Fall Homeschooling Struggles

Are you having struggles?? Have you just begun your school year but maybe feel like you really haven’t started yet? Are you thinking, am I ever going to get this to work?

We all struggle with those questions. Let me discuss with you how I made it through these struggles.

Examine my own life

First, it was very important that I examined my own life. Did I talk to God regularly? Did I listen to or read what He had to tell me? One of the struggles we had was when we sat down to pray at meals and in school opening time. My children prayed at the meals when dad wasn’t home. Sometimes they tended to bicker about who got to pray. I finally decided to make a schedule for who prayed on which days. When I presented the schedule, I proceeded to tell them that they could all pray all the time and that they needed to remember that even though one was praying aloud, the others could talk to God silently. This seemed to work really well and we used the schedule in school opening time as well.

“Children learn by example.” How many times have we heard that?

That really hit home one day when my second oldest child, who was about 5­ years­ old at the time, came to me and said, “Mommy, why don’t you ever pray?” Ooh me! What a thought! I told him that I do pray.

He said, “But I never hear you pray.” Out of the mouth of babes! That really spoke to me. So I took time to regularly pray aloud with my children. If I don’t put prayer up front in my homeschooling, I don’t think anything anyone suggests can help me with the struggles.

Teach to learn the lesson, not to get to the next lesson

Second, when you are teaching your children, remember to simply teach to learn the lesson, not to get to the next lesson. Sometimes it may take a day or two to get through one lesson and that is okay. Don’t worry about that next lesson. Just take one day at a time.

Many of us struggle with patience with ourselves and our family members. We need a lot of patience. My husband reminded me every year that it takes at least two to three weeks to get accustomed to a routine. At the beginning of the new school year, I tried to take two weeks to do only the routine. NO EXTRAS. Extras might be babysitting for a best friend, going to an activity with others, or appointments that could actually wait till the routine was established.

I tried to do only the things that were necessary in those two weeks and patiently awaited the end of those two weeks. I only adjusted the schedule to work better when I had to. It was such a surprise and releif  after the two weeks when things started to smooth out. Then I set my routine up on paper so that the ones who were reading could look at it and maintain the routine. The children then knew what was expected. After the routine was figured out, I could interrupt it once in a while for those extra things that I needed or wanted to do.

Remember! I can do this

Finally, remember Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Keep Him at the forefront of your plans, expectations, and struggles and things will go much smoother. He loves you and wants to invest in your school day.

Check out this Great 5 minute a day devotional my friend wrote.

Eujeana Chism Homeschooling Mom 20+ Years