Customize Before You Quit

EP261:  Before you decide it's time to start over, consider this: the curriculum may not be the problem. In this episode, Jean shares why it's often better to customize before you quit and how small adjustments can transform your homeschool. Discover how observation, flexibility, and trusting your judgment can help you create a learning experience that truly fits your child. 

Find the show notes here. ➡️ https://artofhomeschooling.com/episode261/

Transcript

Welcome And Big Picture

Jean Miller, Host 0:09

You're listening to the Art of Homeschooling podcast, where we help parents cultivate creativity and connection at home. I'm your host, Jean Miller, and here on this podcast, you'll find stories and inspiration to bring you the confidence you need to make homeschooling work for your family. Let's begin.

Customize Before You Quit

Jean Miller, Host 0:40

Hey friend, before you start planning next year and convince yourself you need to wipe the slate clean and start over completely, listen up. I want to encourage you to customize before you quit. Jean here and welcome to the Art of Homeschooling podcast, where I help homeschooling parents create personalized homeschooling plans that are simple, creative, and doable so you can homeschool with confidence. Let's get into this idea of customizing your homeschool. I'm here to encourage you to customize before you quit, before you toss the curriculum out the window and purchase another one, before you stop believing in yourself, and certainly before you quit homeschooling altogether. Now I know that this time of year means planning a new homeschooling year for many of you. It's an interesting time when everything feels questionable, a little uncertain perhaps, but also we have a sense of new possibilities. The temptation is strong to start fresh, buy something new, fix all your woes by replacing the curriculum. But today I want to offer you something steadier. What if this isn't the moment to quit or start over or redesign everything at once? What if this is the moment to learn to customize?

Why Starting Over Feels So Good

Jean Miller, Host 2:13

Here's a tip for you with an example of one way to customize. Sometimes when we start noticing gaps, our instinct is to assume the entire curriculum is wrong. But often what we're seeing is simply one skill that needs a little extra attention. When that happens, it's completely reasonable to bring in a small resource that supports that particular need. You don't have to replace everything. Often the most helpful adjustment is simply adding the right support at the right moment. This is what I mean when I talk about using curriculum as a resource. We don't need to purchase a curriculum package, start on page one and do everything on the page before moving on. No, we can make certain decisions ourselves first about what to teach when, and then use that curriculum as a resource. Now, I hear this often. I know this feeling well. Quitting can feel so good, right? Let's just say it out loud. Switching curriculum feels amazing. It feels like a fresh start. I've been seeing a funny meme on social media lately with two frames of a homeschool mother's face, two pictures side by side. The first is the weary look as we show up at the end of a homeschooling year. The other is an excited look when we begin to plan what we'll buy for next year. Because looking ahead feels fresh and clean and hopeful, organized, full of possibility. There's something psychologically powerful about starting over. It gives us a sense of control, not to mention that surge of dopamine when we hit the buy button. We think if I just choose better this time, I know it will work. Sometimes, very occasionally, it is time to switch to something entirely new. But more often than not, what we actually need isn't new materials or a whole new approach. It's a new relationship with the materials we already have. It's a way of using the materials. And the awareness that homeschooling isn't about what curriculum or materials we buy so much as how we use them. It's learning the skills of flexibility and discernment that matter most. Because if we don't learn how to evaluate and adapt, we carry the same pattern into the next purchase, into the next year, and then the next and the next. The curriculum changes, but the self-doubt doesn't go away.

What Customizing Actually Looks Like

Jean Miller, Host 5:04

Now, customizing is not reinventing. When I say customize, I do not mean always writing your own curriculum from scratch, designing every lesson yourself, throwing everything out and starting over, becoming a full-time Pinterest curriculum designer. None of those options is sustainable. Customizing means something much simpler. It means slowing the pace to reflect, learning to observe your child so you can decide what's needed next, considering combining lessons, swapping out a book or reading only part of it, going deeper where there's interest, and shortening what's dragging. It means looking at what you already own and asking, what is essential here? What fits my child best? What doesn't? And then adjusting accordingly. That's leadership. Here's why this matters more than the materials. One thing I've seen over and over again in my own 25 plus years of homeschooling and in working with so many homeschooling parents in the past 15 plus years, it's this. Confidence doesn't come from having the right curriculum. You don't want to use someone else's map to get to your destination. In fact, confidence is evidence-based. That means it grows when you make a decision, observe what happens, make an adjustment, and see that you can trust yourself. I did a whole episode on this last week, episode 260,

Confidence Comes From Better Judgment

Jean Miller, Host 6:48

and I'll be sure to link it in the show notes. So that's how confidence is built in homeschooling, not by buying a better curriculum, but by developing better judgment. It comes from knowing how to use what you have, it comes from taking action, trying some things, and observing how the learning goes with your child, with your children. When you know how to discern when to go deeper and when to let go and move on, you stop feeling behind. You stop feeling guilty. You stop assuming it's your fault when something doesn't land. Instead, you think, oh, I see this needs adjusting. And that shift really changes everything because now you're leading, you're not reacting. And part of that leadership is just noticing where your child actually is in their learning journey. Most packaged curricula are written for a general sequence of skills, but children don't develop in perfectly neat timelines. Sometimes your child has already mastered the skill that's being taught and you can skip that section. Other times they need more practice than the lesson provides. When you learn to observe that and adjust accordingly, you begin to trust your decisions much more. And this is how we customize.

Reset Points, Pruning, And Child Development

Jean Miller, Host 8:15

So anytime you feel stuck, I want you to think of it as a reset point. Whenever you feel stuck or discouraged in your homeschool, it's tempting to focus on everything that isn't working, but really it's a chance to step back, regain some perspective, and move forward with more confidence. Children grow, seasons change, family circumstances shift. What worked six months ago might need some tweaking now. That doesn't mean you chose anything wrong to begin with. It means that you're paying attention. And this is such a beautiful time to reset. Not by replacing everything, but by reshaping it. Think of it as pruning rather than uprooting, keeping the strong parts, trimming what isn't serving you or serving your children, letting more light in. This is also why it can be helpful to understand the progression of skills across the grades when you have a sense of what typically develops when, academically, artistically, developmentally, it becomes much easier to see what your child actually needs next and adjust your lessons accordingly. We have a free guide called Ages and Stages that can really help you with this. You can get it for free on its own. It's also a bonus inside the holistic homeschooling starter kit, which I'm going to talk more about in just a sec. What we want is to learn how to see this progression that our children are going through through the lens of our own unique child's path of development. We want to be able to observe each of our children and discern where they are on their journey. So here's a place to begin.

Starter Kit Support And Next Steps

Jean Miller, Host 10:05

If you're listening and thinking, okay, Jean, I love this idea, but where do I actually start? I want to invite you to take a look at my holistic homeschooling starter kit. Because what we're talking about today isn't really about the curriculum package at all. It's about learning to homeschool differently. It's about how to create learning experiences for your children that help them make progress on their learning journey. And everyone's learning journey is unique. The Starter Kit introduces the foundational ideas that help homeschooling parents like you move from second-guessing themselves to making thoughtful, confident decisions and designing those learning experiences by using purchased curriculum or really any resource as a reference. Inside the starter kit, you'll discover how child development can guide your teaching decisions, why rhythm matters more than rigid schedules, ways to bring creativity and connection into your homeschooling days, and practical tools to help you create a personalized plan for your unique family. Think of it as a gentle guide for building the skills we've been talking about throughout this episode. Inside the Holistic Homeschooling Starter Kit, you'll find the Homeschool Simplicity Handbook. So you can learn to customize your homeschooling plan whether you're working with multiple ages or children with special needs, or really all of our children have their own unique way of learning. And then there's how to bring it all together, the video training that can help you embrace simplicity and reduce overwhelm. And there's a holistic homeschooling planner for you so you can get your ideas down on paper, create your own planning binder, however you want to do your planning. Here's what I want you to remember: confidence doesn't come from finding the perfect curriculum, it comes from learning how to work with the child in front of you. And that's exactly what the holistic homeschooling starter kit is designed to help you do. Who is the starter kit for? It is especially helpful if you're new to homeschooling and feeling overwhelmed by all the options. You are drawn to a Waldorf-inspired or holistic approach, but aren't sure where to begin. You're constantly wondering if you're doing enough. You're tired of searching for the perfect curriculum and ready to build more confidence in your own decisions. Or perhaps you even used a package curriculum this past year and found that it was impossible to follow it exactly. Or maybe you've been homeschooling for a while and simply need a fresh perspective and a reminder to trust what you already know. This isn't another curriculum. It's a foundation for creating a homeschool that's simple, creative, and personalized to your family. And if you want even more support, you can come join the Inspired at Home community, where the Holistic Homeschooling Starter Kit is just one of over 35 resources to guide you in your homeschool. Plus, we have three coaching calls a month for you to get all of your questions answered. Your choice, purchase the starter kit or join the community and get the kit along with other resources. Here's a final word of encouragement.

Final Encouragement And Share Request

Jean Miller, Host 13:30

Before you make any big changes to your homeschool, pause. Observe, refine, lead. You do not need perfect materials. And most of the time, you don't need an entirely new curriculum either. What you need is the confidence to trust your observations, make thoughtful adjustments, and keep moving forward. That's a skill. And like every skill, it can be learned. If you'd like some support as you begin building that confidence and building that skill, I'd love for you to explore the holistic homeschooling starter kit for just $27. You'll find a link in the show notes at artofomeschooling.com slash episode 261. There might even be a coupon code over there for you to get a special price on the starter kit. And if this episode encouraged you today, would you share it with a homeschooling friend? Word of mouth is still the very best way new listeners discover the podcast. And I appreciate every share. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time. That's all for today, my friend. But here's what I want you to remember. Rather than perfection, let's focus on connection. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you on the next episode of the Art of Homeschooling podcasts.