A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Your interests. They not only fuel your homeschool, they fuel you!

When you follow an interest, you discover that you’re a smart person—that you have curiosity and skill and capacity to grow.

Tapping into your interests:

• improves your outlook on life,
• allows your children to see you happy and learning,
• makes adulthood look awesome,
• and gives your kids a role model for what it means to pursue an interest.

You may find that what you love enhances a school subject or acts as a key to unlock a previously opaque subject. Your curiosity is aroused which allows you to be creative!

For instance, if you are suddenly into sewing, you may whip up a batch of capes for dress up clothes for history or tea cozies for poetry teatime. If you get curious about native plants to use in landscaping, where might that lead in your family? Might you discover the history of where you live, how the original inhabitants lived with those trees and shrubs?

Let your interests lead you, so that you can lead your children into a world of skill and happiness. An education is fueled by connections and joy in learning. Bring yours to the table!

This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebogartwriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!

Every day your kids show up to learn. They open themselves to your leadership. They offer you their trust. They put faith in you to:

• support,
• teach,
• guide,
• and love them.

And so you design an education for them.

Here’s where it gets sticky.

If your focus is on the education more than the child, it’s easy to get impatient, anxious, and annoyed when your child doesn’t live up to your expectations.

Instead look for the evidence of growth: notice the risk.

• A child who handwrote even after saying handwriting is hard: perseverance.
• Finishing the page even if some of the answers are wrong: effort and practice.
• Strong emotional reaction to a book you’re reading: attentive listener, invested.

Turn the evidence before you into a commentary on your child’s skills and development, not a verdict on your homeschool or you.

You can do it!

This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebogartwriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!

Word to the wise friends: you’ll get further, with a stronger sense of accomplishment, if you go slow first.

Give yourself permission to waste time learning.

Go all in on one lesson—stay there thinking of more ways to

• unpack,
• test,
• explore,
• try,
• learn it.

How many ways can you discover more about adjectives or geometric shapes or autumn or colonial America? Get stuck. Keep digging. Keep narrowing the focus and expanding all the ways you encounter the topic.

Go slow to go fast. Learn more, not less. Learn lots, not just enough to rush to the next lesson.

This post is originally from Instagram and @juliebogartwriter is my account there so come follow along for more conversations like this one!