Tips to Help You & Your Unschooled Child through the Back to School Hype

Sue Patterson

You can’t miss it.


“Back to School” ads and commercials.


“School Clothes” shopping.


Even conversations among complete strangers who run into each other at the grocery store, eagerly anticipating their child being away from them soon.


It’s August, and there’s so much excitement surrounding the kids starting their new school year.Some started last week, some won't start until after Labor Day... and down under, they don't have this Back-to-School Frenzy until January. So you guys can have a head start on it!


Sometimes, for some homeschooled children, this time of year can leave them feeling a left out, or that they're missing something. They’ve forgotten the horror stories the kids told them of their school year last April or May.


For some reason, by August, the slate is wiped clean and most of them sound pretty eager to head back to their schools.
Or at least that’s what the marketing would have you believe.


Over the years, magazine articles and blogs, have given great suggestions to help combat this.


There's more for us to discuss in this week's upcoming

NOT Back-to-School Webinar... You can still sign up. Its free!

Here's the link:


Podcast Transcript:


This week, we have a lot going on that pertains to NOT going back to school.
So I’m still focusing on that for the rest of August.


TOMORROW - August 24th, I have the annual NOT Back to school Webinar. It’s at 1Pm Central. I will email the recording to anyone who can’t make it live… probably within a day or two! I WILL have a couple of free PDFs for everyone to help you dive a little deeper into the concepts. Like creating new traditions, dealing with critics, seeing the learning in every day life.


NOT Back-to-School Webinar! Free!


🎉   Thursday    🔔   August 24    🎒   1PM Central  🎉

Register Here

Learn More at the Link!

Unschooling Mom2Mom 11th Anniversary!


Something I just looked up - the Unschooling Mom2Mom PAGE anniversary is tomorrow too! On the 24th!
I’ve been posting there for ELEVEN years. It’s funny to see the couple of memes that I shared in the very beginning.
It had a lot to do with the Parenting and Personal Season I was in...

The first one...

Next...

Then...

Oh!!! and this...

Let’s see, my kids at the time were 23, 21, and 18 - no wonder I felt THAT way!

And this was the cover for the first Facebook page ⤴     

Your Kids.   Their Learning.  Your Relationship with Them.

Those are the Only Things that Matter.


So that was the first tag line for Unschooling Mom2Mom 11 years ago - and pretty much is still today!

Thank you for indulging me and letting me do that little memory lane walk with you!


I’ve certainly been adding and adding to Unschooling Mom2Mom since then! Mainly because I had come out on the other side - with grown kids. I could see that it really DID work... I wasn’t anyone special - just a mom from the suburbs. Like many of you. And, I kep thinking, people should KNOW about this! They should know that they don’t have to accept the status quo. They can have so much more with their kids and their families - and even themselves!!!  So that’s the direction I started heading... I’m like a lighthouse, showing you where to go! Or a tour guide, pointing out cool things to see and things to avoid. I worried about so many things unnecessarily - I want to help you see that so much of that is just a waste of time.

Join Sue's Membership Group



And I’d love to help you even more - because Unschooling really DOES work - so join us in the Membership group this month and skip the sign up fee. For $49 a month (that’s about $12/week) you can get support from me - 2 group coaching calls a week, an incredibly supportive unschooling community of parents to bounce ideas off of, and a membership resource library that is SO packed with information and tools.

One of the new members just said,
"Oh my gosh! I had no idea you have SOO much stuff available for us to use"

So...I guess I need to do a little better showing everyone whats..back there! You’ll love it! 
And you can pay month-by-month or annually to get 2 months free and a year’s worth of support.

Membership Options!

OK! Enough about all of that - I just want to be sure you get the resources you need!


So last week, I posted a snarky meme about NOT going back to school, and Facebook decided to share it with a TON of people. Way more than my sleepy little Facebook page normally gets. The meme was just a typical anti-conformity meme, something that we’ve been sharing at this time of year for at least 10 years. You can go watch the video I did about it - I’d love it if you would!  Leave a comment over there and let me know what you think.


Lots of people are JUST starting to unschool this year, and they’re looking around wondering, ok, How do we start? 


So I have a few tips for you to do with your kids, some ideas for YOU to do for yourself, and just some reminders that will h
elp.

Lots of people are JUST starting to unschool this year, and they’re looking around wondering, ok, How do we start? 


So I have a few tips for you to do with your kids, some ideas for YOU to do for yourself, and just some reminders that will help.




A Few Ideas to do with Your Kids...

  • Find a Not-Back-To-School Party hosted by a local homeschool group
  • Go out to breakfast (brunch in our case) on the day the school kids go back
  • Sleep in that day
  • Host a mid-day potluck for your homeschooling family friends
  • Let your kids have a slumber party – on a “school night!” :::gasp:::
  • Make a week or two of great day-trip excursions that your kids would enjoy – children’s museums, nature centers, amusement parks (think of how short all the lines will be!)
  • Head to the beach or camping – the places will be cleared out and you can avoid the hype altogether!


But what if you, as the mom or dad, are a little wistful about all this "Back to School" stuff?

Sure, you know in your head that homeschooling is a better way.


Still, something nags at you.

It’s called American Marketing! And it’s been working on you every August since you can remember.


When all of society is pushing one way, and you’re swimming the opposite way, you might need to bolster yourself up a little bit.


A Few Ideas to Help Parents...



  1. Start a list of your reasons WHY you think unschooling is a good idea for YOUR child. YOu’ll probably be adding to this has time goes on, or maybe this time next year, you pull it out and add more or make comments on it. I have a podcast about What’s Your Why. I’ll link it and you can dive into that. I think I mentioned it before on another podcast recently. It’s such a good thing to do.

Listen to this quick Unschooling Mom2Mom Podcast:


🎙 What's Your Why?

2.  Work your way through the NOT Back-to-School Playlist I have at YouTUbe. Put yourself on a personal challenge - do one video a day. Over coffee. Or while kids are minecrafting. Before you start scrolling FB or Instagram. Doing this will pull unschooling to the front of your mind and keep your foundation stronger. Otherwise, it’s easy to be blown off course.

NOT Back to School Video Playlist

3. Think about creating your own support system. What do you need? How do YOU feel supported? What would that look like? I have another podcast about how to do this, and we’ll talk about it tomorrow on the Webinar, but you’re not doing parenting and educating in a one-size-fits-all way now... you’re going to do better if you think about a plan.

Don’t worry, nothing crazy. And in fact, I didn’t do a lot of planning. But I recommend it now becauseI found myself blowing all over the place while my kids were growing up. If I had created my own strategy, it would have helped.

OK. that’s plenty of that.


Now, I want you to close your eyes, and let these ideas fill you up:


10 Ideas to Remind Yourself

  1. You're going to reclaim your child's childhood for them - and with them!
  2. You will be able to protect your child’s love of learning – finding amusing opportunities and fun experiences
  3. Your child will avoid one of school’s big lessons: intellectual and social conformity
  4. Your child will be able to develop at their natural pace and have a truly individualized approach for learning
  5. Your child will have far less peer pressure
  6. Your child will be able to truly learn what’s before him, instead of just remembering and repeating
  7. Your child will be able to avoid the constant test-prepping that happens in schools
  8. Your child will not be terrified of making a mistake.
  9. Your child will be able LIVE in the world, instead of just read about it
  10. Your relationship with your child can be so much deeper and richer because of the experiences you are going to have together!


Just to name a few...

These are just a few ideas that come to mind for many homeschooling families.

I’m sure you’ll be able to create a list of your own!


Just remember, all the Back-to-School hype will end after Labor Day, so why not try to celebrate your family during these few weeks of chaos.

Remind yourself and help your children to see that your family has an exciting year ahead too!

Maybe the last couple weeks of August can be full of new traditions for your family.


Go ahead and ride this wave of enthusiasm that we’re being bombarded with. 🌊
Harness it and let it be a celebration of your family’s freedom to choose home education!


And, when you run into that mom who says, with her child beside her,

“I can’t wait! One more week until school starts!”


You will be able to just look at her and say,

“I know! We’re so excited!”


My best advice is to move away quickly at that point.
She won’t really know how to respond and all YOUR child needs to hear is that the road ahead for them looks GREAT!

Originally written for Linda Dobson’s August 31, 2012, PATH Newsletter, which she retitled it (I’m terrible with titles!) Tips to Help Your Homeschooled Child through the Back to School Hype.
It's been modified and edited multiple times over the years.

Seems we keep on having issues with this time of year! 😂

By Sue Patterson 25 Apr, 2024
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