Encouragement for Homeschool Parents

The following is a post from contributing writer Tiffany Manley.

I started to call this Mid-Year Encouragement for Homeschool Parents, but I stopped.  Homeschoolers need encouragement at different times of the year, for different reasons.

Sometimes you might need encouragement because the curricula you’ve chosen isn’t working out.

Sometimes you might need encouragement because you have fallen behind where you’d like to be.

And there are any number of other reasons.

The good news is: we’ve all been there.  At some point, every homeschool parent is feeling the exact thing you are.

The even better news is: some people write about it.

So, my fellow homeschool parents, below are a few posts that I’ve found to be very helpful in helping you get past that point.

Surviving Mid-Year Homeschool Burnout – While the focus of this post is on mid-year burnout, the information presented would be helpful at any point in your homeschool year.  It even links to a video.  You can’t go wrong with a video.

Beating the Mid-Year Slump – There is some phenomenal advice in this article.  I like that it’s both practical, and touches on your thoughts and emotions.

Encouragement/Scheduling on Pinterest – Ah yes, our beloved Pinterest.  There are a ton of great posts on this board.  Something to remember:  your discouragement could be coming from something that isn’t working.  Scheduling.  Chores.  Anything.  Quite a few of these posts touch on these outlying issues that are the root of our discouragement.

Changing Curriculum Mid-Year:  Knowing When It’s Time - Simple Homeschool.  Another homeschool pleasure.  I absolutely love this article.  Perhaps it’s because I’m a curriculum junkie.  Perhaps it’s because we’ve spent the past four years working to find what works for us.  No matter, this post provides a set of fantastic questions to ask yourself before jumping ship.

A Mid-Year Tuneup for Your Homeschool – This article encourages you to do a few things over winter break to help you come back refreshed.  Know what?  It doesn’t matter if winter break is over, I think you should still sit down and do this tuneup!

What about you? Do you have some fantastic wisdom to share?

Be sure to let us know how you deal with homeschool discouragement in the comments below!

Tiffany is a homeschooling work-at-home mom who likes to bake, watch TV, and be an all-around awesomesauce person.  She blogs at Sweet Phenomena and helps new homeschoolers with her eBook, “So, You Think You Wanna Homeschool?”.

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