How To Upgrade Your Homeschool Style

Hey, homeschoolers! Are you happy with your homeschool style or approach to education, or could it use an upgrade? In this episode, I’m going to share why we should up our homeschool style and three simple ways to do it.

What is Homeschool Style?

Although I’m not talking about your wardrobe, I will be using fashion as a metaphor. Homeschool style is the educational philosophy that guides the way you teach. Unit studies is the homeschool style I used at the beginning of our homeschooling journey with 5 in a Row and then Konos. Because subjects are related in the real world, I felt it made sense to study all aspects of a topic. We studied kings and queens with music, art, drama, literature, and even food. I’ll never forget eating a meal off a trencher or plate made from bread. We had a blast learning with unit studies.

But as my older kids started high school, the unit study style wasn’t working as well. I could have chosen from many popular styles to improve our homeschool: textbook, online, hybrid, Charlotte Mason, classical, unschooling, or eclectic.

You might wonder how important homeschool style is if you’re a newer homeschooler. That’s a fair question. Referring to the fashion metaphor, I’ve interviewed two fashion stylists for the podcast. Both women shared that while style isn’t the most important thing in life, it is important. When you are comfortable and confident in your clothing, you are happier. When you’re happier, your relationships improve, and you have more success.

Homeschool style is similar. If you are happy to start a day of school using the approach you’ve chosen, everything homeschool will be so much easier. Your kids will be happier; you’ll spend less money; and you’ll get more done.

If that sounds good to you, I have three steps that will help you up your homeschool style.

Sponsor

First, I want to thank NOW Programs for sponsoring the podcast.

3 Steps for Improving Your Homeschool Style

The first step in improving your homeschool style is an edit. Like a pair of pants with a snug waistband, your educational materials that don’t fit stay in the closet. Same with high heels when most of your time is spent at home or at kids’ sports practices.

If we were going to upgrade your wardrobe, we would have you look at the unworn pieces in your closet. We will do the same with your homeschool style. Make a list of curriculum you don’t or quit using or activities you skipped or dread. With a closet edit, I make a list on my phone of clothing I should not buy in the future: ribbed sweaters, colored boots. Some things that ended up on my don’t-buy list for homeschooling were: Latin, foreign language curricula, and lab-heavy curricula. When it came to these things, it didn’t matter if my friends or online influencers were loving them–like chunky boots they were going to gather dust in my closet.

Doing a homeschool style edit can save you time and money. You won’t buy books or sign up for extracurriculars you won’t use and enjoy.

When you’re decluttering clothes, you can choose to give them away or sell them. You have the same options when it comes to physical curriculum. There are local and online sales outlets to consider. Just a note that most digital curriculum is copyrighted and cannot be resold.

Sometimes you have to make the difficult decision to stop participating in activities. I’ve been there. This is really tough when other families are involved. You may have to stick things out for a semester or a year. But at least you’ll know a change is coming.

After doing an edit, the second step in upgrading your homeschool style is to choose guide words. A popular strategy for determining a personal style for fashion is to choose three words that characterize how you want to look. My current words are classy, chic, and striking. I get to define what those words mean for me. Some trends don’t feel chic to me, even if others think they are. My words help me eliminate outfits just like my edit list does. I tried on a pair of tall, chunky boots that are on trend and felt anything but classy. They were a no.

Looking back at my early homeschool years, I would say my guidewords were stories, fun, and faith. I wanted our learning to be grounded in good books; memorable, active activities; and a biblical worldview. Those guide words helped me make choices about curriculum, extracurriculars, and our schedule. Of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to three words, but three words are easier to remember. I think choosing guidewords can be a family focus. We can ask our kids what words best describe their ideal homeschool. I think my kids would have chosen the words I use as the tag line for Fun to Learn Books: fast, easy, fun.

When it comes to determining our fashion style, women are usually encouraged to make a vision board. Collecting photos or pinning them on Pinterest can help us identify the common features we are most drawn to. When I did this originally, I found myself frequently pinning outfits with camel-colored belts. Buying a camel belt was an easy way to improve my style.

With homeschooling, we can save photos of homeschool approaches we see online that we’re drawn to. We can save the tea-party pictures, the gardening pics, or the experiment videos because they look just like what we want in our homeschool. Save them and then go back later and ask yourself what commonalities you see. Are there lots of nature photos? You might want to incorporate more nature study into your approach. Are you inspired by kids starting their own businesses? You might want to incorporate more unschooling into your style. Do you have pictures of parents and kids learning together? You may be more motivated if you’re taking the writing class or the cake decorating class with your child. Make a list of what you’d like to incorporate into your homeschool approach going forward.

After you’ve edited and gotten clear on what you’d like to incorporate into your homeschool style, it’s time to do what guest Jennifer Mackey Mary says: try it on. There’s nothing like giving a wardrobe piece a trial run and taking pictures of yourself in it. I love high-necked or spaghetti-strap tanks on other women. On me, not so much. Actually, not at all. The spaghetti-strap tops are not only unflattering but they’re not comfortable because I have to wear a strapless bra and feel it sliding down my torso the whole time.

What does this have to do with your homeschooling style? In the same way that I had this idealistic vision of me wearing a spaghetti-strap top, we tend to do this with homeschool approaches. Let’s use full-time RV homeschooling as an example. In my mind, I blissfully travel from one incredible location to another where we hike and learn all about the flora and fauna of the whole United States. And so little cleaning to do. Low stress with minimal belongings. This is what I was thinking when I told my teen daughter that I knew someone who was going to RV full time as a homeschooler. I asked, “What would you think of that?” She said, “I think it would be horrible!” “Yeah. You’re right,” I said, laughing. Now I am not saying that it would be horrible for everyone, just like spaghetti-strap tops aren’t. But the day-to-day reality of full-time RV schooling is not what I want. Fortunately, I don’t have to try it to know that.

But sometimes we do have to try it. Ask your friend to take your family through a day of Charlotte Mason homeschooling. See if you can shadow at Classical Conversations. Borrow curriculum. Plan an unschooling week. When you find something that isn’t comfortable, ask yourself how you can tweak it. I have a camisole with a built-in bra that isn’t bad.

As homeschoolers, we get to modify approaches to customize them to us and our kids. What a blessing that is! An eclectic approach as my kids entered high school was perfect for us. We used aspects of many different styles.

Most wardrobe upgrades don’t involve replacing all of a woman’s clothes. Homeschool style upgrades can also occur with some small changes. Wardrobe upgrades are also not one and done. I upgrade my clothing style quarterly. I am a member of Jennifer Mackey Mary’s Style Circle. I upgraded my homeschool approach twice a year–in January and in the summer.

Trying on new-to-me styles typically has me excited and getting compliments. My matching scuba-knit athleisure sets from Amazon are getting me the most compliments lately. I felt the same way when I tried on a new homeschool style. I was refreshed when I moved from a unit-study approach to history to using The Mystery of History. I found my kids were newly motivated by new styles too. That doesn’t mean you have to change everything. Some materials were like closet basics for us that we didn’t change–like Apologia Science. Ask yourself what your homeschool basics are and what you new materials or activities you could add this season.

Conclusion

Improving your homeschool style starts with an edit. You admit what you’re not using or loving. Next you choose your style guide words. What words define your homeschool. I would love to hear what you choose. Let me know on your favorite social media platform. Begin using your guide words to make choices for curriculum or activities. Finally, try it on. Try some new things on a regular basis that complement the homeschool basics you love.

Thanks again to NOW Programs for sponsoring the podcast. Have a happy homeschool week!