Since starting to homeschool last year, I’ve discovered that I’m really good at modeling a few things for my kids.
Like the time when I ran over a cone at the gas station and had the elderly lady across from me roaring in laughter and pointing her finger at me as she retold the story to her husband. “See? I do embarrassing things too, and isn’t it great that we can laugh about it while giving others a good smile for the day?”
Or the time when I coasted onto the rollerskating rink with them, feet staying still and the wall my only momentum as I meticulously made my way around, praying I didn’t fall on the concrete. “See? I don’t know how to do everything, but I’ll try almost any new adventure once… in my own way. Hey! Don’t judge me for taking half an hour to circle the rink!” (They better never ask me to go skydiving because HARD PASS.)
Or the time I got caught sneaking a handful of chocolate chips after an especially draining day. “See? Sometimes we all want to indulge, but the key is to do it in moderation.” (Little did they know that was my third handful, but like I said, it had been an especially draining day. Tell me I’m not alone).
But this modeling doesn’t always have to be silly, like:
The fun of working to decorate for new seasons…
The challenge of losing something and having to search for it…
The joy of attempting something new, like I’m doing now with my new local newsletter for Southeast Arizona families, Trail Mix (which my kids excitedly promote for me now!)…
And, of course, the importance of shifting gears when things aren’t quite going according to plan, like we did this year when the daily frustration was setting in and the joy of learning was starting to slip through our fingers.
The beauty of homeschool is that we get to watch for signals that our plan wasn’t what we’d hoped it would be, and adjust course.
One day in particular was hard. There were tears. There were gritted teeth. There was scratching out of answers instead of gentle erasing. This wasn’t what we signed up for, so of course I panicked, shoved a few more handfuls of chocolate chips in my mouth, and then returned to my why.
We chose homeschooling because we want to raise critical thinkers who love to learn, while simultaneously giving them life adventures they couldn’t have inside the classroom.
But now, we were drifting away from that goal, and I knew we had to get back on course.
Later that day, I began researching how to teach concepts differently, activities we could incorporate to make the learning more engaging, and how to stay composed so I could be the calm to their chaos when I felt anything but calm inside.
(And maybe also lower sugar snacks, so I could break my chocolate chip stuffing habit).
Through the late-night hours spent scrolling, I realized something. I was making this a whole lot harder than it needed to be.
The next day, I announced that we were switching things up a bit to try something new, modeling the importance of recognizing when the engine is feeling a little … spurty … and that it’s okay to shift into a new gear to reach your goal. (Also, modeling that I know nothing about cars and won’t be teaching their mechanic unit in high school).
I broke open their computers and pulled up a new math curriculum. Their eyes widened.
We looked at how the curriculum worked. My boys were excited about how much fun it would be (this curriculum uses a comic book theme, making it visually more appealing to them). I looked at how we were about to shift from the spiral learning we had been using to the mastery learning approach this curriculum used.
We decided to give it a shot, and I’m so glad we did!
I always thought that I should model sticking through hard stuff, and that incorporating a new curriculum would go against that lesson. But after reasoning with myself, I realized something new.
Instead of modeling giving up, we were modeling leaning in.
Leaning in to new learning methods.
Leaning into learning about ourselves and what we needed to thrive.
Leaning in to abandoning the system and embracing our independent style preferences.
There’s a reason there are so many types of curriculum, and it’s not because homeschooling families are indecisive. It’s because every child’s learning style is different.
It’s not your fault if you’re losing steam so early in the school year. It just might be that your child learns differently than you’d expected. It might not be a new curriculum that does the trick of shaking off those cobwebs. It could be a new art project to do alongside the lessons. It could be a field trip. It could even be a small switch-up from the homeschool room to the backyard.
The beauty and JOY of homeschooling is that you get to switch things up when needed to help your kiddos get excited about learning, think critically about the information they’re consuming, and start looking forward to class time again.