I Hate Homeschooling Let Me Tell You Why

The other day I spoke to an old friend and she said, “I hate homeschooling and let me tell you why!” She then dissolved into tears and proceeded to tell me everything that had gone wrong that day. I just patted her back, handed her tissues and listened. Anything I could say would have been met with residence or worse, she would have continued to cry.

“I hate homeschooling, let me tell you why…” 

Her list included misbehaving children, kids who hated doing their school work, feeling like a failure and a spouse who did not back her methods. In fact, he wanted her to change to a strictly classical approach when she loved teaching with unit studies.

The good news? At least, her husband still wanted her to homeschool!

What is your problem? Why is it that at times you may dislike homeschooling…intensely. What about the other times, when homeschooling seems to be working, you feel this is the perfect choice for you and your family? During each of these times do you know the underlying reason why? Often we see things on the surface instead of looking at the causes so we can find a solution.

Here is a simple test to take in order to analyze your homeschool:

1. What can you do to restart your homeschool with a “bang” and not a “bump”
2. What do you dislike about your homeschool methods? (see methods podcast #116)
3. What do you dislike about how your kids are learning?
4. What do you do well? What is working?
5. What makes you happy when it comes to homeschooling?
6. Focus on the positive, how can you use words to encourage and uplift?
7. Incentives for good work and behavior. Pros and Cons.
8. Daily pockets of learning and breaks.
9. Changing your curriculum (see podcast #117 on Vintage Homeschool Moms)
10. Organizing and changes.

I could very easily do a podcast on each one of these ten points – in fact I’ve already done podcasts on points two and nine – see links above… however, if you take a few minutes and really look at this list and answer the questions you’ll find the answers. Maybe it is time to change or regroup. If you are married, ask your spouse to take this test as well – or do it together. You’ll find the answers lie in doing simple things or making small changes a bit at a time. My husband and I did this when we had to tackle some attitude issues with our teens. We joined forces and the issue was over much faster than we had hoped.

Listen to the “Overcoming the Fear of Not Being Good Enough” with Brook Wayne, here.

Have you made changes in your homeschool that have turned it around for you, and your homeschooling methods or curriculum choices? If so – please share some of your ideas.

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