Advice for Moms of New Homeschool High Schoolers

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Advice for Moms of New Homeschool High Schoolers. Advice for Moms of New Homeschool High Schoolers Know someone who is just starting to homeschool high school? Pass this episode along to them! Sabrina, Vicki and Kym have lots of encouraging tips for success and enjoying the high school years with your teens. Sabrina, Vicki and Kym are part of the 7SistersHomeschool team. We love to pass along the things we learned in homeschooling our dozens of teens for dozens of years, along with decades of advising and teaching our local homeschool high schoolers in group classes and co-ops. Titus 2 in the Bible tells us that the "older women should help along the younger women" (that's the 7Sisters version, anyway). So that's what we are about at 7SistersHomeschool.com and that's what the Homeschool Highschool Podcast is all about. So with our love for you all, here is advice for moms of new homeschool high schoolers! There are so many things we want our new homeschool high school moms to know but here are some things we have learned the hard way or the easy way (from the moms who mentored us). The first and most important tip we have for you is this: There's not ONE right way to homeschool high school! There are so many teens and they are all unique. There are so many different families and they are unique. We are free to adapt curriculum and goals to fit our teens' and family's needs! There is no place for mom-shaming in homeschooling high school! So do not allow any too-enthusiastic (or too-judgmental) mom to tell you that you MUST use a certain curriculum or teach a certain way. There is no such thing as a Pinterest-perfect home or Pinterest-perfect homeschool. As our friend, Colleen Kessler of  the Raising Lifelong Learners podcast says, "every day you must juggle a lot of balls, so every day you need to wake up and decide which balls you need to drop today." There's no such thing as a Pinterest-perfect homeschool...because there are all these people involved and people are not perfect! Which leads to the next bit of advice: Have grace for yourself, your teens and your homeschool community. There will be things that happen that are not so pretty... they may be funny... or sometimes not. Maybe you and yours will get on each other's last nerve. Maybe your science experiment might almost burn the house down (not that Vicki is mentioning herself or anyone like that...ahem...). Maybe you are all exhausted. That is where grace comes in. Accept God's grace and give it to each other. If you are feeling stressed and start to feel guilty that you are not a good homeschooling high school mom, remember this bit of advice: Motherhood is all about guilt. It is not awful to feel guilty, it is simply part of motherhood. So turn it over to God and allow his grace and his growth to work in you and yours. (BTW- Have you had a chance to have some fun with different types of homeschooling high school moms? Check out our episode on Heavy Equipment Motherhood.) So never underestimate the power of a deep breath. Give yourself permission to stop, breathe, recalibrate. Stress is going to hit. The goal is not about avoiding stress, discomfort and pain as a parent. The road is bumpy. The battle is enormous, but it is SO worth it. It is SOOO worth it. As Kym says, "Homeschooling high school is not a sprint, it's a marathon." You have lots of time to learn how to do this homeschool high school thing. Your teens have lots of time to learn it, too. Be good to each other.