We get ONE SHOT at homeschooling our children.

I remember when we first began homeschooling - there was SO MUCH before me. So many options for curriculum. So many fun projects. So many methods.

Looking back, I wish someone would have told me to keep it simple. Find a few beautiful things and dive into those. Set homeschool routines with engaging activities that play into your child's strengths and interests.

Be consistent.

Don't discount their hearts.

Place beauty first.

It took me a couple years to get to that point of simplicity and effectiveness, and now that I have teens I can look back and see what really WORKED - and what continues to work to this day.

Make Reading Your #1 Priority

Yes, it really is that simple.

Read. Encourage your children to read alone. Read aloud.

Strew books around the house.

I talk to many parents who tell me their children don't enjoy reading. Maybe it hasn't been modeled for them, or maybe a public school has beaten the love of reading out of them.

You have a unique opportunity in your homeschool to inspire reading .

(In our house EVERYONE - even the canines - read!)

Hear me on this: do not let reading aloud come in last place. In fact, put it in first place. Develop a time for reading aloud, provide things to keep little hands busy, and choose engaging books.

Give your children a feast of books to read on their own. Create a time in your day for everyone to just sit and READ.

Never let anything come in the way of time to read.

Now that my oldest is almost a homeschool graduate I listen to her fond memories of our read alouds. Both of my children will say, "Remember when we read that book....".

Reading has increased their habit of attention, expanded their vocabulary, and given them a gift that cannot be bought in any store.

(Check out 5 Ways to Raise Readers for more tips.)

Implement a Routine

I'm not much of a schedule gal.

One of the reasons we began homeschooling was because I detested being a slave to the public school SCHEDULE. It beat all of the joy out of learning. It didn't inspire wonder.

I knew, however, that my children needed a routine. They needed to know what came next each day and what was expected of them during a day.

In the years when I had kids in elementary homeschool - and even into middle school - our routine looked like this:

Get up, dressed, make bed
Breakfast (Morning Time) - time for devotion, music, and read alouds
Math, English, Science, Piano Practice
Lunch
History
Quiet Time -- you know all homeschools need quiet time, right?
play time

Keep in mind, I needed to be flexible with this - especially with an active little boy in the house. He was going outside just about every hour to burn off steam. Sometimes we would get caught up in a project that would take all morning.

My children always knew, however, that our skeleton of Morning Time, Math, Lunch, History, and Quiet Time was there. This guided our days and eliminated a lot of confusion and unhappiness.

Morning Time & "Elevenses"

Before "Morning Time" was the big buzz in the homeschool world we were doing a time at breakfast that included devotions, Classical music, reading aloud, and memory work.

One year I wanted to change the routine a bit, so implemented the English tradition of "Elevenses", which was tea and a snack at 11 a.m. We used our teapot from England, made scones, and did our read aloud during this time. What a sweet memory for all of us!

However you decide to structure this time, be sure to include things that are important to you each and every day. If you have this time each day then you can ALWAYS say you accomplished something, even on the worst of homeschool days.

Sometimes I had a little one that was crabby in the morning and needed some time alone before we got going - in which case we saved our "morning time" until lunch time. You know your children and what will work well on any given day.

That freedom and flexibility is one of the most glorious things about homeschooling!

(Read How to Make the Most of Your Homeschool Time for more thoughts on this!)

Quiet Time

This gave ALL OF US so much peace in our homeschool days.

Early on I believe it saved our homeschool. I wasn't used to having children in the house all day. I needed QUIET and time to recharge. I needed time to take care of household chores, sit down to read, and maybe fold some laundry.

I went back to our naptime schedule from when the kids were little - and if they didn't feel like napping they had many options of things they could do while STAYING QUIETLY IN THEIR ROOMS.

If quiet time is just a part of your day and you set the expectation firmly and consistently, you will not have a problem with implementation.

I'm not going to say much here - but instead direct you to Why Homeschool Mamas Need Quiet Time.

(You're welcome.)

Take Care of Math!

Please hear me on this.

Do your research early on. Decide on a math program. Stick with it.

I fell into the trap of listening to what everyone else was doing. I fell into the trap of feeling I had to try the math curriculum with the largest presence at the homeschool convention. I fell into the trap of listening to my child when they said they didn't "like" the math curriculum.

In the end, I learned a lot by the time my second child came through our homeschool.

We have used Saxon Math since the beginning with him - focused a lot on math facts - and math is simply a non negotiable in our house.

When your child gets to the point of taking the SAT and ACT you will look back and be thankful you chose a solid math program from day one.

If your child needs help with math -- OUTSOURCE IT! There are abundant resources online and in person now. We don't have to let our kids flounder in math.

My prayer for each of you is a peaceful, productive homeschool.

I know the days will sometimes be long and difficult, but if you have certain practices in place you will minimize those.

You will look back on your time homeschooling with so many fond memories and children who have benefitted from a consistent, beautiful home education.

Is there a certain practice that just "works" in your homeschool?

I'd love to hear about it!

You might also like:

10 Best Books for Homeschool Moms

Homeschool: When Being Normal Looks Weird

Every now and then I feel the need to write a post like this - shaking the homeschooling sense into people, if you will.

I've seen the joy and blessings in homeschool and I want that for as many precious children as possible. It's SO very worth it, if you are just willing to lay aside some things that have been ingrained in your for a LONG time.

It happened to me again yesterday - a parent telling me about their child who is "falling behind" in public school. Even more heartbreaking is when this child is YOUNG... six or seven years old, for example.

When we abandoned the ideal of traditional school it was because my oldest child wasn't fitting the one-size-fits-all mold of elementary school. You know the one - it assumes all children should be equalized by the third grade (for testing purposes). It wasn't until this time that I began examining the deep, lasting effects this equalization can have on our children.

I recall a well meaning adult (involved in education) at our church sitting with me and offering her two cents about my decision to homeschool (why do people feel like they can do that, anyways?) - her exact words were, "I guess you just couldn't give up control to the teachers at the school." Believe me, this wasn't said in a positive light, either.

But you know what? That was exactly it.

I did not appreciate the sad fact that "educators" who didn't know my child and who didn't have a vested interest in her emotional well being were calling the shots about her education all day long. I wanted to be the one calling those shots, because I knew my child best.

I would challenge you to consider this: Who controls your child's education?

As I spoke with a mom yesterday about her child needing tutoring to be ready for the first grade, and possibly having to repeat the first grade because he "wasn't up to speed", my heart sank.

I challenged the mom to consider whose definition of "behind" she was subscribing to, and to remember children at this age are little - needing a lot of love, play, and time to explore.

Deep down, however, I got it. I understood her. I, too, had been conditioned to put my faith in the public schools (heck, I was a public school teacher so I KNOW the system) and to accept the government knows what is best for my child.

Please hear me. Who is controlling your child's education? I would contend this needs to be YOU - the PARENT - because there is no "behind" or "ahead" for children - they are simply children, created uniquely by God with different gifts and abilities.

A Few Educational Truths You NEED to Face

Here are some truths I have discovered in the past 25 years of education experience - 15 of those in the traditional school arena and 10 of those in the homeschool arena.

Believe me when I tell you I see BOTH SIDES of this coin!

But I know which side of the coin I'm on and I cannot hold anything back in this list. For more inspiration I highly recommend reading Weapons of Mass Instruction.

Schools are built for the adults who work in them, NOT the children who attend them (this wisdom came from an education professor I had while working on my Master's Degree in Educational Leadership!).
Children stand out in school if they are behind or excessively ahead of their peers. They are measured against one another, not individually.
Decisions in a school are made for the good of a group, not the individual.
Classroom management, not true teaching, consume the majority of even the best teacher's day.
Teaching to the lowest common denominator is easiest.
Perhaps as much as 1/3 of a child's day in school is taken up with waiting, standing in line, and other "housekeeping" sorts of tasks. Very little time is spent on focused learning.
Test scores drive everything. Just look at your local paper when the school system SAT averages come out - the test reigns supreme.
These tests drive the curriculum - which is often devoid of truth, beauty, and goodness (especially in the elementary years). Children read textbooks instead of REAL literature.
Schools are often times babysitters, allowing parents to pursue a career or have time alone.
God is absent from the schools. If we send our children to a Godless institution all day and then have them come home and stare into a Godless box at night, what do we expect to happen?

To be successful in a traditional school environment, a child (and their parents) need to learn how to game the system, and they need a lot of luck.

Who is Controlling Your Child's Education?

What is a parent to do, however, when they face these hard truths? How do we go about making a change that will benefit our children?

Do we really want to make the change, or is it easier to remain ignorant.?

Finding the Courage to Buck the System

I wish I had some brilliant advice about how to jump out of the system that doesn't serve your child well. Truth is, you just need to pray and trust as you go along.

You probably are thinking about the income you will lose (if you need to quit your job to homeschool), what your friends and family will think, and how in the world you are going to accomplish this Herculean task?

I have a few bits of advice that might be helpful:

Just Do It.

When we decided to homeschool we prayed about and researched the decision for a long time, but there came a day when we just knew we couldn't go on in our public school. I went to the front office, told them I wanted to withdraw my child, and we packed up her desk that very day. I ordered a big box of third grade curriculum from Sonlight and hoped for the best.

I had read that it was good to let your child deschool for a period of time, so my daughter simply READ and READ for the first few months. She dearly loved the Harry Potter Series (which her librarian at school had told her weren't at her reading level so she couldn't check them out) and read the series twice that winter.

We went on nature walks, played games, read aloud - and I marveled at how I was getting to KNOW my child, really KNOW her. We weren't arguing at night over math homework, and I wasn't fretting over the dumb word searches that always came home as homework. My daughter wasn't exhausted waiting for the bus at 7:10 each morning and we weren't staying up late at night so I could read quality literature to her. We were making that quality literature our school and it felt marvelous.

Do Your Research

You don't want to be a good bad example of a homeschooler, do you? You owe your children an excellent education and that requires commitment and perseverance. You need to cultivate habits for success.

If you are contemplating homeschooling or just need to courage to keep on homeschooling, these books are immensely helpful:

The Well Trained Mind

For the Children's Sake

Weapons of Mass Instruction

Free to Learn

Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling

Don't Go With The Masses

Honestly, stop listening to all the moms at the soccer field. Stop watching the evening news. Stop listening to what everyone else is telling you should be done.

Because guess what? Public education is a MESS, so why do we keep blindly following the masses that make this choice? Even in the "best" school district children are still being herded like cattle to and from schools each day, with the end goal being the production of cookie cutter students.

Sometimes the masses include your family. Yes, you love your family, but your responsibility is to your children.

My family wasn't in support of homeschooling, either -- and now they sing its praises. Prove them all wrong!

Focus on Relationship

You are doing this for your precious children. Focus on that relationship and things will fall into place.

The joy I gain from my children is indescribable, and now that they are teenagers we are reaping the rich harvest of homeschooling - children who are socially confident, children who appreciate and seek beauty, and children who hunger to know MORE.

Your Choice Will Change Your Life

Be prepared that once you step away from the system for education you will find yourself on the outskirts of other things, too. This is ok. In fact, you will crave it after a while.

We are called to be an UNCOMMON people - God created us to be unique and to use His gifts for His glory. Don't hide your light under a bushel.

Homeschooling has changed the way we look at everything. I believe we are all more confident in ourselves and more confident in our decision making.

I'm here to help, encourage, and equip you! I know you can do this!

5 Simple Homeschool Practices