Combatting Mid-Year Discouragement

Homeschooling is wonderful, most of the time. But, let's face it, some days are tough. Some parts of the year are harder than others. Such is the case with the winter days midway through the school year.

  

This is when the mid-year blues start to rear an ugly head. When, sometimes, we homeschooling moms get discouraged and even start to second guess ourselves or our decision to homeschool.

You know the signs of discouragement.  It may look different for each one of us.  For me, there are three tell tale signs... looking longingly at the school down the street, wanting to call it quits when we've only started the day, and a loss of creativity.

What is a discouraged homeschooling mom to do?

Some successful ways I combat the mid-year blues...

• prayer
• have a heart to heart discussion with my husband
• refocus on why we homeschool
• realize the journey won't be perfect nor will it always be fun
• pinpoint the source of my discouragement and make changes to alleviate it
• seek encouragement and advice from other homeschoolers

Maybe you aren't feeling discouragement right now. Then, perhaps, you could encourage another homeschooling mom.

Whether with family and friends, in a formal or informal support group, on a blog, or in social media you can be a source of encouragement.

A few ways to encourage discouraged moms...

• prayer
• honestly sharing your own experiences and struggles
• meeting her for coffee or tea, or a social visit (without the kids)
• offering to help in an area of struggle or discouragement

Discouragement isn't confined to the winter days midway through a school year. No, discouragement rears its ugly head anywhere, anytime for anyone of us.

If you are in a season of discouragement, know that you are not alone. Probably every homeschooling mom has felt it at one point or another.  I have been there. And, today, I want you to know, you can do this homeschooling thing. You are capable, and you will succeed!

If you are not in a season of discouragement, look around you. Is there a mom you can encourage today? Reach out using one of the ideas listed above, or add another way to encourage in the comment section.  Then, we will all benefit from your ideas.

When You're Ready to Give Up....

I am 3 months into "officially" homeschooling Sophie and last week I was ready to quit.

I was sick for a week, we were leaving on vacation, I had NOTHING ready for school...and Sophie refused to sit and work on her letters.

I was at a loss.

At the same time the Homeschool Blogging awards were popping up all over my twitter feed and every link that I clicked on made me feel more and more like a failure.

I went on vacation determined that in January I'd send Sophie to preschool across the street.

I was clearly not made to teach my child.  I couldn't get her sit and practice her letters and she had NO interest in doing anything that was not directly related to paint. None.

Sigh.

On the beach we were sitting playing in the sand and we found some seaweed, some shells, coral and a few pebbles.  We talked about how the waves make the pebbles smooth and the animals that used to live in the shells.  She was enthralled and sat for over an hour drawing in the sand and learning about the beach.

Hmm.....

As I reflected on our first few months, I realized that while I am a planner and like everything in order, she does not.  She had a wonderful doing school when we visited Thomas and learned about trains.  She loved watching the Bob on-site DVD and learning how to build a road.

She learns best when I let her interests lead us....not when I decide that we are going to learn about scarecrows and pumpkins.  She wants to learn about concrete and fish.

For the next few months we are going to be doing interest led schooling {or unschooling} and see how that works for us.  It should be an interesting ride.

But I'm not ready to give up.  Not yet.

When People Don't Understand

"..'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord...."

-Jeremiah 29:11

What do you do when your family members and other people don't understand what you are doing? How do you handle all the questions? How do you handle the criticism?

I don't know if I have all the right answers to these questions. I know that in general it takes people a while to get accustomed to the idea of homeschooling, even those who want to do it. (See Dorie's post yesterday.)

I will share what we have done. My husband and I have talked about homeschooling from the very beginning. We always wanted to do this, even before we had kids. Maybe God put this in our hearts long ago, because He knows everything, and He knows what is to come.

When our children started showing signs of developmental delay, we thought it would be better for them to be around other children; we thought that would help the speech improve, social skills advance, etc. But several incidents caused us to revisit homeschooling, and we decided this was the best thing. Thankfully we had people to encourage us in this endeavor. But that was not the case with everybody.

I encounter questions regularly, from grandparents, doctors, friends, you name it, especially because of the diagnosis of Pervasive Devolopmental Disorder. I explain myself a lot. I tell them things I know about school and how I think it will benefit my children to be homeschooled and how I feel it will not benefit them to be in a classroom setting. I have tried to arm myself with as much knowledge as possible.(My Bachelor's Degree is in Education, but to some people even that is not enough for me to do an adequate job homeschooling my children.)

As for the criticisms, I have tried to battle the same way, with knowledge. I have armed myself with research, and education, and information about how children learn. Do you know what I have learned? People have to come to their own realizations about this. People have been so conditioned to see public school as being the perfect setting for children. It may not be right,that perspective, but it is just so.

It all comes down to this. What is best for your child? What is God leading you to do for your family?

If you are struggling with this decision, let me arm you with a little knowledge. There are many successful people in history that were homeschooled and you just might recognize a few of their names: Leonardo DaVinci, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Thomas Edison, Louisa May Alcott, Alexander Graham Bell, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Albert Einstein. Contemporary examples of homeschoolers include The Jonas Brothers and Venus and Serena Williams.

At some point, I am going to stop explaining and let people see the fruit. I have tried to be kind but after a while questions and criticism can wear on you. That is when I revisit why we are doing what we are doing. We have to do what is right in our own hearts for our own family, and what we believe is God's plan for our children.

What productive ways do you deal with encounters with people who don't understand?

~Beth