Homeschooling parents often have anxiety around the aspirations for perfection that are so prevalent in home education – but we don’t have to be perfect!

In this podcast episode, I dispel some of that anxiety by sharing 55 things that I did NOT do in my homeschool, and my kids turned out okay.

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Despite the lack of projects, the lack of science, the fact that we didn’t write as much as you might expect, the fact that we changed what we did every year, I have amazing kids – just like you!

There are ways to think about home education, and education in general, and your family! The priority is your relationships, and the capacity to engage a subject and make it meaningful to children in a way that lasts into adulthood.

Next check out the following podcast: 61 Things I Did Right in My Homeschool.

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Welcome to Season 4 of the Brave Writer Podcast!

This season we’re releasing (via audio) our most popular YouTube broadcasts.
We’ll also sprinkle original content throughout.

Episode One of Season 4 is about a favorite topic: morning routines! We explore possible ways to structure your mornings, five things you can do before noon, and the difference between following a routine (liberating!) and enforcing a schedule (defeating).

This is NOT a list of things you need to do every morning if you want to have a good day of homeschooling—it is an exploration of how morning routines really helped our home school, and how they may be used to help you too.

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Show Notes

The Big Morning Routine Myth

No practice that you adopt in homeschool works for all ages, for all time—so there is no plug-and-play system for developing an effective morning routine for your home school.

You will see changes in your family, so you need to be flexible. There may be moments where the routine is stifling, even though it used to give you life.

If your routine doesn’t feel good, if it isn’t satisfying, if it doesn’t support the well being of the family, then something needs to change.

“The morning routine is not your master – it is your servant, and you get to decide what works for your season and stage.”

Today on the podcast we learn more about the developing brain so that we, as parents and home educators, can incorporate brain-based practices into our family’s lives. Our guest for this episode is Joshua MacNeill, Director of Lakeside’s NeuroLogic Initiative and an expert in trauma-informed education.

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We know the early years are crucial when it comes to a child’s development – but do you know, specifically, how it affects the brain?

For example, in the first year of life, more than one million new neural connections are formed every second. Adversity impairs these new connections, and the greater the adversity a child faces, the greater the odds of a delay in their cognitive, language, or emotional development.

You can find more of Joshua’s fun and practical brain break ideas in his book, 101 Brain Breaks & Educational Activities. Joshua has a pro tip for using the book: don’t get hung up on the details. Even if it doesn’t seem to go exactly how you plan or expect, it’s likely still going to be beneficial for your children.

Also if you’re a member of Brave Learner Home check out our March 2018 webinar with Josh that features his ground-breaking ideas.

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Tune in to the Brave Writer podcast on iTunes, Stitcher (or your app of choice), and here on the Brave Writer blog. And would you please post a review on iTunes for us? You’ll help a homeschooler like you find more joy in the journey when you do. Thanks in advance!