Even though I love the fact that I’m able to homeschool my children, and wouldn’t have it any other way…
…I still thoroughly enjoy my weekends and get pretty giddy about the time off from our weekly routine.
And this brings about an interesting topic that I wanted to chat with you about today.
Is the freedom and flexibility as a homeschooler a blessing or curse?
Or rather, the big question for some moms, especially the newer homeschooling moms is how do we, as homeschooling mamas, strike the balance between freedom/flexibility and consistency/routine?
The quick answer is:
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
I can’t say that it should be a 50%/50% approach across the board.
Your family may embrace a 20% flexible schedule, with an 80% consistent routine.
Whereas, another family may choose a 60% flexible schedule with a 40% consistent routine.
Honestly, it really depends on your family dynamics, family schedule, family routine, family extracurriculars, etc.
Let me dive a bit deeper.
If you live a fast-paced life and you’re always running to and fro because of doctor appointments, sports, church, this and that…
Then you’d want to structure your school time at home very well for optimal results.
You’d want to make sure you’re getting the important things done before you start doing a lot of running around, because as you know, once you’ve been out all day, no one wants to come sit at the table and do lessons. Nope.
Now, on the flip side, if you typically live a slower-paced life and are home most of the week, you have the flexibility to really embrace the blessing of homeschool freedom and flexibility.
You have more freedom to take random breaks, or go to the park or beach instead of doing school for the day, and you know you’ll just pick school back up the next day.
So then the question once again is how do we strike the balance between freedom/flexibility and consistency/routine?
You need to ultimately decide what’s important to you.
If giving your child a rigid education important, than choose more school and have a strict and consistent routine.
But if you’d rather just enjoy life with your children more than being stuck at the table all day, then totally embrace the freedom and flexibility of being a homeschooler. There’s many opportunities to learn and teach throughout every day life and the longer you homeschool, the more you’ll realize this.
So, mama, at the end of the day, what’s right for your family, is what’s right for YOUR family. You have to choose what’s most important to YOU!
And don’t let anyone steer you away from that. 😉
