So nice to "see" you, Emily! We've had so very many reasons over the years, but I think *your* reason is foundational :-) The older I get, the more I realize we have such little time in life. It's also great that you and your husband are on the same page about that. Thanks for sharing your story here!

Yes, I agree with this. Centrality of the family is so, so important to us.

YES! I absolutely love this reason. This is BIG for our family as well!

My kids would love the Magic School Bus kit! And I'm contemplating using that foreign language program next year. 😊

Great ideas! We love using summer to immerse ourselves in those subjects that we don't have as much time to focus on during the school year. It's also awesome to have a few activities for them to do that don't require teaching time from us.

Great ideas!! Thanks Emily!

It's such a great comfort to me to know that there is learning in everything! Hope your move is going well. 😊

Even now as a 'veteran' homeschooler, I still find myself worrying about what other people think every now and then. This is great advice!

This is such a wonderful reminder, Emily. Homeschooling our kids the way we're called to is such a privilege. Yes!!

Yes! It is a privilege. Be happy and proud! For our family, home education is part of a superior lifestyle design. I urge home educators not to get apologetic either when people start saying "but not everyone can do that". No need to be unkind or rub it in others' faces, but no need to downplay a superior choice with proven benefits either. I'm learning the words "but not everyone can do that" is one form of kryptonite: goo.gl/KIm0C6 Thanks for the interesting and inspiring video! Here's some extra home education inspiration involving US Presidents: goo.gl/bJx2lX :o)

Yes! A privilege we shouldn't take for granted 💕

This is awesome, Emily. Such a good reminder!!! Yes, homeschooling our kids and giving them a unique education is definitely a privilege. We should feel MORE blessed and LESS stressed. :)

I agree we are blessed to customize to our children's needs and help with their purpose in life. it's so sad that teachers can't teach the way they want to because of our government😐 great video, thanks for the encouragement!

You're so right Emily! It IS a privilege and sometimes we forget, or at least I do. Thanks for the encouragement!

Hi! This is my first time to your channel! I love all the new homeschool videos everyone is sharing!

Great video! I agree. This is very crucial and often overlooked. The more our family worked on creating our home education goal the more we realized it was actually the same as our parenting goal. This is ours: "The goal is to provide an awesome foundation from which our daughter can grow to become an extraordinarily competent individual who can independently improve, achieve, and create value anywhere in the world." It's helped to keep our focus on "life skills" not "school skills". Our job as parents is to help prepare our daughter for life; not school. I think such a huge focus on school skills is very short sighted. Having a specific, written goal has really helped us stay focused on why we home educate: goo.gl/X5vpD0 Thanks for your thoughts. You've got another subscriber :o)

Very interesting, down to earth video. I appreciate your honesty. Thank goodness for the flexibility of home education and the ability to improve eh? Looking back, my biggest regret is how I was WAY too focused on transplanting the traditional school system into our household with all the worksheets, textbooks, rigid schedules, etc, etc, etc, etc and etc. The stress piled up and up. Somewhere along the line, I woke up, chilled the heck out, and started looking for effectiveness instead of completing every section of a workbook. Now we have a much more project and life skills based approach to learning. Once we decided to get away from copying "school" I felt really empowered by the flexibility of home education. It's incredible. Flexibility is the hidden gem of home education: goo.gl/hS4kIG Thanks for the video :o)

I agree. Often we need to dig in and give things a go. And if it's a disaster, the flexibility of home education takes over and we can improve. We've found chess to be a great part of our home education study due to its life skills. 4 Reasons Chess Is Awesome: goo.gl/rzTNrJ Thanks for the video :o)

The grass is NOT always greener. Great advice!!!

Oh, girl. PREACH. :) Your tip is spot on!

Yes, this is so easy to fall prey, too! Great advice!

:)

Oh my word. You son is so stinkin' cute! And he speaks exactly the same way that you do - other than "snoresville", of course. I loved seeing his guest appearance!

I am really enjoying your videos! Thanks for the advice - as a newbie, it is always helpful to hear from an experienced homeschooler.

These are so great! Thanks for sharing this awesome resource. I'll def keep in mind for a few years from now.

Lol, opinions are like... 😂

"If you wanted their opinions, you would have sent them to public school." LOL

Oh yes, it's so easy to make that mistake. We need to be brave and ask God to direct our path rather than trying to listen to the voices of other people. Great advice!

Their artwork turned out really well. Good job, Copeland kids!!! :)

I love the crayon resist art!

I love all of these words of encouragement! So many people need to hear this...even those who have been doing it awhile. (Ahem.) ;)

So true. Because there are days when we wonder, "wait a second. WHY am I doing this again? Someone PLEASE remind me?!" Everyone has those days. It's really important to know you're why because there are days you will need to be reminded. :)

So true! This is especially helpful on those hard days. It's also been helpful for me to remember that I need to be present with my children. I need to let go of some of the "to-do's" so I can fully engage with them.

I never thought of doing this. This is a great idea!

It's good to think about why we homeschool. It does motivate us when thing are not going well.

This is a great idea. TFS!

Such a good idea!!! I love this, Emily. :)

great encouraging word! I agree!!!

Great tips! I made this mistake when we first started homeschooling. I didn't know what I didn't know, which was how my kiddo best learns LOL. :)

Cough - Sing Spell Read Write - Cough Cough I'm sorry did I say something. It so did not work for us, and it was SOOOOOOO expensive. I did end up completely scrapping it because no matter how I reworked it, it did not work for us.

Great tips, Emily! Yes, it's important for us to study our kids so that we can see what works best for them.

One thing I tell homeschool parents (as a previous school teacher myself) is that you don't have to finish a book just because you started it. For example, I remember we did 2/3 of our high school chemistry book when I was a student, and the report card still said that we did a full year of chemistry. If you mastering the material and understanding it, this is way more important than rushing through everything just to finish the books. The school teachers don't finish all the books.

Yes! Thank you for encouraging Moms looking at homeschooling. None us are perfect, exactly!

I love being able to say "I don't know. Let's look it up." because it means we're learning together. Great encouragement!

You're so encouraging, Emily! :)

We definitely don't have to be an expert in everything in order to homeschool, just have a willingness to learn. I love it!