Homeschool Encouragement Week 6

Welcome to week 6 of our Homeschool Encouragement Series! This week I’ll be talking about my homeschooling story and how it has affected the way I homeschool my children.

Welcome back homeschooling friends!

Meet Tyla

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Tyla and I’m the author of this blog Homeschool Freebies and Giveaways. Growing up, my family decided to homeschool me and my siblings when I started 9th grade. At the time, I was not happy about the arrangement because I loved playing sports, I loved my school I had attended previously, and I loved getting to hang out with my friends. At that age, I felt like my life was over – haha, completely dramatic, right!?!

Homeschool Encouragement

The truth is, looking back, it was the best thing for me. I learned to learn independently, it allowed my entrepreneurial spirit to soar, and I had time to do things I loved. I was able to get into a co-op where sports teams were not only an option, but we were actually really competitive. My track team set a new state record for our 4 x 400 that I was a part of that lasted at least 10 years before someone else broke our record!

The truth is, looking back, it was the best thing for me.

-Tyla

As a new mom, I always thought I would send my kids to private school because I enjoyed that so much as a kid. But as I spent time with my kids as a SAHM, I realized learning to read and count and write are just another extension of motherhood. I loved being the person to help my child understand things. I loved being there when my daughter read her first book to me. I loved being there when my son built a lego version of the science project that we were just talking about. Realizing this time of being together was precious, I’m thankful that God will continue to give me the strength to homeschool even when I’m doing it with 5 kids, not just 2.

Encouraging Homeschool Retreat

Recently, I attended an online homeschool mom retreat by Sarah MacKenzie where she talked about what we want our kids to remember about being homeschooled. Do we want them to remember that mom was always stressed and upset with us? Or do we want them to remember that mom loved spending time with us while we learned together. This really put things in perspective for me. I can now look back and say I loved being homeschooled because of the time it gave me. I want my kids to have a positive experience of homeschooling as well.

My take aways from this retreat was to figure out what I want to focus on this year. We can take things year by year. We don’t have to be ready to send off our 9 year old into the world by the end of this school year. We can focus on relationships first. We can change up our math curriculum for a fun week of game schooling. We can go outside and learn about nature by observing and then note booking – instead of science and writing curriculums.

We can be better, happier homeschooling mamas by 1) Doing Less, 2) As consistently as you are able, and 3) Putting Relationships first! I agree wholeheartedly with these thoughts! When we out our relationships first, we are allowing our child to grow at their own pace. We are letting them learn about things they want to learn about, and we are using this time to love on them and not stress about the curriculum we are using. Remember the curriculum we use is only a tool to provide the education we want to give our kids. We are the teachers that decide how to use that tool. Skipping a page on tablespoons vs teaspoons in exchange for a real life cooking lesson is not a cop-out. It’s actually a better way for our kids to learn through real-life experiences!

We can be better, happier homeschooling mamas by 1) Doing Less, 2) As consistently as you are able, and 3) Putting Relationships first!

Sarah MacKenzie – Read Aloud Revival

I’d love to hear from you!

I’d love to hear from you! What are some things you want to focus on this year in your homeschool? Is there something you need to take off your plate this year to focus on relationships first? Comment below! Or send a quick email to hello@hsfg.org with subject line “Relationships First”.