5 Steps Every Homeschool Mom Should Follow To Plan A Successful School Year

Coaching, Motherhood

Every year, the dreaded planning season comes around for a homeschool mom. What also comes with this is a steaming pile of stress!

“Will I teach them well?”
“What if I fall behind? “
“Will the curriculum be as good as so-and-so said it is?”

This time of year is full of overwhelm. Many homeschool moms often worry about educating their kids well, whether they had good grades in school or not.

Now you’re staring at your calendar, planner, and curriculum with a pit in your stomach completely consuming you. The task of creating a successful school year looms and the fear won’t subside.

What if I fail again?

Now, you can do what you did last year, and the year before that, and over-schedule and plan your days down to the minute, then sit back with your fingers crossed and pray it works this time. But the problem is this, you KNOW it won’t work. This is why the feelings are so intense you are consciously setting yourself up to fail. You know how this turns out but you don’t know what else to do.

If this sounds like you, keep reading. It doesn’t have to stay that way.

I’ve seen client after client tell me this exact story not just with homeschooling, but with workouts, meal prepping, or any other ambition they have. I’m even guilty of falling into the same pattern. You and I both know these feelings of guilt, failure, and inadequacy all too well.

How do I do it differently this year? How can this be successful?

You can’t make the perfect sourdough loaf without trying a few different recipes. In this article, I’m going to show you exactly how to make the necessary mindset shifts to achieve your ideal “homeschool recipe” in 5 easy steps.

Step #1: Reset Expectations

I talk a lot about how to reset expectations in my article “3 Essential Steps For Finally Getting Organized”. This is a necessary skill that not many of us are taught.

I went on the Weekly Fellowship Podcast and talked about how resetting my expectations quite literally changed the way I thought about my life.

By resetting expectations, you are allowing yourself to create the foundation you need to be successful in any endeavor. You are no longer being controlled by the narrative of society, but you’re allowing God to help you design your life and the outcome you want to have. A homeschool mom isn’t called to follow a plan or design, they are called to create them.

Step #2: You’re Not A Failure, You’re Learning.

The biggest fruit of resetting expectations is to truly understand that you are NOT failing, you’re learning. This shift doesn’t happen on its own, but it comes from within you.

After you create your new set of expectations, you have to hold yourself accountable for following through, but you also are allowed and highly encouraged to identify what isn’t working and change it accordingly.

For many a homeschool mom, it is unreasonable to expect your house to be clean all the time. But you can set standards to have it picked up at a certain time of the day. Our children are so important to develop, and in the middle of homeschooling, it can look a little crazy around the house with schoolwork everywhere and toys on the floor. This is how it is supposed to look. But, for everyone’s sanity, it’s also supposed to look organized when they’re done for the day. This is why setting standards of putting things away at a certain time should only be set by the people in your home using said things.

Step #3: Learn To Dance Around Your Schedule

It is so important to keep a schedule because it keeps you moving forward. Without an idea of where we want to go in life, we would simply go in circles. A schedule helps you plan your day to keep a forward momentum. This is essential in homeschooling.

However, life is unpredictable, and rather than trying to control it, we have to accept that we will need to learn how to bend to its will. How do we do this effectively, and without losing our minds?

Skilling Up: Pivoting

Pivoting is a skill that enables us to change our direction and get around an object in our way. If you’re trying to homeschool, but your youngest becomes fussy and is a distraction to your other children, this is when you would attempt pivoting.

Maybe you take the child to another room and play with her while the kids concentrate. If you need to be near them, perhaps you try to adjust the baby’s nap so you can be present, or you can even strategize the use of some screen time to keep the little one occupied. I don’t know what is right for you, but I do know that it is important to keep looking for the right fit, and eventually when that stops working, change it up again too.

The art of pivoting is a perpetual practice, and mastering this skill brings peace to your schedule whether you follow it that day or not.

Step #4: Accept Help

Every homeschool mom needs support, so we seek it from a trusted source. Sometimes, the people closest to us have the best of intentions but can’t deliver the support you need.

Maybe your husband has all of these bright ideas, but he isn’t home to implement them during the day and he has no idea why they wouldn’t work. Or, your good friend who is also a homeschool mom has children with different temperaments and suggests a way of doing things that don’t align with your family. It can be hard not to take the advice of these people, or even just take part of it.

This is why I recommend a coach to walk you through this.

A coach isn’t part of your day-to-day life, but they do have a wide variety of experience and education under their belt. I’m writing this article because this is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that I help a woman create a homeschooling schedule. I’ve seen, done, and tried many things, and having an unbiased party is how you can seal the deal with a breakthrough.

If you are a homeschool mom who needs this support, see the end of this article to schedule a free strategy session with me.

Step #5: Find Evidence

No matter how you choose to tackle your schedule, you won’t stick with it unless you find evidence that what you are doing is worth it.

So many women get tired and give up trying to be a homeschool mom.

“I’ll just send my kids to public school, everything will be fine. Even though this is NOT what I wanted.”

When you reach this point, what is it that is going to help anchor you back down to pivoting and making it work?

What life skills are they getting from you at home that they can’t get anywhere else?

Why does it have to be done one way every year? It doesn’t. Re-evaluate each semester if needed, but make sure whatever decision you make isn’t because of lack of support, but rather what it is that your family is called to this season.

Click here to schedule a complimentary strategy session and I will help you get a jumpstart on these mental shifts so you can design your fulfilling school year.

Until next time,

Audye

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CEO and Coach

I coach men and women to trust themselves again after surviving trauma, abuse, and survival mode.

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