Are you a new homeschool mom who would love to get advice from experienced moms? Want to know what they have learned along the way? We asked some of them, and here are their answers:
We have been homeschooling almost four years and the biggest thing I have learned is that no two children are alike. They all learn at different paces. My oldest is 12 and was reading shortly after turning 6. She was in public school so they rushed them along. My 9-year-old just started reading last year. She just couldn’t grasp reading or math, but she has a disability. I am working with my 5 and 4-year-olds now. I was told it is okay for them to take longer. It doesn’t mean I am failing them. They just all learn differently.
– Pamela
Relationship. When I first read this request, my first thought was, “I could write a book.” But I remembered the one thing I try to remember everyday: homeschooling affords the opportunity like no other educational system for relationship. Relationship with Our Heavenly Father, relationship with our children, and relationship extending outside of our home and family circles. This has been both the most challenging aspect of homeschooling and the greatest blessing. Being home with each other day in and day out poses challenges – and great opportunities to meet those challenges. Early on we focused on obedience (myself included) and true discipleship, continuing to come in line together, looking toward Christ. One of our biggest regrets of parenting and discipleship early on was that we assumed a hierarchy with dad at the head of the line, then mom, and then the children – like a train. As we have matured we truly see that we are all in a line with only One before us, and our role as parents is more of a “come alongside me” than a “line up behind me” process. As a mom of five, sending the first one off to college this fall, having homeschooled from the beginning, my advice is: regardless of style or choice of curriculum, keep your focus on nurturing healthy relationships (think great commandments) and enjoy the adventure. Let love and kindness rule. Remember that His mercy to you was new this morning and yours should be new for your children, husband and friends. His love never fails, nor should ours, because He provides what we need when we seek and ask for forgiveness and for wisdom and for instruction.
– Faith
I would advise to just be prayerful and expect God to guide throughout the school year. Have fun, especially in the younger years. Use those fun-observed days like National Pasta Day to use pasta as math manipulatives, use cooked spaghetti as paint “brushes”, find a video or book on how pasta is made, sing “On Top of Spaghetti”… be creative! (A website gives the observed days for the month.) Finally, read to your child – every single day!
– Brenda
Homeschool is not school at home! Everything does not need to be completed at a desk. With child #3, we called reading “cuddle time” and it took place on the couch. Guess which child LOVES reading!!
– Tracy
Pray.
Embrace everyone’s differences; love each others’ faults.
Laugh more. Enjoy being together; life is short.
Time flies, so enjoy all the time with your kids as much as possible. Giggle more at mistakes so they learn it’s all good.
Teach them to love who they are and care less about what other people think as long as you’re walking with God.
Embrace what he has given you, but always try to be a better person. Strive to be all you can be. Treat others how you want to be treated. Think before you speak. Always speak Encouragement into others’ lives, build them up, tell them the small things you see that makes them great, be who God wants you to be.
Always put God first.
Enjoy life – you only have one chance make it count.
Strive to let people see God in you – in how you live and treat others. Thank God for online programs because your kids outgrow what you know really fast..lol.
Be polite, keep and teach manners because they go a long way, especially with the older generations. “Yes, ma’am, no ma’am.”
AND ABOVE ALL LOVE, LOVE YOU, LOVE OTHERS, LOVE GOD.
Phil 4:13
– Dolly
I learned to not be like the other super homeschool moms. You know the moms who always make a plan and follow the plan, whose children love every subject, they never miss a day off school. The mom who plans amazing activities and really cool art projects, who plans a field trip through the woods and pretends they are Daniel Boone exploring new territory. I learned to be me, to be the homeschooling mom I wanted to be. I always strive to be a better teacher the following year, but I will always be ME. ALL homeschool parents are amazing in their own way.
– Michelle
Going the long route was totally worth it. So many are afraid of the high school years, yet those were invaluable to sealing my relationship with my children. Two of my four sons have graduated and are adults. I just love that they both call me often, tell me they love me, and appreciate all the years I gave them. I just know our relationship will be lifelong and nothing can beat that! Being with them for so many hours and shuffling them to so many events and hosting teen things was hard, but now I see that it made a difference. I no longer fear the high school years for my next two. God was funny in that he decided to space my kids out where I do high school for 16 years! Yep, my kids are four years apart. When I graduate one, I begin another and so on….four times! lol. I am now on number three in 10th grade. I always gear the high school years to their interests more than anything. One son was all about joining the Marines, so we focused a great deal on environmental sciences, survival information, self-sustaining environments, and physical education for his electives. My second son was college-bound and into IT, so we hit college classes early and got many basics out of the way. My third son is likely going into the science fields, so again we are prepping for early enrollment and hitting math and sciences hard. My fourth son is all about using his hand skills, will watch trade skill shows constantly, HGTV, and is always building and creating….we totally see a trade skill school in his future, and I intend to work alongside him for Habitat for Humanity when he is old enough. So when yours get to those years, hone in on their interests and explore!!!!!
– Dona
Don’t let first time jitters/anxiety rule you! When you see how much more you can do in the time the public school runs, it will feel freeing!
– Missy
I’ve learned to relax because my children are always learning and I’m not failing them (just graduated my oldest last year). I’ve learned that it’s ok to change something in the middle of the year if it isn’t working. I’ve learned that sometimes you have to go off the plan and do something fun to reset the day. I’ve learned that I get so much more out of homeschooling than I’m probably giving. 
❤️
– Lori
I have learned that each family is on their own journey. I have learned not to compare ourselves with others. There is a real reason God calls us to homeschool. It took me several years to truly find out what God was trying to do and show me. My reasons for homeschooling have actually changed since the beginning which was ten years ago.
– Tammy
Homeschooling is not just a feminine or mom thing. It’s a parent thing. My husband is an equal partner on this homeschool adventure…
– Jorene
This will be year 7 for our family
😁Hard to believe! With each year has come new lessons. I have enjoyed learning how each of my children learn and building their curriculum and learning styles around them. This is something public school just cannot physically accomplish. I have learned that, just like me, they need down days, and that is okay. We have learned that character outweighs any knowledge learned in a book and we work on that everyday
– Shannon
I have learned that if you are called to be a parent, God will also equip you to do the job. Too many parents succumb to the idea that they are unable to teach their children, but that is just not true! It is not easy to homeschool, but you can do it! Line yourself up with CHEWV and HSLDA. Find other homeschool Moms that can encourage you and whom you can encourage. Most importantly: seek God’s counsel daily! He knows and loves our kids more than we do and He knows what He has created them to be!
– Brenda
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