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How DO you homeschool boys?
Trying to recreate school-at-home doesn’t work for most boys — as so many families found out during the pandemic. And placing your life and career on hold while you educate your kids isn’t exactly practical either.
Linsey Knerl, a freelance writer and mother of six (including 5 boys!), says it’s possible to homeschool boys without losing your mind or your career.
“The secret is to not pretend that you aren’t still doing life while you’re homeschooling. Embrace the fact that letting your messy life be part of the education actually helps equip your child to be a more healthy, productive, and functional adult,” says Linsey, author of the recently-released book Homeschool Hacks: How to Give Your Kids a Great Education Without Losing Your Job or Your Mind.
If you’re just getting started homeschooling, Lindsey recommends starting with one subject — and it doesn’t even have to be an academic one, like Math or Science or Reading. To start, you can simply dive into one of your son’s interests.
Honesty is crucial to successful homeschooling, Linsey says.
“You have to be really honest. You have to look at your flaws and see what’s not working and look at your children and see what they need help with,” she says. That kind of introspection and self-reflection can be overwhelming, but also so beneficial for our boys and families.
In this episode, Jen, Janet & Lindsey discuss:
- The secret to happy homeschooling
- How homeschooling builds family bonds
- Discovering (and developing) your son’s strengths
- The socialization question
- Homeschooling in a small house
- Getting started homeschooling
- De-schooling
- Dealing with fears of falling behind
- Helping boys learn to read
- A “typical” homeschool day
Links we mentioned (or should have) in this episode:
Homeschool Hacks: How to Give Your Kids a Great Education Without Losing Your Job (or Your Mind) — Lindsey’s book
Overwhelmed by Homeschooling? I Was Too — Building Boys blog post
Homeschooling Boys — Building Boys blog post
How to Work from Home & Homeschool — 2012 interview w Jen (back when she was a single parent homeschooling boys!)
Novel Education for Boys – ON BOYS podcast