Confident Homeschool Mom Podcast

If you’ve ever lain awake wondering what’s wrong with your homeschool, know this: you’re asking one of the same questions homeschool moms are asking every single week — you’re just doing it alone, at midnight, with a search bar instead of a friend.

After two decades of homeschooling my own four kids, and six years coaching the women who do this work every single day, I can tell you this with complete confidence: the questions that keep homeschool moms up at night are almost always the same questions. Over and over. In every coaching conversati...

This episode is all about nonviolent homeschool communication — specifically, the patterns that make it harder than it needs to be. Nonviolent homeschool communication starts here — with understanding these old patterns.

And there is one book that has shaped how I think about this more than any other.

I’ve read a lot of books on relationships, parenting, connection, and attachment over the years — more than I can count. But Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication is the one I keep coming back to. For me, it is the bible of relationships and communication. And it has changed ho...

If you’re struggling as you learn how to stop taking your child’s behaviour personally, girlfriend, I get you! That feeling — that your child is doing something to you — is an easy one to fall into. Not just being difficult, but somehow, specifically, deliberately difficult, aimed at you. You’ve had the thought before, even if you didn’t say it out loud: why does he do this to me?

First of all, I want to admit, I have most definitely been there. But I want to offer you a different question to reframe that. Not because your...

Welcome to the Homeschool Mom Book Club 2026 — a year of reading chosen entirely for you.

Can I ask you a question? Who is nurturing you?

It’s a question most homeschool moms never get asked. We pour everything into our children — our time, our creativity, our patience, our presence — and somewhere in all that nurturing, we forget that we are humans with needs too.

Who Is Nurturing You?

I’ve been there. I spent years showing up for everyone else and calling what was left of me enough. Occasional Wednesday nights at Starbuc...

Post-partum overwhelm in your homeschool is the exhaustion, emotional overload, and loss of routine that many moms feel while trying to homeschool after having a baby. It’s caused by sleep deprivation, hormonal shifts, and the demands of caring for a newborn alongside older kids’ schooling — and sometimes it’s post-partum depression, not just tiredness. It’s manageable with rest, support, simplified routines, and — when needed — professional help.

If you’re dealing with post-partum overwhelm in your homeschool, I have a story to share with you.

Hard to believe that someone so pretty, our third baby, a baby who...

Every homeschool kiddo is as unique as their fingerprints. No two of our kids learn the same way, connect socially the same way, or walk the same life path — and that’s exactly why I wanted to sit down with our third daughter, Rachel, and just… ask her. Not “how was homeschool” as a formality, but really ask: what worked, what didn’t, and what she’d tell another homeschool mom who’s standing where I once stood.

Rachel is charming and vivacious, quick-witted, the fastest one in our family to blurt out the answer to a mental math prob...

The homeschool to high school transition is, well, different from what I expected.

There’s a bracing moment in every homeschool mama’s world where she realizes her homeschooled kiddos aren’t staying kiddos forever. And though in theory she knew this, she also finds the transition unexpected in its emotional weight.

In this article, I share my honest experience of what the homeschool to high school transition actually looks like — the emotional side, the logistical side, and everything in between.

If you’re in the thick of this season and feeling the ground shi...

Transitioning from homeschooling the early years to high school is a significant shift—for both you and your teen. It’s not just about choosing the right curriculum or making sure they meet graduation requirements. It’s about fostering independence, supporting their personal growth, and adjusting to your evolving role as a homeschool mom as you navigate homeschool high school.

If you’re wondering how to confidently guide your homeschooler through these years, know that this is a typical concern at this transition season. Let’s explore what this transition really looks like and how you can set your t...

Why knowing what’s ‘normal’ at every stage is the key to human development for homeschool moms — and how it transforms your teen’s high school transcript.

Understanding human development for homeschool moms helps you set realistic expectations that transform how you experience every stage of parenting—and it all clicks for me when my “cousin” Vicki Tillman, coach, counselor and podcaster at the Homeschool High School podcast explains the intersection between human development and high school expectations.

As homeschool moms, we’re feet on the ground in the human development process every single day. And when we unders...

Today, I want to share some insights and tools to declutter your homeschool mama mind — the ones that have helped me clear the mental clutter, navigate those tough emotions, and actually enjoy this incredible journey. Here’s how I went from feeling overwhelmed to on purpose in my homeschool life, and how you can, too.

Homeschooling is a freeing family lifestyle like no other, and also — it can be overwhelming. For many homeschool moms, the overwhelm happens easily. We’re not just educating our kids; we’re managing homes, routines, part-time jobs, and, most of all, ourselves. That’s exa...

Learning how to handle criticism about homeschooling is one of the quietest struggles home educating moms carry. If you’ve ever walked away from a family dinner, a grocery store run, or a casual conversation wondering how to handle criticism about homeschooling without losing your peace — this one is for you. It’s not always loud or dramatic. Sometimes it’s a raised eyebrow. A loaded question at Christmas. A relative who quizzes your kids on times tables with a little too much enthusiasm.

And it’s exhausting.

I remember standing in the produce section of the gro...

Want to create a personalized homeschool high school that actually fits your teen? Ditch the one-size-fits-all model and design a meaningful high school experience built around their real interests, strengths, and goals.

When my son was little, he was deeply into LEGO, Minecraft, and Roblox. Like many moms, I found myself wondering: Is he going to be an engineer?

Of course, loving to build might simply mean enjoying creative play. But as he’s grown, those early interests have taken shape in surprising and evolving ways.

Now 16, he’s fully immersed in AP Phys...

If you’ve spent your life being the good girl — the one who kept the peace, said yes when you meant no, and made sure everyone around you was okay — this episode is for you. Cycle-breaking for homeschool moms is less about a dramatic declaration and more about the quiet, courageous work of dissolving the patterns that were never yours to carry in the first place. And today’s conversation goes right to the heart of that.

We go deep on how approval-seeking and over-responsibility quietly shape the entire atmosphere of your homeschool home — and why so many moms...

What Is an Education Anyway — And Who Gets to Decide?

Forget every notion you have been told about what an education is.

I want to ask you something I ask every single woman I work with in coaching.

What do you believe an education is?

And the second question — the one that tends to stop people cold:

What did you believe an education was before you started homeschooling?

Most of us never actually chose our definition of education. We absorbed it. From school, from our parents, from the...

When your homeschool child won’t do work, it’s rarely just about laziness—it often signals a deeper need for curiosity, connection, and meaningful engagement.

If you’re a homeschool mom, you’ve probably said or thought something like:

“My kids don’t really care about their lessons. They just want to get through it so they can get on their screens.”
“I think my daughter only enjoys going to coop because of her friends, not any actual learning.”
“He races through his work without engaging—he’s just checking boxes.”
“There’s outright resistance no...

If your 1st-year homeschool frustrations have left you feeling overwhelmed, but you still want to try to make homeschooling work for your family, this is for you.

Gia’s experience in her 1st-year homeschool frustrations…

How have your first months of your homeschool life been? I want to hear all the deets.

If you and I were hanging out in our Zoom room, I’d ask you, what’s working for you, what’s not, what’s working for your kids, what’s not, and have you had any unexpected challenges along the way? I want to hear all about it.

Then I would help you unpack your feelings, your thoughts, and your experiences, and I’d want to give you a little encouragement, just like I offer encouragement for homeschool m...

Let’s be honest about something. Transitioning into homeschool high school is one of those seasons that hits differently — no matter how many years you’ve been at this. There’s excitement, yes — but there’s also a swirl of fear, uncertainty, and something that can only be described as guilt. Like you should already know what you’re doing, except you don’t.

I want to talk about that guilt. Because it’s running the show for a lot of us — and most of us don’t even realize it.

“Are We Already Behind?”

A mama in our Conf...

What This Decision Is Really About

If you’ve decided to homeschool in British Columbia, you’ve already made the hard decision. But there’s a second decision waiting right behind it — and it stops a lot of families cold. Registered homeschooling vs online learning in BC — which is right for your family?

After two decades of homeschooling in BC and six years of coaching families through this exact moment, here’s what I know: this decision isn’t actually about finding the right school or the right system. It’s about who you are as a family. It’...

Every year I finish the homeschool year kinda lackluster. And you know what? I’m good with that. I recognize it for what it is: a season. That’s exactly why I do a Homeschool Year End Review — and why I think every homeschool mom should too.

Because, seriously, what are the chances I’m gonna love every dang minute of this homeschool thing?

And when else would I feel homeschool fatigue? At the end of the homeschool year! (Oh, and February, cause ya know: slump month…Oh, and usually about year two or three of our hom...

When you buy new homeschool curriculum, how do you know what you should buy? This all depends on how we understand what an education is anyway. When you buy new homeschool curriculum, here are five suggestions for you.

🎧 Listen to the podcast episode above, or watch the video below.

You might also be wondering…

If you’ve ever typed “am I homeschooling my child the right way” into a search bar at 11pm — this post is for you.

Most homeschool moms have experienced some version of that same question — am I homeschooling my child the right way? — and most of them are asking it for exactly the right reasons.

Not out loud, necessarily. More likely, as a quiet voice at the end of the day, after the books are closed and the planner is put away.

Here’s the truth: there is no single “right way” to homeschool your ch...

If you want to become a confident homeschool mom in year 1, this discussion is for you.

As a graduated homeschool mom who walks alongside other homeschool moms to help them shed what’s not working, so they can stop pushing through and instead meet their own needs, manage their stress, and set realistic expectations, these are the 9 steps to thrive and become a confident homeschool in year 1.

Ready to start with clarity and calm? Get your free Confident 1st-Year Homeschool Roadmap — seven daily emails to guide you through your first steps, one at a time.

Unrealistic expectations as homeschool moms — we’ve all been told to manage them, lower them, be more realistic. But what if they’re actually your greatest asset?

Because here’s what I know about us homeschool mamas: we have lofty ambitions. For our kids, for their education, and honestly, for ourselves. And I don’t think that’s a problem. I think it’s actually the whole point.

We spend so much energy trying to talk ourselves out of our expectations — lowering the bar, managing our hopes, bracing for disappointment. But what if we’ve been asking the wr...

Feeling Like a Fraud, Homeschool Mom? Here’s Why You’re Not.

Have you ever caught yourself thinking, “Am I really cut out for this?” Then you’re among the masses. Homeschooling is one of the most extraordinary things you can do for your kids, but it can also bring up a lot of self-doubt. You scroll past picture-perfect homeschool setups on Instagram or hear about families who are enacting their ideal Charlotte Mason schedule, and suddenly, you’re questioning everything. So then, how to build confidence as a homeschool mom if these questions are your constant companions?<...

If you’re ready to get started homeschooling in 2026, you’re in the right place — and you’re not alone in feeling that mix of excitement and overwhelm that comes with this decision.

When you first step off the beaten path — leaving the conventional school system behind — you might feel a swirl of excitement, uncertainty, and the overwhelming urge to research everything. That’s completely normal. Every new homeschool mama goes through it.

But here’s what I want you to know from the start: you really can do this. Not perfectly, not without challenges, but confidently...

Your 1st homeschool year stressful? That feeling is more common than you think — and it doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. Every new homeschool mom hits that wall of doubt, second-guessing, and overwhelm somewhere in year one. Add in the opinions of well-meaning family and friends, and it can feel like you’re rowing against the tide.

But here’s what I know after years of mentoring new homeschool moms: a stressful first year is almost always the result of a handful of very avoidable mistakes. Learn what they are before you make them, and your first...

A while back, I received a message that stopped me in my tracks and perfectly captured why learning how to make confident homeschool decisions can feel so surprisingly hard — even when you already know what you need to do.

“I would love to hear you say, ‘Persephone, you don’t need permission to allow some of your children to attend public school. You don’t have to let old hurts and fears deprive them and yourself of peace. This time is what you need to regroup. You can work on your mental health. It’s okay, at least for no...

You know that feeling when you’re standing in your kitchen at 2 pm, the math curriculum is still sitting unopened on the table, your ADHD sixth grader has asked you the same question seventeen times, and you realize you haven’t eaten lunch? Yeah. Kara knows that feeling too. If you’re trying to homeschool when everyone has ADHD—you, your kid, maybe multiple kids—you know this isn’t just about finding the right chore chart.

“I have two girls, ages eleven and seven. We’ve been homeschooling the entire time. I’m really struggling with feeling overwhelme...

You’re the exhausted homeschool mom — you must serve, you must nurture, and you must provide.

If you identify as the exhausted homeschool mom, ‘ve learned that you’re pushing beyond your capacity.

You’re making loads of decisions before lunch, absorbing everyone’s emotions like they’re yours, and by evening you have nothing left — not for yourself, sometimes not even for the people you love most. Likely, you’re not treating yourself like a human being who has needs. You’re a mother, so you must serve, you must nurture, and you must provide. And though...

When You Stop Second-Guessing Yourself as a Homeschool Mom, Self-Leadership Begins

Many homeschool moms quietly live with a constant undercurrent of doubt. Am I doing enough? Am I doing this right? In this episode, Teresa sits down with Hilary to explore what happens when a homeschool mom stops second-guessing herself and begins leading her life and family with confidence. Hilary shares her journey through exhaustion, comparison, and feeling uprooted — and how reclaiming her voice and stepping into self-leadership transformed not only her homeschool life, but the atmosphere of her entire family.

Insights on How to St...

Let’s Chat About The Winter Homeschool Slump

It’s the winter homeschool slump. The holidays are long gone, spring still feels impossibly far away, and you’ve repeated your weekly homeschool routine approximately 25 times since September. You’ve done an estimated 125 loads of laundry. And somewhere in the middle of all of it — you stopped factoring yourself in.

In this episode, Teresa gets honest about what this season actually costs homeschool mamas — emotionally, physically, and practically. She talks about Seasonal Affective Disorder, the winter blues, the boredom few admit to, and the unrealistic expectations that make th...

Let’s Chat About the Lies Homeschool Moms Believe

There are a lot of lies homeschool moms believe about their exhaustion. That they need a better curriculum. A tighter schedule. More discipline. But most of the time, the real answer goes much deeper than that.

If you started this week with a cold cup of coffee, a house that doesn’t look like the ones on Pinterest, and a quiet voice in your head telling you you’re not doing enough — this episode is for you.

Because that voice? It’s not telling you the tr...

What happens when you snap at your kids — and then spend the rest of the day punishing yourself for it? That’s the homeschool mom inner critic. And it’s running your days more than you realize.

That’s not a homeschooling problem. That’s not a patience problem. And it’s not even a bad day problem. It’s the homeschool mom inner critic loop — and it’s running your homeschool (and your life) more than you realize.

This month’s focus is Nurturing the Nurturer — because the voice telling you you’re not enough didn’t start with...

What happens when you finally stop asking permission to be yourself?

If you’ve been wondering how to stop people-pleasing as a homeschool mom, this conversation will show you it’s possible.

Homeschool mom and creative entrepreneur Latoya shares her journey from living for everyone else to discovering what she actually wants—and why that shift changed everything in her homeschool life.

This month’s focus: Nurturing the Nurturer — because you can’t give what you don’t have, and your kids don’t need your perfection. They need your presence.

Latoya hit 40 and...

When “Keep Going” Becomes Survival: How to Stop the Inner Critic as a Homeschool Mom

If you’ve been wondering how to stop the inner critic as a homeschool mom, this episode will show you why that voice is so loud—and where it actually came from.

This month’s focus: Nurturing the Nurturer — because the voice telling you you’re not enough didn’t start with homeschooling. It started long before. And it’s running your days more than you realize.

I was eight months pregnant, in relentless pain, watching my support system shift benea...

How to Take Care of Yourself as an Overwhelmed Homeschool Mom: What Self-Care Actually Is

This month’s 1% Pivot: Nurture Yourself to Nurture Them—because if you’ve been wondering how to take care of yourself as an overwhelmed homeschool mom and nurture the nurturer, this episode is for you.

By year 15 of homeschooling, I had written nearly 600 blog posts—every Wednesday night at Starbucks, processing my journey through words. That writing became therapy, self-discovery, and emotional regulation. And in 2018, it became a book that would resonate with thousands of exhausted homeschool moms. This month’s 1% Pivot...

So, how to do kindergarten in your homeschool? Whether you’re brand new to homeschooling or simply wondering how to create a meaningful kindergarten year at home, let’s dive into the possibilities.

🎥 Want to see exactly how I’d do it differently after 20 years of homeschooling?

Homeschooling kindergarten offers a unique opportunity to create a personalized and engaging educational journey right from the beginning. You learn to nurture their natural curiosity (& watch them learn without direction), foster that love for learning everyone talks about, and build a strong foundation for a purposeful, unique future.

Yo...

The Real Reason You’re Overwhelmed

I got an email from a homeschool mom in her seventh year. Three kids. She’s read the books, listened to the podcasts, and been to all the conferences. And today I want to share the real reason you’re overwhelmed.

And she said: “I can’t do it all and be it all anymore. I feel like we’re all bored and sick of each other.”

If you’ve ever felt that way—like you’re drowning even though you know what you’re doing—this episode is for you.

Today, my homeschooler gets accepted to university—his preferred program for the fall, engineering at the University of Victoria.

That sentence should read like pure celebration. And it is.

But the truth? This moment arrived carrying far more than simple joy.

What Even Are These Feelings When My Homeschooler Gets Accepted to University?

From a woman who transacts in emotions, who holds other women’s emotions, who speaks on emotional regulation every day—I’m not sure what these feelings even are.

Elation. Anticipation. Excitement. Pride. Gratefulness. Sadness that this day...