I Was Ready to Quit Homeschooling – Then I Read This Book
“I want to quit.” I said to my husband, grimly blinking back tears. “I hate homeschooling.”
Shoulders hunched in defeat, brow furrowed with frustration, heart full of self-reproach, I was not only on the struggle-bus, I was driving it. Off a cliff.
Homeschooling a slew of kids (I have eight – at the time of this story, my youngest was an infant, my oldest was ten) while also managing a busy home with a baby and two toddlers was slowly but surely burying me under a crushing load of my own expectations, along with all the dirty laundry, dishes, diapers, and dinners.
We had always wanted to homeschool – before we even had kids we had planned to homeschool.
We always had homeschooled, from when my tribe only consisted of two tiny girls who were excited by reading lessons and practicing writing letters and numbers, all the way through growing from those two kids to eight altogether.
But now?
I wept in utter discouragement and exhaustion to my husband at night: “I just don’t think I’m doing this right. I don’t think I know how to do this. I can’t keep up. I think I’m not teaching them enough. I’m not doing enough. I don’t think I’m good enough to be their teacher. I can’t even keep up with the laundry!”
He quietly listened, held me, and then, a couple days later, he gave me an incredible gift: Homeschool Bravely, by Jamie Erickson, herself a former elementary teacher, and a homeschool mama of five.
I had never heard of it.
I read through the chapters carefully, slowly, often with tears of relief and comfort at the encouragement, understanding, and gentle wisdom I found.
This woman understood the struggle I was in. She addressed so many of the situations and questions I struggled with while giving so much grace for each family’s unique situation and personality.
I read and reread parts when I was gritty with frustration and discouragement, each time finding hope and courage to keep going.
The best part?
I was reminded of why I was doing this in the first place – It refreshed my heart and renewed my purpose. And I was set free from the guilt and burden of my own heavy expectations that were not something I should have picked up in the first place.
Most of all, Jamie’s book reminded me of who I was – beloved and precious in the sight of my Father God – and that my status with Him is not dependent on how I homeschool. My feelings of failure, discouragement and defeat in homeschooling did not reflect my worth or my identity as a child of God.
If you are in the need of some real in-the-trenches help and hope from a mom who’s been there and writes honestly and lovingly, I think this is one book every homeschool mom should read.
Find your courage, refresh your heart, restore your confidence as you teach your precious kids at home. Homeschool Bravely helps you do all three.
You can do this, whether it’s for a short season or for a long haul.
You have a community of encouraging, wise, and heart-filling homeschooling mamas walking this road too.
I will always be grateful that one of them took the time to write this book for the rest of us.
(Thank you, Jamie! Your words poured strength, courage, and hope back into my heart when I needed it most. I will always be deeply grateful.)
I wrote this post out of a genuine desire to help other mamas find the hope and help they need in homeschooling their kids and did not in any way receive any compensation, monetary or otherwise, from Jamie Erickson. Just sayin’.
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