What if you could go back in time and talk to yourself about homeschooling? What would you tell yourself? What warnings or affirmations would you give? After homeschooling for a decade, I have a lot of things I would tell myself. Here are a few:
- Time goes by so fast. Enjoy the process every day.
- Don’t stress over academics, you are doing just fine.
- Spend more time reading aloud.
- Go on more field trips.
- Don’t skip a day praying before school.
- Don’t get frustrated, children learn at their own pace.
- A messy house comes with the territory.
- Take time out every day to laugh with the kids.
- Make sure the kids know you there is nothing you would rather do than homeschool them.
I was curious how other moms would answer this question. Here are some of the responses:
started with the mindset of an unschooler and not as a publicly educated parent who thought I wanted to recreate school in a different environment. I should have focused on relationship first then let academics graduate themselves in, instead of insisting on the three R’s ~Jessica
I wish I would have relaxed more, and loved on my kids more rather then been so strict and pushy with them. Learning comes whether we sit down and learn or not. There is a lot of time for learning, wish I would have enjoyed the time with them being little more. And realized that 5 in not a magic number. Not all kids will read when they are 5! ~Janis
Wished I had not pushed so much busy work on them and has them all read more books. And I wished we had done more volunteer work helping others as a family. ~ Vicki
We stress so much when it comes to the quality of education we provide our children. However, we cannot sacrifice the quality of our relationships. We are moms and teachers combined. We nurture, teach, and love all day long. It is who we are and what we want to give our children. Yes, we should always strive to provide the best education but we cannot forget the best education begins in the heart.