Tip FOUR - One Step at a Time

Welcome back to this weeks Tips for Homeschool Parents blog Hop. The first three tips for the week so far are:

1. Become Equipped: Know What You Think and Why.
2. Finding Your Rhythm  and keeping to it.
3. Buy some Ice Cream - Dealing with difficult days.

Today I would like to talk about the journey.  Homeschooling is more than education.  It's about a journey. It's a journey that you, your spouse, your children and extended family are on.  This journey is more like a marathon than a sprint and as such you need to learn to pace yourself.

Homeschooling is about one small step at a time.  It's about building precept upon precept.  There is no need to hurry. It is far better to do a limited amount with excellence than it is to hurry because you've got too much to do and miss the depth and breadth of the experience.  Your children will be adults a lot faster than you know. Take time to savor the moments.

When you're having a tough day remember that tomorrow is a fresh new day, it's a gift. When that new day dawns it's a an opportunity to build a better and stronger relationship.  As you walk this journey,  don't sweat the small stuff.

Look at the bigger picture. What are your long term goals? Now choose your top two or three priorities for YOUR homeschool. Write them down, decide what you need to do to fulfill them and then begin the journey of one step at time to achieve them.

Do NOT let other homeschool families personal priorities high jack yours and get in the way. Every single family has there own personalities, dreams, hopes and aspirations.  Do not try to follow their dreams. You are who you are and it's not wise to clone your homeschool on someone else dreams. When you do that you set yourself up to be disappointed, frustrated and burned out.  Learn to be TRUE to Yourselves and who you are. This is the key to ultimate freedom and enjoying your homeschool journey.

I encourage you to slow down and enjoy the journey.  Guard your time and your energy,  and that of your children.  Do not feel that you need to do everything there is out there.  Your time and your energy are a limited resource and if you over extend them you will become burned out or your children will.  Consider well what you commit yourselves to do and the consequence on the whole family.

Becoming burned out is a very real issue among homeschool families.  I would like to encourage you to read the following articles for some ideas on how to manage your journey so as to maintain your stamina for the long term. 

• Dear Mom Who is Feeling Overwhelmed
• How Important is Alone Time and Home Schooling ?  
• Homeschool Burnout 
• Overcoming Homeschool Burnout 

This post is part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents Blog Hop.  Blog posts from these bloggers will be going live between 8 am EST and Midday.

I invite you to grab a cup of tea and head on over to these bloggers to see their word of encouragement to you today.

• Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
• Latonya @ Joy in the Ordinary
• Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
• Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
• Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures
• Lori @ At Home: where life happens
• Meg @ Adventures with Jude
• Megan @ My Full Heart
• Melanie (Wren) @ finchnwren
• Melissa @ Mom's Plans

Blessings
Chareen

If you're on Pinterest I encourage you to follow the board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents for some wonderful NEW content for your Homeschool Boards.

Follow Every Bed of Roses's board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents. on Pinterest.

Tip THREE ... Buy some Ice Cream

Welcome back to this weeks Tips for Homeschool Parents. So far in the series we have talked about  Becoming Equipped: Know What You Think and Why and Finding Your Rhythm. Today I would like to encourage you to stock up on ice-cream (or your family favourite treat)!

As much as homeschooling is living the dream sooner or later the honeymoon period will end. You will experience the odd frustrating and difficult day.  We are all human.  Every day is different.  Just when you think you've got it nailed something will happen to make you question your choices and that's when you need to remember tip number one - Know WHY you are doing what you are doing which in turn will empower you with the strength to keep going.

When you hit a day when no matter how hard you try you will not be able to explain an easy concept to a student who is struggling to comprehend what is in front of them and soon tensions will escalate and things can become, well let's just say not so nice.  There will be tears of frustration or angry words and then I recommend you close the books.

Put AWAY all the books and declare ICE CREAM day.  

Believe me your children will be grateful and so will you be.  It's a great way to diffuse the situation, it creates a happy memory, provides space for you all to reconnect and relaxes everyone involved.

Whatever you do, do not go back to the subject that sparked the tensions.  Tackle the next thing on the list or get out the house and go for a walk.  Come back to that subject tomorrow after you and the child have had a good nights rest and you've had some time to think about a new approach to solve their quandary.

If you find that you and the children keep coming to the point of sparking each other it could be because you are all tired. You may need to look at finding a new rhythm for your homeschool.

We follow a five week rotation.  Our rhythm is to home educate for four weeks and then have a one week break.  Nine of these rotations equal a total of 36 weeks of school and only take up 40 weeks of the year.  Leaving us twelve weeks of holidays.    You can read more about this topic in these two posts: Homeschool Daily Schedules and Our Rhythm - Year Round Schooling.  When working out your families rhythm remember to check what your country/state requirements are for homeschooling for the year.

I love what  Sally Clarkson says in her book The Mission of Motherhood: "There are many varieties of personalities and possibilities of home organization, Each of us simply has to find the combination of routines that suits our lifestyle and desires." This is why it's important for you to do what's best for your family even if it's different to your homeschool neighbour.

I'm looking forward to sharing more tips with you later this week.  This post is part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents Blog Hop.  Blog posts from these bloggers will be going live between 8 am EST and Midday.

I invite you to grab a cup of tea and head on over to these bloggers to see their word of encouragement to you today.

• Dawn @ Double O Farms
• Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool
• Debbie @ Debbie's Homeschool Corner
• Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook
• Diana @ Busy Homeschool Days
• Diana @ Homeschool Review
• Elyse @ Oiralinde: Eternal Song
• Emilee @ Pea of Sweetness
• Erin @ For Him and My Family
• Jen @ Chestnut Grove Academy

Blessings
Chareen

If you're on Pinterest I encourage you to follow the board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents for some wonderful NEW content for your Homeschool Boards.
Follow Every Bed of Roses's board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents. on Pinterest.

Tip TWO ... Find YOUR Rhythm

Welcome to day two of Tips for Homeschool Parents which is being hosted by the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  Yesterday's topic was Become Equipped Know What You Think and Why. Today I would like to encourage you to find your own personal rhythm and stick to it.

One of the challenges that face us as homeschool parents is to leave school at school. Most home educating families today were not home educated themselves and the only model of education they have in their minds is that of the school they personally attended. Part of the problem with this is that school is six to seven hours a day five days of week plus homework time and this model does not work at home.

When you home educate keep in mind you are not schooling you are tutoring and one of the majour differences is the amount of time required to accomplish the same amount of educating. 

At school you have a 1:30 ratio which means the teacher needs more time to teach and help the students in her care.  At home you have a one to one ratio which means you will know when your student grasps a concept.  The same principle applies to the quantity of written work you require for each subject.  The majority of written work issued at school is 'busy work'. The aim of this written work is to keep students busy and allow the teacher time to help the students who need assistance.

Finding the balance as to the amount of time you need each day to complete your daily requirements is the first step to successfully home educating. Time is a limited resource and one that needs to be managed.  Part of this management is finding your rhythm and sticking to it.

"Every lesson must have its own time, and no other time in this world is there for it. The sense of the preciousness of time, of the irreparable loss when a ten minutes' lesson is thrown away must be brought home." - Charlotte Mason Companion page 93 

The most important part of finding your rhythm is that you do not play the comparison game.  Stop comparing what you are doing with the next home school family in your group of friends or blog are doing.  Your family is unique.  It has it's own set of needs.  IF you are constantly changing up how you do things or adding to what you are doing because of what other families are doing you are going to wear yourself and your children out. 

Here are a few blog posts which cover some of the areas of time in  homeschool, each of these posts address a different aspect of homeschooling which directly impacts your homeschool schedule/rhythm:

• Dear Mom Who is Feeling Overwhelmed
• IF you are a new home educator and have just brought your students home then I encourage you to read: From School to Homeschool
• House Cleaning and Home School ? Just how do you balance the two??  
• Homeschool Daily Schedules Sally Clarkson says: "There are many varieties of personalities and possibilities of home organization, Each of us simply has to find the combination of routines that suits our lifestyle and desires." -  The Mission of Motherhood.
• Our Rhythm - Year Round Schooling 
• How Important is Alone Time and Home Schooling ?  
• A little Word on Homeschool Record Keeping  
• Homeschool Burnout 

I'm looking forward to sharing more tips with you later this week.  This post is part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents Blog Hop.  Blog posts from these bloggers will be going live between 8 am EST and Midday.

I invite you to grab a cup of tea and head on over to these bloggers to see their word of encouragement to you today.

• Melissa @ Grace Christian School
• Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
• Missica @ Through the Open Window
• Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling
• Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining
• Renita @ Krazy Kuehner Days
• Sarah @ Renaissance Mama
• Sasha @ Such a Time as This
• Tawnee @ Adventures in Homeschooling
• Tiffany @ The Crafty Home
• Tina @ Desperate Homeschoolers

Blessings
Chareen

If you're on Pinterest I encourage you to follow the board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents for some wonderful NEW content for your Homeschool Boards.

Follow Every Bed of Roses's board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents. on Pinterest.