The Key to a Successful Homeschool

Great homeschools don’t happen by accident. But they do happen.

Great homeschools are found in homes where the parents are intentional with their time, attentive to their children’s needs and interests, and purposeful in working towards a defined and thoughtful outcome.

The methods that great homeschools use are different because homeschooling looks as different as each family who does it.  

Your journey doesn’t need to look like the school system or your neighbor’s.  In fact, it shouldn’t.  

Homeschooling is uniquely designed to benefit the individual – the individual student, the individual needs, and the individual family.

As homeschooling parents, we have the freedom to define what a successful homeschool experience looks like for our own family.

If you’ve never taken time to set foundational goals for your homeschool experience, I encourage you to make it a priority.  In the coming months and years, during the times that you begin to feel pressure or burdened, you will be thankful to have these to look back on.  They will help you restore balance and peace in those moments, and realign your sights on what is truly important.

What Does Homeschool Success Look Like?

What does success look like to you?

A graduation certificate?  A well-rounded young adult?  A student who is college ready?

It is important to understand what end result we’re working toward.

Instead of look at what you’re escaping, look at where you want to go.  Many families who have recently embraced homeschooling are doing so because they became disenchanted with the education their child was receiving elsewhere.  When defining why you want to pursue homeschooling as the replacement, I challenge you to look beyond what you’re trying to avoid, and instead look at what you’re trying to achieve.

This is the exciting part! You get to imagine the best-case scenario for your children, and then go to work making it a reality!

Ask yourself these questions:

• What do I hope that my children have gained from their homeschooling experience once it’s all said and done?
• What do I want our day-to-day experience to look like?
• What habits do I want them to establish during that time?
• How do I want my children to feel when they think about their home education?

Setting The Right Goals

Once you know what it is that you’re working towards – the big picture – start setting practical goals that help you get there.

Setting specific goals will help you consistently work toward that big picture.  In the moments where you start to wonder if you’re doing the right thing – or if you’re even equipped for this task – these goals will help you regain focus and keep your sights on what is truly important.

Remember, you’re aspiring to achieve that picture of success, so keep the main thing the main thing.

Once you’ve set these goals, you have a standard with which to filter them through.

From here on out, you will be able to hold up every curriculum, approach, activity and more to the standard you created. Everything that aligns with your goals is worthy of exploring. If you find things that don’t fit into the big picture you’re working towards, that is usually a good indicator of something that could be trimmed from your schedule to make room for things that are more purposeful.

If we keep our focus on what’s ahead and on how we are intentionally journeying to that place, then we become less distracted by tradition, outside expectations, and flavor-of-the-day educational trends because we are looking to the solid, full outcome.