Homeschool Encouragement Series: Week 4

Welcome to week 4 of our Homeschool Encouragement Series! For our 4th guest, we’ll be hearing from Kara from Heartwood Holler as she tells us about her homeschooling struggles and how she overcame them!

Welcome back homeschool friends!

Meet Kara

Wife to a mountain man ✨ Mama to 7 wild ones
Seasonal living on our homestead
Building family culture | Home education
Intentional homemaking

Kara has been married to Ryan for 22 years, and home educating since their oldest was born 18 years ago. Their family resides on a mountain homestead where they grow food, raise animals, enjoy each other’s company, and are working toward building a family economy. She shares their journey and the many lessons they have learned over the years at Heartwood Holler.

Homeschool Encouragement

A few words of encouragement for my fellow homeschool mama:

One of my biggest struggles as a large family homeschool mom is feeling like I’m not doing enough. It seems no matter how “on top of things” I am, that it is only in one or two areas at a time. If meals are getting planned and made and laundry stays caught up, then book work falls behind. If we focus on really making progress in our curriculum, then the garden suffers. Insert any combination of tasks, and it’s still the same story. As someone who loves planning, lists, and schedules it is challenging for me to find balance in our days.

If this is something you struggle with as well, I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned over the years that might help you in your homeschool:

1) Prioritize- We can not do all things well at all times, and different seasons require different priorities. Be honest with yourself about what season you’re currently in, then set firm boundaries for what you will spend your time on.

2) Delegate- This is something I resisted for a long time because I always felt like I should be the one doing everything. I didn’t want to put too much on the children, and I didn’t want to ask my husband to add more things to his plate. How wrong that thinking was! Even small children are capable of so many things, and there are most likely tasks that your husband would be glad to do to in order to free up some of your time.

3) Don’t Compare- Not the grades that your children get, the amount of extracurriculars your family participates in, how clean your house is, how much food you grow, or any of the other metrics that social media tells us we should be able to attain. Everything about your family is unique, and the only standard you should compete against is yourself.

“Don’t Compare – Everything about your family is unique, and the only standard you should compete against is yourself.”

Kara from Heartwood Holler

4) Pay Attention To Progress- We so often get caught up in the day to day, or focus on the overwhelm that we don’t notice all the little ways that our children learn and grow. Very often, they are making slow and steady progress that should encourage us (and them!), but it’s important to be intentional about noticing and celebrating it.

5) Find the Extraordinary- In your everyday moments no matter how small or mundane. When we take time to stop and smell the roses (or watch the snail or read another story or bake cookies) it is easier for us to notice the blessings that surround us every single day. And focusing on the things we’re grateful for has a way of making all those feelings of inadequacy disappear.

When we take time to stop and smell the roses (or watch the snail or read another story or bake cookies) it is easier for us to notice the blessings that surround us every single day.

Kara from Heartwood Holler

For more homeschool encouragement see my posts about How to Cultivate A Love Of Learning In Your Children and Why Reading Aloud is so important!