Homeschool Coffee Break

You joined the Facebook group & went to the meet-up hoping for real answers. You left with 15 curriculum recommendations, 5 co-ops to research, and more overwhelm than you started with.
A noisy homeschool support group isn't what you need. Purposeful, Bible-based community is.
This episode shows you how to filter out the noise and find the kind of support that actually builds your homeschool from the inside out — with 3 practical steps you can take starting today:
✅Why most homeschool support groups create analysis paralysis instead of peace
✅How to audit your current sources of advice and cut what's draining you
✅The power of ONE monthly Bible-based focus, instead of constantly switching direction
✅Why a simple, daily routine matters more than a packed schedule or a perfect curriculum
✅2 questions to ask any homeschool mom that instantly deepen the conversation
Click the link below to join the Insider FastPass and get the targeted, Bible-based support your homeschool actually needs.
Resources for You
Insider FastPass (free live workshop, exclusive bonuses, dinnertime conversation starters)
Free Masterclass - 3 Tips to Lead Your Family with Peace & Confidence (From Schedule Manager to Spiritual Mentor)
Show Notes:
Why You Leave Feeling More Overwhelmed Than When You Walked In
You join a local Facebook group or head to a park meetup hoping to find encouragement, connection, and real answers for your homeschool. But within ten minutes you're sitting in a circle listening to complaints. Or worse — you leave with a list of 15 new curricula to check out, five co-ops to consider, and 10 blogs you must read. You drive home feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and more isolated than before you even walked in.
The truth is most traditional homeschool support groups give you noisy advice — venting sessions instead of targeted, biblical direction.
A Room Full of Opinions Is Not the Same as Real Support
A room full of opinions does not equal a community of support. Support groups that focus on venting about kids or sharing endless online ideas create analysis paralysis instead of peace. And all you're really looking for is peace — peace within yourself so you'll know what direction to go, peace in your home, peace in your family.
You don't have extra hours to sift through Pinterest or wander through internet forums and Facebook groups to find simple, battle-tested ways to add the Bible to your routine and bring purpose and intention to your homeschool. If you're getting real support, you would not leave feeling guilty. You would find ways to simplify your day and focus your kids' hearts on Jesus.
What Abigail Adams Did Instead
During the Revolutionary War, Abigail Adams was homeschooling her kids on a farm in Quincy — surrounded by chaos and war. John Adams wrote to her: the education of our children is never out of my mind. He told her to train them in virtue, habituate them in industry, activity, and spirit.
She didn't look for a bunch of social groups to get to with all her kids. She didn't need to vent. Instead, she intentionally built a network of targeted correspondents — women who wrote letters to one another and focused their conversations on virtue, on biblical duty, and on practical family and home management. They sharpened each other so they could raise their kids up to be leaders.
Abigail's son, John Quincy Adams, eventually became president — just like his father. She was very purposeful in who she spent time with. And I think that's something you really need to consider. Where are you getting your support and who are you spending your time with?
Sarah Edwards and the Power of Intentional Community
Sarah Edwards was the wife of Jonathan Edwards and raised 11 kids who all became influential in the community. Visitors from around the colonies would come to her home just to watch what she was doing and learn from her methods of teaching her children.
She replaced chaotic advice with clear, peaceful routines in her house. She met regularly with other moms for direct, Bible-focused encouragement. And her intentional mentorship produced lasting results.
Someone did a study on the Jonathan Edwards family around 1900 — about 200 years after they lived. Here's what that family produced: 13 college presidents, 65 professors, 100 lawyers, a dean of a law school, 30 judges, 80 holders of public office, three US senators, mayors of three large cities, governors of three states, a vice president of the United States, and members of their family wrote 135 books, edited 18 journals and periodicals, and sent out 100 missionaries overseas.
That is what intentional, faith-focused family leadership looks like across generations.
Filter Your Input — A Quick Audit
You cannot add extra hours to your day. So you need to look honestly at where you're spending your time and getting your ideas. Take inventory. Where are you getting your homeschool community and advice right now? If those sources are making you feel like you aren't doing enough — cut them off. If they leave you feeling drained and overwhelmed — mute them. That is not where you need to get support.
Replace the endless scrolling with one Bible-based focus for the month. We're not adding anything. Most of you probably eat a meal together anyway — so just be more intentional and purposeful around that time. That's a very simple place to start.
Real growth happens when you focus on executing one thing each month. Not adding a bunch of busy work. Not adding more curriculum. One focused action with one or two people who can support you and give you ideas. That is how real growth happens.
Two Questions to Ask Instead
The next time you connect with a fellow homeschool mom or even talk to your spouse, skip the generic how is school going. Ask these two questions instead.
What is one small area of character that God is helping your family work on this week? Maybe it's work ethic. Maybe it's kindness. Maybe it's telling the truth. Just one small area.
And what is one thing you can simplify or completely take off your plate today? When you do these two things — focus on character and remove one thing — it shifts your environment from all the overwhelming noise to targeted, peaceful action.
You don't need another 50 blogs or podcasts to follow. You need someone who can walk alongside you with proven, simple steps. Someone just a little further along than you — like my friend Susan, who was one stage ahead of me with her kids. I watched what she was doing in high school, in college, as they got married, as a grandma. That's what you need.
Imagine starting each month with a clear Bible-based teaching, a simple guide to grasp onto, and monthly office hours where you can ask your exact questions face to face. That's how you stop feeling isolated and start building roots into your kids.
I'm launching something new and I'd love to invite you to our FastPass Insider Circle. Members will get a free live workshop with me where you can ask your questions about being purposeful, intentional, and character-building in your homeschool. You'll also get exclusive bonuses, including dinnertime conversation starters for your kids. I'm also hosting a free masterclass next week where we'll talk about getting the Bible into your children — not just teaching it, but showing them how to live it. Links are in the show notes.

You're checking every box, adding every curriculum, and running every errand — but something still feels missing. Real family connection doesn't come from doing more. It comes from being more intentional with what you're already doing every single day.
This episode gives you 3 practical shifts to build deeper family connection without adding a single thing to your schedule:
✅Why your kids will remember the atmosphere of your home far more than any worksheet
✅How to turn meal prep, car rides, and bedtime into powerful discipleship opportunities
✅Why one monthly family theme simplifies your home and deepens your roots
✅The dinner question method that builds family connection in 10 to 15 minutes
✅How to shift from manager mom to environment director and STOP burning yourself out
Click the link below to grab the Insider FastPass and get the step-by-step support to make this happen in your home.
Resources for You
Insider FastPass (opening mid-September - get exclusive bonuses)
Gratitude Prompts for dinnertime discussion (Bonus for Insider FastPass members, so sign up for the Insider FastPass)
Show Notes:
You Don't Need to Add One More Thing to Your Schedule
It's a typical Tuesday morning. The kitchen table is buried with open math workbooks, scattered craft supplies, and half-eaten snacks. You're running on empty trying to teach fractions while mentally thinking about what to fix for dinner. And then you ask yourself the question every dedicated homeschool mom asks — am I doing enough? Do I need a new curriculum? A new Bible study? A new chore chart?
Here's the hard truth. You don't need to add a single thing to your packed schedule. You need to shift your mindset.
Moving from daily chaos to deep family connection isn't about adding more. It's about shifting your focus to one intentional rhythm at a time.
The Lie Homeschool Moms Believe
Homeschool moms are bombarded with a lie that a peaceful, purposeful home comes from doing more subjects, more co-ops, more structured programs. We constantly add tasks to our day and end up acting like managers running an event schedule rather than moms discipling hearts in their home.
The reality is your kids are not going to remember 50 worksheets that you checked off. They don't really care about them. And to be honest, I don't think worksheets really educate children that much. They remember the culture and the atmosphere of your home.
I was sitting at our kitchen table a while ago — the same table we've had since the early 90s — and my kids still remember having breakfast together and me going over a little flip chart devotional. Do they remember their spelling list? No. Do they remember their math workbook? No. But they do remember the connections we made at mealtime, after mealtime, and throughout the day.
Stop asking yourself what else do I need to do to make this homeschool successful. Start asking — how can I tighten up what I'm already doing and bring purpose to every single day?
Use What You Already Have
You already have built-in daily touch points — breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Morning wakeup routines. Morning school routines. Car rides to and from activities. Bedtimes. Every single one of these is a touch point where you can build deep family connection with your kids.
Discipleship doesn't require an extra 45-minute block of time on your schedule. It happens in micro moments. My son Hunter couldn't get a word in edgewise at the dinner table because he had two older sisters. But if it was just Hunter and me in the car, he could talk a storm. Car rides are golden. I learned to close my mouth and listen to whatever he had to say — and I started to learn what was inside his heart and what was going on in his life.
Take walks with your kids. I just got back from a few weeks with one of our families and I took those kids on a walk three or four mornings a week. You learn a lot when you're walking together.
Chores Are Not Interruptions — They Are Your Homeschool
Stop viewing meal prep, cleanup, and errands as interruptions. They are not interruptions to your homeschooling. They are your homeschooling.
When you invite a child into the kitchen or hand off a complete responsibility, you are training them in leadership and ownership skills without opening a single book or adding another lesson plan. One of our moms, Tasha, shared that her eight-year-old made practically the whole spaghetti dinner on his own — he wanted to, he asked her, he cooked the meat, fixed the bread, put together the sauce. She helped with the boiling water. That's an eight-year-old.
When Gentry was seven or eight, she asked if she could make chocolate chip cookies and she did it on her own. Don't be a helicopter mom. Let your kids participate. When they do, they take ownership, they take leadership, they learn life skills — and those things can't be taught by a book or a worksheet.
Move From Manager Mom to Environment Director
A management mom is focused on checking off boxes — usually someone else's boxes. An environment director mom focuses on the spiritual and emotional climate of their home. She uses ordinary routines to cultivate character, self-direction, heart connections, leadership skills, and life skills.
Thomas Edison was basically kicked out of school because they said he was too dull to learn. His mother Nancy didn't panic. She didn't buy ten different textbooks. She shifted her home to focus on one core rhythm — relentless curiosity and practical exploration right in their basement. She didn't add overwhelming academic hours. She allowed Thomas Edison to explore and sharpen his skills. And she built a deep relationship with him that anchored him his entire life. He invented the light bulb after what he called 10,000 ways to not make a light bulb.
George Washington's mother, Mary Ball Washington, lost her husband and didn't have money for elite private tutoring. She anchored her home in daily practical life skills, strong discipline, and copying simple moral principles. She narrowed her focus to character and practical teamwork. She raised a young man capable of leading a new nation.
One Monthly Family Theme
Pick one thing to work on for 30 days. That is your family theme for the month. When the whole household focuses on one biblical concept for 30 days, you're not adding more curriculum. You're adding purpose and intention in one direction.
In our Homeschool Encouragement Circle this month, we're working on family dinners and building deep roots. Last month we worked on our family is a team. It wasn't adding more — it was being purposeful and intentional from a biblical perspective. Everyone from your preschooler to your teenager can participate.
Stop trying to overhaul every room, every schedule, every book, and every habit all at once. Pick one. Work on it for 30 days. Anchor your entire month on that one simple faith-based goal — and everyone in the house knows about it.
Turn Dinner Into a Heart-Connecting Moment
You don't need two hours to build family connection. You need 10 or 15 minutes a day, and dinner time is one of the best places.
Turn the phones off, sit around a simple meal — leftovers and sandwiches are just fine — and ask an open-ended question. Try the High-Low-Buffalo. High — what was the best part of your day? Low — what was the hardest part? Buffalo — what was something unexpected? Let everyone go around. You immediately turn a standard family dinner into a heart-connecting leadership moment without adding a single minute to your calendar.
And even outside dinner, instead of telling your kids go clean your room, ask — look around, what needs to happen before we walk out the door? I was doing this with our five and seven-year-olds last week. It turns mundane chores into thinking moments.
You don't need another massive parenting book or a new course. What changes a home is simple monthly themes, a clear guide to follow, a community walking the same path, and continuous encouragement. You're going to have highs, lows, and some buffaloes of your own too.
If you're looking for step-by-step support, month after month, we have an Insider Fast Pass opening in mid-September. Sign up at the link in the show notes. If you get on the Fast Pass, you'll get a special workshop with strategies you can implement right away, plus our gratitude prompts to encourage dinnertime discussion as a bonus.
Your kids aren't going to remember those 50 worksheets. They will remember the time you spent together.

If you’ve ever started your day trusting God — and ended it trying to control everything — this episode is for you. Negative thoughts don’t just affect your mood. They shape your homeschool, your relationships, and the way you mother. In this episode, you’ll learn 2 practical steps to take back your mind with truth.
Most life’s battles are won or lost in the mind — and homeschool moms are fighting on more fronts than most. This episode walks you through exactly how to identify the negative thought patterns that keep pulling you back, replace them with truth from God’s Word, and finally stop the spiral before it takes your whole day.
✅Why negative thoughts are actually easier to think the more you think them (and how to break the cycle)
✅The 2-step process to demolish mental strongholds — straight from Scripture
✅What to do when you compare yourself to other moms and feel like you’re not enough
✅Real examples of the lies homeschool moms believe — and the specific truths that demolish them
✅Why waiting on God renews your strength — even when waiting feels impossible
Ready to stop letting your thoughts run your day? Click the link below to join the waitlist for the Raising Leaders community and get early access.
Resources for You
Win the War in Your MInd, by Craig Groeschel
Homeschool Encouragement Circle
Show Notes:
Winning the Battle of the Mind
Most of life's battles are won or lost in the mind. And I decided to talk about this topic today partly because once I made the decision to tackle it, the enemy has been having a field day in mine.
Yesterday I came home from church and wrote in my journal — I will wait on you, God. I will trust you, God. You are my joy, my strength, my deliverer. By evening I was trying to take control of all of my life and everyone else's life, fixing everyone's problems. I was not trusting. I was not waiting. It was all going on up here. And today I had to apologize. I had to confess my sin of trying to control someone. I wrote in a text — I'm sorry for not being patient. I'm sorry for not being kind. I'm sorry for being proud. Will you forgive me?
Waiting on God is really hard. It requires patience, self-control, and trust and faith in God.
What Scripture Says About the Mind
Psalm 25:3 says no one who waits on the Lord will be put to shame. That word wait also means trust and hope. No one who trusts in the Lord, no one who hopes in the Lord, will ever be disgraced. When we take it off of us and give it to God and put our trust and faith in Him — that is when we can move forward.
Isaiah 40:31 says but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint. That word wait again — those who wait on the Lord, who hope in the Lord, who trust in the Lord.
Craig Groeschel and Winning the War of the Mind
During the Texas blizzard in February, I went online to watch church. I came across Craig Groeschel beginning a four-part series on winning the war of the mind. I want to share a few things he shared that Sunday and show how I've been applying them as a mom, a grandma, and in helping kids with their education.
He makes this statement — most of life's battles are won or lost in the mind. So are we waiting on God or are we taking things into our own hands? Taking things into our own hands means saying — I can control my life. I can do better. It's all on me. That's wrong.
Are you having a worried attitude or a peaceful attitude? If we're worried, we have fear. If we have peace, we're casting all our cares on God — casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. Do we have a negative mindset or a positive mindset? A negative mindset means we're critical and complaining. A positive mindset means we have faith in Jesus, we are thankful.
And here's the key thought — what comes into your mind comes out in your life. In your words. In your actions. What are you filling your mind with? That's what's going to come out in your life.
Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. Let me repeat that. Your life is moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. What are those strong thoughts pushing you toward?
Renewing Your Mind With Truth
Romans 12:2 says do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — His good, perfect, and pleasing will.
Ephesians 4:23 says let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy. I pray this verse almost every day. I say — Holy Spirit, renew my thoughts, attitudes, and emotions. Renew our families.
And 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 tells us how we fight these battles in our mind. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.
We don't fight with the world's weapons. We fight with God's weapons — the Holy Spirit, prayer, and truth.
Two Steps for Overcoming Negative Thoughts
Step one — identify the biggest stronghold. What is holding you down? What is churning in your head? Name it. When we think a negative thought, there is a chemical release in the brain — a dopamine release — that gives a temporary high and then pulls us back down. And every time we think that negative thought, it becomes easier to think it again. Dr. Caroline Leaf is an expert in neuroplasticity and talks about this very idea — taking our thoughts and rewiring our minds so we think positively.
So first, name the stronghold. What is it for you? Maybe you feel like a failure as a mom. Maybe you feel like your marriage isn't good enough. Maybe you compare yourself to other moms, other bloggers, other speakers.
I'll be really honest — I struggle with comparing myself to other bloggers and authors and speakers. I see bloggers get book deals and I think — I guess I'm not as important. That is a stronghold. I am comparing myself and saying I'm not enough.
I once spoke at a conference in a workshop at 5 p.m. — not a great time — and they had doubled up everything that evening. Zero people showed up to my session. I'm admitting this to you because it was humiliating. But I had to say — God, you took each person at that conference to the workshop where they needed to be, and this is just not the one they needed to hear. I had to humble myself.
Step two — name the truth to demolish that stronghold. God says He has given us weapons to demolish strongholds, and one of those weapons is truth. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
So instead of — I'm comparing myself to other bloggers and I'm not enough — speak the truth. I have been given everything I need for life and godliness. I don't need more. God gives me all I need. God is using me in a special way with moms and wives. He uses me when I trust Him. I walk by faith, not by sight.
Say that truth every morning when you get up. Speak truth to yourself. That is godly self-care.
Tim Tebow said it this way — when I wish I were like someone else, I'm really being mad at God. He didn't make me like that person. He made me. And when I compare myself and wish I were different, I'm not accepting who God made me. He has given us gifts and callings, and we need to walk in those.
The truth is Jesus Christ. Name the stronghold. Name the truth. And the truth will set you free.
I'll put a link in the comments to Craig Groeschel's book on the mind, as well as Dr. Caroline Leaf's book — both deal with retraining our minds and getting our thoughts focused in the right direction. It takes some work, but it is absolutely possible.
Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts, your questions, or your favorite springtime activity.

What if your homeschool needs to change because life has changed? Flexible homeschooling gives you permission to adjust your lessons, priorities, and expectations without feeling like you are failing your children.
In this episode, you’ll discover how to keep learning meaningful when life gets hard, even if your normal homeschool schedule is impossible right now. You’ll learn how everyday life, books, nature, conversations, and relationships can still provide rich educational experiences.
✅3 priorities to preserve when life feels overwhelming
✅Why a minimum viable homeschool may be exactly what you need
✅How everyday life can become meaningful education
✅Why your relationship with your children is not an interruption
✅How 2–3 minutes of quiet prayer can help you find direction
Want help simplifying your homeschool during a difficult season? Grab the resources below by clicking the links.
Resources for You
Don’t Worry Prayers
Homeschool Encouragement Circle
Read Aloud Magic Pack
Jim Hodges Audio Books
Show Notes:
What If Homeschool Doesn't Look Like Homeschool for a While?
Sometimes we sit down with our carefully planned homeschool planner and schedule — and then life happens. Someone gets sick. A parent needs care. You move. A child isn't sleeping. You have appointments every week, sometimes every single day. And you can't make homeschool look like what you're picturing in your mind.
What if the most faithful thing you can do in this season isn't to figure out how to get your old homeschool back — but to figure out what homeschool needs to look like for now?
You Are Not a Failure
When life falls apart and you're trying to homeschool, the guilt pressure is real. I'm not doing enough. I'm not doing it right. My kids are not going to be prepared for adult life. I'm a failure.
That is not true. Let me just say it again. You are not a failure. You are doing exactly what God has called you to do. You just need to press into the season of life you're actually in right now. Give yourself permission to acknowledge this — this is a hard season. You don't have to pretend everything is normal when it isn't.
Hard seasons may require fewer subjects, shorter lessons, more read-alouds, more audiobooks, more independent work, and more learning through everyday life. That is not quitting. That is adjusting.
What Are Two or Three Things You Want to Preserve?
If life is falling apart, I want to encourage you — what are two or three things you want to preserve in your homeschool right now? Not five subjects, not ten activities. Two or three things. Let those become your priorities. Everything else is secondary.
For me, personally, thinking back to when we were homeschooling, I know what I would choose. The first would be Bible. The second would be reading — reading aloud to my children, and my kids reading on their own if they knew how. Because I believe with reading you can cover almost anything. If those were the only two things I got done every day for an entire month because I was in a hard season of life, I would say — okay. It'd be hard, because I'm a Type A person. But that's where I would be.
Think minimum viable homeschool instead of perfect homeschool. Keep the basics moving without trying to maintain your ideal schedule. Reading plus one meaningful thing might be all you get done during a difficult day. And that's enough.
Maria Montessori Started Without the Perfect Anything
Maria Montessori's first children's house opened in 1907 in a very poor neighborhood in Rome. She was serving about 50 kids ages 2 through 6 who had been left without adequate care from their parents. She didn't begin with the perfect classroom or perfect curriculum. She observed the kids and created an environment around what they actually needed — real-life activities, independence, exploration, and allowing kids to work at their own pace.
Sometimes our job isn't to force our original plan to work. It's to observe our kids and our circumstances and ask — what do they need right now?
Don't Underestimate Real Life as Learning
A sick child can learn about the body by taking care of their body. Moving to a new place can involve geography, budgeting, planning, writing, and research about where you're going. Caring for grandparents teaches compassion and responsibility. Cooking gives you math, reading, science, and lots of practical skills.
A difficult season can still be an educated season. Don't write it off.
If you're in this season of life, make a life as school list. Write down three things your kids can learn from the season you're in right now. If it's moving — map the new area, calculate the distance, write about the experience, start a travel journal. Real life provides so many educational opportunities. Take advantage of it.
Charlotte Mason was educated at home as an only child, and her later educational philosophy was built on a broad education through books, nature, history, literature, and experiences — not dry facts. If you're moving, you can read books in the car. You can visit new parks. You can look at the history of the area. You can find literature set in the places you're driving through. That's natural. That's real learning.
Protect Your Relationships
It's not we have to get school done. That becomes a checklist. If everyone is exhausted, no one is going to learn anything and there is no lesson there. Use this time to read together. Eat lunch together. Go outside for a walk. Go to the backyard, eat lunch in the fort, or have an outside picnic.
Even that can be educational — you can look at the nature around you, listen to what you hear, see what's happening, and go back inside and research some of those things. But more than anything, your relationship with your children is not an interruption to your homeschool. It is the most essential part of it.
Pray — and Read the Psalms
Hard situations require prayer. Two things — pray and read the Psalms. The Psalms are soothing to the soul when things are hard. Open up and just start reading, and it will be calming.
Go to God and ask for peace and wisdom. I would encourage you to have silent prayer — put a timer on for two or three minutes, ask God what He wants you to do in your situation, and then be quiet and listen. Write down any thoughts you receive during that time. When it's over, evaluate them. If those thoughts don't contradict the Bible, I would say go for it.
That is what I do pretty much every morning right here at this table as I plan my day. When I started it with a genuine desire — God, what do you want me to know today, what do you want me to do today — it changed my prayer life. And I think it will change yours, especially in a hard season.
A hard situation does not mean you failed at homeschooling. Sometimes faithfulness looks like doing less and knowing what matters most. Your homeschool can change as seasons change in your life. That's not failure — that's wisdom.
I have a few things to help you right now. The Don't Worry Prayers are scripture-based prayers moms can use when they're in the middle of a hard situation and feeling worried. I'll put a link in the show notes. Our new Homeschool Encouragement Circle is centered around what matters most — that's the theme, and I'll leave a link to that as well. And if you'd like help with read-alouds, the Read Aloud Magic pack gives lists of books and shows you how to use read-alouds in any season of life. All links are in the show notes.

Let’s celebrate - 200 episodes!
You’re doing everything you think you’re supposed to do — finishing the curriculum, adding more activities, checking every box — but still wondering if it is enough. The homeschool help you actually need is not another thing to add. It is permission to do less and purpose to guide what stays.
After 200 episodes of conversations with homeschool moms, this episode shares 5 things that actually matter in your homeschool — and most of them will surprise you with how much they simplify instead of adding to your plate:
✅Why you do NOT have to teach every subject every day or even every year — and what to do instead
✅Why more curriculum & activities almost always lead to more burnout, not better kids
✅How to shift from teaching your kids what to know to teaching them how to think
✅Why character and leadership must be built intentionally — not left to chance
✅The simple purpose filter that helps you make every homeschool decision easier
Click the link below to join Raising Leaders Not Followers and get the framework that finally makes your homeschool feel purposeful.
Resources for You
Raising Leaders Not Followers fall class
Homeschool Encouragement Circle
Show Notes:
200 Episodes — 5 Things I Wish I'd Known Sooner
200 episodes. When I recorded my first episode back in 2022, I couldn't even imagine that. Almost four years later, here we are — years of conversations about homeschooling, thousands of moms listening, asking questions, struggling, learning, trying to figure it all out.
And meanwhile, my kids are grown adults raising their own kids, and I'm getting to do some of the homeschool activities with my grandkids now.
These are not five things to add to your schedule — that would be completely overwhelming and would never give you that coffee break. These are five things to help you take things off your plate so you can do what's most important.
#1: You Don't Have to Teach Everything, Every Day, or Every Year
Homeschool moms feel like they're constantly behind. You're looking at the curriculum thinking — we didn't finish this, we haven't covered that, we're already behind in this subject.
But when I was a public school teacher for six years, I never finished a curriculum. Not once. Does that give you some grace and permission to take a step back?
Your kids have years to learn. Not everything has to happen this week. Not every subject needs the same amount of attention every single year. Some seasons require more academics. Some seasons require more rest, relationship, and character building. Simply getting through life.
The verse of the day when I was preparing this episode was Galatians 6:9 — let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. There are seasons of dormancy, and what's happening under the earth is preparing for growth. When you slow down, your kids will be more prepared to grow into whatever God has called them to do.
Rest isn't failure. Homeschool is not a race to see how much you can get done in 180 days. Homeschool is to truly prepare our kids for life.
I took Hunter off math from 1st grade through 5th or 6th grade. In 6th grade, he caught up in a year and a half. When we sent him to a private school in 10th grade, he won the math award his first year. I took Gentry off math in 7th grade because she had a real negative attitude and struggled with her times tables. We started again in 8th grade. By Algebra 1, she knew her times tables — and in college, she helped her friends with their math homework.
You don't have to teach every subject, every day, or every year.
Look at tomorrow's homeschool plan and circle one thing that absolutely has to happen. Everything else is negotiable.
#2: More Isn't Necessarily Better
More curriculum, more activities, more field trips, more co-ops, more extracurriculars, more worksheets, more enrichment — I was tired just making that list. Sometimes more simply means more overwhelmed for you, more rushing, more frustration for you and your kids, more mom burnout, and less time actually spent with your children.
When your children are grown, what do you think they're going to remember? Will they remember that you finished every workbook page? Or will they remember reading together?
Both of my girls read to their children. My grandkids love being read to. I think that goes all the way back to the memories of reading aloud together. Or they'll remember the spontaneous trips. The family conversations. Our family loved sports, and we had big back-and-forth debates around the dinner table. Ashley brought Jesse home for the first time — now her husband — and Gentry immediately started bantering with him over the Yankees and the Red Sox because that was just normal for us. I was mortified. But those are the conversations my kids still remember.
Or maybe the crazy breakfast traditions. Every first day of school, we had ice cream sundaes for breakfast. Even Hunter's senior year. My grandkids had it for the first time last year and were thrilled because they'd heard all about it from their parents.
Your kids are going to remember more about time together than all the activities. Here's the what-can-we-remove challenge — look at your coming week, pick one activity or commitment that really isn't necessary, and cross it off your schedule. Use that time to reconnect with your children.
Each of our kids could have two outside activities. That was it. They had to choose. Because I was driving them to two activities a day sometimes, and I said — this is not happening anymore.
More is not better.
#3: Your Child Needs to Learn How to Think — Not Just What to Know
Information is everywhere. My grandkids ask Hey Google a question and get the answer instantly. The question isn't does my child know this. The questions are — can my child think about this? Can they evaluate it and come up with a wise judgment call? Can they make a wise decision? Can they look at it through a biblical worldview? Can they solve a problem without mom standing right here?
I wanted my kids to grow up and influence the people around them — influence the world for Jesus, at least their neighborhood, at least their family. I wanted them to make wise, biblical decisions. I wanted them to be prepared for adult life.
When our kids were in high school, they did a humanities class every year — watching two lectures a week, going through time periods. Steve and I listened to the same lectures so we could have discussions with them over dinner, guiding their thinking biblically. One of the first books they read in high school was More Than Dates and Dead People by Stephen Mansfield — recovering a Christian view of history.
At dinner tonight, replace what did you learn today with what made you think today? And then zip your lips. Let them think. Don't fill the silence. Silence encourages them to get their brains working.
#4: Character and Leadership Can't Be Left to Chance
Academics matter, but character is the foundation for adult life. You can have a child who knows a lot and learns a lot but still struggles with perseverance, work ethic, self-control, integrity, and responsibility. Character is something we need to intentionally develop — not just hope for.
I used the Bible and took it off my shoulders and put it on God's. His shoulders are a lot bigger.
Ashley participated in 4-H skeet shooting — she didn't always win, had to deal with defeat, but also had leadership opportunities there. Hunter didn't make a basketball team in 6th or 7th grade — he had to figure out how to handle that. But he later went to a week-long high school sports leadership program in New York City. Gentry was the only homeschooler on a public school basketball and softball team in high school. She became captain — voted by her peers — as a junior and a senior, and won the Bear Award in both basketball and softball her senior year.
I believe all of those things happened because of their character foundation.
Look for one responsibility this week that actually belongs to your child. Don't micromanage it. Don't immediately rescue them. Let them experience responsibility, work ethic, consequences, and problems. If the dog doesn't get fed, the dog's going to be hungry — and whose responsibility is it?
This is where we move past how to homeschool and start thinking about who our children are becoming.
#5: A Simple Framework Makes Homeschooling Easier and More Purposeful
About five years into homeschooling, I discovered leadership education. And all of a sudden I had purpose. I had intention. I knew why we were homeschooling because I could see the end goal.
Do you know why you're homeschooling? More than just getting away from the public school — do you know the real end goal?
Andrew Pudewa put me onto leadership education, and it changed the way we homeschooled for the rest of the journey. I figured out our vision. I figured out our mission. I set annual goals for each of the kids. And I became a lot more intentional.
When you know your purpose, you can make decisions on curriculum — does this help me accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish? On books — will this help my child think, grow, develop character, understand God's world? On activities — does this serve our purpose as a family, or are we doing it just because everyone else is? On schedule — does our schedule allow room for relationships and real life?
Suddenly you're not asking am I doing enough? You're asking what matters most to my family?
Use a purpose filter. Before you add something to your homeschool — books, activities, whatever — ask does this help me raise the child I want to raise? If the answer is no or you're not sure, don't automatically do it.
A Note for Episode 200
When I started this podcast back in 2022, I wasn't thinking about episode 200. I was thinking about one episode at a time. One conversation. One homeschool mom who needed to hear — you're not failing. You don't have to do everything. You don't have to do it alone.
Thank you to everyone who has downloaded an episode, shared one, left a review, sent a kind message, or told another mom about it. That means the world to me.
Here are the five things I'd go back and tell myself:
You don't have to teach everything every day or every year. More isn't necessarily better. Teach your kids how to think. Build character and leadership intentionally. And have a purpose for your homeschool.
Enrollment for Raising Leaders, Not Followers is open for the fall class right now. We start next week. If this is the kind of homeschool you want, I would love to help you put it all together — the things I learned the hard way, so you don't have to.
The link is in the show notes wherever you're listening. If you have questions, send me an email or leave a comment. Here's to the next episode, the next 200, and the next season of your homeschool.