Here we are in 2024 and a new school year has just begun and we have just launched another 'new' product.

What a pleasure it is to see more parents taking responsibility for their children’s education. Not only is home education growing annually, what we love is seeing that parents are turning their hearts back to their children.

We, Shirley and Wendy, have been homeschooling for more than 25 years. We have a couple of university graduates, some working adults and Shirley still has two teens home educating.

It hasn’t been easy, but neither of us regret one minute of it!
It was hard, but take our word for it, parenting young adults is a different kind of hard!

When parents begin to homeschool they start off with such enthusiasm. Everything is new and exciting. The arrival of your curriculum feels like receiving a gift in the mail! Meeting other homeschoolers is exciting. Setting up your work area sets up your expectations for a happy learning adventure.

How do you hold onto the excitement month after month and year after year so that you finish as strong as you start?

We could compare home education to a new marriage. In the beginning you cannot get enough of each other.  You want to do everything to please one another. Nothing is too hard or too much to ask of one another.

As the years go on, the novelty and excitement of the relationship might fade and you are left with the reality of living with someone who can also rub you up the wrong way.

But as you are committed to this person, you find a way to persevere through the challenges. You give a little, take a little, talk a bit, find ways to keep the romance alive.

Highs and lows come, but you are committed for the long term. The vision that you had when you stood at the altar all those years ago is the thing you hold on to.

In the homeschooling context, when the glitz fades and the pencils get old, make sure that:

1. Your weekly and daily schedule is not too full

2. You are not doing too many subjects with your children, using too many curricula

3. Your children are not involved in too many extra mural activities, leaving you running ragged.

Keep your lives "uncluttered" with lots of breathing room to allow you to be flexible whenever necessary.