Homeschool Coffee Break

If your child acts like every lesson is punishment, the problem is probably not laziness — and this episode shows you what is really going on.
We are talking about how to motivate students not through pressure or entertainment, but through purpose and ownership. You will walk away with simple activities to try this week and a completely different way of looking at why your child resists learning in the first place.
Homeschool moms who are exhausted from pushing, bribing, and wondering what is wrong with their kids will find this episode both relieving and practical. When you understand what actually drives motivation in a child, you stop fighting the resistance and start working with who your child really is.
✅Why pressure and entertainment fail to produce lasting motivation
✅1 question to ask after any lesson that opens up real conversation
✅How one small choice completely shifts your child's attitude toward learning
✅Why motivation grows from meaning, not rewards
✅What it looks like when learning finally connects to real life
Grab the free masterclass mentioned in this episode and start raising motivated, purpose-driven learners today.
Resources for You
Free Masterclass: Four Steps to Raising Christian Leaders
Knowing Rediscovered Course (coming this summer)
The Missing Piece in Your Homeschool Vision
Show Notes:
Why Your Kids Resist Learning — And It's Not What You Think
If your child drags through school all day, resists every assignment, and acts like learning is punishment — that doesn't automatically mean you have a lazy child. Often the problem isn't laziness. It's a lack of purpose, a lack of ownership, and the feeling that they are just forced to learn these things. And that forcedness produces resistance.
Meaningful learning produces engagement. Kids don't need more constant pressure to go learn something. What do they need? They need a reason to care.
John Wesley Was the Fruit of Intentional Parenting
Last week we talked about Susanna Wesley and her sons John and Charles. I want to look a little bit at the fruit of what we talked about. Homeschooling should look like it has some kind of purpose and intention besides checking off the boxes. This is not theory. We see so many stories in history that show the fruit.
John Wesley is the fruit of Susanna's intention and purpose in raising her kids with a wide variety of types of education. He was shaped by a purposeful home. John Wesley grew up under Susanna Wesley's intentional instruction and discipline. The upbringing didn't simply train him to comply. It prepared him to think, to lead, and eventually shape others along the way. She prepared him spiritually, critically, academically — and he flew with it.
How are you raising your kids? Do they see any purpose in what they're doing? Or are they just sitting there waiting for mom to tell them the next thing to do?
Motivation Is Connected to Ownership, Not Entertainment
I believe motivation grows when a child knows that his life matters and his learning is going somewhere — instead of just doing something that someone told him to do. When a child feels like school is something being done to them, they're going to resist. They need to understand that learning is helping them grow into who God has made them to be.
If you're multitasking, come back to me for this one. Motivation is often connected to ownership, not entertainment. We think if we entertain our kids enough in school, they'll be motivated. That's not right. If every lesson feels like busy work, don't be surprised when your kids tune you out. Kids will lean in when they see some meaning in their lessons and their studies.
How to Start Connecting Learning to Real Life
I want to give you a little activity you can do this week. After your kids finish their schoolwork, ask each of them individually one simple question — why does this matter? Then zip your lips and listen. Don't turn it into a lecture. Use your two ears. Let it be a conversation.
They may actually have a reason. Or they may not have a reason at all. That will be very eye-opening — to see whether your kids think their learning really matters and what they have to say about it.
You want to start helping them connect their schoolwork to real life. My son Hunter was working on a paper and we were supposed to be studying Roman history. He didn't really care about history at the time. So the next day I said — what if we write it about Derek Jeter, the baseball player? Do you think he was motivated? You better believe it. He read the book. He was interested. Do you think he wrote a better paper? Yes. Why? He was motivated. He saw a purpose. He was interested in it.
We also ended up doing the science of baseball — the math and science of it — because he loves sports. All of a sudden he's interested because he sees a purpose. It connects to real life.
Give Your Kids One Small Choice
Let your child make one small choice in their subject. Ownership can begin with something very small. Hunter was also into animals, and one year he wrote the ABC Jungle Book — every page had a jungle animal with that letter, a paragraph about it, and an illustration. That was motivating because he thought those jungle animals were really cool.
You're not trying to overhaul everything overnight. I'm not telling you to do it all. Just pick one place where your child can make a choice about their school. One. And let them do it. Don't dictate. Don't tell them what to do. Let them learn their way. A little ownership in homeschooling is going to go a long way.
Does it really matter what topic they pick for their writing? No. Maybe your child is into animals, or dance, or boats — whatever it is. Especially in elementary, let them go to the library and pick a topic and get some books about it. It's that simple.
Traditional school trains children to wait for direction, and that produces compliance — but it does not produce motivation. We're not trying to raise kids who only work when someone is watching or when they get a reward. We want to raise kids who learn in all areas of life.
What This Looks Like in Real Life
I've had to learn the hard way too. Many times I told Hunter — no, you're going to write on this, you're going to do this — and it didn't work. They were not motivated. So if you've been feeling like you need to push your kids harder to motivate them, you are not alone.
Knowing how to motivate students starts with one simple shift — connecting their learning to purpose. That's where motivation begins to change. And that is a part of raising leaders, not followers.
I'm hosting a free masterclass — Four Steps to Raising Christian Leaders — and we will be talking about this very topic, including connecting your child's learning to purpose. It's completely free. The link is in the show notes. I hope to see you there.

If your homeschool feels like a scattered pile of tasks instead of a clear path forward, this episode is going to change how you see everything.
We are talking about homeschool vision — what it is, why most moms are missing it, and how two simple, practical activities this week can give your homeschool real direction and purpose. You will walk away with a one-sentence vision statement and a question that helps you evaluate everything you are already doing.
Homeschool moms who are tired of feeling reactive, copying everyone else, and second-guessing every decision will find this episode both clarifying and freeing.
When you build from vision instead of reacting to everything around you, your homeschool starts to feel like something you are intentionally building — not just surviving.
✅2 practical activities to do this week to add purpose in your homeschool
✅Why a homeschool without vision is just a pile of lessons
✅The 1 sentence that gives your entire homeschool a clear direction
✅The question that reveals if you are building something or just staying busy
✅Why reactive homeschooling is keeping you exhausted and stuck
Grab the free resource mentioned in this episode and start building a homeschool with real vision and direction today.
Resources for You
Homeschool Freedom Boot Camp: A 5-Day Live Experience (begins May 12)
Raising Leaders Not Followers Course VIP Wait List - FREE with exclusive benefits & events, just for our VIPers
Show Notes:
The Missing Piece in Your Homeschool: Vision
If your homeschool feels reactive, scattered, or like you're just trying to get through the day — you're not alone. A lot of us homeschool moms, homeschooling starts to feel like just a big string of tasks instead of a clear direction of where you are going. And some of that is because we are just giving our kids tasks. We are developing followers. They're not thinking for themselves.
Followers complete tasks. But leaders live from vision. A homeschool without vision is just a pile of lessons. A homeschool with vision gives you, mom, a path to shape your child, a path to make wise decisions, and a path to prepare for the upcoming school year.
Susanna Wesley Parented with Intention
I've talked about Susanna Wesley many times, but I want to go in a little different direction with her today. She was a mom who parented with intention. She didn't just drift around. She had 19 kids — and she raised a large family without her husband there many times.
And yet she still set aside time, even with a large family, to teach her children individually and regularly. About once a week or once every other week, she spent time individually with each of her kids. She didn't just manage behavior. She wanted to shape their minds and their hearts with a purpose.
Two of her sons, John and Charles Wesley, became very strong leaders in the Christian community. John Wesley began the Methodist denomination. Charles Wesley wrote over 4,000 to 6,000 hymns. They are the fruit and the results of an intentional mother.
I bet you would like your kids to be raised up like that — so that when they are adults, they are leading for Jesus and influencing for Jesus.
What Susanna Wesley Actually Did
Susanna Wesley realized education was more than academics. Here are a few of the things she made sure were going on in her home. She had a religious education that included daily devotions, time for worship and singing, and a Sabbath each week. She built routines — for sleeping, for meals, for dining. She worked on her kids being orderly and disciplined and taught them how to self-regulate.
Many of us need to be teaching our kids how to self-regulate, because when they have that self-control, they are going to grow up to be a different kind of person. I was listening to a podcast from Revive Our Hearts and they talked about a study done with four-year-olds. Each child was brought in and given a marshmallow. They were told — you can have it now, or if you wait until I come back, you get two.
About a third ate that marshmallow immediately. A third waited but not long enough. A third waited for the second marshmallow. When they followed up with these same kids at 18 years old, the ones who waited had self-control, could regulate themselves, and went on to have more successful lives. They had perseverance, strong work ethic, and could deal with frustrations and hard times. Even a four-year-old can begin learning to self-regulate.
She also was very purposeful in teaching manners. This is building character. She had a purpose with each of her kids and was teaching them far more than academics — because some of this other stuff is what will truly prepare our kids for adult life.
Do You Have a Vision for Your Homeschool?
Vision gives your homeschool direction instead of just a bunch of activities. It's what keeps you from making all your decisions based on feelings or what feels urgent. When you know why you are homeschooling, your choices get clear. You stop asking what do I do next and you start asking what are we building.
For me, I wanted to build my kids to think critically and think biblically. That is homeschooling and mothering with intention — and it is very different than reactive.
If you have a reactive homeschool, you're just chasing whatever the curriculum trends are, copying other moms because it looks like the right thing, changing direction constantly. But when you homeschool with intention and purpose, you are choosing tools and activities that match your family's goals. God made you different. He made your kids different. You need a vision for your homeschool.
Public school trains your kids to follow a system and wait for someone to tell them what to do. Christian homeschool vision trains kids to follow the truth.
Two Things to Do This Week
First, write one sentence that says what you want your homeschool to produce in your child. It doesn't need to be fancy — it needs to be simple and easy to understand. You might even put it on a sticky note wherever you sit down to homeschool or where you do your planning. Character, faith, confidence, wise thinking, a love of learning — what is it that you want to build in your children?
Second, pick one thing you already do in your homeschool and ask yourself — does this support our vision, or does it just fill up time? That one question can save you from a lot of busy work you don't need to be doing. You don't need more guilt, mom. You need direction.
What Happens When You Stop Copying Everyone Else
Janelle Kudson — she has seven kids — said she became so consumed with academics, and then God showed her there were more important things than just a rigorous academic experience. When she realized this, the way she saw homeschooling changed. She stopped measuring her success by checking off the checkboxes and started measuring it on a long-term foundation.
Are you building a long-term foundation? You may not see the results for years to come, but you should be making small steps each and every year to give your kids a solid foundation from where they can move into adult life. That's what happens when you stop copying everyone else and start homeschooling on purpose — your family's purpose. And that's really what raising leaders is all about. Knowing where you are going.
I've got a few events this month, and one of them is our Homeschool Freedom Boot Camp. We spend one day on vision and goals so that you can know exactly where you're headed. It is a five-day live experience — six days if you come as a VIP.
If you've been homeschooling reactively — just reacting to everything and copying everyone else — this is your chance to shift your perspective. Homeschool Freedom Boot Camp is where we start building a homeschool with direction, confidence, and purpose. And yes, this is the kind of foundation that leads right into Raising Leaders, Not Followers.
We begin on May 12th. Join here. You can also join the Raising Leaders, Not Followers VIP list for exclusive access to special bonuses and events in May. I can't wait to see you there.

Your kids can pass a test — but can they evaluate an idea, make a wise decision, or stand for truth when no one is watching? If that question makes you pause, this episode is exactly what you need to hear.
We are breaking down why the skills of critical thinking matter more than any answer in a textbook.. I’m also sharing 1 powerful habit that changes everything about how your kids learn and think:
✅The 1 daily habit that builds skills of critical thinking in any subject
✅Whether memorizing answers produces followers or leaders
✅Why asking questions is more powerful than any curriculum you can buy
✅What to do so you can see your kids start thinking
✅What it looks like when your child can finally evaluate ideas on their own
Grab the free resources mentioned in this episode and start building thinkers in your homeschool today.
Resources for You
FREE Read Aloud Magic
FREE Notebooking Pages
Become a VIP when you join the Raising Leaders Not Followers VIP Wait List
. . . . - Get extra perks as a VIP in May!
Show Notes:
Your Child Doesn't Need to Know the Answer — They Need to Know How to Think
Your child doesn't need to just know the answer. They need to know how to think and make decisions. A kid who can memorize facts but can't evaluate ideas is going to struggle in college, in work, and in life. Let's talk about a way to solve this problem today.
What Are You Actually Training Your Kids For?
I know you want the best for your kids. You want them to be prepared for the real world. You want them to have strong faith and discernment. But you're worried your kids may not be ready. You're tired of the idea that more school automatically means more success — that the more we do in school, the more successful they're going to be. These are myths.
Your goal shouldn't just be that your kid can pass a test. A test just memorizes — it analyzes facts. For me, our goal was that our kids would follow Jesus, think clearly and biblically, and make wise decisions when we weren't around. We wanted to prepare them for real life.
Schools teach answers. But leaders evaluate ideas. The problem is answers aren't enough. Schools teach to the test — it's the conveyor belt. Everyone does the same thing and gets a test to see if they've memorized all the answers. And it produces followers. Followers who just wait for direction. Followers who are waiting for approval or waiting for a worksheet to turn in.
Thinkers and leaders — that's what I wanted for my kids. Not necessarily the president of the United States, but kids who lead in their own life, in their home, in their family. If your child has only been trained to fill in the blanks, don't be surprised when they struggle to take ownership and they're just waiting for someone to tell them what to do.
So my question to you is — what are you training your children for?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Courage to Think for Yourself
I want to share a story about a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a German pastor and theologian during Nazi rule. The surrounding culture was demanding conformity, fear, and silence. But he refused to follow. He was going to stand for truth. He kept asking what was right before God — not what was safe or popular.
Bonhoeffer did not let the culture tell him what was true. He was surrounded by pressure, but he chose his own conviction. That is what discernment looks like.
I don't remember the entire story, but I think it's important that we raise our kids to not have blind compliance to what everyone's telling them to do — but the courage to stand for truth. Spiritually, yes, but also in what they're learning. The history books are being rewritten, and we need to have discernment to know what is truth and what is not.
Kids learn in school that it's just about the right answer, not the right question. They're afraid to be wrong. Discernment is both spiritual and practical. And kids need to learn how to pause, reflect, and ask what matters — and make sure their thinking is biblically based.
Susanna Wesley Raised Thinkers
Susanna Wesley was the mother of John Wesley and Charles Wesley. She home educated her children in the 1600s and was known for setting aside time to teach each of her kids individually rather than just letting them drift. She emphasized spiritual formation, discipline, and thoughtful thinking. She would ask questions.
John Wesley went on to start the Methodist church. Charles Wesley wrote somewhere between 6,500 and 9,000 hymns. I can't imagine writing a hymn — that takes a lot of thinking ability.
Susanna Wesley's home became a place where children learned to think about God, truth, and obedience with purpose. She wasn't just managing a household. She was shaping her children in character and in thinking. She didn't raise them to comply. She trained them to think, to question, and to live under God's truth.
Again — what are you training your kids for? Just to do what mom tells them to do? Or to think critically and biblically?
The One Habit That Changes Everything: Questions
Okay, how do you actually do this? It's really one habit that changes everything — questions. You can use questions in any subject area.
When I started using questions, it helped me relax and not be so worried about a checklist. I didn't even need curriculum for every subject because we could read books and ask questions. When I was a school teacher, I was supposed to follow the curriculum and couldn't really veer off of it — and that didn't encourage thinking on the part of my students. When I started homeschooling and started using questions, it changed everything. I was much more relaxed and much more intentional. My kids could take ownership by following their interests.
I remember Hunter was into sports, and we were studying Roman history — which he didn't love at the time. But he did love sports, so we let him write a paper on Derek Jeter, one of the greatest shortstops in baseball. He learned about baseball science, math, history — all of it. And you can always ask questions like — why does this matter? What am I missing? What does this tell me about God, people, or truth? Did this person act the way God would want them to act? Did they have honor? And then — now that you've done all this, what are we going to do with this information?
How to Start Using Questions This Week
Take one subject you're doing this week. Instead of a worksheet, ask one question about that topic. Keep it simple. Don't overteach. Let the conversation do the work.
And here's my trick — when you ask a question, do not answer your own question. Ask another question. You know what happens when there's quiet and you can't handle it? You give them the answer. And what are you training your kids to do? To wait until mom answers her own question, and then we can move on because I don't have to think.
Allow some time for quiet and for them to think. If they don't know the answer, ask a different question until you can begin a conversation. This is not a system or a lot of extra things to do. It is a way of life.
This is how I teach my grandkids. This is how I taught my kids — in science, literature, music, art, math, history, character building, even cleaning the house. Why do I have to do this? Well, why do you think you have to do this? Turn everything into a question and let them come up with the answers. It's not about your children having the right answer. It's about asking the right question.
What This Produces in Your Kids
Imagine your kids as confident decision makers. Kids who recognize truth. Teenagers who can question lies because they've been thinking on their own. Young adults who know how to act without panicking. Faith that lasts beyond your home.
One of my students, Tracy Smith, said it so well — I love the idea of getting off the conveyor belt. Our kids are not cookie cutters. They all have unique thoughts, ideas, and talents that God has given them. If they are not given the opportunity to explore those, their gifts and offerings to this world are stifled. We need to allow them the chance to come to their individual conclusions — and they will give the world something to think about instead of the world telling them what to think.
Another student, Rose, said after taking our leadership course — this helped me see how I could teach my kids to think logically. She was encouraged by the real life stories she could relate to, and she said the methods were transformational.
You are not alone. These are methods that work. They are real and you can achieve them.
The two free tools from last week — the Read Aloud Magic e-book and the free notebooking pages — combined with this idea of questions are three tools that can help you raise your kids to think well and think on their own. Grab those links in the show notes.
And stay close to my emails and this podcast because I've got a boot camp coming up that is going to show you how to implement all of this in a real homeschool life. I can't wait to share more details. If you want to get on the waitlist, the link is in the show notes.

Is your homeschool stuck in the explain-assign-check cycle? You're drowning in curriculum choices, trying to do all the activities, worried your kids are just going through the motions. The problem isn't that you need more homeschool tools—you need better purpose. This episode reveals the 2 simple homeschooling tools that stop the overwhelm and raise your kids to be thinkers, not followers.
These aren't random homeschool tools that add to your pile of things to do. They're the foundational homeschooling tools that shape character, build critical thinking, and make learning engaging, effective, and enjoyable for the whole family.
✅Why the explain-assign-check cycle doesn't raise thinkers (and what to do instead)
✅The 2 homeschool tools you can use today in any subject at any age level
✅How one homeschooling tool builds vocabulary, shapes worldview, and creates shared family experiences
✅Why the second tool slows learning down so kids actually understand and own it
✅How these homeschool tools give you confidence and stop the frantic forever feeling
Ready to simplify your homeschool with the right homeschooling tools? Grab the free Read Aloud Magic eBook and Notebooking Pages to start raising thinkers this week!
Resources for You:
Read Aloud Magic eBook (free)
Notebooking Pages (free)
Raising Leaders Not Followers VIP Waitlist
Show Notes:
Two Simple Homeschool Tools That Actually Teach Your Kids to Think
Does your homeschool feel like one long cycle of explain, assign, check, repeat — wash, rinse, repeat? If that's all you're doing is explaining, assigning, and checking, you're not raising your kids to be thinkers. You're just expecting them to regurgitate a lot of information.
Most homeschoolers are drowning in all the what to teach. They're not thinking enough about how kids actually learn. Today we're going to talk about two tools you can use this week — easy tools — so your kids are actually learning.
You Don't Need More Stuff. You Need a Better Purpose.
I don't know where you are right now in this part of the year, but some of you are finishing up your school year. A lot of you are already planning what curriculum to buy next. You're overwhelmed. There are so many choices. You're trying to be faithful to your kids and to homeschooling, but you're scattered. You want your kids to love Jesus, to think well, and to live life with confidence. But how do you do that in the midst of cooking three meals a day and chauffeuring your kids everywhere?
You don't need random homeschool stuff. You don't need a bigger pile. You just need a better purpose.
Here's what we do — and I say this on a regular basis. We leave the school but then we copy the school at home. We are tied to checklists. We are in a productivity mindset. We've got to go, go, go, check that off. Memorizing facts but not thinking. And I know you want your kids to be able to think for themselves, evaluate, and make wise decisions. But they don't become wise thinkers just by consuming a lot of information.
Leaders are shaped by the right tools, habits, questions, and reflection. So let's talk about those tools.
Tool #1: Read Aloud and Questions
One of my favorites. It is so simple. You can do it today. And it is reading aloud as a family.
Reading aloud strengthens your relationships because it happens together. It's like taking a trip together just going through a book. Quality fiction helps your kids learn empathy, compassion, and how to evaluate different circumstances — to see if this is the right way to live or not. They can discern between good and evil.
It builds vocabulary. It exposes your kids to big ideas. It's going to help shape their worldview. And it creates shared reference points for conversation.
I remember when we were reading the Little Bridges series. Steve was reading it at night for our kids, and we were somewhere in the van and they started talking about that grumpy old grandpa. We're so glad we don't have a grandpa like that. And we had a great discussion just driving down the road. That meant they had entered into the story and were participating in it on an emotional level.
When you're finished reading — and I do not stop in the middle of reading aloud and analyze all the parts — just let it soak over everyone and ask, what stood out to you? What do you remember most about this part of the story? And just see what they say. You might suddenly realize they're learning things you didn't even know they had paid attention to.
You don't need a lecture. You don't need a guidebook. You don't need a perfect discussion plan. You don't even need a degree in English. You just need a heart for your kids and for God — and then ask questions. Questions are such an easy way to learn. When you ask questions, learning becomes alive.
This is how homeschooling feels less like school at home and more like formation — discipleship, life skills.
I created a Read Aloud Magic bundle that has an e-book with all sorts of things about how to read aloud and a list of our family's favorite read aloud books. It's free in the show notes at howtohomeschoolmychild.com/readaloudmagic.
Tool #2: Notebooking
A lot of you are familiar with Charlotte Mason, but you don't really think notebooking is important so you don't do it. And yet it is one of the ways you can stop the overwhelm and stop the stress. I have moms that have said — when we started using this tool, things got better in our homeschool.
So what is notebooking? It gives your kids the freedom to express their understanding and be creative. It could be a written notebook. They may draw pictures. But it allows your kids ownership and responsibility for their own education. I like to say they take leadership in their own education.
That's what I wanted. I didn't want my kids to just do whatever I told them to do. I wanted it to be what they were learning — when we read a book or when we studied a topic.
Notebooking is not busy work like worksheets and textbooks. Notebooking is thinking on paper. It helps your kids process, reflect, and connect ideas.
Thomas Edison didn't sit around memorizing facts and hoping an invention would happen. He kept notebooks full of sketches, ideas, and experiments. His notebook was not just a record — it was part of his thinking process. He didn't separate thinking from writing. And that is exactly why I think notebooking matters so much in your homeschool.
It slows the learning down. Are you rushing your kids just to finish that checklist? Notebooking slows the learning down so your child can really understand it, learn it, and own it for themselves. It becomes a part of them.
Worksheets just check recall. Notebooking builds ownership and understanding. It takes the pressure off getting the right answer and just getting through it.
When Hunter was about seven, he would tell me what he learned and I would type it out and then he could copy it into his notebook — because he may not have been ready to get all the thoughts on paper yet. But as they get older, they should be able to do this on their own.
I had one mom tell me — homeschooling wasn't working out as I envisioned. I felt like a slave to the curriculum. After six years of schooling that way, she discovered notebooking. It cut the busy work from their day and helped her take the reins of their homeschool with confidence.
Don't you want that confidence?
What to Do This Week
Pick a book and read it out loud, then ask one question — what stood out to you? That's it.
For notebooking, grab the free notebooking pages linked in the show notes. Then find one worksheet you were going to use — and get rid of it. Replace it with a notebooking page. Or better yet — let your children pick a topic from the notebooking pages. They are taking ownership and leadership of their own education. They are growing into a leader and not a follower that just does what someone tells them to do.
For younger kids, they may not be able to write sentences yet — but they can draw pictures. Put the pages together in a notebook, staple it, or get a binder. Super easy.
Read aloud encourages them to enjoy reading and learning. Notebooking allows them to follow topics they are actually interested in. Your homeschool does not need to feel frantic — not forever, and not even now. When you use the right tools, your kids become thinkers, not followers.
Grab the free Read Aloud Magic e-book and the free notebooking pages — links are in the show notes. Both of these can help you step out with confidence in your homeschool.
And if you want help building a homeschool that actually forms your kids, I've got two exciting events coming up in a few weeks. Get on the waitlist and I'll tell you exactly what's going on. In the past, this has helped moms stop the overwhelm, stop the guessing, and start homeschooling with a purpose instead of a checklist.

What if adding more to your homeschool day is actually hurting your kids' education? More activities, more workbooks, more subjects — it sounds like the right move, but it may be doing the opposite of what you think. There's a better way, and it's simpler than you'd expect.
In this episode, we dig into why doing less in your homeschool can lead to more real learning — and how to start making that shift today. Here's what we cover:
✅Why piling on more subjects and activities produces less actual education (not more)
✅How to replace a workbook with 1 simple question that builds real thinking skills
✅The power of going deep into one topic — and why your kids will actually enjoy learning again
✅Why you need to stop asking "did we finish everything?" — and what to ask instead
✅The Charlotte Mason method that helps kids retain more with shorter, focused lessons
You don't have to do it all. Listen to this episode and walk away with a simpler, more intentional homeschool day — starting tomorrow.
👉 Grab the free Read, Write, Discuss chart in the show notes and start using it this week!
Resources for You
Free Read, Write, Discuss Chart
How to Simplify Your Homeschool (free 3-day video course)
Show Notes:
What If Doing Less Actually Gave Your Kids a Better Education?
What if the reason you feel overwhelmed as a homeschool mom is because you're trying to do too much? And what if doing less actually gave your kids a better education? Today we're going to talk about a problem that I think many homeschool moms have. They want their kids to have the best education, so they just keep adding and adding and adding. And all you're doing is strangling your kids' love for learning and setting them up to have a bad attitude.
We Left Public School But Brought It With Us
Here's what happens. We leave the public school system, but we bring it with us. We don't like what they did or are doing, but we bring it with us anyway. Traditional schools are designed to cover material. They produce followers. They produce workers.
The Industrial Revolution changed education. They wanted workers. They wanted people that would follow. They didn't want thinkers, they did not want leaders — they wanted workers to come to work and not question. And that's the model you're following when you do the same things as the public school or the traditional grade-level model. It's not designed for deep understanding.
People say, oh, that one-room schoolhouse — they didn't learn hardly anything. But they learned a lot more in the one-room schoolhouse than I think our kids do today. They had kids at different levels, and an 8-year-old might hear something that a 12-year-old was learning and pick it up right alongside them.
Charlotte Mason Had It Right — Go Deep, Not Wide
Charlotte Mason emphasized short lessons, but go deep. Her students retained more because they engaged deeply. How about today? Are you just trying to get through the checklist and get through everything? Or do you focus on one topic deeply?
Especially with older kids and teenagers — and this is something we talk about in our Raising Leaders course — they need to pick a topic and dive deep into it. Maybe for a whole month. If a kid likes motorcycles, he can do the science of motorcycles, the math of motorcycles, the history of motorcycles, he can draw some motorcycles. There's a lot you can do with one topic. And when you let them choose, they take ownership. They dive deep. And they're going to learn their math, they're going to learn science — all of it.
With younger kids, you can still do the same thing. It's called a unit study. Read some books, do some hands-on activities, watch some videos. Because here's the thing — we think if we give them a whole lot to do, they're learning. But that's not really the case. Your kids take a test on Friday and forget it by Monday. That's not real learning.
More Activities Can Actually Produce Less Education
When we have a lot of activities and a lot to cover in a day, more really produces less education. Kids are rushing to get it all done. They're not taking time to think about it. They're in information overload and they're not retaining the information. It's just a checklist. It's the conveyor belt. It's a productivity system — and I know you want something better for your kids. You want a true education.
My son Hunter didn't do math from 1st grade to 5th grade, and he caught up in a year and a half. When we put him in private school in 10th grade, he won the math award for the whole school. So go figure. It's okay to not do every subject every day.
Even when I was a public school teacher, we didn't do every subject every day. I taught social studies, the teacher next door taught science, and we would flip-flop every three weeks. My kids got social studies for three weeks, then science for three weeks.
Practical Things You Can Do Right Now
First, if you've got a bunch of workbooks — stop the workbooks. Use real books, like Charlotte Mason talks about. Read together, use it for copy work, use it for dictation, notebooking, narration back. Narrate orally. If you've got younger kids, let them write a narration in a notebook. As they get older, keep a reading journal where they write about whatever they're reading. It's very simple and you can do it in any subject that you have a book. You could even do it with a movie you watch together or a newspaper.
As your kids get older, I really encourage you to use our Read, Write, Discuss method. Every day they read. Every day they write one page in their journal. And once a week, you have a discussion about whatever book you're reading together.
Another thing you can do is cut one assignment today. No workbook page, no nothing. Instead, replace that one assignment with — tell me what you learned, and what do you think about it. Let them talk. Most kids would rather sit and talk about it than do a workbook. Those workbooks strangle them and bring bad attitudes, I think.
Stop Asking "Did We Finish Everything?"
That question puts pressure on your kids. That is a source of bad attitude. I'm a Labor Day to Memorial Day schooler, and wherever we were at Memorial Day, we took the summer off and picked right back up on Labor Day. We still learned. My kids were still being educated — they just weren't doing the formal reading and writing, but wherever we were in our subjects, we just picked it right back up.
Instead of asking, did we finish everything — ask this instead. Did my child think today? If they didn't, they're just regurgitating information.
At dinner tonight, ask — what's the one thing that stood out to you today? Or what was your high and your low? Even a 3-year-old can answer that. When you hear what stood out to them, you begin to see inside your child's mind and their heart about what they are truly learning. And you might be able to pursue it in ways you didn't even think about.
Leaders think deeply. They don't need to think widely. Focus on fewer subjects, but go deep in each one of them. Quit doing more. Do less subject areas, and go deep.
In the show notes, I have our Read, Write, Discuss chart — grab that here. I also have our How to Simplify Your Homeschool three-day video course. They're very short videos, less than five minutes each, and each one has an activity you can do. It's for you, Mom — to help you simplify and stop the overwhelm.