April 28, 2025


Remember the days when we just made decisions without first going to Pinterest to see if it had been done before and therefore was acceptable to do? When is the last time I just picked a color for my bathroom walls without first seeking approval elsewhere? What a notion. 


I’m of the age before smartphones, so what has happened? Why is social media so all-consuming? Jamie Erickson explains in Homeschool Bravely, that comparison is a real killer in our home schools. It’s so easy to do. We go to Pinterest or Instagram and see perfectly curated home education spaces and after reading one blog or one review, we look at our libraries and declare our books not worthy, because so and so said this curriculum worked for them, when the reality is our books are just fine.


I used to buy books based on my children’s interests. It’s how we picked what we would learn for the upcoming school year. Lately, my home school has lost the fun. I have blamed it on the season we are in. Once entering high school, it seemed we were on a fast track to just get in the required classes however we could. This grew into this gross pace of book work, computer screens and zero interest. 


Algebra is something we have to do and that was how it was treated, as a beast we must face every single day even though we’d much rather be playing Minecraft or something. Factor that in with the very real exhaustion I find myself in daily and no wonder our home school mirrors public school dystopia. A home school dystopia is pretty bleak. 


Jamie says that homeschooling is a calling, that it is worship. 


Uh-oh. I've been idolizing summer break for the last four months and letting my home school flail. My house has been a close second on the flail meter, things are chaotic over here. How did we get here or more importantly, how do we get out? 


I thought that reading some home school encouragement would help rekindle the flames of my home school heart this summer, but why must I wait until summer to refill my cup? How can I attain a home school day that includes things that give me peace and renewal? What really matters? 


Jamie poses this question in her book. “What is your awesome?” Not some home school blogger, whose kids are nothing like mine or some self-help book that has education all figured out, but my awesome. 


I know what I need to be at my best. I need to exercise, to eat well, to take my meds, to write, to read, to rest, to drink water, to be outside, to travel, to love. What makes me awesome doesn’t make you awesome. What makes me awesome? What would that look like in my home school day? Here’s the tricky part, I’m not going to find the answer in my social media accounts because that’s their awesome, not mine. Ooh, the feelings are strong with the realization that I have a social media problem. Shall I dare say that maybe that’s part of why I can’t see what my awesome is right off the bat? Eek. 


What really matters in my home school? 


What is MY AWESOME? 

It was difficult coming up with the list of what makes me awesome, but since I've written it, I've gained a clearer understanding of who I am and what I need in order to continue in my awesomeness. The list above is made up of seemingly small things that won't make me famous or get me any more money in the near future. But they are things that I'm good at. 

Here's to renewal. May we never forget what makes us awesome.