How To Have A Happy Homeschool: 5 BEST Tips

As a homeschool mom of young children, I’ll be the first to admit….happiness is fleeting. I think we all know that! But there are ways to spark joy and savour your homeschooling experience. Here, I’m sharing my BEST 5 tips on how to have a happy homeschool!

Why is it that as homeschooling mamma’s, we feel like we’re failing if we don’t feel happy about our school days with our kids? We often buy into the illusion that everyone in the public schools have it all together, while we often struggle to find enough time in our day to crack open the homeschool curriculum we spent hours researching during last summer break.

I know for myself, I often feel this self induced pressure to make each and every day of my children’s education “the best yet”. But that’s neither realistic, needed, or healthy for anyone.

Sometimes my kids have days where they turn to me and declare their love of learning! Other days, I feel like I’m torturing them just by telling them they need to get dressed…can you relate?

For awhile, all the back and forth reactions from my kids had me questioning our entire homeschool routine, and if it was even possible to have a happy homeschool year. Many times, I’ve asked myself the infamous question…”AM I DOING ENOUGH?”

Have you ever asked yourself that?

If so, I’m here to tell you that, yes friend….you are doing enough. I can assure you of that.

To help you see exactly how you ARE doing enough, and to make navigating all the various emotions of homeschooling (yours AND your kid’s) a little easier, I’ve put together a list of the 5 tips for how to have a happy homeschool, and remind you that you ARE doing enough.

Happy Homeschool Tip #1: Love your kids

I know….seems obvious right? Of course we love our kids! Chances are we wouldn’t be homeschooling them if we didn’t. But what I mean is love them intentionally.

When you love someone intentionally, you are choosing to love everything about that person. Even the challenging things. (The key word here is love….not necessarily like.) It’s OK to not like every single character trait about your child’s personality at the moment. All people go through a refining process as we grow and mature, and that can often lead to lots of frustration for those around us. But children especially need us to be patient and love them through those tough times. 

And it can be a huge struggle trying to manage all of your family’s needs. I understand, trust me!

Times when you have to repeat yourself over and over until your words are heard, when they whine over putting away their school things, and let us not forget the dreaded eye rolling….all of these moments can make your homeschool day look like it’s drowning. 

But, the important thing to remember is that hidden within that struggle lies a great opportunity to show them just how much they are loved!  Aside from teaching math and language arts, it’s our job to help them learn to navigate their emotions and show them we love them, even when they aren’t at their best.

For me, when the “mood temperature” rises, I will often just say a little prayer under my breath, asking God to give me His wisdom and understanding so I can better love my own kids during the hard stuff. Doing so immediately changes my perspective and helps me see my child through His eyes, not my own.

This gives me the patience I need in order to respond to my children in a way that shows them they are loved unconditionally, despite their imperfections.

By no means am I suggesting you accept poor behaviour. That’s never a good thing to do. Just show grace and understanding for their short comings, and try to use those moments to help develop their character.

When you stop and ask God for help, He will help you with this. Your children will feel loved, your school environment will feel less stressful, and you’ll be on your way to enjoying a happy homeschool life.

Happy Homeschool Tip #2: Have activities ready

Okay, so this one is less intense than the first tip but equally important! (Well maybe not equally, but it’s up there!)

Sometimes my kids will surprise me with an abundance of motivation to do their “formal school work” and they will even sit quietly for more than 30 seconds. It’s rare…but every now and then it happens!

For all the more normal times however, they need a little help getting into things. This is where an activity basket comes into play. And let me tell you, one major player in having a happy homeschool, is having some “fun” activity options ready to go for your kids!

We will often start our school day with the classic morning time routine. Everyone has their own way of doing it, but essentially it’s a time when you and your kids are all together regardless of their different ages. You read together, pray, maybe learn about something in history, even learn a foreign language if you want to! In my opinion, it can be one of the best ways to start the school day.

But most kids, especially little ones, can’t just sit and listen to us read or talk for very long without getting restless. 

So to help keep them engaged, try having a basket full of activities that they only have access to during that time. In ours, we have special colouring pages I’ve printed for free online, handwriting books, mazes, connect the dots, and more.

Depending on the ages of your children, you can change what’s in the basket based on their needs and interests. Here’s some ideas:

• Sticker books with blank pages so they can arrange them how they want
• Search and find pages
• Play Doh
• Kinnex, Lego, or other type of building blocks
• Colouring books/pages
• Puzzles such as sudoku, word searches, mazes, etc
• Wooden puzzles for littles
• Brain teasers

The options are endless! Just select some things that you know would engage your children and keep their hands busy while their minds are free to absorb what you’re reading or talking about. 

This is also a really easy way to figure out the learning styles of your kids, as you’ll be able to see how they best absorb new information!

Happy Homeschool Tip #3: Plan, but don’t plan

Say what? I know….hear me out…

First of all, just know that I’m ALL for a good plan! There’s nothing I like more than cracking open a fresh planner or notebook, getting my favourite pen…yes, you can have a favourite pen (if you know, you know), and planning everything I want to do for the next year!

Finding new resources, making a to-do list, researching a new math curriculum, and gathering some fun learning activities….those are all great things.

Planning is good! It’s also an important part of a successful homeschool year. Having a plan sets you up for less scrambling and a better daily schedule. Set goals with your kids and know what you are going to do to try to achieve them. Choose a curriculum if you’re using one. Decide how many days each week you will “do school”. Plan special homeschool field trips. Go for it! Write it all down and create a road map for the year. It’s a great way to stay organised!

Basically, have a solid outline of how you want the year to go.

And then, tuck that in your back pocket and go with the flow.

Listen friend, you know how you have some days when you just aren’t feeling it? Maybe you didn’t get very much sleep, you’re a little bit overwhelmed, or the weight of your daily work is weighing you down. Well, our kids have those days too! And part of experiencing genuine joy from our homeschool life is showing our children that it’s ok to have an off day and teaching them how to handle it. Those are life skills that as a homeschooling mom, you get the privilege of sharing with your children.

In learning how to have a happy homeschool, one element of that, is learning how to recognize those moments. In our home, that often looks like a spontaneous chat about why they are feeling the way they’re feeling.

Other times, it means recognising that my 5 year old son needs his bike today more than he needs to sit at the kitchen table and do math!

It can also look like a special family prayer time where we pray about the different ways we all feel, and ask God to direct us to something that day that will be a good fit for everybody.

Going to God like this not only helps to calm my nerves about the various different things on my schedule that have now been left behind, but it also teaches my kids how to take their feelings to God. The learning experience of that alone is more valuable than anything a workbook could teach!

Because ultimately, what’s more important than our children knowing that God cares about them? 

So when your plans go haywire and you’re worried it’s all going to come crashing down around you…just take a deep breath, and know that everything WILL be just fine!

Like I said before, plans are good. We need them! But if we can learn to hold on to our plans a little more loosely and allow real life to have it’s place too, we will begin to experience incredible joy and contentment within our homeschool. 

The beauty of homeschooling is that we really truly are not held to any schedule other than the one we create! There’s no rush. It’s not a race to the finish line. Your kids will not fall behind if you decide to play a board game together instead of the science experiment you were planning. Have your plan, but don’t let it steal your chance to experience some incredibly good times with your kids. You don’t get this time back!

Happy Homeschool Tip #4: Light a candle & turn on some music

In other words, set the tone of your home.

For us, that quite literally means lighting a yummy smelling candle and turning on some music! I usually opt for some acoustic instrumental, and starting in September it’s always Christmas music! (Yes, I said September…we are those people!)

But whatever it is that makes your home feel calm and comforting, that’s what you do.

Maybe you’re not a candle person and you opt for warming some wax or diffusing some essential oils. Or perhaps scents of any kind aren’t your thing, but creating a mood with certain lighting, or having the windows open with the breeze blowing in while you smell the fresh air is what calms your home!

The point is, if you create a calm and comforting environment in your home, something that you and your kids respond positively to, it has the power to drastically change the feeling of the day. Which in turn, helps contribute to a joyful, happy homeschool.

I often have our music playing quietly in the background during our entire school day. Other times, I turn it on right before a more challenging subject. This one hack can seriously take your learning time to the next level!

I’ve seen the difference it makes in my kids. I know you’ll see a difference too!

Happy Homeschool Tip #5: Give yourself a pep talk

That’s right. A good ol’ fashioned, look at yourself in the mirror type of pep talk.

Friend, I know that it’s hard. As homeschooling moms we feel so much pressure to not mess this up! Maybe your previous year didn’t go how you wanted and you’re being too hard on yourself about it. Perhaps you’re feeling some outside pressure to “do better” or maybe, like mine, it’s completely self induced.

Whatever turmoil may be going on in your heart and mind, you need to take a bit of time each morning and remind yourself that your main job is to build up the relationship between you and your kids. Everything else comes second. That includes the curriculum you spent countless hours researching, the field trips, and yes…even the years worth of plans you’ve poured yourself into with that favourite pen I talked about earlier.

If you want to have a happy homeschool, find genuine joy and truly fall in love with this lifestyle…it starts with you!

Every morning, take a few minutes. Pray, talk to God about your concerns. Talk to yourself and tell yourself to let go of the reigns a bit. It’s OK! Remember, there is no “falling behind” in homeschooling. Your kids are learning, even if you’re worried they aren’t. 

Breathe.

I promise you, if you do this, if you allow yourself to experience your children and get into their world throughout the day rather than focusing only on outcomes, checklists, and negative behaviours…you will be blessed!

Children really are a blessing from the Lord, and He wants you to feel the same joy in them that He feels in YOU!

So each morning, take a deep inhale, look at yourself in the mirror and say, “Today, I will show my kids how much I love them. Today, instead of worrying that we won’t DO enough, I will just be there for them. Today, with God’s help, I won’t over react to the little things. Today, I will respond in a way that shows my children how thankful I am for this time we have together.”

It may sound silly, but try it. Where you are weak, God is strong! Ask Him for help, and tell yourself that it IS possible to see REAL joy and happiness shine through your homeschool. 

Your kids are yours for a reason. You are enough. And you can do this!

Happy Homeschooling!