Today’s podcast is about 4 ways to find more joy, beat the blahs, and embrace happy homeschooling.
Listen to “095:Beat the BLAHS & Find JOY In Your Homeschool!” on Spreaker.
One of my favorite phrases to tell moms is “happy homeschooling”. It’s a sense of good wishes for your homeschooling endeavors and praying blessings over your families. But every once in a while, we may find ourselves in a bit of a slump.
Over the years I’ve been afforded the opportunity to talk with hundreds of homeschool moms- some on my podcast, some through social media like YouTube and Instagram, and most in real life. I’ve noticed that there seems to be one constant in all the homeschool families I’ve met: and it’s the downward-hill progression of joy in the homeschool over the course of weeks, months, and years.
I think for many of us, although consistency is important, it can lead to boredom. And when we’re attempting to keep things consistent and running smoothly like clockwork, it doesn’t always happen, mainly because we have children in the mix.
Kids will throw off your consistency in a heartbeat because they are human and have moods just like we do! And sometimes they are just not in a mood to learn. Other times we’re not in a mood to teach. So how do we combat the blahs that lurk around us before we sink deeply into the abyss of boredom? How exactly do you find more joy in your homeschool? How can we truly say “Happy Homeschooling” and feel that we are homeschooling happily?
(Also, keep scrolling below for information about how to win ‘A Courtship’ DVD!)
Listen to your inner intuition.
Moms, our inner intuition is powerful- and we know it. Anytime I’m unsure of what to do regarding making a choice: whether it’s a curriculum choice, choosing a new coop or park day group, choosing which activities we’re involved in, I realize the brevity of the choices I’m making. And my intuition has a huge role to play in the choices I make that affect our homeschool.
Sometimes you might feel a strong urge to stop an activity or pull out of a homeschool group. Sometimes you need to make a major change in your curriculum or homeschool routines. Whatever you need to do, your inner intuition will help guide you.
Make the necessary changes.
Once you’ve discovered any changes that need to be made, whether through intuition, or just the plain fact that it’s obvious something isn’t working out, then it’s time to make necessary changes.
My advice: don’t procrastinate. Sometimes the longer we wait to make a necessary change, the more tedious and unproductive our homeschooling becomes. Make the changes right away to discover a quicker road to reclaiming the joy in your homeschool.
Accept your homeschool for what it is.
If no changes need to be made, that’s fine also. Then your main goal is simply to accept your homeschool for what it is. Remember, your kids will need a myriad of people in their lives, but you are the most important. Having your stamp of approval and thumbs up makes your kids feel accepted.
Accepting your homeschool for what it is doesn’t mean that it has to be perfect, and while it isn’t perfect it’s perfectly okay. As long as your kids are learning and at least enjoying it some of the time (and hopefully more often than not), you can rest assured that a perfect homeschool is not needed.
Have happy homeschooling by enjoying your kids and making memories!
The only thing you really need is to be fully involved and fully engaged. Enjoying your kids is a direct result of engaging your focus, time, and energy in both homeschooling and letting your hair down with your kids.
You don’t always have to turn everything into a homeschool lesson. Sometimes a simple day of playing card games, board games, or watching Netflix together is in order. Sometimes you’ll need a field trip to change things up a bit, and other times a simple drive to the local park for some playtime is exactly what your little kids need.
In the past, I would take my younger kids to children’s museums almost weekly with a trip to the beach combined, back when we were living near the ocean. After we moved to the city I’ve found that weekly classes and sports have been keeping our kids busy, and now we enjoy time together in different ways- like cooking new recipes together, and because I have girls, painting nails. Next on my agenda is learning to sew with patterns. And sometimes just watching them ride bikes makes me happy as I remember my own childhood and the freedom I felt pedaling in the wind.
Making memories together will do more for our kids than we realize because it builds a foundation of trust, and gives them a gift they can pass on to their own children. In all of our homeschooling, let’s not forsake making memories with our children.
Here are a few extra tips on finding joy in your homeschool! Enjoy the video.
I hope that these tips on how to find joy in your homeschool have been helpful to you. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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