10 Minutes to a Better Homeschool

It is important for parents to be consistent in their homeschooling efforts to ensure the process runs smoothly. One way we can do this is by using a concept Pam coined called "Honoring Your School Day." Pam breaks down the concept, tells why it's important, and gives some tips for making it happen in this episode of the podcast. With Pam's help, parents can overcome any struggles they have with homeschooling to create a successful learning environment.

Pam Barnhill is here to tell homeschoolers that the answer to their homeschool problems is not a perfect curriculum or the best homeschool method. Instead, an effective homeschool depends on consistency - doing the work each day and showing up regularly. Consistency makes it easier to tweak what doesn’t work, and makes homeschooling easier with less pushback. However, this can be hard to achieve due to perfectionism, and it is critical to let go of the idea that every day must be perfect in order to see progress. Starting January 31, Pam is offering her Elevate Your Homeschool Coaching Program to provide live coaching, accountability, and a proven solution to consistency issues.

For links and more info visit https://pambarnhill.com/tmbh54

Today I get to talk with a dear friend of mine. Long before Sarah Mackenzie was author-extraordinaire and fabulous podcast host of The Read Aloud Revival, she was my buddy Sarah.

It has been so much fun watching her grow and share her skills over the past year. And yes, it was her nagging encouragement that made my own podcast a reality. Actually, her delight for the medium is just so infectious it is hard not to catch the podcasting bug.

Today I am talking with Janice Campbell from Everyday Education. Janice is an author, entrepreneur, curriculum developer, and most importantly, a homeschooling mom. In this episode we talk about homeschooling her four boys through graduation, the ins and outs of their homeschooling days, and why it is important for moms to model a love of learning for their kids.

How do you choose the best curriculum? Cathy Duffy is a well know curriculum expert who homeschooled her own three sons through high school. She has since researched and written about curricula for home education since the 1980s. Since Cathy is an absolute legend in the homeschooling community, I asked for her thoughts on selecting the very best curriculum. 

The Holiday Season is a great time for slowing things down a bit in your homeschool and enjoying the season. These tips and tricks will help you get rid of overwhelm and really enjoy the holidays with your family. 

A sure way to identify a homeschooler in the wild is the slight hesitation when you ask them what grade they are in. It's not that they aren't smart enough to know, but it's that they don't care. Arbitrary grade levels mean very little in their lives and even when told what grade level they would be in if they went to school, they often don't use the knowledge often enough to remember it. So if homeschoolers don't care about grade levels, how do they measure progress? That is what this podcast is all about. 

As busy homeschoolers it is so easy to get caught up in checking the boxes of those ever-important skill subjects. When we do that, though, we are missing out on the opportunity to enrich our kids learning in a variety of ways. My guest Rachel Figg explains how adding enrichment subjects enhances skill subjects enhances the skill subjects and easy ways to add them to our days -- even if we don't know which end of the paintbrush to use ourselves. 

Do you ever feel like you can't measure up to all the other homeschool moms on social media? Their kids say the funniest things. Their houses are so lovely. They always do the coolest science experiments. Meanwhile your kids just fight and you still haven't taken the shrink wrap off the science curriculum. Social media can be a comparison trap for homeschoolers that only makes us feel bad about ourselves. In this episode Pam reminds us how everything we see is edited and gives four tips for heathier social media use. 

One of the hardest things about homeschooling your kids is having to feed everyone three meals a day (Plus snacks! Oh the snacks!) day after day after day. The hunger never stops and making all the meals can easily overwhelm. In this episode Pam has three tips for helping you take control of the meals in your home so that no one goes hungry and you stay sane.