How to Stop Curriculum Hopping: The Secrets to Loving the Homeschool Curriculum You Already Have

Encouragement / Homeschool
how to stop changing homeschool curriculums

Inside: Do you find yourself changing homeschool curriculums every year, or even more frequently? Learn how to break the habit and to be content with the homeschool curriculum you already have. 

Over the past week I’ve jumped into a few Facebook groups for homeschool moms to ask my own homeschool curriculum questions. I couldn’t help but stay a while and look through the different threads. As a homeschool blogger, I particularly enjoy reading posts recommending new curriculums I’ve heard of, but never used personally.

As I scrolled through the comments after each curriculum recommendation, this statement kept popping up over and over again: “I switched to this homeschool curriculum…I don’t really know why though because we liked the one we were using before.”

Once? I wouldn’t have given it a second glance. But multiple occurrences of the same statement got my wheels turning.

Why are homeschool moms changing homeschool curriculums so frequently, even when nothing is wrong with what they currently have?

And an even better question: why can’t they stop?

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24 Benefits of Homeschooling Your Kids (from a reluctant homeschooler)

Encouragement / Homeschool / Relaxed Homeschooling

Inside: Save these 24 benefits of homeschooling your kids, for the days when you wonder is homeschooling is really the best choice.

I put up this sign the other day, words from an Etsy sign I love, and hope to be able to buy one day. For now, my letter board will have to do.

“You were born to blaze new trails, pioneer great adventures…”

My husband noticed the sign and chuckled. Defensively, I asked him why he was laughing. I loved those inspirational words!

He remarked, “Well, you’re not really a trailblazer. You prefer the beaten path. You love the beaten path, actually. Do you know how hard it is to blaze a new trail? To make a trail where there has never been one before?”

He’s right you know, about the beaten path, which is probably why I wonder so frequently whether homeschooling is really the bestchoice.

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When Finding Your Homeschool Style Takes Forever

Encouragement / Homeschool
your homeschool style

Inside: Homeschool styles can take a while to sift through and figure out. Keep trying until you find the best one for you!

When you first start homeschooling, no one tells you that it might take a while to find your homeschool style.

(Homeschool styles? What the heck does that even mean?!)

You jump in eagerly with both feet – or with lots of fear and trembling, depending on your personality – never doubting that you’ll use every single resource you carefully selected…and forked over hundreds of hard-earned dollars for.

Can’t stop thinking about those dollars.

And then it happens. The novelty wears off. Two months later, it’s not working.

It’s not working, and you and your kids just might hate homeschooling.

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For the Mom Who Wants to Quit Homeschooling

Encouragement / Homeschool
homeschool mom who wants to quit

It starts when you drive by a school randomly one day, and it all comes flooding back to you: the smell of fresh pencils and crayons, the joy of a new backpack, and fond memories of a new school year.

School couldn’t have been that bad, right? Not if I loved it so much?

Then your best friend mentions her older kids start school next week. She will only have her two-year-old at home…five blessed, quiet days a week.

Gosh, that sounds wonderful. You quickly wipe the wistful look off your face and try to remind yourself of all the school things you were jumping up and down to miss out on: the homework, the paperwork, carpooling, drop-off and pick-up, volunteering, catering to someone else’s schedule, the guilt when you drop your kids off late (again).

But it’s just not doing the trick.

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10 More Books Every Homeschool Mom Should Read

Book Lists / Encouragement / Homeschool
books homeschool moms should read

Parenthood has pretty much killed any desire I had to read fiction. Perhaps it’s the limited amount of time I have with four kids, or the fact that I read-aloud so much fiction to the kids every day. Either way, the only books that hold my attention these days are non-fiction books directly related to homeschooling, parenting, or finances.

I love studying different educational philosophies and approaches to homeschooling because even three years in, I don’t feel like my homeschool approach is set in stone yet. I am probably considered an “eclectic homeschooler” – whatever gets the job done and helps my kids to LOVE learning.  These ten books (in addition to my all-time favorite homeschooling book that I read five times last year) have played a crucial role in how I view traditional school, homeschool, and education in general.

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