I was pondering some of the most important reasons our homeschool continues to be successful. It isn’t the style of learning, the curriculum I use, or even a perfectly planned out schedule which has the biggest impact. Do you want to know how to have a successful homeschool? Today, I am sharing my secrets to our homeschool success! I don’t want to keep them as secrets. I pray you will find them practical and helpful in your own family as well.
Since homeschooling requires commitment, I am writing these out as if I am pledging to focus on these areas in order to maintain success.
1. Saturate my mind and heart with the Word. I will start each day in the Bible and pray for my kids. I believe it is important to spend time studying the Bible before the kids rise as well as reading it again with them before we begin our academic learning. As we delight ourselves in the Lord, our attitudes and desires will begin to line up with God’s desires. It also changes the way we view our work throughout the day. This includes schoolwork, chores, service projects, and more. All work is a blessing, not a chore to be dreaded. {Psalm 37:4}
2. Prioritize discipleship. This is the “why” behind our homeschool, but it can be easy to forget or neglect this in the middle of a hectic week. I will teach them about God and share the gospel through words and actions. If there is a character or heart issue that needs addressed, we will choose to focus on that over book learning. I am called to go and make disciples, and that begins right in my own home. {Deuteronomy 6:5-7}
3. Make Jesus attractive. If I go about my days without the fruit of the Spirit, I am being a hypocrite and not portraying the beauty of God’s love and grace. I will lean into Him for the ability to show my children the evidence of my relationship with Christ. I will choose joy. I will be patient. And when I mess up, I will model how to ask for forgiveness as well. Not only do I want to talk about God, but I want them to experience Him as well. {Galatians 5:22-25}
4. Practice life-skills. Woven throughout each day is the opportunity to teach valuable life-skills if I allow it. On days when I would rather shoo the kiddos away while I get work done, I must remember that this type of learning and interaction will create productive adults. I will be careful to include them in all areas of my daily routine. I will model and teach important skills. As my kids are getting older, I am noticing the fruit of training them while they are young! There are many parts of academics that will go unused or forgotten once they become adults, but life-skills will remain an integral part of their grown-up lives.
5. Make a short to-do list. I will not accomplish everything I want in a single day. In attempting to cram too many extras into one day, I will actually neglect important tasks. I am slowly learning to create a short list of things I need to do outside of the usual school and housework activities. Lately, I have been making weekly lists instead of daily ones. This offers me flexibility for when I complete tasks, yet gives me attainable goals.
6. Spend quality time with kids outside of homeschool hours. As a stay at home mom who is with my kids all day, I can truly say it is a blessing. But there are also days when it is easy to feel like the end of “school” equals the end of the kids needing me for the day. I must be attentive to what they want to show me, play games with them, read books aloud, or just talk about what interests them. I will make sure not to “clock out” after their academic learning is finished. Honestly, kids are constantly learning whether they are doing formal schoolwork or playing! We will do fun things often and I will focus on being mom as much as I am teacher. The relationship I have with each child will be stronger if I am present both physically and mentally throughout the day. Pursuing this bond with my children will have a positive affect on our homeschool time as well.
7. Remember that kids all learn at different speeds. I find it necessary to remind myself that education isn’t a race. It is a process and a journey. I will resist the temptation to compare. This may mean comparing with siblings or other students outside of our home. I may also need to reject some of the so called “standards” of the education world. Each child is unique! Just because one child meets a milestone earlier or later than another doesn’t mean one has succeeded and the other has failed. On the contrary, I can choose to take joy in watching them gain understanding instead of being impatient with slow progress.
8. Keep learning fun! I am quite enjoying the elementary age since it allows us to do plenty of hands on learning and fun activities which solidify what kids are trying to comprehend! The joy of learning is important in our homeschool. More than a list of subjects to check off a list, we should be able to make this exciting! It doesn’t mean my child will like every single thing I ask him to do, but when curiosity is piqued, learning comes alive. I will maintain a rhythm of expectations in our homeschool while being flexible to rabbit trails or current interests!
9. Don’t allow a know-it-all attitude. I will model an attitude of humility and require it of my kids as well. None of us are above learning something new. When a child claims to already know something, I ask them to prove it. Sometimes they can and we move on to more difficult concepts. If they cannot then we have a conversation about being humble and I explain the goal of school once again. It isn’t to prove we already know it all, but to engage in the process of learning more deeply. If they ask me a question to which I don’t know the answer, I will not pretend to know, but will dig deep with them to discover something new. Being teachable is a valuable skill which will aid them throughout their entire lives!
10. Aim to encourage more than I discourage. Yes, it is important to point out where improvements could be made, but I will not neglect to excitedly express when I see growth or a concept grasped! This is true for book learning and character traits. I will choose to be their biggest cheerleader instead of their worst critic. {Ephesians 4:29}
Seek the Lord for how He wants you to go about your days as a homeschooling family. It won’t always be easy, but there are ways to make life more Christ-centered which in turn will cause it to be God-glorifying. And that is the true measure of success!
