200: The Homeschool Help You Actually Need Right Now

Let’s celebrate - 200 episodes! You’re doing everything you think you’re supposed to do — finishing the curriculum, adding more activities, checking every box — but still wondering if it is enough. The homeschool help you actually need is not another thing to add. It is permission to do less and purpose to guide what stays.After 200 episodes of conversations with homeschool moms, this episode shares 5 things that actually matter in your homeschool — and most of them will surprise you with how much they simplify instead of adding to your plate:✅Why you do NOT have to teach every subject every day or even every year — and what to do instead✅Why more curriculum & activities almost always lead to more burnout, not better kids✅How to shift from teaching your kids what to know to teaching them how to think✅Why character and leadership must be built intentionally — not left to chance✅The simple purpose filter that helps you make every homeschool decision easierClick the link below to join Raising Leaders Not Followers and get the framework that finally makes your homeschool feel purposeful.Resources for You  Raising Leaders Not Followers fall class Homeschool Encouragement CircleShow Notes:200 Episodes — 5 Things I Wish I'd Known Sooner200 episodes. When I recorded my first episode back in 2022, I couldn't even imagine that. Almost four years later, here we are — years of conversations about homeschooling, thousands of moms listening, asking questions, struggling, learning, trying to figure it all out.And meanwhile, my kids are grown adults raising their own kids, and I'm getting to do some of the homeschool activities with my grandkids now.These are not five things to add to your schedule — that would be completely overwhelming and would never give you that coffee break. These are five things to help you take things off your plate so you can do what's most important.#1: You Don't Have to Teach Everything, Every Day, or Every YearHomeschool moms feel like they're constantly behind. You're looking at the curriculum thinking — we didn't finish this, we haven't covered that, we're already behind in this subject.But when I was a public school teacher for six years, I never finished a curriculum. Not once. Does that give you some grace and permission to take a step back?Your kids have years to learn. Not everything has to happen this week. Not every subject needs the same amount of attention every single year. Some seasons require more academics. Some seasons require more rest, relationship, and character building. Simply getting through life.The verse of the day when I was preparing this episode was Galatians 6:9 — let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. There are seasons of dormancy, and what's happening under the earth is preparing for growth. When you slow down, your kids will be more prepared to grow into whatever God has called them to do.Rest isn't failure. Homeschool is not a race to see how much you can get done in 180 days. Homeschool is to truly prepare our kids for life.I took Hunter off math from 1st grade through 5th or 6th grade. In 6th grade, he caught up in a year and a half. When we sent him to a private school in 10th grade, he won the math award his first year. I took Gentry off math in 7th grade because she had a real negative attitude and struggled with her times tables. We started again in 8th grade. By Algebra 1, she knew her times tables — and in college, she helped her friends with their math homework.You don't have to teach every subject, every day, or every year.Look at tomorrow's homeschool plan and circle one thing that absolutely has to happen. Everything else is negotiable.#2: More Isn't Necessarily BetterMore curriculum, more activities, more field trips, more co-ops, more extracurriculars, more worksheets, more enrichment — I was tired just making that list. Sometimes more simply means more overwhelmed for you, more rushing, more frustration for you and your kids, more mom burnout, and less time actually spent with your children.When your children are grown, what do you think they're going to remember? Will they remember that you finished every workbook page? Or will they remember reading together?Both of my girls read to their children. My grandkids love being read to. I think that goes all the way back to the memories of reading aloud together. Or they'll remember the spontaneous trips. The family conversations. Our family loved sports, and we had big back-and-forth debates around the dinner table. Ashley brought Jesse home for the first time — now her husband — and Gentry immediately started bantering with him over the Yankees and the Red Sox because that was just normal for us. I was mortified. But those are the conversations my kids still remember.Or maybe the crazy breakfast traditions. Every first day of school, we had ice cream sundaes for breakfast. Even Hunter's senior year. My grandkids had it for the first time last year and were thrilled because they'd heard all about it from their parents.Your kids are going to remember more about time together than all the activities. Here's the what-can-we-remove challenge — look at your coming week, pick one activity or commitment that really isn't necessary, and cross it off your schedule. Use that time to reconnect with your children.Each of our kids could have two outside activities. That was it. They had to choose. Because I was driving them to two activities a day sometimes, and I said — this is not happening anymore.More is not better.#3: Your Child Needs to Learn How to Think — Not Just What to KnowInformation is everywhere. My grandkids ask Hey Google a question and get the answer instantly. The question isn't does my child know this. The questions are — can my child think about this? Can they evaluate it and come up with a wise judgment call? Can they make a wise decision? Can they look at it through a biblical worldview? Can they solve a problem without mom standing right here?I wanted my kids to grow up and influence the people around them — influence the world for Jesus, at least their neighborhood, at least their family. I wanted them to make wise, biblical decisions. I wanted them to be prepared for adult life.When our kids were in high school, they did a humanities class every year — watching two lectures a week, going through time periods. Steve and I listened to the same lectures so we could have discussions with them over dinner, guiding their thinking biblically. One of the first books they read in high school was More Than Dates and Dead People by Stephen Mansfield — recovering a Christian view of history.At dinner tonight, replace what did you learn today with what made you think today? And then zip your lips. Let them think. Don't fill the silence. Silence encourages them to get their brains working.#4: Character and Leadership Can't Be Left to ChanceAcademics matter, but character is the foundation for adult life. You can have a child who knows a lot and learns a lot but still struggles with perseverance, work ethic, self-control, integrity, and responsibility. Character is something we need to intentionally develop — not just hope for.I used the Bible and took it off my shoulders and put it on God's. His shoulders are a lot bigger.Ashley participated in 4-H skeet shooting — she didn't always win, had to deal with defeat, but also had leadership opportunities there. Hunter didn't make a basketball team in 6th or 7th grade — he had to figure out how to handle that. But he later went to a week-long high school sports leadership program in New York City. Gentry was the only homeschooler on a public school basketball and softball team in high school. She became captain — voted by her peers — as a junior and a senior, and won the Bear Award in both basketball and softball her senior year.I believe all of those things happened because of their character foundation.Look for one responsibility this week that actually belongs to your child. Don't micromanage it. Don't immediately rescue them. Let them experience responsibility, work ethic, consequences, and problems. If the dog doesn't get fed, the dog's going to be hungry — and whose responsibility is it?This is where we move past how to homeschool and start thinking about who our children are becoming.#5: A Simple Framework Makes Homeschooling Easier and More PurposefulAbout five years into homeschooling, I discovered leadership education. And all of a sudden I had purpose. I had intention. I knew why we were homeschooling because I could see the end goal.Do you know why you're homeschooling? More than just getting away from the public school — do you know the real end goal?Andrew Pudewa put me onto leadership education, and it changed the way we homeschooled for the rest of the journey. I figured out our vision. I figured out our mission. I set annual goals for each of the kids. And I became a lot more intentional.When you know your purpose, you can make decisions on curriculum — does this help me accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish? On books — will this help my child think, grow, develop character, understand God's world? On activities — does this serve our purpose as a family, or are we doing it just because everyone else is? On schedule — does our schedule allow room for relationships and real life?Suddenly you're not asking am I doing enough? You're asking what matters most to my family?Use a purpose filter. Before you add something to your homeschool — books, activities, whatever — ask does this help me raise the child I want to raise? If the answer is no or you're not sure, don't automatically do it.A Note for Episode 200When I started this podcast back in 2022, I wasn't thinking about episode 200. I was thinking about one episode at a time. One conversation. One homeschool mom who needed to hear — you're not failing. You don't have to do everything. You don't have to do it alone.Thank you to everyone who has downloaded an episode, shared one, left a review, sent a kind message, or told another mom about it. That means the world to me.Here are the five things I'd go back and tell myself:You don't have to teach everything every day or every year. More isn't necessarily better. Teach your kids how to think. Build character and leadership intentionally. And have a purpose for your homeschool.Enrollment for Raising Leaders, Not Followers is open for the fall class right now. We start next week. If this is the kind of homeschool you want, I would love to help you put it all together — the things I learned the hard way, so you don't have to.The link is in the show notes wherever you're listening. If you have questions, send me an email or leave a comment. Here's to the next episode, the next 200, and the next season of your homeschool.