Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

For 25 years, I homeschooled my five children. Managing a family while homeschooling is challenging, and I needed to come up with ways to simplify my life in every way possible. Homeschool planning and preparation took up a lot of time each week, and I needed some help. Good thing I am a note-taker, because I stumbled across some amazing advice I’d written down from a speaker at a homeschool conference (and I wish I could remember who it was that shared this tidbit originally so I could thank her, but I don’t remember…but credit goes to her for the notes I took during her session at the conference years and years ago, because from that one idea I began to tweak and work out a way to make my family homeschool planning so much better.) Her tidbit of advice was to try and divide the work your child has to do for the homeschool year by the number of days you will be homeschooling. And when I read that little note, I tried it out, began to make it fit our family bit by bit, and soon enough ...

  *Some Key Points About Naomi: 1 - She was a woman who lost so very much as a result of following her husband’s leading to leave their homeland and live amidst foreigners who did not serve the Lord God Most High. (Sometimes we bear the weight of other people’s decisions and as a result of simply living our life in light of choices beyond our control, we can end up lonely, misunderstood, or wrongly judged. When it seems as if no one understands you, try to remember that God saw Naomi’s lot in life, and He sees yours, too.)  2 - She made an impact on her Moabite daughters-in-law that was significant enough for them to express their great love for her and willingness to follow her back to her homeland and forfeit any future opportunity to become mothers themselves (some of this was cultural, of course, but I think we see more than the normal culturally expected response; these women had been impacted not only by Naomi, but by the God of Naomi. Is my life a witness for the Lord t...

 How many things do you have to accomplish during the course of a day? Now think about all you do during an entire week.  Start thinking about everything you have to get done in a month, or a year, and you might break out in hives.  For most homeschool moms, burnout happens one day at a time. If I had to take a guess as to the number one cause of burnout among homeschoolers, I'd probably sum it up on one word: LIFE. Life just keeps coming at us, fast and furious.  So, preventing or "curing" a case of burnout might involve figuring out how to handle the daily-weekly-monthly-yearly grind.  (Spoiler alert: homeschooling is wonderful & amazing & filled with moments that make great memories...but it is also a G-R-I-N-D and there's no shame in admitting that.) Ask yourself if there is any part of your homeschooling that can be better organized, if the overwhelm is getting to you. Is your family involved in too many extracurricular activities, and is that causi...

  Are you feeling overwhelmed by the challenges life throws your way? Do you ever wonder if anyone truly understands the depth of your struggles? In this episode of my podcast, The Burt (Not Ernie) Show , we dive into the comforting words of Psalm 10, offering hope and encouragement to those who feel afflicted. Psalm 10:14 reminds us that God sees our trouble and grief. It's a powerful reminder that we are not alone in our struggles. The verse speaks to the omnipresence of the Lord, who not only acknowledges our pain but also takes it into consideration as He works in our lives. This truth has been a source of immense encouragement for many, including myself, over the past few years. Continuing with Psalm 10, verse 17 highlights a profound truth: 'You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.' This verse beautifully captures the essence of His empathy and support. It reassures us that even in our darkest moments, when our de...

      There's a lot I do not know about life, about parenting, about homeschooling.  But there is one thing I do know:        Encouragement Matters. Not just a little bit. It matters a whole lot. And so today, I'm here to drop this bit of encouragement on your lap. You. Are. The. Mom. For. The.  Job. PERIOD. FULL STOP. No one else knows or loves your children like you do. Thus, no one else is better equipped to teach them, to spur them on, to disciple and discipline them, to be with them day in and day out.  Homeschooling is a long road. (Ask me how I know.) But that road comes to an end, and that day comes up on you a lot faster than you ever dreamed it would. (Again, ask me how I know.) So today, I offer this simple encouragement to you, my homeschooling friend. What you do day after day in your own home with your own kiddos? It matters profusely and profoundly. Don't talk yourself into believing that you're somehow not the mom for the...

 Anybody else struggle with the forced slow-down that sometimes comes when the mom in the homeschool family gets sick?  It's hard to take a break and hit the pause button on all-the-things when it feels forced and when it isn't for a good reason, or a fun reason, like a scheduled homeschool break or a vacation.  And the forced slow-down isn't frustrating simply because mom is dealing with some sort of illness; it's frustrating because being forced to slow-down when we don't want to slow-down is agitating. (For me, at least...) A few days ago, my husband came home early from work feeling under the weather and he has been home sick for four days now. And this morning, I woke up with a case of "I-caught-this-from-my-husband". Based on the way he's been feeling, I'm not expecting a quick recovery or bounce-back. And while I'm not actively homeschooling now that my kids have all grown up and flown the coop, I do have plenty of things planned that I ...

Let's get brutally honest for a moment. Homeschooling isn't always our kiddos favorite thing in the whole wide world. (And I know this is true for all homeschool families, not just my homeschool family...I mean, none of us LOVES every aspect of home education every second of every day, right?) Over the course of a couple of decades and some change of homeschooling my five children, these three things helped "turn that frown upside down" & ended up being the things that helped my kids to love homeschooling. (Hold the eye roll please, because my children are all adults now and they have actually told me that these things made homeschooling pretty great for them.) As always, I'll keep this post short & sweet. THING #1 that helped my kids love homeschooling:            They could work ahead in any & every subject & once they finished that year's assigned work, they were DONE homeschooling for the year...as in FINISHED, no take backs, pinky swear...

  There is a unique long-haul kind of praying that only mothers understand. We begin praying for them before they are born, as they develop and grow and are knit together by God in the womb. As newborns, oh my how a mother prays over that little baby! The first year, there is a lot to pray about. Developmentally alone, those prayers could fill an entire prayer journal for many moms. Toddlerhood, well, praying all the time, those shooting arrow kind of prayers all day long for protection, for patience, for the ability to be fully in the moment, for sleep, for safety, for time to both slow down and speed up, depending on the day. And that is just the start of a praying mom’s lifetime of prayer. I thought I'd share the YouTube version of this podcast episode with my blog readers. I hope it encourages you today, my fellow praying mom! And thank you for being a mother who prays for her children. You're making a difference, both now and eternally. (2) Encouraging Moms to Keep Praying...

 I have an important question for all my fellow homeschoolers...   Pets or no pets?  This is actually a serious question. For so many reasons! Pets are a big commitment. They add a lot to our lives, and to our homeschools, too, I suppose. But they require a lot as well.  It's not a one-size-fits-all thing, this question of pets or no pets. And not all pets are created equal. Dogs require a lot more work than, say, goldfish. An ant farm can be part of science for the homeschool family, but can a slew of ants be considered pets? (rhetorical question - we all know the answer).  So, are you a pet-loving homeschool family? Do you have your own personal version of a hobby farm?  Maybe, like our family, severe allergies limit what kinds of pets are a viable option.  If so, did you find a workaround that allowed your children to enjoy some form of pet in spite of allergies or other concerns? Pets or no pets? Pets that have a long life-span, or shorter? If you'...