What If It’s Not More Inspiration You Need?

Do you find yourself searching and searching for another new curriculum or lesson plan or idea for a story or a song? Well you’re not alone, my friend. So many homeschoolers get stuck here. But what if it’s not more inspiration you need to homeschool?

What if the last thing you need is more inspiration?

Today, I’m going to share some tips with you to for how to avoid the search frenzy when looking for homeschooling resources.

How to Avoid the Search Frenzy When Looking for Homeschool Resources

Watch the video. Or, if you’d prefer to read instead, the summary is right underneath the video.

I know from personal experience the challenge of getting stuck searching for more and more. But here’s the thing…the learning doesn’t happen in the searching. The learning happens in the doing, when we’re present with our children and bringing enriching experiences to them.

After all, that’s what the Waldorf method is built on – the lively arts that liven up the lessons and make the learning more memorable. Lively arts such as storytelling, movement games, music, and painting.

So I want to give you a three tips today to avoid what I call the rabbit hole of search mode.

Here’s how it so often goes. (This may sound familiar.) We’re feeling unsure about our ability to bring a lesson to our children. So what do we do? We continue searching for more and more inspiration in the form of a new curriculum or new resource.  We say to ourselves, “Oh, I’ll just see what someone else has to say about this.” Or, “Maybe I should check what others have done for this block.”  And pretty soon, we’re stuck in the search frenzy.

Just last week, I was talking to one of my one-on-one clients, and she said to me that she’d gotten stuck going down that rabbit hole. AGAIN.

Here’s how she described her thought process: “I’m failing at homeschooling. Let’s change everything. I’ll buy a new book because it’s on sale.”

I reminded her that the book she was considering is actually better for high school, and her son’s only in 7^th grade. I told her she didn’t need this new book.

She was grateful and sent me this message: “Crisis averted. Found the book that I used with his older brother on tape, and it’s the perfect story!”

Here’s my question for you: Do you happen to have more than one curriculum package for your child’s current or upcoming grade on your shelf? Do you already have multiple resources to pull from? Or have a stack of library books you’ve gathered?

3 Tips for How to Avoid the Search Frenzy

Tip #1: A Mantra

Set aside some time to quickly peruse the resources you already have. And choose just one that you’re going to go with as your main resource for your upcoming block, your “spine” it’s sometimes called. 

I have a mantra that can help with this: Think in three’s, pick one.

How do you do this? Set out 3 different possible resources for your next block. Look through each of them, and choose one. Trust your intuition. Which one will be best for you? And best for your child or children at this point in time? That’s the first step.

Tip #2: Set Limits

Then you’re ready to move into action mode.  Create a simple plan from that one resource so you can get on with the lessons. Yes, you can create a whole main lesson block around ONE book!

You look at your calendar to see how many days of lessons you’ll be doing during this block. And from there, estimate how much of the resource you’ll work through each day. Next, add in your lively arts and you’re good to go.

Because the truth is, the learning happens when we’re doing the lessons with our children, not when we’re searching for the perfect thing. And we have to get to the doing BEFORE we’re exhausted and feeling defeated.

So often, what happens is we get stuck in the search frenzy. Then when it comes time for the lesson, we have even less clarity and less confidence than when we started planning. And perhaps we’re even exhausted from staying up too late searching and searching, or from wondering if we’re doing this right. It’s so exhausting!

At some point, we just have to step into action and have faith that what we’re bringing to our children is what they need in this moment. And in order to get to lessons, we need to set limits on our search for inspiration and resources.

Tip #3: Take Action

My third tip is to remember that the learning comes from connection, the connection that we forge with our children. And the only way to experience connection is by being fully present with them. Engaging in conversations through true listening, experiencing the lively arts together, and weaving their interests into the lessons.

How amazing it is that we’re homeschoolers AND we have the Waldorf approach to guide us! So that we can create experiences and connections with our children that will help them become lifelong learners.

So don’t get stuck in search mode. It’s not more inspiration that you need. It’s the clarity & confidence to move forward. So choose the resources you’re going to use and move into experiences and connection.

Because that’s where the learning happens!

Learn how to avoid the search frenzy when looking for homeschooling resources! Join my mentorship community, Inspired at Home, so you can learn at your own pace. With one masterclass a month, and weekly group coaching calls to help you navigate your homeschooling journey. Take the overwhelm out of homeschooling!

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