The One Simple List that Will Fix Your Underwhelming Launch

I'd like to tell you that I always come fully-prepared into every homeschool year--that I have my plans solidified and written in stone; that I have all my curriculum ordered and in order; that I have tugged on all the kinks and have straightened them out.

But I don't.

I've been at this now for eleven years. Twelve, if you count preschool. And I still waver. My school year never launches quite a smoothly as I always hope it will. This year was no exception.

When the First Month of Homeschool Feels Like a Loss

Written by Jessica.

A few years ago, we had a tough first day back to homeschooling. I no longer remember the details, but I do remember that no one wanted to do school. There was lots of complaining, many bad attitudes, and at least one big meltdown. That day, I truly felt like a failure as a teacher and a mama. Later, I remember sitting sniffling at my laptop, searching for the magic wand that I could wave to put everything right. Impulsively, I ordered an elaborate and overpriced “virtues” program, complete with posters, charts, coloring pages, and a teacher’s guide.

A Quick-fix for a Messy Morning Routine

Written by Krista Smith.

“Babe, get your laundry picked up, please.

Sweetheart, your laundry.

Darlin’…this is getting silly. Pick up your laundry. Like, NOW!”

How many of our mornings as homeschool moms start off this way? Then hit repeat for the next task in line.

Maybe not all of your kiddos struggle to stay on target, but I’d be willing to bet at least one of them, at least once a week needs a good, determined, poke in the right direction. It is certainly true at my house and with my kids, anyway.

So what is a mama to do?

What We're Reading in September 2018

Admittedly, the wheels completely fell off of our reading wagon this past summer. What can I say? We were busy summering. (Summering. Is that a word? My spell check seems to think it's not. But I disagree.)

Now that we've officially launched into a new school year, we're back to our regularly scheduled programs. We've got routine. We've got cadence to our days. So reading is happening. For my kids. For me. For all of us.

10th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices

As of last May, my first year of teaching high school is done. Only 19 more to go! (If you count the years I'll spend with each individual child. Twelve, if you count the overlap.)

Fortunately, homeschooling ninth grade was not the dumpster fire everyone had forewarned me about. It was actually pretty rad, to be honest. (Yep. I just used the word "rad". I'm a child of the 80s and have decided that since Target had the audacity to bring back the stone washed, button-fly jeans, "rad" can officially make its resurgence too.)

Sadly, the woebegone narrative about life-with-teenagers is too easy to grab at and hold onto. So many moms jump ship on homeschooling after 8th-grade for fear that geometry and participial phrases will be the final wave that pulls them under. I can't blame them for their very visceral fear of geometry. It takes a special kind of crazy to find joy in teaching angles and proofs, in my humble opinion anyway. (Fortunately for me, I have a secret sauce for teaching big math.)