About Hillary

Hillary feels lucky to be able to work full-time from home and shares the homeschooling responsibilities with her partner. Together, with a little creativity, a full schedule and a lot of love, they facilitate the education of their three adorable, and sometimes very loud, children.

Extroverts homeschooling introverts (or the I’m going to lose it if we don’t leave the house soon post)

by on April 5, 2013
in a mom's education · 7 Comments

Simplehomeschool_extrovert
Written by contributor Hillary Boucher

I must have been around 15  years old when my parents told me that I could pick one weekend night to spend socializing with my friends, but the other would be spent home with my family. This parental declaration was met with dramatic tears and a larger than life teenage tantrum.

Looking back, my reaction may have been on the dramatic side, but it exemplifies what a big deal it was to me. Connecting with my friends and socializing was not only important to me, it actually helped me live a healthier and happier life. And it still does.

You guessed it — I’m an extrovert.
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Receiving support services as a homeschooler

by on February 20, 2013
in a mom's education · 25 Comments

tips for receiving support services as a homeschooler ~SimpleHomeschool

Written by contributor Hillary Boucher

We started to notice the gap in his expressive language around 18 months old. Other kids his age were pointing at things, trying out words. Him, not so much.

I didn’t pay any attention. Our eldest son spoke early and has always had an impressive vocabulary. I had already promised myself that I would not compare and would trust that he would bloom in his own good time.

He turned two, then two-and-a-half and there started to be other signs that he was struggling: intense tantrums and mood swings, extreme clinging to parents (mostly me),  and clear signs of stress.

We began declining social invitations and found it difficult to bring him to the grocery store or even to the park. It was just too hard on all of us.
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Hillary’s homeschool day in the life (with a 2-, 5-, & 8-year-old)

by on January 11, 2013
in organization · 13 Comments

Written by contributor Hillary Boucher

A note from Jamie: Until Sunday you can purchase both of my books, Steady Days & Mindset for Moms, as part of a motherhood ebook bundle–5 titles for just $7.40! Head here for more details.

Our day-to-day homeschooling changes through the year due to the fact that my husband runs a seasonal business and I work full-time from home.

I am going to highlight a day in the life from this past fall. It was one of our busiest times of the year in terms of work and I’d like to add perspective for other families who may be wondering if homeschooling is possible with working parents.

In our experience it is possible to work and homeschool if you have flexibility in your job. It takes extra planning, discipline and coordination and can be challenging.
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Reflecting & refining: Lessons learned in 2012

by on December 12, 2012
in organization · 7 Comments

Written by contributor Hillary Boucher

The last few months flew by and we’ve had a lot of fun homeschooling. With our oldest children being eight and five it feels like we’ve come into our own as homeschoolers. Since we’ve never done this before we are continuously feeling things out, learning ourselves and always ready to celebrate when we find comfortable pockets of happy learning and living together.

Looking back I see a few things that contributed to finding our homeschooling rhythm these past few months.

Organize, organize, organize!

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K.I.S.S. the seasons (Keep it simple, silly!)

by on October 26, 2012
in inspiration · 6 Comments

Written by contributor Hillary Boucher

A note from Jamie: Sign up to receive blog updates from Simple Homeschool and get my new ebook, Secrets of a Successful Homeschool Mom FREE! Click here for details.

Once upon a time my kids were just babies and I did a lot of thinking about what homeschooling might look like for us. One of my ideas was to ground our learning journey by closely following, engaging in and learning about our local seasonal cycles.

I knew that being aware of our place in the seasons would help us to feel grounded in the natural rhythms of our world — an excellent starting point for important learning. It would also help balance out the stress that comes with the “go, go, go!” pace of our modern lives.

As the years passed and I grew into the practicalities of homeschooling I remained determined to root our learning in seasonally inspired activities.

When I look back I can see that I put a lot of pressure on myself. I would often feel disappointed if we didn’t acknowledge the Solstice with a full feast or if apple picking just meant apple eating and no apple pie baking (and thus the missed opportunity to learn fractions while we baked.) I even remember melting down a few years ago while we were decorating the Christmas tree and baking cookies.
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