The Benefits of Homeschooling AND Following Your Dreams

One of my dearest role-models is Tricia Goyer. She’s a homeschool mom, a prolific writer, and an advocate for homeschooling. I have to confess that some days when I’m feeling overwhelmed, I scroll through her Facebook and see what she’s up to. She encourages me that way to keep going moment by moment. That’s how you change things. I’m so thrilled she is here today talking about why these things are important. Not the busy … the dreams.

When I first started homeschooling my three kids (ages six, three, and one) in 1995, I thought my life from that moment would always be about homeschooling. I pictured my time shaping my children’s education. What I didn’t know was that over the years God would call me to follow my own dreams … and that my kids would benefit from that.

At first I felt guilty following my dreams to write. I’d homeschool in the morning and then in the afternoon I’d set aside a few hours to write while my children played. Those early years, I wrote articles and ideas for novels as Barney played on the television.

Guilt weighed me down as if Barney the dinosaur sat on my shoulders, and I was sure I was the worst homeschooling mother ever. To combat my guilt, I swung the other way and became over committed, making frequent library trips, signing my daughter up for dance lessons and my boys up for sports. It was my husband who urged me to stop the madness.

Over the months to come we figured out our priorities:

1. To provide a godly education for our kids
2. To sign up each child for one extra-curricular activity a year
3. To have dinner time as a family
4. To train our children how to be part of the family unit and do chores
5. To connect and serve in our local church
6. To have reading time together as a family at night
7. To see what God was doing in our lives and follow Him

This last one included following my writing dreams. As the years past I started getting published. With each new writing project I argued, “Lord, what about this homeschooling thing?” Yes, I was still spending 3-4 hours homeschooling every day, but I’d look around and see my friends pouring 100% of their lives into their kids. Were my kids getting the short end of the stick?

Over time I began to see how following my dreams benefited my children. They traveled with me for research. They met WWII veterans I interviewed. They met other cool people, and they made friends around the US.

As a mom, I didn’t need to teach my kids that we should follow God’s dreams for us and work hard to share His truth with others. They saw that lived out on a daily basis. Yes, God asked me to follow my dreams not only for the readers I served, but also for my kids.

You will impact your homeschooling, and your homeschooling will impact you.

Taking on homeschooling is a heavy decision. When I started, I was scared that homeschooling would require me to kiss my dreams goodbye. That if I homeschooled, my kids would emerge from adulthood as weird, socially awkward creatures that people would roll their eyes at and say, “Oh, they must have been homeschooled.” Most of all, I was afraid homeschooling would turn my life upside down.

In many ways, it did.

My dining room table was suddenly taken over by books and papers and my thoughts became consumed with worries about curriculum. homeschool co-ops, and conferences. I worried, was I even qualified to do this?

But as the days passed into months, and months to years, I started to notice a few things:

-My kids were playing outside when other kids were stuck in desks all day.

-My kids truly loved learning and viewed the world as their classroom. They loved the Lord and were excited to serve Him.

-These kids raised at home weren’t socially awkward. In fact, they loved talking to adults and could strike up a conversation with anyone anywhere.

I felt like I knew my kids–really KNEW them. I was confident I could give them each the individual attention they needed to be successful. Homeschooling had made it possible for me to reach them despite their different levels, abilities, and challenges.

Not only that, but I found I did have time for myself–time to write and publish books, serve moms in my community, and host a podcast.

So, I guess you could say that homeschooling did turn our lives upside down. But, 10 kids and 25 years later, I realized the truth:

Homeschooling didn’t turn our lives upside down. It turned our upside-down lives right side up.

Now I want to offer the same gift to YOUR family: the rich gifts of home education, even as you follow your dreams.

I’ve put my heart and soul into developing a course for you that outlines the most important aspects of homeschooling:

• Inviting your kids to join you on their education journey.
• Understanding the basics of homeschooling laws and what it really takes for your kids to graduate and go on to college.
• Discovering your gifts as a homeschooling teacher.
• Finding extra help for special-needs kids.
• … and more!

Learn more about The Homeschool Success Course now. You’ll also have the opportunity to get the mini-course Dare to Dream, Mom at checkout.

Following your dreams will change everything. Homeschooling will change everything. Both for the better!

Homeschool mom of ten and a USA Today bestselling author, Tricia Goyer has published eighty books to date, written more than five hundred articles, and is on the blogging team at TheBetterMom.com and other homeschooling and Christian sites. She is a two-time Carol Award winner and a Christy and ECPA Award Finalist and regularly receives starred reviews in the Romantic Times and Publishers Weekly. You can find out more at http://www.TriciaGoyer.com

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