Alicia Hutchinson

Homeschooling has come a long way in the last fifteen years. It used to be that most homeschoolers were educating at home because of religious reasons and mostly kept their children hidden at home —afraid that too much exposure to the world around them would hurt them in some way.

These days, people are homeschooling for an array of reasons. Even some who are religious are choosing to homeschool for non-religious reasons.

What’s for breakfast? What should I wear today? Where are my car keys? What should we do today? Do you want to sign up for Scout Mom? What are we getting the kids for Christmas?

Decision fatigue is a real thing. When you consider that we moms get the above questions 30 times per hour, there’s no debate that our brains are tapped out, and we cannot make another decision. As they say, "I can’t even."

There’s no doubt that there are very defined preferences among homeschoolers about whether or not to use secular curriculum. I've heard these very pointed questions when it comes to evaluating curriculum:

• Does that science book espouse creationism or evolution?
• Does your history curriculum align with the Bible?
• What is the worldview of that program?

Whether we used to be a teacher in the school system or we’re brand new to homeschooling or we’re just unsure of what we’re doing as homeschoolers, there are some big assumptions that homeschool moms need to let go of. I would venture to say that most of us grew up going to a brick and mortar school, sat at a desk with metal legs, went out for recess and drank warmish milk out of a cardboard carton.

We might have loved school. We might have hated it.

Although having a family reading time is important to my family, I realize that with the numerous other obligations a homeschool mama has, reading aloud as a family might not seems doable.  Our family reading time is one of our favorite times of the day, but it didn’t always look like it does now.  Here are five easy tips to help you and your family have an awesome daily reading time together:

1. Be choosy about the time of day.

What planner are you using this year? Have you found a new math curriculum? What’s your schedule looking like for fall?

The buzz in the homeschool world is hyped around planning, planners, and all things organizing. I get it. We’re homeschool moms. We plan things. That’s what we love to do!

It gives us a sense of control in our often chaotic lives. Add it helps us to manage our days full of history lessons, co-op meetings, and dance lessons.

Homeschool moms have sonar hearing for words like planner, list, and curriculum sales. We find joy in laying out the next school year to come, as we should! The anticipation of an upcoming school year is a great motivator, but sometimes we can let the planning get in the way of other things that are really important too—things like enjoying the summer months and the break you have from school. Or we let stress and worry seep in while we plan. Or, worse of all, we can overlook the ones who we’re actually doing this for—our kids!

I am a true savorer of the seasons. I’m not one to rush through to the next thing, but instead, I like to embrace the season, let it sink in and enjoy it. Even so, there’s nothing wrong with following Helen Keller’s advice to “be thankful for what you have while working for what you want.”

So even though I can be thankful for slow lake days and Popsicles melting down to my kids’ elbows, I can also be thinking ahead to the approaching school year. Here’s five things I’m doing this summer to get ready for a great homeschool year to come.