Home School Home Run: 7 Keys to Home School Success

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.” – Yogi Berra

Ask any two home schoolers what education success looks like, and you’ll get three answers! Every family is different, so it just makes sense that every family’s experience will vary. So many variables go into creating intentional learning opportunities – number of children and their ages; individual interests and bents; access to resources, etc. – it’s impossible to define not only what that success will look like, but also when the ‘finish line’ will be!

7 Keys to Winning the Education Game

One thing is certain: if you don’t have a plan, you can’t get where you think you want to go. As you prepare to dive into your new home education adventure, I hope these seven keys that helped our family to unlock a bright future for our home school and our children will encourage you to pursue excellence, as well!

Know Your ‘WHY’

Ask yourself questions. Why did you choose to bring your children HOME for school? What kind of adults do you want your children to become? Do you have family values you want to instill? A family culture you want to develop? What does a stellar education look like to you, and how do you plan to achieve it? Write down your answers and use them to chart your education course.

Set Boundaries

Set clear expectations for your children’s behavior and attitudes going forward: this may be a new experience for both you and them, so give yourselves grace as you begin to transform your family culture! What kind of values will your family stand for? What consequences will you set ahead of time to help children be accountable?

Give Your Children a Choice

Children are by nature curious and creative, but the public school system may have dampened their sense of wonder. You can overcome the boredom factor by providing space and time for your children to pursue subjects that pique their interests, even if it doesn’t look like “school!” Ask them questions about what interests them, and don’t accept “I don’t know” as an answer!

It may take some time for them to believe that you’re serious about tailoring their studies to their interests, so be prepared with a few of your own ideas to get them started. Reading aloud from a variety of genres is a great fit for this, by the way!

Expect the Unexpected

AKA, ‘flexibility’ will become your middle name! The truth is, life often throws unexpected events and circumstances our way, and we mamas need to be able to allow for changes in the ‘perfect’ plans we created. Commit to accepting interruptions as opportunities to show grace and patience to yourself and your children.

Remember that you ARE ‘enough’ for this endeavor, and you are influencing your children for good!

Cover the Basics

Some days will just not go like you expected, and your carefully prepared teaching plans will fall apart. The best way to avoid feeling like a failure on those days is to create a daily schedule that covers your most important subjects and tasks first.

If the “Three R’s” are primary, then set aside time every day to do those first thing in the morning. If piano practice absolutely, positively HAS to be done every day, then let your child begin their day with music!

Maybe having a clean sink and made-beds are priorities for your daily sanity; it’s perfectly okay to make ‘home economics’ the first class of the day!

Determine what your ‘basics’ are, and do them first. Even if all you can muster is an hour of dedicated ‘school’ time, use those minutes for the most important things; when you look back on your day you will at least be able to feel like you accomplished what most needed to get done.

Eat Dinner Together

Here’s the long-and-short of it: meals matter! As you recreate your family culture you will be setting new standards for relationships and communication. One of the best ways to do that is by committing to eating at least one meal together every day.

Food has been a ‘bringer-togetherer’ for centuries, and it has become nearly a lost art in our society. As we gather around the table for shared meals, we create the perfect environment for family members to feel safe and share their hearts. Positive conversation helps children think critically about their world and how they should live in it.

Trust me – sharing meals around the table was one of the most powerful keys we used to unlock curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking as a home-learning family!

Plan Child-Time in Blocks

If you have children of varying ages, you will soon discover that your time is stretched thin as you try to teach so many subjects and ages. One way to be sure you are giving each child daily undivided attention is to set aside blocks of time for one-on-one conversation, instruction, or review.

It can be helpful to begin the day with a brief 5-to-10-minute overview of the day’s schedule, then plan to have at least one longer session (20-40 minutes, depending on the age of the child and their development) with each child later to go over assignments, questions, listen to reading practice, etc.

Also be sure to schedule in a read-aloud block every day for the whole family; you will create strong family bonds, instill a love for reading, and share big ideas together, as well as introduce your children to some great literature!

Keys for Success

Each of these seven steps were keys to our children’s successes as they graduated from our home school and began to pursue their individual futures. We set boundaries for activities, technology, and family time. We allowed our children to choose how they wanted to fulfill many of their high school requirements for science, history, language arts, and electives.

I learned quickly that when things went south – and they can do that in a heartbeat – my best response was always the ability to be flexible and change direction as we continued to aim for our final destination. And I always made sure we were covering the basics of a decent education – the ‘three R’s’ – as children pursued their interests.

The Master Key

And while I truly believe that one of the best things we did for our children was to eat dinner together every night (well, not EVERY night…but we had a consistent habit that lasted all 27 years), the most important step we took happened when we first began our home schooling journey: we determined our WHY.

We knew we needed a plan, so we decided where we wanted to GO, how we planned to get there, and why it was a worthy goal. Did we stick religiously to that course? No. Were we always conscious of how each decision would affect our ability to achieve those goals? No.

But because we had determined early on what we wanted for our children and for our family, we were able navigate the changing currents and turbulent seas of family life together. And we watched joyfully as our children took responsibility over their own educational opportunities and determined their own courses after graduating from Ampersand Academy.

When the hard days come – and they will – remember why you chose this path and be diligent to keep your destination in mind. Commit to a bigger goal than just getting through the school year without losing your sanity, and your daily routine will begin to reshape according to your vision.

Keep Swinging!

Be prepared — you WILL have bad days, but as you create the habit of sticking with your children through the difficult times you will prove to yourself that you are capable of more than you ever imagined!

Be bold in holding onto that vision, claim the bright future you desire for your family, and believe that your children are worth every lost hair! Your perseverance and determination will rub off on your children, bolstering their confidence and belief in themselves that they can accomplish great things.

Through your steadfast commitment to your children’s education, they will soon see that you love them too much to leave their character and education to chance and you are learning alongside them. If the LORD put it in you to do this, then it is yours to do. He will be Faithful to carry you through as you set your eyes on the prize and swing for the fence. By incorporating these tips into your home school, you will create your own success as you keep swinging; that’s how to hit a home run in your home school!