My youngest two students started their 9th and 11th grade school years today.
I'm four years away from being finished with homeschooling (unless I get to homeschool my grandchildren) and there are a few things I've learned over 26 years of homeschooling.
- Start with a vision. For our family that was largely centered around our desire to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Because we had a vision it made it easy for us to prioritize what mattered to us, things like prayer, travel, and time in nature. (The Peaceful Life workshop can help you create a family vision)
- Simplify. Having a homeschool vision meant I could be more strategic about what subjects and extracurricular activities we added. The Peaceful Press was born out of years of simplification and prioritizing what really mattered- close family connection, life-giving stories, and projects that sparked joy and learning,
- Be consistent about basics. Every day in the Peaceful Press we spend some time reading and writing, and we also recommend doing some math every day. Being well educated doesn't require hours of schoolwork each day, or stacks of workbooks, but it does require consistent basic skill building.
- Pursue personal interests. Your children will value learning when they see it modeled by you, so follow those sparks for yourself and your children. Try a new hobby, research gardening, or non-toxic homes, or whatever is interesting to you, and invite your children into the process.
- Get emotionally healthy. Most of the problems in my own family were the result of childhood trauma that my husband and I experienced. Getting healthy emotionally requires a balance of physical health, good habits, and good counsel and can result in a more peaceful home for your children. My book, Mothering by the Book can help you work through some of this, but send me a message if you want more recommendations.
- Spread a beautiful feast. When you know your family vision, and you've eliminated busy work, you can spread a feast of knowledge that supports your goals. For our family, the books we've read through the Peaceful Press resources have shaped a hopeful worldview, and the projects we have done have sparked new research. When you spread a beautiful feast, learning is the natural outcome of that, and you don't have to worry about falling behind with the Peaceful Press. Just look at this message that came through from Ashley Vosper in our Facebook group-
"To the moms who wonder, am I doing enough?
My kids are in 1st and 3rd grade this year but we participated in State Testing at the end of last year. We’ve done Peaceful press curriculum plus….math and language arts for the last 2 years. School 3-4 days per week, 2-2.5 hrs a day MAX. Plus some elective classes that they go two once a week.
BOTH kids tested in the 90-99% percentile for every subject. Math and reading both above grade level. But my daughter tested at 5th grade for history and 6th for science. All we’ve done for those is Peaceful Press."
YOU ARE DOING ENOUGH!
So grab our life-giving homeschool curriculum and enjoy more connection and deeper learning this year.