6 Lessons From Our 1st Year of Homeschool

It’s hard to believe that we’re nearing the final month of our first year as a homeschooling family. As I sit and cut out dozens of little mice pieces to go along with the retelling of this week’s story, I’m reminded that reflection upon any season of life is a healthy way to process and proceed forward. 

Reflection allows me to see the growth that has happened, how we overcame challenges, what areas we were successful in, and serves as a starting point for considering how next year will look. 

And what a year it’s been! Let me first begin by saying that homeschooling my kids wasn’t always how I thought I’d spend this season of life. When my daughter was 3 years old I took her to visit an open house at a local preschool. After returning home, she informed me that although she enjoyed playing with all the dolls, she wanted me to be her teacher at home. 

This was a shock, and I’m pretty sure I laughed out loud. Honestly, I had never considered homeschooling my kids. I had just resigned from my full-time teaching position the year before and the thought of homeschooling my own kids was not on my radar. At all. 

Over the next few years, with a lot of thought and prayer, we decided to go forth with homeschooling for her Pre-K year (as a trial run before the elementary years officially began). And I’m so glad we did. 

In this post, I want to share with you my 6 biggest takeaways from our first year of homeschooling. I wish I could have read this post before I dove in head first at the start of the year, but hope that it’s an encouragement for any other Mama who needs it! 

My 6 biggest takeaways

1. Relationships take priority.

I obviously love and adore my children— what Mama doesn’t. But as a previous first grade teacher, I had to remind myself time and time again that my sole job is to nurture an environment of affection and kindness, while teaching them key academic skills alongside. 

The time I got to spend with my kids each day this year– teaching them, playing with them, learning alongside them, can never be replaced. I grew to learn so much about their developing personalities. They grew to have a deeper appreciation for each other as playmates and learning buddies. We all grew to recognize each other’s strengths and weaknesses both inside our “classroom” and outside as we experienced life together. 

It’s a time commitment and I’ve had to make sacrifices, but our relationship is a priority and I never want to regret being too focused on the academic side of homeschooling that I neglect to have fun and love my kids.

2. Set off on the right routine.

If you’ve been following us here on This Evergreen Home, you probably know that the simple power that routines can have each day allows for a greater sense of productivity, predictability, and overall enjoyment of a season. Our homeschooling routine is no different. Schooling my kids in their most comfortable environment can be challenging, but if they know what to expect each day, they’re more able to stay focused. Not to mention the amount of times they ask what we’re doing next! 

Each day we homeschool, we follow our Daily Rhythm. I found this colorful chart from The Littles and Me. By now, the kids know our routine so well that when I tell them it’s a school day, they know what to expect. 

Even though a regular routine makes our day go more smoothly, it’s important to add flexibility into our week as life happens. Routines should be your ally, not your enemy, so make them work best for your specific needs in this season of life. 

3. Learn alongside them.

This year has brought me back to the thrill of learning I had as a child. Together, we’ve read more picture books than we can count. We’ve learned about so many unique animals in The Dictionary of Ordinary Extraordinary Animals. We studied and learned about several artists in our artist study, including ones that I never even heard of. We listened to orchestra instruments that I had never listened to before. We memorized dozens of nursery rhymes and scripture verses. Simple, yet insightful enough to stimulate even my adult mind to learn new things. 

4. I can’t do everything.

There’s literally hundreds of different curriculum options out there and many different philosophies of homeschooling. It can all be so overwhelming, especially for a first time homeschooling Mama. At the end of the day, I need to remember that I just can’t do everything, even if it sounds good. It’s easy to get caught up in the Pinterest/Homeschool Blogger trap and think that just because someone else has success in doing something, I need to do it too. 

It’s simply not true. Comparison is a thief of joy and a constant reminder of our inadequacy. I learned that I need to keep going back to my goals for the year and not take on more than is healthy for both my kids and myself. 

And when I realize that I can’t do everything, I need to give myself grace that it’s enough. Every day won’t be a great day, even public school teachers and kids have off days too. 

5. Don’t try to replicate the classroom.

Homeschooling my two kids will obviously look pretty different from the first grade classroom filled with 20+ children that I taught a few years ago. I had to remind myself that it was okay if we did school in pajamas some days, or that we took more breaks than expected, or that even if we didn’t get everything accomplished in one morning, we could pick it up later when attitudes were more eager and willing. 

I also had to remember that since my kids were learning in their most comfortable environment from the person they were most familiar with, they’re still going to act like their normal selves (sometimes whiney, other times uncooperative). I couldn’t expect “better than normal” behavior like I saw when I was a classroom teacher. Being prepared for a different style of teaching (public school to homeschool) and setting my expectations at a reasonable level are ways that have kept this change of perspective in check. 

6. When all else fails, read-aloud.

We’ve done a lot more reading aloud to our kids this year as we dove into homeschooling and incorporated many of the Charlotte Mason aspects into our day. The power of reading aloud to my kids is multifaceted– it’s a good transition from a more structured learning time, a needed distraction for the younger ones, a time when their engagement is high, and a much appreciated moment of peace for me as I sit and read. 

If my kids have an uncooperative attitude, a suggestion to pull out one of our current read-alouds (or even just a random book off their bookshelf) is usually one of the best ways to draw them back into a place of learning. 

Final thoughts

I could probably write a lot more on our successes and weaknesses, highlights and lowlights, and overall thoughts on our first year of homeschooling, but I’ll stick to these 6 takeaways as a culmination of what I’ve learned this year. 

If you’re a first time homeschooling Mama like myself, I would encourage you to take time to reflect on what you’ve learned so far. Each season comes with it’s challenges, but I can honestly say that as every month passed by, I grew to love homeschooling more. 

It’s not the “easiest way” to educate my children, but it’s the way I’ve found to be the best for our family, and that’s what matters most.