How to Start Homeschooling Right Each Year

Whether I homeschooled for years or getting started my first year, I wanted to start each year right. I wanted to get off on the right foot. So, our first post is how to start homeschooling right this year. Just to let you know, this series is based on what YOU say is your biggest challenge.

I’m not going to tell you which curriculum to use.
I’m not going to tell you which approach to use, Charlotte Mason or Classical or Unit Studies or something else.
I’m not going to tell you how to organize your day.

From my own experience, I encourage you is to relax and rest.

I know that’s probably not what you expected me to say, but it is the best place to start each and every homeschool year. Why? There is way too much busyness and comparison out there in the real world.

Take a look at social media. Everyone posts the “perfect” meal, the “perfect” family, the “perfect” homeschool activity. No one posts the argument they had right before taking that “perfect” photo.

As moms, we compare ourselves to other people’s highlight reels. On Facebook and Instagram, you only see their best. When’s the last time you saw a homeschool blogger post a selfie when they first got up, with bed head hair and no make-up? Never!

As you prepare for your next (or first) homeschool year, take a deep breath and relax. Don’t worry what other homeschool moms are doing. Don’t worry what the public or private schools are doing. Don’t worry about what your in-laws will think. Relax and go to God.

As you go to God, rest in Him.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Psalm 37:7

God made you unique. He also made your family and children unique. He has something special for your homeschool. Before you ask all your girlfriends or spend countless hours online looking for the perfect curriculum, go to God. He has all the answers.

Be still and know that I am God.  Psalm 46:10

If you’re like me, you’ll say … I trust fully in God for everything. But do you really? I had to learn this lesson the hard way.

It was the third time in less than two weeks I was in the hospital with family members. My daughter had surgery on a Friday. Four days later, my dad was ambulanced two hours away to Austin. He had a stint put in the next day and an aorta valve replacement the following week. Back home, I had a group who had hurt me deeply; I was wrestling emotionally with that.

On the morning of my Dad’s second surgery, I was downstairs in the Ronald McDonald house across from the hospital. Surgery didn’t start until noon, so I had plenty of time to do my Bible study. And what a Bible study session it was for me.

We were studying Stuck, by Jennie Allen, which looks at places we get stuck spiritually. My first question that day was, “What is most valuable to you?” I wrote down the following:

1. A good marriage
2. A good relationship with my adult kids
3. To be heard (by a church group who had hurt me deeply)
4. To be emotionally healed

What would you write down as most valuable to you right now? Would it be your kids? Your homeschool? Your marriage? Your family? Be honest with yourself because this will determine how you get started with homeschooling.

The next question was, “Are you willing to give up your right to what’s valuable to you?”.

Ouch!

Was I really willing to give up my right to those things? I took time wrestling with God and wrote:

1. I give up my right to a good marriage.
2. I give up my right to a good relationship with my adult kids.
3. I give up my right to be heard.
4. I give up my right to be healed emotionally.

That’s not easy! Even though some of “my valuables” have not come to pass, God is taking very good care of me.

Are you willing to give up your right to what’s most valuable and let God be totally in control? Letting Him be completely in control of your marriage, your kids, your homeschool?

Is God really enough for you?
Or do you need to be in control, just a little bit?

That’s what I wrestled with in that McDonald house. That’s what you need to wrestle with as you start homeschooling each year. Are you willing to give up control of your homeschool and rest in the Lord?

Before I close, I strongly encourage you to honestly answer those two questions. It will show where your heart really is. Then, rest in Him because He really is enough!

He is enough for you!
He is enough for your kids!
He is enough for your homeschool!

Finally, come back here over the next few days and you’ll discover how to encourage a love of learning in your kids, how to manage your time, how to balance your schedule, what to do with teenagers, and how to overcome overwhelm. But let’s start today with resting in our Lord.

Remember, to fill out the box on the right, at the top and I’ll send you an email each time I post another idea on how to start homeschooling each year. If you have a specific concern about homeschooling, please leave a comment below. If I don’t cover it this week, I hope to cover it next month.

To help you get organized, I have a 3-part video course, called How to Simplify Your Homeschool. Although I could charge for this course, I’m giving it to you completely free. Just enter your name & email below.

Part 2: Homeschool for the Love of Learning
Part 3: Homeschooling High School is NOT that Scary
Part 4: How to Organize Recipes as a Homeschool Mom

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