The Best Homeschooling Advice I Ever Got

Do you have a favorite piece of homeschooling advice?

In the 15 plus years that I homeschooled, I received a LOT of advice. Some of it was very helpful, and some…not so much.

But five pieces of advice stand out as the most helpful homeschooling advice I received.

The first piece of advice came when I was a new homeschool mom. I would frequently worry that I was forgetting to teach my children something of huge importance or that I was ruining them in some way.

Do you ever feel that way?

I remember scrambling to add all the “extras” to our school day—things like field trips and sports and music and art and…well, you get the idea.

School became more about “getting it all done” than about loving the learning, and I began to become stressed and—you guessed it—grumpy.

About that time, someone very wisely pointed out this stellar piece of advice:

Everyone gives up something when they choose something else.

In other words, by choosing to homeschool my children I was acknowledging that they would have different experiences than if they had gone to school. They would learn things that traditionally schooled children might not learn, and they wouldn’t learn some of the things that those children learned.

And that was okay… better than okay, really.

So instead of stressing about what they weren’t getting, I began to appreciate all the unique learning experiences that my children would have. And I determined to leave the other things in God’s hands, realizing that I am not the sole teacher of my children and He would fill in the gaps.

Don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outsides.

Aren’t we so good at doing that?

Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram…even church! They each show us the “polished” version of others. And if we’re not careful, we begin to compare ourselves (the self that we know—our insides) to the outsides of those around us.

That “perfect” homeschool mom who seems to have it all together…you know who I mean, right?

I was not her.

But I wanted to be. And the more I compared my insides to others’ outsides, the more frustrated and discouraged I became. But when I realized that I was only seeing the polished side of others, I realized all that so-called perfection was just an illusion.

That “perfect” homeschool mom who seemed to have it all together?

Yah, turns out she was just like me.

If you want to learn about something read a children’s book about it.

I love this piece of advice that came from a seasoned homeschool mom of ten children.

Were you surprised by this advice? I kind of was, because I never wanted to “dumb down” anything for my children.

But “dumbing down” wasn’t what she had in mind. She explained that children’s books narrow down a subject to the most important information and they explain it in a way that is memorable.

So when studying a topic with your middle or high schooler (for example, body systems or physics) look for a children’s book on that topic to help reinforce what they're learning.

I found this to be especially helpful with my visual learner, since children’s books often use visual language and lots of pictures. And some children’s books will include a hands-on activity to reinforce learning—perfect for my kinesthetic learner.

Which brings me to my next piece of best homeschool advice:

Know your child’s learning style.

When I began homeschooling, I knew absolutely nothing about learning styles, so it took me a while to learn about styles and then apply them to my children.

But once I learned, it radically changed my approach to homeschooling!

You see, I was trying to “do school at home” instead of homeschooling. And while that worked well for my Type-A oldest child, my middle child was far from fitting that mold.

When I learned that Megann needed movement and noise to learn best (which seemed so crazy to me at the time!) and that she was an auditory/visual learner, I was able to adapt for her.

Rather than scolding her for not sitting still while she did her work, I began to add motion and music to our school day. We would often read aloud (auditory) while Megann colored pictures relating to our subject (visual).

Emilie learned best independently, with quiet and focus. So she worked at a desk in her bedroom (or in the kitchen with headphones on) for part of the day in order to focus while Megann made noise.

And Nathan is a kinesthetic (hands-on) learner. Projects, building things, working out problems, etc. were his favorite methods of learning.

By discovering each of the learning styles of my children, I was able to adapt our schooling to help them learn in their best way possible.

A lesson learned!

The last piece of helpful advice was this:

Don’t be afraid to put aside something that isn’t working for you.

Do you hate the curriculum you’re using? Are you sticking with something only because you’ve already spent time and money on it?

The same homeschool mom who taught me to use children's books let me in on this helpful advice.

Her advice was to give yourself a set period of time (for example, another two weeks) before setting it aside. When the two weeks are up, reevaluate where you’re at and if the curriculum still isn’t working for you change it.

You can feel good about reaching your goal of the set amount of time, knowing that you gave it your all. Put it aside for a different child or sell it online, but don’t be afraid to admit that it’s not working for you and find something that will.

We have tried several different curricula over the years, and I had to set aside a few. I never regretted changing something that wasn’t working for something that did.

While I learned many valuable lessons over the years, these five lessons stand out as the most helpful:

1. Everyone gives up something when they choose something else.

2. Don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outsides.

3. If you want to learn about something read a children’s book about it.

4. Know your child’s learning style.

5. Don’t be afraid to put aside something that isn’t working for you.

Do you have any homeschool advice that you would share? Please leave it in the comments below, so other homeschool moms can benefit from it also.

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Loving the mom life,

 Debbi