Is Homeschooling Right for You? What I’ve Learned After Nearly a Decade

When people hear that we homeschool, the questions always start rolling in: Why did you decide to homeschool? What does it look like? Don’t your kids miss out on socialization?

In this episode of Clear & On Purpose, I’m sharing our homeschooling journey — from how I stumbled into it with an active toddler, to why almost a decade later we’re still going strong. You’ll hear about the real challenges, the unexpected joys, and the intentional choices that have shaped our family’s approach to learning.

Whether you’re a parent curious about homeschooling, someone looking for more flexibility in your family’s education, or just wondering what it really looks like behind the scenes, this episode will give you clarity and encouragement.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Why we first decided to try homeschooling “just for a year” — and why it stuck
• The values that drive our homeschool (connection, curiosity, and independence)
• The surprising challenges that came up (yes, even meltdowns and math battles)
• Different homeschooling styles and how we’ve blended them into an eclectic approach
• How we handle socialization (hint: my kids are not lacking friends)
• The flexibility and freedom that homeschooling has brought to our family life
• Key things to consider if you’re thinking about homeschooling

Homeschooling isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. But if you’ve ever wondered what it really looks like — beyond stereotypes and misconceptions — this episode will give you a transparent and balanced perspective.

✨ If you’re ready to take intentional steps toward designing a life that fits your values and energy, I’d love to help. Schedule a free consultation at www.christinaslaback.com
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Don’t forget to subscribe and share this episode with a friend who might be considering homeschooling — it helps grow our community and spread the message that life doesn’t have to look just one way.

Resources Mentioned:

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Resources & Links

• Follow Christina @christinaslaback
• Email us at hello@christinaslaback.com
• www.christinaslaback.com

Transcript

Why we homeschool

Christina: [00:00:00] I decided to try homeschooling at least for the year and see how it went. And almost a decade later, we are still going strong. I think part of that was the lack of pressure that I put on it. I would review each year, and I still do, to see is this still working for not only the children, so are they thriving and learning?

Do they still want to be homeschooled or would they prefer to go to a traditional school? But also for me, is it still working for me? Is it something that I still value and am committed to doing? Do I feel like it's part of how I want to continue to spend my time? Because, let's face it, homeschooling is hard, even letting it be as easy as you can

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Christina: Welcome to Clear and On Purpose, the podcast design to help you cut through the noise and get back to what matters most. If you're feeling stuck, but needs to take intentional action, you are in the right place. I'm Christina Slayback, homeschooling mom of two [00:01:00] and life and business coach, helping you drop in and align with your values and create more space.

Each week I'll be sharing practical insights and simple. Actionable steps to help you find clarity, boost your energy, and design a life that balances ambition with mates. Let's dive in and get clear on purpose.

when people find out that we homeschool, there's often a lot of questions and preconceptions about what that means. So today I wanna take a little time to talk about why we homeschool, what it looks like, what it doesn't, and what you might want to think about if you are considering homeschooling for yourself.

So why do we homeschool? If you had told me that back before I had kids that I would be homeschooling, I would've laughed in your face. Growing up, one of my best friends was homeschooled, but frankly, I never wanted to be homeschooled, even though I didn't actually always enjoy school. I liked that I went to [00:02:00] school and fast forward to getting pregnant and having our own babies, and I've always been a researcher and going into pregnancy and parenthood was no different.

I researched everything. I wanted to know everything about everything. What were the benefits and challenges of all aspects of raising kids? And I wound up having a circle of mom friends that there were a few that homeschooled their kids. So with an active toddler at home and a background in child and adolescent psychology, I was already doing a lot of Montessori based play and work at home.

So I started to investigate schooling options. And when I was researching the schooling and educational philosophies, I was very drawn to the child directed learning and creating those that lifelong learners. I like the idea of play-based, especially for young children and the benefits of that on critical thinking and becoming independent learners.

And I had a very active toddler at the [00:03:00] time who thinks in parts of my 365 outside challenge was constantly outside playing in the mud, wading through streams and climbing trees above my head. And as we inched closer to that kindergarten age. I simply couldn't imagine how he would be happy and maintain his curiosity sitting in a classroom all day.

We didn't have any real other options for alternatives to the public school. I love the idea of forest schooling and the Finn approach to education, and there was a little bit, we had some Montessori Waldorf schools, but the commute and the, the tuition just wasn't. A realistic option for us at the time.

And while touring some of the schools and looking at our options, I had started kind of looking into and dabbling in what homeschooling would look like, and I realized that it could be so much more than doing worksheets around the kitchen table. So armed with my research [00:04:00] and knowing that in these younger years, especially building interest and curiosity were so much more important than the actual academics.

Anyway, I decided to try homeschooling at least for the year and see how it went. And almost a decade later, we are still going strong. I think part of that was the lack of pressure that I put on it. I would review each year, and I still do, to see is this still working for not only the children, so are they thriving and learning?

Do they still want to be homeschooled or would they prefer to go to a traditional school? But also for me, is it still working for me? Is it something that I still value and am committed to doing? Do I feel like it's part of how I want to continue to spend my time? Because, let's face it, homeschooling is hard, even letting it be as easy as you can.

And I think that I envisioned that because we do very child directed and a lot of play-based learning, [00:05:00] that they would just naturally always love learning. I didn't anticipate the meltdowns over reading the arguments about not wanting to do an art or creative project. The times when I felt overwhelmed, not knowing how to explain this concept any other way, but overall did the benefits outweigh the challenges for all of us.

And the only times where I have seriously considered putting them to school so far as they haven't, they haven't had any interest yet, was times when I felt like schooling them could be damaging our relationships. And one of my core values with my children is connection. And so having that at odds with my value of sparking a sense of curiosity and autonomy in their learning.

But those were typically times when I was past my capacity. by stepping back and reevaluating the goals for homeschooling, implementing some new boundaries around my time and capacity. Those [00:06:00] usually helped to create that space and brought us back.

So what does our homeschooling look like? There are lots of approaches to homeschooling. You can get all kinds of curriculum to help you with all of the different subjects. You can basically just replicate school if you want to. 

There are so many approaches and philosophies regarding education. And what I started to do was to look at some of these different ones and see what aligned with my intentions and my goals for homeschooling and incorporate some of that. And honestly, a lot of it is very eclectic for us.

I am very drawn to the finish and Scandinavian model of schooling and when, when they were young, that looked like very little academics instead of foc. Instead, we focused on play-based and lots of time outside. We did more of a wild schooling unschooling for most of their elementary years, and as they get older, I am starting to incorporate some more curriculum, 

Especially as it became [00:07:00] apparent that we had some neurodivergence that needed more specific instruction in certain areas. So now we do kind of eclectic homeschooling. We do a blend of some curriculum, a lot of library time, and pulling books out from there. And a lot of self-directed learning. And one of my favorite things about homeschooling is the ability to allow them to follow their interests.

I provide a lot of resources and supplies, and I am often offed by their creativity and abilities and what they create and are able to understand and articulate. And one of the biggest criticisms that I hear about homeschooling is this lack of socialization. How are they ever going to socialize? Where will they make friends?

How will they be able to interact with people? And in my experience, I couldn't say that this is further from the truth. We participate in so many local groups, activities, and get togethers. We often have to cut back on the amount of activities that we do each week simply due to time and my work constraints.

[00:08:00] They're able to socialize with a wide variety of people, ages. They have some regular friends that they see every meeting or every meetup. They see other new people at different activities. And because homeschooling has really grown in the last decade or so, especially in our area. It is easier than ever to get involved with others, and that's really great as a homeschooling mom too, is to have a community and be able to have other people that you can bounce ideas off of, share wins with, and resources, and get support when it all feels hard.

And I love the flexibility that homeschooling brings to us As a family. We can pick up and have and take a trip, and it doesn't have to be centered around winter or summer breaks. We can actually include a lot of our learning on those vacations. That's one of my favorite things to do is when we're going to a destination is incorporate learning about that.

So when we're going to [00:09:00] look at the ocean or go to the West coast and. To be there, like learning about tide pools, learning about ocean life, and then being able to witness it in person. Being able to do a geology and volcano study, and then being able to go to the volcano park and be able to see the actual dried lava and be able to experience the volcanoes there, like being able to have that real life.

Ability to learn and be able to incorporate that in things that we enjoy and value. Venture and travel is just one of my absolute favorite things. There are so many great things about homeschooling and there are a lot of things that are great about public schooling too, 

Public schooling seemed like a punishment or like a lower alternative because I think that there's so many benefits to both. And if my children do decide that they want to public school later, or if we decide as a family that that's the best, then that's just another [00:10:00] option that we have, and we'll just adjust and base our schedules around that and be able to bring in the benefits of those opportunities as well.

But if you're considering homeschooling, here are some things that you might wanna think about. What are your goals for homeschooling and your child's education? By having a really clear idea on the onset of what you want for homeschooling, it's so much easier to use that as your North Star. There are a million different ways to homeschool.

There are a million different reasons to homeschool and so many amazing things that you could do. It can become overwhelming. And you cannot, and you will not hit everything. So it can drive you crazy and make you feel like you're constantly not measuring up if you're trying to incorporate everything, but sticking to your main goals and focus and to allow the rest to just kind of let go knowing that you're not gonna hit at all.[00:11:00] 

Really brings a lot more peace. So I know that for our homeschool, I want them to be curious. I want them to become critical thinkers. I want them to have a lifelong joy of learning. These are all things that I want. It's not strictly knowledge based. I want them to be able to find information and be able to learn how to research 

I want them to become independent. I want them to be able to. Have the knowledge in their own skills and strength areas and be able to pursue that so that they can have that confidence going into adulthood. And by knowing that those are my goals, it might look different how and the subjects and things that I bring in versus someone that is more academically rigorously knowledge based and their approach to homeschooling.

Also, think about do you have the capacity? Even doing a lot of child led, a lot of self-directed learning. It still requires oversight, planning, and consistency, [00:12:00] and ensuring that you're able to energetically show up and guide your children during this journey. Do you trust yourself and your kids? Yes, we all have doubts, especially when doing things that impact our kids' future, but if you have enough of belief in your why and trust that you'll be able to figure it out.

Homeschooling can be really beautiful if you're constantly second guessing and wondering if your kids are measuring up or if you're comparing them to children directly in the school system that you took them out of in the first place. It may simply be some added stress instead. Homeschooling is a super personal decision and I don't think that there is a right or wrong, and I also embrace flexibility.

I don't know what the future of our homeschooling will hold, but I do trust that we will figure it out together, and I'm embracing that journey as we go.

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Christina: Thank you for tuning in to clear and on purpose. If you're ready to take intentional steps [00:13:00] toward a more fulfilling life and wanna customize the approach, I'd love to work with you. Visit www.christinaslayback.com to schedule a free consultation or explore current offers designed to help you gain clarity.

And reclaim your energy. And don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with a friend if you found it helpful. It helps others find the show and grow our community.