. I had one son that just because he could sit on his bed, he was in the right mindset to do math which was a subject he hated. He did well and eventually later in high school, he moved to the table. Give him some choice. BUT, first take time to not do school while you question him (few questions in the beginning) about subjects he likes and doesn’t like. Help him to make a routine for the day he loves while satisfying your requirements.
  • Next, do something he wants to do. For us, it was skateboarding, bicycling and watching movies. I told my teens to not do school for a few days while they played. My teens praised me as the best homeschooling mom ever (ha, but I had a motive). Like all smart moms who want their sons to do well in academics, I knew that they had to see first that I was reasonable. After they played for a few days and I could see it winding down, I discussed with each one how to work in what they liked doing while balancing their academic load. It worked. They knew I was reasonable, but had expectations. Including them in the discussion gave them the control they wanted.
  • Focus on when the rebellion occurs. For example, I knew our problem was an over scheduling problem with one of my teens. The rest of the day he was pretty compliant barring a few bad moods. Over all, the sulking and back talking happened only during school. Stepping back and allowing my teen to rest gave me time to understand how many credits I wanted for middle or high school teen. I reworked his schedule. However, if your teen is complaining pretty much the whole day, then it’s a parenting or rebellious issue and homeschooling is getting a bum rap.

Three/ Over ambitious homeschooling can backfire.

It’s easy to say when your child is five or six years old what he will and will not do as a teen, but it’s quite a different thing scheduling for him at 15 or 16 years old.

While it may be true that a teen doesn’t have to love learning because work places or colleges don’t care if he does, it never worked when I told them that.

I’ve never made progress with my sons when I vented and I normally had nothing helpful to say when I lost it.

Pushing my sons to do college courses early while in high school, having them take jobs too early, and do heavier maths because they were hardworking could’ve backfired.

Stepping back to reaffirm that heart schooling was just as important as academics helped me to solidify the fact that homeschooling is a lifestyle. I want my sons to homeschool their sons because I believe it’s the best way to teach a child.

HOMESCHOOLING TEENS WITH THE FUTURE IN MIND

Homeschooling with a future generation in mind helped me realize that I wholeheartedly believe learning is a privilege.

Curbing my desire to sock it to my boys with their academic load while being teens helped us to not only lap up the precious teen years, but love every minute of it.

Sometimes the solution to a problem was to just stop. And remembering each teen is different helped me to see problems from each kid’s perspective. Can you relate?

What kind of problems are you trying to overcome with your teen?

When your teens are grown and look back at how you didn’t give up on them, all of the hard times will be memories. You’ll only see the beautiful man or woman thanking you. Your knees will then be weak for another reason – overwhelming happy emotion.

I've learned that although it's easier to blame my teens for everything that went wrong, I too had to learn how to parent differently. As each of my sons reached the teen years, I've had to become more resourceful and creative in how I homeschool them. Click here to grab these SUPER helpful tips!

Also, you’ll find these other articles super helpful. Don’t give up now. You’re almost there.

  • 4 Reasons Your Homeschooled Child is Uninspired To Learn (and what to do)
  • Homeschooling for the Love of Learning – Does It Really Work? 
  • Teach Your Homeschooled Teen the Art of Studying (without nagging) 
  • 9th Grade Homeschool High School – Avoid the Sock It to Them Attitude

Hugs and love ya,

2 CommentsFiled Under: Graduate a Homeschooler, Homeschool Boys, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation Tagged With: fearless homeschooling, homeschool, homeschool challenges, homeschool highschool, homeschool mistakes, homeschoolchallenges, middleschool, teens

5 Top Mistakes of New or Struggling Homeschoolers

September 28, 2017 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

No matter how long you’re homeschooling, it is only natural to want to go back to change something done in the beginning or readjust your strategy after struggling a year or two.

By sharing some of the common mistakes I made in my journey, hopefully, I can prepare you and spare you some of the stress, fatigue, and feelings of guilt I encountered.

5 Top Mistakes of New or Struggling Homeschoolers

5 Top Mistakes of New or Struggling Homeschoolers

Mistake 1. Setting Unrealistic Goals and Standards.

To best explain what unrealistic goals are, it’s better to explain what is the definition of realistic. It means to see things or be aware of the way they really are. Not the way we imagine they should be.

After having a newborn, it’s not realistic to believe we are going to hop right back into a normal schedule no matter how much we feel our children are behind.

It is it realistic to believe in one year of homeschooling we will accomplish all that we set out to accomplish? No.

Goals are a must, but measure your circumstances realistically and you will not be deterred when things don’t go as planned.

Mistake 2. No Written Plan.

It does not matter if you lesson plan by writing out your plans, track lesson plans on a computer program, check off activities done in your boxed curriculum or journal after your day, write it down.

Why? Because if we can’t see what we have done, then how can you see what has been achieved?

How can you measure and see where adjustments need to be made? How clear can it be in your mind what your goals are?

See it written and follow it!

Mistake 3. Modeling our school after the school we left.

It sounds crazy, uh? Fear is a gripping force. At times, it can make us set up our educational system by following one that has failed because we are afraid of failure.

I won’t bash the public school system because there are many caring compassionate teachers.

However, if the system was not working for us – why do we want to pattern our day after it?

Get off the public school treadmill and feel homeschool freedom.

Mistake 4. Comparisons.

If we are not careful, our whole homeschool journey is filled with comparing our child to another child. Sometimes it can even be siblings.

If we are not comparing our children to each other, then we might  be comparing ourselves to other mothers. If we can’t find some problem there, then we even examine our husbands. Does Suzy Homeschooler have a better or more supportive husband of homeschooling than I do? After all he does teach the kids sometimes.

Those types of negative emotions robs of the true enjoyment of being satisfied. We need to be content with the circumstance we have been given and not fall victim to the competitive spirit of this world.

Education is as UNIQUE as each family.

Mistake 5. No education for the Educator.

Many times I’ve heard and have seen parents will go to great lengths and great costs to make sacrifices for their children’s education. But the greatest gift besides life we can give our children, is OURSELVES.

From the smallest piece of knowledge like tying a shoe to the most significant issues like the existence of a magnificent Creator, we have the privilege of teaching our children.

No matter how long you're homeschooling, it is only natural to want to go back to change something done in the beginning or readjust your strategy after struggling a year or two.  By sharing some of the common mistakes I made in my journey, hopefully, I can prepare you and spare you some of the stress, fatigue, and feelings of guilt I encountered.

Do not underestimate or cheat yourself of the time, knowledge, and resources you need to do this. We can’t pass on to our children what we do not know.

Strive to become a better educator, better teacher, and better student. Use some of the resources you have each year to empower yourself with education, information, and knowledge.

You’ll also find these articles empowering:

  • Homeschool Confession – My Homeschool Mistakes
  • 5 Top Mistakes of New or Struggling Homeschoolers
  • Dear New Homeschooler – Are You Making this BIG Mistake? (I Was)
  • 8 Colossal Pitfalls of Homeschooling in the WHAT IF World
  • 7 Homeschool Lies I Want to Tell My Younger Self
  • Public School is NOT Free! (but neither is homeschool)
5 Top Mistakes of New Homeschoolers

2 CommentsFiled Under: Begin Homeschooling Tagged With: homeschool, homeschool challenges, homeschool crisis, homeschool lifestyle, new homeschooler, newbeehomeschooler

8 Colossal Pitfalls of Homeschooling in the WHAT IF World

September 19, 2017 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When I imagine how things are going to be, I tend to be dramatic. Is that a nice way of saying I can be delusional? The pitfalls of homeschooling are plenty if you let them sidetrack you from your vision. Instead of losing vision, hone your goals.

For example, when I started homeschooling, I had visions of children eager to learn each day around our little public school desk. My house would be kept tidy every day. And laundry would never get more than a load or two behind. Supper would be on the table at 5:00 p.m. on the dot. Delusional I am telling you.

DELUSIONAL HOMESCHOOLING OR DELIBERATE HOMESCHOOLING

High levels of confidence, conviction, and fortitude wane easily and can be completely sucked out of us if we enter the what if . . . world of homeschooling.

Look at these potential 8 colossal pitfalls, if you let them.

What if

. . . I start to homeschool and my children get behind?

Guess what? They will. That is what catching up is about. Look at my article, Am I Doing Enough When Homeschooling.

. . . I choose not to test my children. Will I be doing them a disservice?

Look here at my tips about how to measure progress at my article, Narration – Telling Back or Testing? Books that Make Teaching Narration Easy Peazy.

. . . I’m not a creative person? I might be the most boring teacher.

You may, but you can change and learn too.

Look at how I did it at my article, Easy Hands on Homeschooling Ideas When You’re Not the Bomb Mom and 7 Homeschool Lies I Want to Tell My Younger Self.

. . . I can’t find friends for my children?

Unless you plan to homeschool your kids under a rock, there will be so much interaction over the course of your journey.

Look how we did it at my article, Socialization – A Homeschool Hallucination and I Am Homeschooling Because I Want My Kids Socialized.

. . . I decide that I want to put my child back in public school?

Before you do that, look at my tips at It’s a New Homeschool Year and My Child Wants to Go Back to Public School and Why My Homeschooled Kids Are Not Given the Choice to Go to Public School.

. . . my health or my children’s health prevent me from homeschooling?

Yes, that may happen. Look at how I dealt with in my article, Taking a Hit Doesn’t Mean to Quit– Homeschooling Through Crisis.

. . . while I’m pregnant I may not do my kids justice because I am too sick to teach them?

Hopefully, you put your health first if that time comes and realize that you’re teaching your kids way more than academics.

. . . I am not prepared for the upper grades?

All the preparing in the world won’t matter if you don’t have you teen’s heart. You can learn academics right alongside your teen. Focus on the relationship too.

And look at my articles in my blog category How to Homeschool Teens to Graduation.

COMBATING HOMESCHOOL PARALYSIS

We resist the urge to homeschool in the what if . . . world by applying these C tips.

Commitment.

Having practical teaching tips is important, however, that can be gleaned over any period of time.

Commitment is attached to an obligation. In some ways, I view my commitment to homeschooling like the marriage vow I made to my husband 23 years ago.

It is a guarantee that I will do everything in my power to make it work. Is a long term commitment for “just a year”?

View your homeschooling journey as a long term commitment.

Instead of bringing stress by applying pressure on your child to perform, start thinking of milestone markers. We plant certain milestone markers we want to reach for the long term.

Camaraderie.

Even though we can be consumed with the “nuts and bolts” of how to lesson plan, or how to teach writing, how to teach reading, or how to prepare a top notch high school transcript, it is the companionship of other homeschoolers that is the true glue that makes us stick to homeschooling.

In the camaraderie of our local homeschool support groups, summer homeschooling conventions, blogs and on line support groups, there is always somebody who understands our similar circumstances.

Conscientious.

Though many of us may live in states or countries where we do not need to test or keep attendance, our being attentive to our duties as parent and teacher keep us principled.

We do not adopt laxed attitudes about our house, our school, our worship, or our families. Again, we let go of the what if . . . world because our heart and conscience are stronger forces than any test score and they can motivate us to keep going.

My dramatic idealist person has not completely left, but my sons have done their work on many types of desks.

We eat meals close enough to 5:00 and there is always a load or two of laundry I could do.

The homeschooling what if . . . world is full of worry and guilt. Resist the urge along the way to re-enter it.

What counts in a journey is the ending!

The pitfalls of homeschooling are plenty if you let them sidetrack you from your vision. Instead of losing vision, hone your goals. High levels of confidence, conviction, and fortitude wane easily and can be completely sucked out of us if we enter the "what if . . ." world of homeschooling. Look at these potential 8 colossal pitfalls, if you let them. Click here.

Hugs and love ya,

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Be an Exceptional Homeschool Teacher, Begin Homeschooling, Build Character in Homeschooled Kids, Gauge Homeschool Progress, Homeschool During Crisis Tagged With: homeschool, homeschool challenges, homeschool crisis, homeschool joy, homeschool joys, new homeschooler

What You Must Know to Teach High School Unit Studies

August 22, 2017 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Until my sons reached high school, I didn’t know if my unit study approach would meld with tracking credits and courses. Check out my how to homeschool high school page for awesome tips.

Also, there didn’t really seem an abundance of prepared high school unit studies.

Between determining if unit studies were a good fit for high school and understanding record keeping, it was a lot to wrap my mind around.

Until my sons reached high school, I didn't know if my unit study approach would meld with tracking credits and courses. Also, there didn't really seem an abundance of prepared high school unit studies. Click here to read these 3 must know tips!

Sorting out myths from truth, I hope these 3 tips will help you to easily homeschool high school with unit studies. Or at least give you a beginning place.

3 Tips for Teaching High School Unit Studies

ONE/ Understand first that high school is just a continuation of the lowers grades – really!

Yes, it’s true that you’ll need to track credits and courses, but before stressing out about them, plan high school subjects like you’ve done in the lower grades.

That’s right. Begin with what you know.

In my article How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Lesson Planning Pages for THIS Year, I not only give you tips on how to do that, but each lesson plan form lists subjects by general categories; math, language arts, science, history and electives are the framework of well-rounded out high school courses.

It’s not hard to plan when you understand that you’re covering the same basic subjects albeit in more depth analyzing views instead of just a question answer format like your child did in younger grades.

TWO/ Look for resources which teach 2:1 or two-fer resources.

A two-fer resource is another secret tip to homeschooling teens.

Using a resource which teaches two subjects is vital when your child enters high school.

You don’t want your time wasted and neither do teens.

More important though is the reason that unit studies rocked in the younger grades is the same reason which holds true for high school.

Learning makes more sense when subjects are tied together instead of studied as separate subjects. Additionally, unit studies have always been a research-based approach.

This is a skill which is needed on into adulthood.

Living Books for Unit Studies

Resist giving up your unit study approach because it may require a bit more time to put together.

Sure, it’s easy to assign a text book and move on, but you and I know that high school is just hard sometimes. It’s a challenge to plan but still doable.

Begin again with something you know. Look at these things you may already know how and are doing with your kids in the younger grades.

  • Reading history living books and having your child choose writing topics based on history.
  • Reading science living books and choosing writing topics based on science.
  • Reading math living books and having your child choose writing topics based on math.

Now that you understand that high school courses fall into general categories and understand to look for two-fer resources, here are some examples of how to put it together.

We love the book Undaunted Courage.

Just a side note here.

When I look at a book which can serve as a springboard for high school unit studies, I note 3 things:

  • that it’s a living book,
  • that it’s high school level so that I can legally note on my high school transcript that it’s a high school level resource,
  • and I mull over how hard it will be to add external resources to enrich the study.

Not only is your teen covering part of his credit toward history when reading Undaunted Courage , but he is covering credits for literature too. Writing is part of a literature credit.

So your teen is covering 2–3 subjects at once depending on what credits you’ve lined out for the year.

Because covering literature in high school means more than just reading, you’ll want to have a variety of resources for analyzing literature and for guiding your teen how to write well.

A literature-based unit study which has a history setting has been the easiest to start off with at the high school level.

For example, I find it a challenge to round out a history book with literature analysis than a great book suited for literature analysis.

How to Put Together High School Unit Studies

It’s been easier to add history and science of a time period to a great read.

One super helpful resource we only discovered this year and that is the Thrift Study Editions by Dover. 

Not only are the books for high school level, but each one comes with a study guide in the back. 

For example, while reading A Tale of Two Cities, we studied about the culture of France and England and learned about the issues of the French Revolution.

With a resource like that, doing unit studies are a cinch at the high school level. This brings me to the third point you want to know.

THREE/ Fill your teacher nook with specialized how-two books for you and your teen.

Tackling how to teach a subject with out a curriculum can be daunting, but you can go from research to reward if you choose specialized teaching books.

Here are a few of my favorite resources. You don’t need all of them, but I’ve used them at one time or another to round out our unit studies.

Literature Unit Studies

  • The Design-A-Study series are timeless. This series of books about science, history, and composition gives an overview of what to cover in each grade.  Instead of giving you subjects, it’s helpful because it gives you the big picture of what your child needs to know from K-12. A resource like this is especially helpful if you want to cover a skill or topic that your highschooler may have struggled with in the earlier grades.
  • Warriner’s English Complete Course. This set of books have been around for years and helps to hone writing. Christine Miller of Classical Christian said, “This excellent reference can be used throughout all three years of the dialectic to teach writing. It thoroughly covers grammar in detail, which provides a nice review for those children that need it, or for those children that missed some grammar instruction in the grammar stage. It also covers writing in detail, with a complete section on writing mechanics, usage, writing correct and clear sentences, paragraphs, and papers, the research paper, using references, and even public speaking.” Read the rest of her review here. Before we started using Rod and Staff high school levels, we used Warriner’s. Rod and Staff’s Communicating Effectively I liked one year because I felt like it was more streamlined. It helps to.understand that I used Rod and Staff in the younger grades and their grammar is very rigorous and by 8th grade formal grammar is completed. When you click the link above you can see the sample of their English and what is covered in the high school years.
  • Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School. Don’t get overwhelmed by this book. There is no need to have to read all of it. Focus only on the grade level for this year. Having a handy reference like this will guide you to subjects for each grade.

In an upcoming post, I’ll show you how I plan credits now that you can see how easy it is to satisfy two to three subjects using carefully selected resources.

What You Must Know to Teach High School Unit Studies. Click here to grab the tips!

Also, check out Diving into Homeschool Unit Studies: The Dos and Don’ts and 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together and Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School.

Hugs and love ya,

1 CommentFiled Under: Do Unit Studies, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, Teach Homeschool History, Teach Homeschool Language Arts, Teach Homeschool Math, Teach Homeschool Science, Teach Unit Studies Tagged With: curriculum, earthscience, high school, high school electives, homeschool challenges, homeschool highschool, homeschoolcurriculum, homeschoolhighschool, science, teens, unit studies

4 Undeniable Reasons People Hate Homeschooling (Keep It Real)

July 19, 2017 | 10 Comments
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.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

10 CommentsFiled Under: Be an Exceptional Homeschool Teacher, Begin Homeschooling, Homeschool Simply, Homeschool When Nobody Wants To, Homeschooling Tagged With: fearless homeschooling, homeschool, homeschool challenges, homeschool crisis, homeschool lifestyle, homeschool mistakes, homeschoolchallenges, preventinghomeschoolburnout, reasonstohomeschool

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