How To Have More Confidence As A Homeschool Mom This Year

Do you lack confidence as a homeschool mom? A number of moms on the Homeschool Sanity Facebook page have commented that they do. This is The Homeschool Sanity Show, the episode where we discuss how we can have more confidence as homeschool moms this year. Hey, homeschoolers! Before we dive into the topic of mom confidence, I'd like to thank CTC Math for sponsoring this episode. Sponsor Finding a math curriculum that works for your family can be a challenge! With CTCMath, all of your kids from K-12 can learn at their own pace with one family subscription. That's right! With a CTCMath membership, you have access to all grades and lessons, which means your children can work at whatever level is best for them. Whether your kid needs to catch up, keep up, or move ahead, with CTCMath they can finally understand math and work at their own pace. CTCMath is offering listeners a half-price discount plus a bonus 6 months when you register for a 12-month membership. Yep. That means you have access to a complete online homeschool math curriculum for all your kids for 18 months! Why We Lack Confidence Before we can talk about building confidence, let's talk about why we lack it in our homeschooling. The first reason is fairly obvious: we haven't homeschooled before. Even classroom teachers can be intimidated by the prospect of teaching all subjects to multiple students--especially their own. It's normal to lack confidence without experience. The second reason we lack confidence is we are aware of our shortcomings. I was keenly aware of my lack of organization--something I've written and spoken about extensively, and which troubles many a would-be homeschool mom. And it wasn't just messiness I was worried about. I'd been excited about a lot of projects in the past that I'd lost interest in. What if I did that with homeschooling? Many homeschooling moms didn't get good grades in general or in particular subjects, causing them to worry about their ability to teach their own children. The third reason we lack confidence is because of messaging from other people. We may have family members or friends who disapprove of homeschooling and tell us about homeschool horror stories. From childhood, we may have heard about our shortcomings repeatedly. Or we were mistreated, causing us to wonder who we are to take on this important responsibility. Finally, other homeschoolers can make us feel less than confident by presenting an unattainable picture of homeschooling. Engineers in your support group who lead a championship robotics team. Homeschoolers who pay for expensive private tutoring and classes to ensure their child's success. Mothers with supportive family who have lots of time to plan and implement an enriched education. You may feel like you're not qualified. How to Homeschool with New Confidence This Year Inexperience, shortcomings, and others' messaging can make us feel ill-equipped to homeschool successfully. But here is how we can overcome and take on homeschooling with a new confidence this year. First, we can begin seeing ourselves as co-learners rather than professors. I learned more about child development and education by homeschooling my kids than I ever did in school or my work as a psychologist. We don't want to fail in our homeschooling and parenting,