Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and founder of Steady Mom

A note from Jamie: Were you a reader last year, when all of our contributors shared their biggest homeschooling mistakes? Enjoy this repost from last October!

I began my homeschooling career like many of you: with a whole host of stereotypes and a conveyor belt education hangover. I believed I wasn’t fully equipped to teach my children and that a system knew what they needed better than I did.

Even though I dared, as many of you have, to venture out on this path–I carried my baggage with me. As a result, I wanted to homeschool the “right” way. I desperately didn’t want to fail my children or screw up their education, their socialization, their lives!

So I read some really good books about homeschooling, searched for the ideal curriculum, and turned down the dial on my inner intuition.
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Written by contributor Toni Anderson of The Happy Housewife

I had been homeschooling for less than a year when I found out I was pregnant with our fourth child. I was overwhelmed at the thought of homeschooling my third and first grader while managing a baby and a toddler.

I didn’t think it was possible to homeschool and have a baby.

These doubts grew until I finally decided (before the baby was born) to enroll my kids in school.
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Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and founder of Steady Mom

Okay, friends, we’ve bared our souls, now it’s your turn.

Over the past month we’ve heard our contributors share about inner demons like pride, insecurity, and fear. We’ve also heard more practical thoughts about asking for help, traveling more, and teaching styles. Now I want to hear from you!

Why share mistakes? Why rehash the past? Why think about regrets?
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Written by contributor Heather Bruggeman of Beauty That Moves

This was a challenging topic upon first glance, as Renee already mentioned. So many thoughts came up for me – “I don’t like to focus on the mistakes… every bump in the road is an opportunity to grow… I like to stay focused on the present moment… blah, blah, blah.”

Well, let me just tell you that not only did I eventually come up with one topic for Jamie, I came up with a second topic a few days later and emailed her requesting to switch. And then? I thought of yet a third topic a few days after that! (But figured I should leave Jamie alone to unpack her final boxes.)

It turns out I had no trouble at all coming up with a mistake! Or a few for that matter. I’ll just focus on one today…

Not homeschooling sooner, that would have to be it. Maybe it wouldn’t classify as a mistake exactly, but it is a place of doubt and second-guessing that I’ve been living in lately.
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