This past year our daughter was in Pre-K at a local private school. We had recently made the decision to homeschool and I was excited but I had my doubts.
I jotted down my thoughts one day while waiting in the carpool line:
“I doubt I’ll miss this carpool line next year. I’m sure we will have plenty of challenges, but waiting for 20 minutes in this long line won’t be one of them!
I wish I had a strong sense of peace and excitement about this homeschool journey, but I go back and forth. I’m afraid of failing, I’m afraid family and friends will judge us. I’m afraid that it would be too hard to juggle working from home, daily chores, homeschooling, blogging and squeezing in a social life. I am, however, excited to teach Claire. I’m looking forward to watching her grow more and more each day.
Life is short I don’t want to spend it behind the MacBook. I want to engage my children and build a strong relationship with them. I know homeschooling is the right step for us but geeze it’s a little scary!“
I was fighting with these fears:
Am I qualified enough?
Disciplined enough?
Smart enough?
Organized enough?
What if I fail?
What if I give up?
What if I hate it?
What if our daughter hates it?
What will others think?
Will our family think we are crazy?
I had to bring all of these fears into the light and admit that I was terrified that I would FAIL.
In Jon Acuff’s book, “Quitter” he says:
“We become obsessed with the fear of finding out who we aren’t”
Acuff also says,
“We think that if we don’t do anything, we won’t make the wrong decision. But, not doing anything, is its own decision and the odds of failure are horrible.”
Got Doubts? Address your fears and move forward!
1. Talk to your spouse: Tell him how you are feeling, share your fears, concerns and take time to discuss your hopes too. He might have fears too. He is most likely your biggest fan and he’s there to cheer you on. Take time to discuss how your feeling so your husband can be praying, supporting and encouraging you along the journey.
2. Write it down: I love that I wrote down how I was feeling back in April. My fears are almost gone now! I’ve had time to pray, plan, and pray some more, and I’m ready to go now. Writing down my fears allowed me to admit how I was feeling and know how to pray. Now I can look back and see how God has answered my prayers!
3. Take a step: Do something! The first thing I did was tell my friends. Telling someone made it clear that I was taking a step forward. Stepping out in faith despite of my doubts and fears. Sometimes I think God is just waiting for us to take that first step. I love seeing how God has brought us confirmations and blessings ever since we took that first step.
Is this your first year homeschooling?
I would love to ‘meet’ you and connect so we can be a support to each other this year. Are you struggling with fears and doubts. I want to reassure you that having fears and doubts is normal and you have a great group of homeschoolers here at the Homeschool Village to cheer you on this year! Take a minute to leave a comment and introduce yourself!
I remember when you tweeted that you were thinking about homeschooling! I always get so excited when people tell me they’re considering it. In fact, I may get *too* excited. Really, calm down, lady! But it is wonderful to see you taking off with it, and I wish you all the success in the world. And send a little bit of that peace of mind you’ve obtained over this way. I could use it this week. 🙂
Oh Cindy it is super exciting – I’m glad you’re excited for me!! I feel like I’ve joined some secret club of moms now. 🙂
God does not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
yes and yes!!
My original intention was “No way am I homeschooling. I need the break!” But God worked into my heart a conviction that I am my daughter’s primary teacher, and He wants me to teach her. So I will be starting preschool-homeschool with her this school year! I’ve done a couple of informal unit studies over the summer and we both really enjoyed them. I would love to keep in touch & see how you are doing! 🙂
Sherry
Oh Sherry, I hear you!! I said those same things “I need a break” I work from home and could really use the ‘peace and quiet’.
God sure dealt with me about those issues. I’m right with you – reminded that our children are a blessing – that I should treasure this time with them not wish it away and homeschooling is a wonderful opportunity that we have!
yes, please stay in touch! It’s going to be a very fun year! Ps. What curriculum, if any, are you using? We are using My Father’s World and adding a few extras in.
I am a first-time homeschooler this year as well! I teach college English part-time in the evening, so I have teaching experience, but I’ve not taught elementary school before. We will begin our year tomorrow. My daughter is 7 and going into 2nd grade. I also have a 9 month-old baby girl. I am nervous about juggling the needs of the baby with our schedule. I am also nervous about giving my number 1 girl the attention she craves outside of our school time. Finally, I am worried about balancing my other mom-duties– cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. with being the teacher/mom as well. I feel like I need to give myself grace and flexibility in our first few weeks as we find our rhythm.
Rachel, how was your first day? The one piece of advice that I hear over and over is to be relaxed and flexible. I’m reminded that I’m teaching Kindergarten, not Jr. High yet, and that our days don’t have to be hyper-scheduled (Like I would like them to be 🙂 ) If we’re having a rough day I just plan on reading – lots of reading. We are also doing a 6 weeks on 1 week off schedule through the year so we’ll have many breaks!
Keep me posted! I’d love to hear how things are going!
I just finished my first year of homeschooling. When I was starting and thinking about starting this helped me a lot: http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/11/candid-conversation-with-god.html
Take the time to read it, it’s such and encouragement.
Thank you Sandi =)!
Hello! This is our first year of homeschooling as well 🙂 I have 3 children: O will be 6 the end of September, E is 4 1/2 and L just turned 2 last Saturday. We have 0 experience with homeschooling as well but my Aunt successfully homeschooled her 2 boys who are now both on the Deans list at their Universities! We have a unique and good/terrible situation..we live next door to my Grandparents and on the other side of them live my parents. I can see both my parents and my grandparents when I walk out into my front yard and neither of them are supportive of homeschooling 🙁 (They weren’t supportive of my Aunt either.) I love being close to them because my children have such a great relationship with them and I can’t imagine taking that away from any of them but at the same time they are constantly in my Oldest sons ear telling him how he will hate homeschooling and that he really wants to go to public school. They are always telling my husband and I that we are doing them a disservice by homeschooling them, that I won’t be able to teach them, that they will be missing out and so on. We have found a fantastic homeschool group near us and I have the kids’ curriculum chosen and I am excited and ready and my children are excited and ready….we just have to deal with family 🙁 It’s hard but my Aunt dealt with it and she and her boys loved homeschooling and the boys are very successful now so I am going to trudge on but also seek out as much support as possible, that’s what the Internet is for right? 😉
Oh Rachel, I really feel for you! I was talking with another homeschool mom and she said, “just remember the fruit is what we’re after”. Meaning your parents will SEE the fruit of your homeschooling.
I don’t know how I would deal with parents ‘whispering’ negative things about homeschooling to our children, I would probably not be able to just let that go. I would have my husband talk to his parents (and I would talk to mine) about our decision to homeschool and ask if they would kindly respect our decision by not talking negatively about it to our children. But that’s me, I’m one to speak my mind. 🙂
I will be praying for you, we’re all in this together! I’m sure we will all have people who don’t agree with our decision to homeschool – but we have each other and we just need to remember the FRUIT is the goal!
This will be my first year homeschooling. I have 2 boys: Elijah 6 and Noah 5. Elijah and Noah both went to pre-K at a private school and Elijah went to Kindergarten at a public school. I had contemplated homeschooling for a couple of years but became serious about it when God kept giving me confirmations that it was what He wanted for our family. I kept doubting and doubting even when it all seemed so clear. A friend of mine asked me if God needed to hit me in the head with a 2×4 before I answered the call. No, no 2×4 needed. I had to take that first step you were talking about. I have no doubts this is what I’m supposed to do but that fear is still there. Fear of failure, fear my boys will HATE it, fear that the younger one’s stubbornness will be the end of me. I feel like no matter how much I go over the curriculum I’ll never be prepared enough. I know there comes a point when I have to let go and let God. With God on our side we can not fail.
Fear? Yes, I’m terrified! Is homeschooling the right decision? I fully believe it. This will be my first year homeschooling. My child will be in the 6th grade and has dyslexia. He is at an early 2nd grade reading and writing level. The school he has attended has been a nightmare! I give up the fight with the school system, but I wont give up on my child! I will do my best to initiate the love of learning, he will find it again. I have Faith!
YOU CAN DO THIS =)
I’m debating whether to home school and all of those are questions running through my head!!! I’m TERRIFIED to do it but scared not to try either…for my son’s sake. I appreciate blogs like yours with encouraging words. 🙂
This will be my first year homeschooling my daughters. They are 4 and 2 years old. The 4 year old will start some pre-K/K stuff and my 2 year old will do preschool stuff. I’m pretty nervous because I’m afraid that I’ll screw them up! LOL I would hate to homeschool for years and then discover that they are way behind their peers and would be excelling more if in public school. I just have to keep reminding myself that I have their best interests at heart and as long as they have a love of learning I’m doing something right.
This is not my first time homeschooling my children, but rather our first truly determined go at it. I have 3 children ages 9,7 and 4. My two older children are adopted and are both special needs. Both falling on the scales for mild impairment. I struggle daily worrying that I’ll fail them, again. We are going with an e-school so as to still have the therapies they both need. However, I’ve been bookmarking sites like crazy that are being recommended by other homeschoolers for the free lessons/material. I’m determined that if the e-school doesn’t work, we’ll just drop it and do our own thing. Really praying to find some support from others who have homeschooled more than one special needs child at a time.
I’m a mom of three girls and this will be our first year homeschooling. It was more a decision made of necessity than a real choice but we are trying to embrace it. I wanted to homeschool before my oldest daughter started public school but gave in because we had no support.
My oldest daughter is now 9, my second oldest 7 and my youngest is 5. I’m sure a lot of people think I’m crazy because my youngest would have been starting school and I could have had a “break” but we really felt the call to homeschool so we’re going to try. We are trying to write our own curriculum as we can’t afford anything formal and it’s a daunting task, for sure. I doubt myself every day but we are starting small. My oldest two already know how to read so we encourage them to read every day and I’m working on getting my youngest to write her letters. It’s still a bit overwhelming sometimes! 🙂
First year home educating family here…and I can SO relate to this post (and I’m a certified educator, shudder). Not sure if having twins is going to make it easier or harder…it’ll definitely be an adventure!
Hi Kat! I’m sure being an educator has it’s benefits, you’ve got much more experience that I do, so don’t be surprised when I’m flying to you for help! 🙂 Oh I bet it will be great to work with twins – they can work together through the year, how fun! It’s going to be fun, right?!? 🙂
This is my first year homeschooling. I have two boys ages 3 and 5. The oldest went to a Christian preschool for two years and the youngest has never attended school. We live across the street from a decent public school, but know this is what’s best for our family. I have many of the same fears/concerns. Thank you for sharing! It’s so nice to know I’m not the only one with doubts.
Yes, doing what’s best for your family is key! Even if there are exceptional options right outside your door, if you’re not doing what’s best for your family than what’s the point. Thanks for saying hi! We’re all in this together!
This will be my 2nd yr to homeschool. I really do love it but have so many things I am unsure about. Plus I am shy and have trouble meeting new women bc I just don’t know what to say. My oldest son, 9, has aspergers and add. And our 2nd oldest, 7, has add as well. We have 4 boys, which are the best gift God has ever given us!!!! our youngest two are 5 months old and 3yrs old. I still don’t know a lot but better than last year. I would LOVE to connect with you and get some better ideas and help! =)
Jessica, so glad you found The Homeschool Village. That’s the whole point of this site to connect homeschool moms together – to build community. I’ll be writing this year about being a new homeschool mom. Hopefully we’ll all learn along the way together!
This is our first year of homeschooling, and our 5 year old will be in kindergarten. I am excited and terrified all at once. I am also a nurse in a dementia unit, so I am nervous about time management and worst of all, failing. I am glad I am not alone in my fears though.
Jenn, Yes terrified. that’s about how if feels doesn’t it? I work from home and Time management will be my best friend. I hope to homeschool from 9am – 11am each day – 2 hours should be more than enough time to go through our curriculum. We’ll also do field trips and lots of reading at night. 1-2 hours, I’ve heard is plenty of time to do kindergarten homeschool with your children.
Jenn, you’re not alone in your thoughts and fears!
Our first year, too. I have three children at home. The twins (boy/girl) will be at the middle school and are doing well. The youngest, who should be going into 4th grade, is reading at a 3rd grade Lvl and doing math at 1st grade level. So we’re looking at independent study through k12. She has an IEP and is in the special Ed program so we will see how it works out. Any and all advice appreciated. We should have a support group for all of us newbies!!
Hi, Kathi! I know you posted your comment to this blog a while ago now, but I was wondering if you are having success with your 4th graders math? My daughter is in 4th grade this year. We recently pulled her out of our local public school and enrolled her into an online public school through K12, mostly because of her struggle with math. She is probably at a 1st to 2nd grade level in math, and even in the online school, she isn’t getting the help she needs, because she isn’t READY to do that level math yet. Add onto it that I am not good at math either, and we are both struggling. Have you found anything that works for your child?
This will be my first full year of homeschooling … I have a an 11year old, a 10 year old, a 7 year old and almost 3 year old and a 1and half year old =) .. obviously only homeschooling the 3 oldest girls =) & will do a little circle time with all the kids so Daphne and Trevor can get in some preschool basics and having the older ones help will be fun =) … I am slowly getting over the fear of bringing my kids home from the public school setting .. my confidence lies with my Lord and I know my kids will be sooo much better off being with me their mom for a good majority of their life … I figure I will learn this way of life .. so many others live it and it works so why not for our family =) … I am going off of others belief to =) those who have been home schooling for many years now & they wouldn’t have chose anything different … so anyhow I would love encouragement and to encourage other moms and dads to be with your kids, teach them what they need to know .. we make it so complicated when it really is simple I am suspecting .. I am teaching most subjects in a group setting except for math .. Saxon has the CD Rom now that goes along with it to explain the math like as in school, I picked up grade level spelling books for the girls but we will also be going through spelling together and of course they will all be in different levels of writing but that is something they can do on their own … Science, English, Reading will be separate but also shared together as we read allowed or share book reports or projects … I have made a list of places we can visit for field trips at least once a month & if you have other home school families around invite them as well =) ( we live in a very small community .. no co-ops) anyhow … do a ton of researching on line .. so many resources I have book marked under a home school folder =).
This is our first year homeschooling, we have a 7 year old (2nd grader), a 4 year old and a one year old. Although I have a degree in early childhood education, I still feel so scared! I really thought I had gotten a hold of my fears, I had lesson plans made, schedule set up and we were ready to go! So this week we began easing into our schooling and guess what … It’s back to the drawing board for me! The schedule didn’t work, the second grader was struggling focusing while I was working with the four year old. Oh boy this is going to be an interesting year! I am looking forward to the encouragement that we can all share!! I think it’s going to be needed!
This will be my first year homeschooling two kids. I homeschooled each of our kids in K4 (not hard at all – it’s just K4….who can mess that up?!). We made the decision to withdraw my daughter (age 8) out of public school this year, and I admit, I have had some of those same fears! I will be teaching K5 and Grade 3 to two of the most amazing, wonderful, beautiful children – my own. I have all the curriculum, and I am going to attempt to have our first day August 6. I am ready to have a routine down. That is what I feel will be my biggest challenge. Good luck to you! Thanks for being transparent and real. It makes the rest of us feel better. 😉
This IS my first year homeschooling and I am terrified and ecstatic all rolled into one. I’m very overwhelmed but I KNOW I CAN do this and that this is best for our family, at least for right now. Scared of failing? You bet I am!
This will be my first year homeschooling my daughter who will be going into 3rd grade. I am looking forward to spending some quality time with her while helping her learn. She was soo bored in school and all the constant repitition was driving her nuts. So we are pulling her out and I am scared out of my mind. My little guy will be 4 and he is going to be home too and with the 5 year age difference I am a little worried on how to get both of their needs fulfilled. Plus, trying to figure out how to do housework, cook meals, and teach private piano lessons all at the same time. I have a great support system in our community and a coop that we joined for some support!
First real year here too! I have run through some PK work with my oldest. We are homeschooling because she turns 5 in Oct which is 33 days past the public school cut off and I refuse to hold her back with prek at her readiness. I am nervous and excited together. I have a friend who also home schools her 4 kids and though we live 45 mins apart I think I will hound her a lot! I can do all things through Christ I know! I also have a 2 yo and a 5 mo old so I need all the prayer I can get lol
Wow, reading all the comments before my comment let me know that we all have the same concerns. Our daughters requested to be homeschooled about halfway through last school year. They were in 8th and 6th grade. It was something I felt like I needed to do, and their request was just a confirmation. So last spring, we jumped into our attempt to homeschool. Wow, talk about a 9-week crash course! The biggest mistake I made was trying to recreate the classroom at home. HUGE failure! The biggest frustration was (and still is) to try to reawaken their natural desire to learn…the time in public school had essentially turned my daughters into information robots, and I was so angry at myself for not seeing this before. After all, they were nearly straight-A students, why should I question it?
The summer break has given them a chance to decompress from the public school scenario, however, I have some serious concerns about this coming school year. There is so much that is expected of them outside the walls of our home, but it just doesn’t fit with what I feel they need. I see so many people who can write out a complex math problem that is two pages long, but they lack the practical skill of being able to count back change without a calculator. The same people can take a sentence and divide it up into the proper areas in grammar, but lack the social skills to deal with a person in need. Another person has mastered the periodic table of elements but lacks the “common sense gene” in their life. A senior in school can achieve a top score on the ACT and SAT tests, but once they graduate from that prestigious college, they struggle to survive on a fast food restaurant income. The truth be told, we actually know three cashiers at our local Wal-Mart that have masters in engineering, business administration and biology. They have a mountain of college debt and have no real prospects of a career in their desired field.
I guess I’m a lot more frustrated than I thought. I want to encourage their passions but the world around me wants me to pump facts and numbers into their brains so they can be “successful” according to the state standards. I can’t stand to see our daughters becoming fact robots again in order to comply with what is expected of them in the educational realm. GRRRRR!
This is my first year homeschooling too! I have Katie, 5, starting kindergarten, and Chase, 3, who seems to be an incredibly fast learner! Katie has a good grasp of reading and math, but I’m most “lost” when it comes to all the other stuff.. I’ve always embraced learn as you do life.. but looking for more fun ideas, project and books.. and always looking for creative way to practice writing! I too am pretty terrified, but confident that this is what God wants for us this year! Nice to meet you!
Thank you so much for this post! I have been seriously doubting my ability to do this. It is nice to know I am not alone. I keep having to remind myself it is not my strength our homeschool will be built on and not my ability but God that will make this possible. He is the one who brought us to it anyhow. This will be the first year we homeschool. My oldest is 4 and will be doing Pre-k and my youngest is 18 months and I have no idea how I am going to wrangle him long enough for us to do anything 🙂 lol. I have been babysitting in my home for the last 4 years and the little ones I have been watching are now 3 and 4 and they are going off to school so for financial reasons I am looking for another baby to start watching. This is what scares me the most! Having a baby and an 18 month old while trying to get in a little school.
Hello!! This year will be my first year homeschooling also. I have two boys ages 5 and 3mos. I have been thinking about homeschooling since pulling my son out of pre-k this last school year. He is a very smart boy, but is a Very strong-willed child. The teacher just didnt have the time or willingness to give him the attention he needed so this only confirmed the pull I have been feeling from my Heavenly Father to take responsibility for the education of my children.
I have also graduated RN school almost a year ago and plan on starting to work 3 days a week. God blessed us with another boy in May and this has added to my stress about homeschooling and working. I am walking in faith that he will guide my family in this new part of our lives and show me how to make it work.
I am very undecided at curriculum choices, as there is so many. I also feel very behind after following other homeschool moms’ blogs but I know that I shouldnt compare my situation with theirs.
My goal is to confirm the right curriculum with my husband and my Heavenly Father and then look to both for help on actually implementing the plan with a child who doesnt like school. I want to show him how fun learning can be and that he can do and be anything he strives for. I want to help him to establish a relationship with his Heavenly Father and to show him that he can put his trust in Him.
Thank you for this blog!!! I feel that it will be a great support to me to be a Godly wife, mother, and daughter to my Lord. I hope that we can lift each other up and encourage one another to push on even in the difficult times.
Hello there, my name is Joanna. This would be my first year of homeschooling. I pulld my kids out of school in march, we go through a charter school and i use what they had. Which we didnt like it was the public school book, and one of the reason we left. it was such a last minute thing. made the decision and within two days they were out. ANyways this year i have three in school. k-d, 2, 5. I was extremely scared when i first started, i have takin all summer to study and find different fun ways to homeschool. my first thought when i started as it had to be just like public set it p same shedule and same rules. Man did me and my childen butt head. I had to learn to relax take it easy and we can homeschool when ever we want.We havea lax but sheduled homeschoool here. Plann lots of trips and being part of the community. i still haev the fear that if i fail they do it. I didnt graduate high school, and most of the time my son is the one teaching me, but i trust that is what god want for our family and that he will guide me through this jounrey