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I came to homeschooling as a different human being than you. (Um, yeah, I know, you’re saying.)
With different struggles, I have different interests, and I’ve lived in different places (I moved nineteens times before I was twenty years old).
I’ve learned that everyone around me has different frameworks in life. They see the world differently.
Others experience family relationships differently than me. They have different educational backgrounds. They chose to have children for different reasons, and a few didn’t have children at all.
So, how to build and create community as a homeschool mom? Be the community you want to see!
“I try my hand at being myself.”
Bob Dylan
If we’re all different, it shouldn’t be any wonder that we approach this homeschool lifestyle differently either.
Some are a little more liberal, some more conservative; some more regimented, and some more carefree; some prefer textbooks, some prefer historical fiction, and some listen to audiobooks.
We’re different. Surprise!
We already knew we were. So uniformity doesn’t need to be an unfulfilled expectation in our homeschool communities.
When we listen and we speak from our hearts, we learn from one another. We might hear a gem of help from unexpected places and have our path move in a more peaceful, freeing, and useful direction (for us and our homeschool kids).
Then we begin to build and create a homeschool community.
That’s the beauty of being open to knowing (and being known) by others.
There are always gifts to be received in the nuggets of wisdom that others share when we’re open to hearing them.
And there is a wealth of experience we can tap into when it’s not just coming from our story.
So I’ll try my hand at being myself and being myself only.
But I want to try being myself in community.
How to build and create community as a homeschool mom? Join the Patreon Support Group.
Meet Erica Kesilman:
- We’ll chat about how to address anger in our homeschool.
- Whenever you’re feeling triggered, notice it in your body.
- We can’t think our way out of reactivity.
- Consider doing breathwork to learn how to move emotion in and out of your body.
- Lay on a yoga mat and listen to a guided meditation for anger.
- Talk kindly to yourself in front of a mirror.
- You can listen to our previous podcast interview here.
Erica can be found at:
- Erica Kesilman (@erica_kesilman) • Instagram photos and videos
- Her website: Erica Kesilman, Parent Coach
Meet Jennifer Bryant:
- How much time is enough with our kids?
- What margins do we need to create for us?
- How to balance our needs with our kids’ needs?
- Let’s talk about solitude and what our kids need most.
- You can listen to our previous podcast interview here.
Jennifer can be found at:
- Her website: Home – Practical Family
- Jennifer Bryant (@jenniferbryant_writer) • Instagram photos and videos
Meet Pat Fenner:
- How we can show up more authentically as ourselves.
- How to deal without people-pleasing tendencies.
- Where Pat can be found on her new podcast, Strong Women Bright Future.
- Here’s a previous podcast that Pat and I speak about developing their thing just for homeschool mamas.
Pat can be found at:
- Pat Fenner (@patfenner) • Instagram photos and videos
- Her website: Strong Women Bright Future on Apple Podcasts
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- how to love yourself as a homeschool mama
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- How to Get Homeschool Mom Community & Connection: Join the Homeschool Mama Book Club
Teresa Wiedrick
I help overwhelmed homeschool mamas shed what’s not working in their homeschool & life, so they can show up authentically, purposefully, and confidently in their homeschool & life.
The problem with my chapter is that I’m not always clear on who myself is. I think in writing the story I have to honour that, that role is ever changing. I find it interesting to be 40 and have young children. I think my children experience a different parent than if I had, had them when I was 18. I could say they have a more mature parent, but honestly I think in some ways they have a more disengaged parent -one who is trying to find herself in this new half of life while helping her children round out their early education. Not saying it is bad or good – just interesting – the tangle comes in being true to oneself, ones philosophy of home-schooling and child rearing and, even more so at this age, being ok with seeing that morph into something unique and different quite frequently.
I see it too. We’re not static in our stories. We’re always morphing into greater awareness of ourselves…unless we’re not, of course. There is no completion, or perfection. But when were fairly thankful and gracious, we have a lot to give (with a healthy helping of boundaries of course).