The Ultimate List of Homeschooling Mistakes
“It´s good to learn from your mistakes. It´s better to learn from other people´s mistakes.”
Warren Buffet
My biggest homeschooling mistake has been that I stopped speaking my mother tongue with my children (nr. 7) after I started homeschooling them in English. My husband (Finnish) and I (Dutch) already spoke English to each other, we lived abroad in an English-speaking community and slowly but steadily English took over as the family language.
Personally, I found it hard to separate school time from after school time so I´ve been guilty of putting the role of teacher before the role of mother (nr. 13). I definitely overscheduled (nr. 5) and was kind of married to my curriculum (nr. 10) for a while, especially in the beginning. Out of insecurity of doing the right thing, I might have pressured my eldest son a bit in his first year. He´s in high school now, a good student, a great athlete, a curious learner and most importantly one of the most relaxed and chilled persons I know.
In case you are wondering, I did NOT make all the mistakes listed here J. It´s a list of all the Homeschooling Mistakes I have come across over the years. If you made mistakes that are not listed here, please feel free to email me and I will make sure to add them. If you are wondering how to avoid these mistakes or turning them into learning opportunities, give me a shout and I´m happy to help.
- Forgeting to have fun.
- Taking too little care of yourself.
- Not turning failure into learning opportunities.
- Being inflexible.
- Overscheduling-trying to do too much.
- Underscheduling-not doing enough.
- Not speaking your mother tongue with your children but the family language.
- Unrealistic expectations.
- Skipping breaks to shorten the day.
- Becoming married to your curriculum.
- Doing it alone.
- Supermom Syndrome-wearing too many hats.
- Putting the role of teacher before the role of mother.
- Ignoring the input and interests of your children.
- Fear that your kids will not be admitted to schools, colleges, universities.
- Fear of the internet.
- Not recognizing how your child learns best.
- Fear of kids that are unable to socialize.
- Comparing your child to other children.
- Comparing your family to other families.
- Re-creating school at home.
- Forgetting your toddlers and pre-schoolers, neglecting other family members.
- Pushing your kids too early.
- Not celebration the small victories.
- Letting the schedule take over.
- Disorganized schoolroom.
