So, God gave me all these kids (or maybe He gave you just one?) and we’ve decided to educate them at home, now what? Does this question haunt you? I know it hovered in the back of my mind all those years ago when we began our homeschooling journey.
What if I do it wrong? What if he doesn’t like what we are doing? What if she won’t listen to me? What if we don’t have the money to spend on all those books and materials everyone tells us we should be using? These questions can be paralyzing.
The solution:
- Take Action – Rather than let the unknowns or the fear of doing thing wrong keep you from moving forward, take action. Look at the curriculum options available make a choice. I was not a trained teacher, but I was a mom who wanted her child to learn and grow. That was motivation enough for me to try something, anything! We made the choice to use unit studies rather than a traditional textbook style curriculum. For you it might be a different choice. That’s ok! The important thing is to choose something. No choice is the perfect choice, but every choice provides the opportunity to learn something.
- Do Something – Take a step forward by doing something . . . anything! Read out loud the only three picture books you have sitting on the shelf. And read them again. And again. Give your child a stack of junk mail and scrap paper to cut and paste the pieces in to their own masterpieces. Take a walk and count the bugs you see or cracks in the sidewalk or leaves under your feet. Name the letters you see on the billboards as you travel around town. Write down the story your preschooler just told you and let her illustrate it. Education happens as we live our days, even if mom didn’t have a plan for the day or the school books sat on the shelf.
- Don’t be Afraid to Try – Analyzing the how’s and the when’s and the what-for’s can be helpful, but if it keeps you from moving forward, it’s a hindrance. Making an effort to engage your child in conversation and play will stimulate his mind and his body, even if you haven’t worked through a full lesson of arithmetic. Discussing ideas together is a good thing even if you have not diagrammed sentences that day. Any positive interaction means you are all better off than you were yesterday.
When you are not sure where to start, or where to go next – if you are a not sure what direction to take or which curriculum is best, take action anyway. All the details will come with time, and with trial and error. Jumping in and giving things a try just might be what helps you see the things that work and the things that won’t work.
Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.
~Andrew Jackson~
You don’t have to have all the answers, or a guarantee, just take action, do something, don’t be afraid to try. What tips do you have for those times when we are unsure of what to do next?
Over the next several weeks I will be blogging through the alphabet, sharing thoughts I hope will encourage the homeschooling mom in her own homeschooling journey. Join me every Monday as we work our way from A to Z! Click on the image below to see all the posts in the series.
linking up with Blogging through The Alphabet
what advice…. consider your children, see how they learn, based your curriculum off that .
We have so many choices available, it can sometimes be hard to choose – these are things we considered when we had overwhelming choices faces us!
thanks for stopping by, Annette 🙂 and for the Blogging through the Alphabet challenge! I’m looking forward to working all the way through from a to z.
I love this. As a full time working mom we’ve learned a lot just by trying things out. I look forward to more of your series!
Amazing, isn’t it, Barbie? We DO learn so much if we just take action and try! I naturally want to have all the answers first, but my children have taught me a better way 🙂
Over the past 13 years, I have had many times when I’ve felt completely stuck. What a great reminder to get moving and take action when we come to what seems like a standstill in our homeschooling.
I’m glad you were encouraged, TaMara 🙂 We all get stuck at times, don’t we? Just doing ‘something’ often gets us out of that slump! Blessings to you in your continuing journey, homeschooling your children.
Thanks for sharing your words have been very encouraging. I make lots of mistakes homeschooling my special needs child and hopefully I learn my lesson from them so I don’t repeat them. I love the journey even if we have to take another course and make mistakes.
Every new day brings new opportunity to learn – from our mistakes and from one another. This homeschooling journey is full of a lot of joy, isn’t it? I’m so grateful for every chance to try again when things don’t go as planned.
What great tips, Linda. Just getting moving can also change our perspectives and even energy levels. Thanks!
you are very welcome, Melanie 🙂 We all need help with our perspective at times don’t we? I am glad you were encouraged – have a terrific week!
What a wonderful and encouraging post! This is great advice!
aww, thank you Tasha 🙂 I’m glad you were encouraged. I’m glad you stopped by – Enjoy the rest of your week!
This is a good theme. I remember having all of the concerns you mentioned when we were first considering homeschooling. A series like this could have helped ease my concerns.
Thank you, Melissa, for your kind words. That is exactly what I’m hoping to accomplish with this series – we all need encouragement at times whether we are just starting out or have been at it for a while. I’m so glad you stopped by this evening!
I will be honest, I am one who spent too much time researching, analyzing and trying to find the perfect setup. All this did was stress me out, put us behind and make me feel like I was failing. I stopped looking at all the “new” things and found what worked for us and took “Action”!
How did you know unit studies was for you? We are using our first ones for history this year to go with the books we love.
Amanda, you’ve summed up those feelings perfectly 🙂 I so glad you were able to settle in and move forward. There will always be something ‘new’ on the horizon, but that doesn’t mean it will be better for us.
When we began, my husband wisely said, “We are not sending him to a traditional school, so we don’t need to try to school in the traditional manor.” What little research I could do back then led me to unit studies. The fact that it encouraged hands-on activities was perfect for our active son and the idea of everyone learning together fit our lifestyle & budget (we already had 2 more little ones coming up!)
I hope your history studies continue to be fun and full of learning!
Thank you for co-hosting this blogging through the alphabet challenge 🙂
What an encouraging post! This is one of the reasons I’m so glad we decided to homeschool early on and we have had several years to “play around” with what works for our daughter and what doesn’t. Stopping by from the This is How We Roll link up. 🙂
sounds like you have been off to a great start, Alicia 🙂 I’m happy you were encouraged to keep on doing what works!
“Take action, Do something, Don’t be afraid to try.” What sage advice and that truly is where you begin. Thank you for the encouragement those simple steps give.
aww, thank you Lori 🙂 Though not always easy, it really is simple. We don’t move forward if we don’t get busy and do something, even if we are not sure what we are doing. Thank you for stopping by and leaving your sweet comment. Blessings!
The best thing about starting when they are young is that you have time to figure things out. Young children get most of what they need from a good reading selection and time to play. 🙂
Learning just comes naturally when they are young – giving them the room to explore and discover nurtures that curiosity and passion for learning and sets the stage for later! Having quality reading material available with time to enjoy definitely is important 🙂
It has always been freeing to me as a homeschool mom to know I didn’t have to have all the answers! I’m so happy you’ve chosen encouragement as your theme for this series! May lots of other Moms gain encouragement as you share the wisdom God has granted you on your journey. It IS time for action.
You are so right, Carol – we do NOT need to have all the answers! It’s important to me that moms can embrace that and not be so hard on themselves. I think conversations on that topic are what spurred me to write this series. Thank you for your kind words 🙂 Blessings to you and yours!
This is pretty much how I approached homeschooling middle school; it intimated me to no end and I just decided we needed to move forward. Keep reading books, try a few new workbooks and just DO IT!
That’s exactly the thing to do when you are not sure what to do 🙂 Taking action and moving forward often helps us figure out exactly what direction we need to be moving.
A beautiful and encouraging post! Each year, I seem to have to remind myself to “re” evaluate our homeschooling journey. Nice to meet you through the #abcblogging adventure 🙂
aww, thank you 🙂 I’m so glad you were encouraged! Yes, it’s always a good thing to sit back and re-evaluate, but even better to move forward!
Thank you for your sweet message – have a blessed week.
I am looking forward to reading more in your series! Such helpful information even to a veteran homeschooling Mama of 9 years.
I hope you are encouraged, Jacquelin 🙂 We homeschool moms can all help one another in this journey! thank you for stopping by this week!