Encouragement for the Year Ahead {Not Back to School Blog Hop 2019}

Welcome to day five of the Not Back to School Blog hop for 2019.  This week has certainly stretched me in ways I had not expected.  Today I am guest posting at the Homeschool Review Crew blog: Dear Homeschool Mom You Are Enough.

Over the past week I have tackled the following topics:

• Art in Your Homeschool - I have shared resources and products I have used in the past.
• Books About Homeschooling - I shared two new books I have read this year that have encouraged and equiped me.
• Charlotte Mason - I answer the question is it worth reading a book or two from over a centuary ago?  The answer may surprise you.
• Don't Change The Method - Homeschooling High School - This is the number ONE thing I wish I could tell my younger self about homeschooling.

 Discouragement is a common theme and a part of the self talk of many home educating mom's.  A search on google came up with two million hits.  It is a very real part of the journey but one that makes us realise how important community is and it's impact upon our journey.

Self Care

Take care of yourself is a cry we hear over and over and yet it's not something we take seriously until it's too late. I wonder why we don't?  Being a martyre does not benift anyone in your family and it does not gain you any extra points it simply wears you out.  The best thing you can do is find something that will feed your soul and do it for at least fifteen minutes a day. Without you there is no home or home school. You are the most important ingredient on this journey and you are the one that is responsible to keep yourself properly cared for or it won't be long and you will be burned out.

Take Your Eyes off Your Friends

 Where does this sense of being totally overwhelmed come from? Looking back over the years I've come to realise there are a few sources of this heart ache and the two top culprits are comparison and constantly changing what you are doing to follow the next fad on the internet or local homeschool group.  The key to unclock the freedom of joy in the journey is to learn to be true to yourself and not try to take on the mantle of what others are doing. My encouragement to you is to take your eyes off your friends (especially the super successful ones),  and place them firmly on your Lord.

Buy Some Ice Cream

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.

Discover Your Rhythm

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.

Know What You Think and Why You Think it...

IF you don't know what you think OR why you think what you do then every homeschool consultant will try to sell you their product and soon you will have a home full of different curriculum and you will be overwhelmed!  OR you will have a budget blow out or you will be so confused and not buy anything and give up the journey before you begin.

Knowledge is Power. That power is either in your hand or in someone elses. If you don't know what you think or what your goals are then there will be someone out there who is only too happy to lead you a merry dance and convince you to spend your money with them.

Knowing why you are doing something 

is the first step in being empowered 

to follow through with your choices.

Even if you are a seasoned homeschooler and you don't have your thoughts and focus set then every single time you see something new or meet a new homeschooler and hear what they are doing you will feel as though you are somehow failing your children or they are missing out which in turn will drive you to choose to add more to an already busy homeschool.  The danger of this is that soon you will be doing a great many things with mediocrity and become overwhelmed and exhausted.

I hope this past week has been as encouraging for you as it has been for me.  I hope the weekend and year ahead is filled with joy.

Blessings
Chareen

Here are a list of the bloggers and their topics who took part in this weeks Not Back to School blog hop

• CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew - 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop 
• Kim @ Good Sweet Love - Last Year of Elementary
• Dawn @ Schoolin' Swag - Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day
• Erin @ For Him and My Family - Large Family Homeschooling
• Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens - Learning Life Skills
• Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling - Homeschooling the High School Years
• Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom - Homeschooling With Autism
• Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range - 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling
• Abby @ Making Room 4 One More - Time Management for Homeschool Moms
• Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool - 5 Days of Homeschool Questions
• Amy @ the WRITE Balance - Year-Round Schooling
• Annette @ A Net in Time - Homeschooling.
• Betty @ Lets Get Real - Homeschooling High School
• Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess - Eclectic Homeschooling Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase - Roadschooling with a Teenager
• Yvonne @ The Life We Build - 5 Days of Relaxed Homeschooling
• Destiny @ Some Call It Destiny - Encouragement for the Homeschooling Mom
• Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together -  A Peek into Our Homeschool
• Cassie D @ Deputie Tribe - Homeschooling 6 Taking Care of YOU
• Kristen Heider @ A Mom's Quest to Teach -Theme: A Quest for a Great Homeschool Year
• Patti Pierce - Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy - My Favorite Homeschooling Things
• Wendy @ Life on Chickadee Lane - 5 Days of Nature Study
• Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning - Homeschooling my final 4 
• Christine @ Life's Special Necessities - Yes! You Can Homeschool Your Special Needs Child
• Sally M - Tell the Next Generation - Tips for Homeschooling Struggling Learners