7 Biggest Homeschooling Mistakes That Make You Miserable
Homeschooling as a working mom is a journey. It’s a long distance, “hold on for dear life and enjoy the ride” journey. Like every journey we make in life, working while homeschooling will have its highs and lows.
Some of those lows can be caused by making mistakes. Let’s talk about some of the biggest homeschooling mistakes that might be making you and your family miserable.
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All Of Us Make Mistakes
Before I dive into some of the biggest homeschooling mistakes you might be making, I want to remind you that we all make mistakes.
I’ve made mistakes teaching math, teaching my kids to cook, and when I first started working full-time out of the home. That’s how I know you won’t wreck your kids for life just because you mess something up. Making mistakes doesn’t make you a failure. It means you are a work in progress.
I’ve been a parent for 20 years, and I assure you every day, I make mistakes. Just ask my kids!
If you are holding back from homeschooling your child while working, I want to encourage you. You can work, homeschool, and make mistakes without wrecking your kids for life.
With that in mind, let me share with you a few of the mistakes I’ve made over my journey and hopefully, help you avoid them.
1. Not Deschooling
Jumping directly from the public school system into homeschooling without deschooling is one of the biggest homeschooling mistakes you can make.
Both you and your child need time to let go of the public school mentality and adjust to homeschooling.
Deschooling is a process that allows you both to unlearn what you think education should be and embrace the flexibility of homeschooling.
Deschooling is often confused with Unschooling. The difference is one is a process and one is a method.
Deschooling can allow you to catch your breath and prepare for your homeschooling adventures. While your kids learn to let go and trust themselves, you can reconnect and make wonderful discoveries about who they are and how they learn.
Take the time to deschool. You can learn tips and ideas on how to deschool as a working mom here.
2. Copying Public School In Your Homeschool
I’m about to make a case for deschooling, if you the parent, have a public school mindset.
When I started homeschooling, I made the biggest homeschool mistake of all-copying the public school.
That’s right. I was “Mrs. Mackinnon,” sit down at the table, raise your hand homeschooling mom. Doesn’t that sound like loads of fun?
When you try to replicate the school system at home, you are not only making homeschool miserable for all involved, but you are missing out on so much!
Homeschooling is about asking questions, exploring life around you, and digging deep to learn. Diving into what your kids are topics your kids are interested in and having fun.
For example, I’ve used various ways to teach my children math, from cooking, to games, to online and offline programs. As they grew and became more independent, their learning style changed. Our homeschool was able to flex and adjust to their needs.
The flexibility of homeschooling is what makes homeschooling so amazing for working moms.
3. Choosing The Wrong Curriculum
One of the biggest homeschooling mistakes you can make when choosing programs and curriculum is forgetting that you are a working mom!
So many working moms choose the homeschooling curriculum based on the wrong criteria. They only consider what will work best for their child instead of considering themselves.
When picking out your curriculum, consider how much planning it will take on your end, how much of YOU it requires, and how much they can do on their own.
Give yourself permission to let go of a program that isn’t working, change how you use it, or outsource your homeschool to online programs.
4. Comparing Your Homeschool
Almost every working mom I’ve talked to has started second-guessing themselves and their ability to work and homeschool because they were comparing their homeschool to someone else’s.
We all know comparing ourselves to someone else is a big no-no, and yet, we do it. We compare our worst moments as a working mom to their highlight reel on Instagram.
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
-Unknown
Comparing is one of the biggest homeschooling mistakes you can make because all it does is make you feel bad.
Your homeschooling journey is unique and should look different from everyone else because it is tailored to fit your needs.
Instead of comparing your homeschool to someone else, remember, those “perfect working moms” who look like they got it all together…well, maybe they just hide it better than we do. They aren’t perfect and neither are you.
Learn to be okay with that.
If you feel yourself starting to compare. Pause. Realize what you are doing and change your focus.
5. Trying To Do All The Things And Overscheduling
You work, are homeschooling, have a home to take care of, meals to make, and the list goes on.
The biggest homeschooling mistake working moms make when homeschooling is overscheduling and trying to do it all.
When I started our homeschooling journey, I was a stay-at-home mom. I had the time to take my kids to all the social activities and kept up with the cleaning, running errands, and general life stuff.
When I started working full-time, I lost a lot of that flexibility. Now I had to consider my work schedule and child care on top of the rest. Life got busier and I was always on the go. This lead to burnout.
I’ve learned the value of being intentional with my time, saying now and making sure we have white space in our schedule to rest, recharge and reconnect as a family.
6. Not Having A Plan
Do you want to include fun activities in your homeschool? Host a poetry tea time? Take your kids to a playground or park? You need to have a plan.
As a working mom, you have exactly as much time as every other human on the planet. The main difference is the number of demands on your time.
To keep track of all the different moving parts of your life, you need to have a plan and use a planner.
Those fun activities can happen, but you need to plan for them. Create a simple schedule and write it down.
7. Doing It Alone
Do you want to know the one thing you need to succeed as a working homeschool mom? No, it’s not the planner or the curriculum, it’s community.
I can not explain the value of having a community of moms on the same journey as you. Knowing someone else understands and embraces the chaos of working and homeschooling and that you are not alone – incredible.
Doing it alone is one big homeschooling mistake you can skip! It was the one thing I was missing when I started working and homeschooling. I had to figure it out all on my own.
You can find them online such as Facebook Groups and forums. Or in-person in your local community. You may need to search a little harder but keep looking.
I have two online communities, specifically for working moms who homeschool.
Biggest Homeschooling Mistakes
Homeschooling truly is a fantastic journey. I’ll be the first to admit that once I stopped making these homeschooling mistakes, I was much happier.
You can find joy in your homeschool by avoiding the biggest homeschooling mistakes by making sure to take the time to deschool yourself and your family, don’t copy public school, and make sure you take into consideration your own needs when planning your homeschool programs.
Don’t forget to outsource and ask for help when needed, create a plan for work and homeschool, and lastly, find your community!
Have you made any of these mistakes in your homeschool? Use these tips to get back on track!
Take care
Jen
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Hi, I’m Jen. I help working moms juggle their career and homeschool their kids by providing support, systems and tools. You are warmly invited to Join the Online Community Here!
