Staying True to Who You Are

When I began this blog many years ago, it’s purpose was to share my heart about homeschooling and encourage other homeschool moms. I had also hoped to be able to use my education background to provide helpful tips and advice to the homeschool mom. With the growth of social media, more of that has been happening over there. It is quicker and easier to post a quick real or story. However, I am still a writer at heart. I’ve been forgetting the importance of staying true to who you are.

Over the last couple of years I have taken blogging courses and marketing courses that all focused upon SEO and how to get your blog recognized on google. I have learned these skills but yet, they don’t feel authentic to me. Posting became something I would skip because thinking about how I could incorporate the keywords, link to a product, and make it catchy just took the joy out of writing for me. 

I didn’t want to write articles that were inauthentic or that I wouldn’t find helpful as a homeschool mom, but it seemed like I should only post if it was beneficial to my SEO. So I ended up doing nothing because I didn’t think I could post while staying true to me.

Taking My Own Advice

When I talk to new homeschool moms or moms inquisitive about homeschool, I always tell them that they need to figure out what feels right to them. If it starts to feel like the wheels are falling off in your homeschool, you are likely trying to replicate school at home or even someone else’s homeschool. It is important to stay true to who you are, your families vision and values, in your pursuit of home education.

Seems like it is time to take my own advice and apply it to this space as well. Trying to do what I *thought* I should just made the wheels fall off. So I am just going to get back to writing. Not worrying anymore about external and internal links, not worrying about SEO keywords, not worrying about headers and paragraph length and sentence length. I am just going to write about my heart toward homeschool and anything else that comes to mind. 

Homeschool Growth

This blog started when I was homeschooling 2 little girls and now I have one in junior high (or middle school depending on where you live). I have more experience now and have come through some different ages and stages.

We survived the “tween” years with my oldest where in grade 5 I wrestled with myself if I could keep on educating her at home. I wanted to, but we were in constant conflict. In the end the good outweighed the bad and we carried on. Now we are in this beautiful new stage, grade 7, where she takes it upon herself to get her work done and needs me less. (That part doesn’t always feel beautiful, to be honest). 

We are also past the point where we could do 30 minutes of school a few days a week and still finish in time for a nice long summer. Holidays and off days need to be a little more thought out now, as the concepts take a little longer to grasp. We are transitioning out of “let me show you” and into “see if you can figure it out and if not let me know”.

All the stages have felt so worth it to me. The times it has felt overwhelming was when I started to stray from who I am or what my vision was for our family. When that happens, it’s important to remind ourselves of our long term goals. It doesn’t matter to me what they learn in grade 5 and 7 so much as that they will know how to exist in the world when they’re 18. 

What Really Matters to Me

They’ll know reading and math for sure. Will they also know who they are and where they belong? What they stand for? Will they know how to think critically through an issue that maybe isn’t black and white? How they can use their strengths to help others? These are some of the things I think about, as well as their conflict resolution skills. Will they know to stay true to who they are?

So, all this rambling to say, if things feel stuck try reminding yourself of your vision and values. Get back to who you are and stop trying to homeschool how you think you should.

It felt so good just to write freely again without a plan and without researching keywords. I hope you’ll stick around. I’ll be here a lot more often now. You’ll have to search for me though, I don’t think I’ll be popping up on Google. I’m glad you’re here!