Episode 31: Healthy Mindset in Homeschool | Guest Melanie Wilson
By: Jamie Gaddy and Homeschool.com
Episode Info
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Let’s welcome Melanie Wilson from psychowithsix.com. Melanie is a Christian psychologist who turned homeschool mom!
Melanie is here today to chat with us about keeping a healthy mindset as we homeschool. I know we all struggle with the tendency to accuse ourselves of failing or of not being enough. And, From my own personal experience and in talking with homeschool moms across the country, the vast majority of us battle feeling like we’ve not done enough, covered enough, taught well enough, played enough. It’s a terrible cycle and I’m so glad that Melanie is here to give us some pointers on how to combat this mindset as we wrap up a school year and begin to prepare for the next.
- Why do you think this is such a common issue among homeschooling moms?
These thought patterns can be pretty sneaky… we can be entrenched in this destructive thought process before we even realize it.
- What are some warning signs we should know to help us be aware of our thought patterns?
A companion issue is the unrealistic portrayal of perfection that we see around us in Social media, television, Our culture often presents an aura of perfection that isn’t realistic.
- How can we foster a healthy mindset when we are surrounded by this unrealistic perfection or by stressing situations?
When I first started homeschooling I expected everything to be like my previous school classroom. And when the tight schedule and structured day didn’t work with my six kids – I just knew I was a failure. In fact, I was ready to quit that first year. But in reality – the only thing wrong was the “way” I was going about it. Once I changed that – we LOVED homeschooling and all of us were much happier… But, These personal unrealistic expectations can be so dangerous.
- How do we stop this destructive cycle in our own minds?
Ok -so what about those moms who are already embracing the thoughts of failure? Those who are ready to quit homeschooling, and have already blamed themselves for everything.
- Basically, how do you get out of the self-dug trench of despair?
- What are some practical methods or baby steps that we can proactively adopt to help avoid a destructive thought process?
- Do you find that having an accountability partner helps? I’ve often found great help when I reached out to an older more experienced homeschool mom!
- As we wrap up this episode of our podcast, Melanie do you have any final words of encouragement for our listeners?
That wraps up Episode 31 of Homeschool.com’s Homeschooling and Loving It podcast. Also, If you haven’t visited Melanie at psychowithsix.com you need to head over there and look around. Melanie has a great website filled with helpful articles and a wonderful podcast called the Homeschool Sanity Show with helpful episodes that address other pertinent issues we face. Here is a link to her podcast on Black and White Thinking. Please make sure to check it out!
As always, I’m rooting for you homeschool mama – I’m here in your corner cheering you on! So here’s wishing you a great week filled with a healthy homeschooling mindset!
with grace and joy,
Jamie
About the Series
Where'd my instruction manual go??? I know we've all wondered that about parenting and homeschooling! Join us as we chat about the big stuff and everything in-between! Helping homeschoolers with practical teaching tips to find all they need to Homeschool and Love it!!
