Minimalist Homeschooling Approach

Homeschool moms are often overwhelmed. We have the pressure of being the sole person responsible for your child’s education and how they act and socialize and all the other pressures that are put on homeschool parents. One way to help reduce the overwhelm is to try a minimalist homeschooling approach.

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What Type of Homeschooler are You?

I sat back and looked at how we homeschool today. We don’t unschool, we never have as I have always at the very least made my kids do math lessons and reading (of their choice).

I think in the beginning we were eclectic homeschoolers as I have always pulled from here and there to piece together our homeschool. We did math, language arts, science, history every week. But things change.

Life changes and you roll with the punches and your homeschool changes as well. I would now say we are relaxed homeschoolers or minimalist homeschoolers.

You can learn more about different homeschool types here. And see what type you are currently following and how you might want to adjust your approach to stop some of the overwhelm you are feeling.

Homeschool Binder Pages Organization

Minimalist Homeschooling Approach for Overwhelmed Moms

How can a minimalist homeschooling approach help overwhelmed parents? It cuts out all the fluff we don’t really need, but sometimes feel pressured to use.

Use less.

Less complicated curriculum for you the parent, like Teaching Textbooks.
Use less curriculum, completely simify your homeschool
Use less materials in general
Find more ideas for using less here.

How Does Minimalist Homeschooling Help?

When you take away the things that cause you to stress, you feel less overwhelmed right? Then you are going to enjoy homeschooling more.

Homeschooling doesn’t have to make you crazy.

Minimalist homeschooling might be just the thing for you. And minimalist homeschooling doesn’t just mean less stuff. It means less of all of it. Fewer possessions, yes, but also less time. Less worry. Less effort.

Do you feel like you’re going crazy trying to do everything everyone says you “should” do in your homeschool – from the government to the homeschool veteran, to your homeschool mom bestie?

It’s time to toss aside what they say you should be doing and do what feels right for your family instead of trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing. It really helps to reduce feeling overwhelmed when you don’t feel like you need to do everything.

A lot of it comes with time too. Learning what you really need to focus on. Learning what works best for your family.

Minimalist homeschooling is a lifestyle, not a method. It’s also called relaxed homeschooling by some. I feel like that says it all right there. Relax and enjoy the journey of learning with your kids.

Tips & Tricks

Pick a focus for the month, or semester, or year that your kids are interested in learning about. We have used Waldock’s Wizards and Wands for a year for our focus. Simple fun readings and lessons based on a theme my kids (and I) enjoyed.

Decide on subjects you want to learn. There is no rule that says you have to learn about history every year with formal lessons. Documentaries on rainy days are perfect for history lessons.

Decide on a routine. Do you want to have lessons every day? Or do you want to break the week down some to allow for more natural exploration and learning?

Take a breath. And tell me, what in your homeschool makes you happy and what doesn’t? Make a plan to eliminate what is causing you stress, or plan to make it less stressful. It might be outsourcing a subject like math or language arts.