We all want to have success at homeschooling. But we don’t all know what that looks like or how to get there. Today, I’ll share with you what I think is the secret to homeschool success.
The secret to homeschool success
There is no person in life who has it all together. No person who will be able to sustain a brisk pace through every season of life.
You will have times in life where all you can do is get up in the morning and move. But you will show up for your kids. You will also have times in life where you will be thriving. Show up then too. Whatever life is handing you right now, clean house or not, show up.
Cause you know what the secret to success as a homeschool mom is?
Well, it’s not doing amazing art projects, having a clean house, and going on fabulous trips. It’s not using a particular curriculum or cooking perfect meals. (Though of course those things are awesome.)
But the secret to success in homeschooling is showing up. Doing it every day, no matter what you feel like. Making sure your kids are learning. You can have days off, but do it because you chose to, not because you are letting life run you over.
What is homeschool success?
We may all measure success differently. Maybe you see homeschool success as having kids that get into a great college or maybe you just hope your kids finish high school and can hold down a job. Perhaps your measure of homeschooling success is a little more simple in that you want your kids to be happy and know how to learn.
We all have different measurements of successful homeschooling. But I know that no matter what, your kids need you.
They need their parents who care more about them than anyone in the world to show up for them everyday. To be their biggest cheerleader and support. To guide them on this journey of life.
You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room or have all your ducks in a row. You just need to love your kids and want what is best for them.
With that and the determination to show up, you will meet your goals for homeschooling, whatever they may be. That will make your homeschool a success.
How to make sure you show up
Life can get crazy. And when you throw homeschooling into the mix, you will have a lot on your plate no matter what. But you can do this!
Give yourself some grace, take a deep breath, and move forward. When you decide to be a successful homeschooler and show up for your kids every day, you will struggle. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do this. You can, one day at a time!
Here are some tips to help you make sure you show up for your kids.
1. Make homeschooling a priority
Homeschooling your kids is a big commitment. Choosing to homeschool means it needs to be a priority in your life. Even if you have other large commitments, it cannot be an afterthought.
Educating our children is one of the most important things we can do as parents. We are preparing them for the world beyond our homes.
You must allow homeschooling to take a major part in your schedule and work other things around it. Guard your homeschool time. Get up and make it happen every day. It’s not easy.
It is easy to let other things creep into your schedule – Doctor appointments, play dates, and classes. But when you make homeschooling a priority, you will be more successful. You can start by scheduling those extra things outside of your homeschool time.
Not everyone can make homeschooling first priority, but keeping it at least near the top will make your homeschool more successful.
You may already work outside the home. You may not. Either way, you need to Homeschool like it’s your job.
This idea has helped me over the years. To think of homeschooling my kids like it’s my job. This may be a mindset shift for you. Truthfully, homeschooling will take time away from your day. Depending on how you do it and the ages of your kids, it is like a job.
For several hours each day, I set aside time to educate my kids. This is what we do. It is that serious. If I don’t take it that serious, neither will my kids. And neither will anyone around me.
2. Know what you’ll do in advance
If you wake up each morning, not knowing what your kids will be doing in school that day, it will feel quite overwhelming. This is why you need to plan in advance.
I like to do most of my planning before we even start the school year, but many will plan a month or even only a week ahead. Whatever works best for you is great. Just be sure you have a plan.
Read: How to create a homeschool plan that works for you
And keep in mind that a plan doesn’t have to be super detailed. You just need to know what you will be doing. This can be as simple as doing the next lesson in a textbook or reading the next chapter in a reader.
But having a plan is super important as sometimes you will need extra supplies or to read explanations as well.
Read: Automate Your Homeschool Year by Creating This One Thing
3. Create a basic routine
Most people have some sort of basic rhythms and routines to your days. It’s helpful to grab hold of this and use it to your advantage.
Many people get scared when they think about a homeschool schedule, but a strict minute by minute timetable is not what I’m suggesting here.
I am suggesting that you see what your normal days at home tend to look like and write it down. Look to see how you can craft these days to be optimal for homeschooling.
Maybe you mark off every morning for homeschooling, or maybe your best time is in the evening. The important thing is that you make homeschooling a priority in your day.
You will not be able to make successful strides in homeschooling if you are not showing up regularly.
So set up a daily rhythm that works for your family. This is just an order to how your day goes. Practice it. Set up routines to work through as you work on the schoolwork. Make sure you are using your family’s natural inclinations to make your days easier to stick with.
Read: Design a daily routine homeschool schedule with 10 easy tips
Understand that these routines will change often, so try not to feel tied down, but keep it flexible and adjust it as needed.
4. Communicate expectations
Much of the work you do to setup your homeschool will be in your head and on your papers. But don’t forget that this homeschooling thing includes your kids too. And they sadly can’t read your mind.
So as you work through to make plans and prioritize homeschooling into your life, then you are setting up expectations of your kids in the process.
These expectations must be communicated to your kids!
They need to know what the day will look like, how much schoolwork they may expected to do each day, that it will be taking them away from playing some, and that they may not get to do anything they want at any moment.
They need to know what you expect of them if they need your help or if something is difficult for them.
So be sure to set your kids up for success by sharing with them your plans and what you hope things will look like. It doesn’t have to be a big deal or a long conversation. It can be super quick and casual. You just need to communicate in advance.
Understand though that when you do this, you may get some input, especially from older kids. So you actually may want to consider bringing in your kids (and your spouse!) while you are still working on the plans.
Many times, your kids will have some great input!
The thing is that ultimately, you will not have a successful day no matter how you show up if your kids aren’t also expected to show up. They need to know what that should look like!
5. Be consistent
Possibly the most important way to show up for your kids is to actually do it consistently. This may sound silly but if you don’t have your kids get up and get started, it’s not likely they will do it on their own.
To me, being consistent has always been the hardest part of homeschooling.
With little kids, we would set up play dates and go to the park often. When my oldest became school age, I had to set new routines and that change of pace was hard for me. I liked being able to do whatever I felt like that day.
Showing up for your kids on a consistent basis will help you in the long run. But it will take time to truly be consistent.
You have to show up every day. Even if you don’t want to. You show up. They show up. Do the work.
And the truth is, you won’t always have the motivation to do so. So you will have to be determined to do it anyway. Motivation wears off. Discipline is up to you.
When you find that determination to be consistent, you will find that after a while, it isn’t all that hard anymore to be consistent with showing up.
The first few weeks may be hard. The first couple months will get a little easier. Then after a while of showing up everyday for your kids, it’s just what you do now. The difficulty is a thing of the past.
Not that you won’t still struggle, but it won’t be nearly as often!
And in the end, consistency can be more important than doing it all – strip to the basics if needed to keep up with being consistent. Sometimes keeping the consistency of a good routine is more helpful than completing all the things and barely surviving.
6. Have a plan for tough days
When tough days come – and they will – you need a backup plan so you can still be consistent with your homeschool but meet the other needs that come up.
Perhaps there is sickness in the house, or a doctor appointment, or you wake up feeling like you just can’t do it today.
Well, you could take the day off.
Or….
You could use a basic minimum routine or call it a fun day and use some alternative learning ideas.
A basic minimum day is the minimum things in your daily homeschool routine you can do to feel like you have still accomplished a good day of schoolwork.
In other words, this is what you can accomplish in your school day to still be able to check it off as a school day and still accomplish some things toward your year-end goals, but also deal with the fact that sometimes you just can’t do a “full day” of homeschooling.
Think of it kinda like a mental health day without completely taking a day off. A way to help prevent burnout without completely getting off schedule. Doing the bare minimum.
This is a routine you have decided in advance so that you can still feel good about being diligent with school while taking some of the pressure off yourself.
If you usually consider a full day of school to be five subjects, maybe on your basic minimum day you will only do 2 or 3. Maybe you just read aloud in your group learning time and skip the bookwork. Or perhaps you do the opposite and only do bookwork and skip group learning time.
You also could have a completely different set of tasks you do on your basic minimum day. You might decide to watch a documentary, play a math game, or go for a hike and call it a day!
These alternative learning ideas are great to have in your back pocket, just for days like this! It will give you all a change of pace while still accomplishing some learning, and maybe in a fun way!
Homeschool success
Showing up every day as a homeschool parent is the foundation of becoming a successful homeschooler. It is not an easy task, but by prioritizing your homeschool with plans and a solid routine, it will be easier to be consistent and show up for your kids every day. When you are able to show up, your kids will join you on the journey to a successful homeschool. Do this for them and after a while it will become almost second nature.
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