Julie Bogart is the voice inside my head encouraging me, providing me with practical tools, and empathizing with my homeschool experience.
To get my new homeschool year started, I’ve been rereading The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart.
So, if you’re new to homeschooling, I have to introduce you to Julie, because some of her principles will help you maintain homeschool sanity.
Therefore, here’s a sample passage from her recent The Brave Learner, which I think are principles for homeschool sanity.
Five principles that helped me keep going, she says…
1. No two years of homeschooling are ever the same.
Your children get older and change grades. Each child has a unique personality. What worked with one won’t necessarily work with the next.
2. You get bored.
Just because a curriculum is effective, doesn’t mean you must keep using it.
3. You can’t solve homeschooling.
There’s no philosophy or practice you can adopt perfectly enough to end your quest to get it right. You’ll reexamine and adapt every year.
4. Real-life intrudes.
Cancer, pregnancy, foreclosure, hurricanes and fires, elderly parents, death, special needs, divorce, job transfers, military deployments…There’s no escape. In the years when a crisis hits, homeschooling takes a backseat.
(Don’t worry–it’s flexible enough to accommodate.)
5. A pretty good homeschool is good enough.
No matter which philosophy you adopt (as structured as classical education or as unstructured as unschooling), you’re human.
Your ability to put that philosophy into action is limited.
You’ll have great stretches of imagination and flow, and others where you wonder if anyone is learning anything.
Your aim is not perfection, but peace and progress. That’s good enough!
Whew, a breath of energizing air: I’m ready for a new homeschool year!
You can hear Julie in an interview on my podcast, Homeschool Mama Self-Care here:
- Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Wise Kids
- How to Homeschool & Find Your Thing with Coach Julie Bogart
- Homeschool Advice: Advice from Julie Bogart
You can purchase Julie’s books here:
Overcoming Homeschool Overwhelm Journaling Workbook
You don’t need more tips. You need clarity. This journaling workbook helps homeschool mamas dig into what’s really behind the overwhelm — unmet needs, strained relationships, and expectations that were never realistic to begin with. Work through it at your own pace and walk away knowing exactly what needs to change.
People also ask:
- A Parent’s Guide to Raising Critical Thinkers with Julie Bogart
- homeschool out of my depth: Julie Bogart’s advice
- How to Homeschool & Find Your Thing with Julie Bogart
- homeschool girlfriends: advice from Julie Bogart
- How to Teach Kids to Write Effectively: A Brave Learner Review
- The Podcast for Homeschool Moms who want to Nurture the Nurturer, YOU!
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.
