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June 5, 2025 18 mins

Okay, friend—this one’s raw, real, and exactly what I needed to hear myself say. As we look ahead to our ninth year of homeschooling (what?!), I’m getting brutally honest about where we’re heading, what’s working, and what absolutely isn’t.

It’s time to stop pretending we can do all the things.

I’m chatting about why I’m skipping the guilt, letting go of unrealistic expectations, and finally leaning all the way in to a simpler homeschool—on purpose. From considering new history options (like Black American History + TPT resources) to passing on curriculum I want to love but just can’t commit to, this is a full-on moment of clarity.

This isn’t about giving up. It’s about showing up for our real life.

Whether you're deep in planning season or just starting to feel the burnout creep in, I hope this episode gives you permission to choose what really serves you—your time, your energy, and your family.

✨ Let’s take simple seriously, together.

 

 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Okay, so I'm filming in my carand this is absolutely perfect
for today's video topicbecause it is a reminder to myself
that I need to get honest with myselfand take simple into our homeschool.
Let's chat about it.
Welcome back to Making Everyday Magic.My name is Shanna.
If you are new herewe are a homeschooling family of four.
We are in our eighth year of homeschooling
and I am looking aheadto our ninth year of homeschooling.

(00:22):
I do not normally like film in my car,but we'll get into that
in just a minutebecause it is poignant for today's video.
So let's jump in and talk about taking
simple into my homeschool.
Okay, so before we go any further, please
scroll downand hit the big red subscribe button.
Turn on the bell for notificationsand give this video a thumbs up.

(00:43):
As always, you can find me a red and down
in the comments or over on Instagramat Making Everyday Magic. Okay
you guys, soif you've been here for any period of time
over the last couple of years,I have been leaning hard
into simple simplicity.
Really trying to be honest with myself

(01:05):
about the things I'm purchasing,the things I'm bringing into my home,
the reviews I'm doing, thethe things I am entertaining in my life,
and truly prioritizing
where I want to spenddollars, energy, time,
all of the things that are most preciousand valuable to me.

(01:26):
Naturally, I am selling my car todayand that is because one.
I want to be able to have clear thoughts
on what I'm trying to conveybecause sometimes,
my day gets muddiedand my schedule gets busy
and I don't feel like
I have the timeor the energy or the whatever

(01:50):
to devote to clear,
clear, well-rounded thoughts.
This week is busy and wild and wonderfulin all the best ways.
But that means I have to get
honest with myself.
And this is where this really ties in
with today's video,
because I need to be honest

(02:12):
with myself.
I have actually heard from several people
that I'm incredibly self-aware,so that makes me feel really good.
The problem is that I am incredibly
self-aware and.
I am trying to be honest
with myselfand I as we come into the planning season,

(02:33):
as we are choosing what's nextand all of the things
it is important to me for myself,but also to articulate to you.
So because maybe you need this reminder
to be honest with yourself, for me,
I knowthat I need a little bit of a pivot.
What has worked for us previously up

(02:54):
to this year, which was wild,
I don't believe
is going to carry forward well,
and I need to be honest with myself.
You guys know that,
I get really excitedand I tend to add a lot.
There's been years we've donemultiple sciences and multiple histories
and things like that,and I just can't do it.

(03:17):
This coming year.
I'm recognizingthat there are so many requests
of our timethat if I'm going to do something well,
it needs to be doing less,
doing more with less.
And I've talked about it a lot of times.
I also need to be honest with myselfabout the style of curriculum,

(03:41):
and I do feel like I've done a good jobwith that
over the years of making surethat it is something we will do.
However, recently I started
talking about the oh Freedom curriculumfrom woke homeschooling.
Everybody's like, yes, it's so greatand it's so wonderful, and I'm, I'm,
I'm in a weird placebecause I want the depth of it.

(04:01):
I want the honesty of it.
But if I am being honest
with myself, if I am being honestwith myself, I've downloaded the
the copy,the preview, and I have looked at,
the book list as much as I can find.

(04:21):
And I looked at the sample weekand all of that, and I just,
I don't think that I would
do the curriculum justice.
I do not think that I would get out of it
what I am hoping to get out of that,

(04:42):
based on knowing
myself, my limits
and where I will start to cut corners.
I am.
Genuinely
evaluating if this is a thing I would do.
First of all, there are,

(05:03):
you know, there's a lot of red flagsfor me that have given me pause to say no.
What's another solution?
There are more weeksthan I usually plan in a school year,
which already means we're going to doubleup, which is hard because I need less.
That'swhy I built in buffer for that reason.
So I need to be ableto have that flexibility.
I also know that there'sa lot of book sourcing.

(05:26):
There's a lot of piecing from a piecingfrom the every week.
I already know that I wouldn't
use it the way that it's written.
And I think I have figured out
what might be an easierway, a different path forward

(05:47):
for what I am wanting.
So if you are interested,I am now considering doing,
Black American
HistoryZ, crash course videos with teachers
pay teachers like guided notes and tasks.
So I think that's going to be the waythat we do that,

(06:09):
because I need to remember that
prioritizing simple in our homeschool,
recognizing what I know will be my are
and will be my limitations.
I need to go in
setting us up for success, and I genuinelyfeel like if I overstretch myself,

(06:35):
if I overreach,if I am dishonest with myself
about who I am, how we work,and what our years usually look like,
then I am setting us up for failure.
And I would rather
do a little less and get more out of it,and then bite off

(06:55):
more than I can chew and failin a ball of fiery flames.
I just don't think that I canor will do it and do it well.
So this has been really,I don't know the right word,
but like shining light on what I want
going forward,what I want our homeschool to be next year

(07:15):
based on what it has been,what it was this year.
I need
more flexible
time than I have allowed myselfup to this point,
and we didn't need it,so it wasn't a thing.
But as flexibleand wonderful as homeschool is,

(07:36):
going into this year was really hard.
Those kidsnow have more consistency things
during the week,during the day, out of the home,
and I'm not willing to sacrificethose things
just so I can check a box

(07:59):
or make myself feel better.
I would rather find something that
fit our lives, the lives
we want, the lives going forward.
And you guys knowI've been perfectly honest about this.
I'm not somebody who's going to sourcebooks.
I'm not somebody who's going to piece ittogether.
And I'm, I'm I'm not somebodywho is going to write my own curriculum

(08:22):
or do those things.I'm just not going to do it.
So the way that I am finding to
move forward
in a manner that I'm going to feel goodabout, because that's part of it, right?
Like I want to use the oh,freedom curriculum.
I want to feel good about whatwe're teaching our kids,
and I want to get thatthat nonwhite, lost,

(08:43):
person of color origin for Americanhistory is very important to me,
especially before they continue oninto high school and college,
not necessarily getting as much freedomover the way that they learn,
the stories that they're told,or the amount of cleansing
that those stories,and history has been through.

(09:04):
So my concession at this point is BlackAmerican history be a crash course?
Teachers pay teachers guided notes.
And then I also went throughand collected a book list.
And I've put it on my Amazon shop.
If you guys want to go there.
Recommended book lists from women.

(09:25):
Indigenous peoples,
people of color, marginalized groups,LGBTQ
stories that flow into American historyso that I can start sourcing them,
you know, Amazon library,whatever to read as a family
to educate our family, but not necessarily

(09:48):
as part of a curriculum.
I want something to supplement.
I want to make sure that they'regetting a well-rounded education
when it comes to other than white men,American history.
And it is really important to methat I do that as much justice as I can.
And I think this is the waythat I can do that best.
So I want to take some ball furtherinto our homeschool.

(10:10):
I want to simplify things,and I also want to be honest with myself
about where I'm willingto spend my energy,
where my energy is going to come from,what time am I going to have?
How am I going to do this?
What am I really doing with the timethat I have, with the resources
that I'm using,
with the pieces that I'm choosing,with the dollars that I am spending, how
am I building the homeschool that I wantand the homeschool that I want

(10:34):
is more simplified.It is more streamlined.
It is
more geared
toward as we get older,especially interests.
I want my girls to have the time
in their day, in their school day,to focus on
the things that are bringing them joyand the things that they are.

(10:56):
Because, you know, my oldest is goinginto eighth grade next year.
She is starting to get a really solid
handle on which subjects she enjoys,
which career pathshe might be more interested in pursuing.
So if I can free upsome of our time in our day,
if I can simplify our homeschool

(11:18):
to better
encourage
their paths forward, to better
deepenthe lessons that they are receiving,
I really feel like we will be happierwith what we're doing,
so I'm interested to see what this means

(11:39):
afterhaving had this revelation like last week,
I'm interested to see what
this means for meas the person in charge of the homeschool.
When it comes to my ownpurchasing planning,
can I maintain my focus on being honest
with myself about what really will happenand what really won't happen?
And can I remain

(12:01):
devoted to this idea of simple homeschool
in the face of planning, season,consumerism, everything that looks wild,
wonderful, and amazingbecause you guys know to a fault.
I want them to do it all.
I want them to have it all.
And I have said it many times thatI have a really hard time practicing it.
You can do it all.
You just don't have to do itall right now.

(12:22):
And I tend to get really excitedand try to do every new thing
we're hearing about,because it's exciting and it's wonderful.
And not just isn'twhat is best serving us.
And I've got to get honest with myself,and I need to be simplifying my homeschool
when it comes to the things that we aredoing, the dollars that we're spending,
all of it, all of it,even just the things I bring in the house,

(12:43):
I get really excitedabout a lot of things,
but I do want to be modeling to my kids,to be reasonable,
to manage your expectations,be honest with yourself.
Don't try to be something that you're not.
You don't get.
I mean, it's really important,especially this idea
of how will I actually use itand will I use it?

(13:04):
Will I be so suffocated?
This want so drained
and then feel so bad about myselffor not having done it or done it?
Well, I just don't even want to do that.
I don't want to do it to myself.
And I would much ratherjust kind of not to.
So I will be skipping the guiltthat is going to come along with
not doing somethingI knew I wasn't going to do.

(13:26):
That's the worst part of it, is knowing
that it doesn't suit my style,that it's not something
I'm likely to stick with,and that with the length of it
I already knowmany get behind like immediately, so
I think that's really what it comesdown to.
It's not even necessarily simplifying.
It is literally just not making it harder,which somehow is the opposite,

(13:49):
but also is a different thing.You know what I mean?
Like, I'm not even asking to make it easy.
I just have to not make itharder on myself.
And feeling bad about not doing it rightis is the way that I will absolutely
make it harder on myself.
Even just sitting with the intimidation.
That is a way that I am not servingmyself.
I'm not serving my handsor not serving my learner.

(14:09):
So it is about knowing yourselflike get honest with yourself.
Maybe you don't know, maybe you haven'ttried something like this yet where you're
piecing it together this wayand that way, which is the way that
the Michael Klay Thompson Language Artsprogram is recommended.
It is recommended a little of this
and then a little of that,and then a little of this.
And I, I drownedwhen I was trying to use it that way.

(14:30):
It's not for me.
And so once I could adapt it to a waythat was gonna work for me, gold.
Absolutely gold.
But I cannot, I cannot, guys,it comes back to my pivot or quit it.
I cannot fathomhow I would use oh, freedom
my own way.
I can't fathom how I would tweak it.

(14:50):
I can't fathom how I would get
what I hope to get out of it
with a lot more work from myself.
Like I just, I can't,I can't wrap my brain around it.
And so that tells me it's maybejust not for me and I need to get on this.
So I am curious. Guys, have you done this?
Have you just sat with it and been honest

(15:12):
with yourself about what you will doand what you won't do?
How you let that stand in your way?
Have you gone against your better judgmentand then felt really bad about it
and been like, well, yeah, that's probablywhat I should have done to begin with?
I feel like finding a way forward.
So there's the hard way,and then I'm going to find the way.

(15:34):
Findingthe Shauna way is a way that I know
that I can go into my next yearof homeschooling
a little easier, a little simpler,
and honestly, being honest with myself
about our path forward,how we're going to use it
and it actually getting donebecause that's the deal.

(15:56):
It's all great and grand,but if it's not going to get done,
what what does it matterif it's not going to get read to them?
They're not getting the information.
If it's not going to get said to them,they're not getting the information.
If we're going to be constantlydrowning in behind where we rush it,
we're not deep diving.We're not enjoying it.
Is that what I want?No, that's not what I want.
So getting honest with myself,allowing my own school,

(16:19):
I keep things to be simpler, but honestly,to just not make it harder on myself.
That is something that I'm strugglingwith.
I struggle with all the time.
But like now I feel like
after last year having been so wild,or this year having been so wild,
and maybe it's the spring seasonor I'm a different person,
I'm always a different person,
but I just calm down enough to reallygive me kind of some perspective.

(16:41):
And I've got big kids down.
Maybe kids have changedand things are different.
So looking at all of this, trying,
trying to not be the personwho just rushes headlong into it again
and gives it an honest look and honestly,it's really sits with my feelings.
Let me make a prosand cons list if you need to.
I feel like
this is the best waymoving forward that I can serve myself.

(17:05):
Serve my homeschool.
Keep it simple, keep it simple.
Stupid, right?
At least don't make it harder.
That's my goal.
Don't make it harder on myself.
So that's where I'm at.
It's an honest discussion and honest lookat my homeschool, how I'm going to do it.
Maybe, I don't know.
It's still an evolution.
Oh, and also, I'm not committed.
I can change my mind at any point.
Who knows?

(17:26):
I reserve the right anyways, guys,
I know, I know, there's a lot of youwho are in my same boat.
I know there's a lot of you feel me,
and there's probably a lot of youwho are like, well, no, soon is like, why?
This is like the dumbest video topic ever.
But really, really.
Sometimes it takes a big hardlook in the mirror and a realization
and articulating it to really realize you,I don't have to do this to myself.

(17:51):
There's no obligation, and I've got tostop just making the damn thing harder,
right, guys?
Have you found ithelpful, entertaining, or informative?
If you did, please scroll down.
Hit that big red subscribe button,
turn on the bell for notificationsand give this video a thumbs up.
While you're down there.
You can find me in the commentsor over on Instagram.
Drop me an emoji.

(18:13):
Give me like
I don't know, like a fun emoji,a positive emoji if you're feeling it.
And like, I don't know the little likesincere mouth emoji.
If you're like, this is so stupid.
Yeah.
Anyways, that's it guys.
That's it.That's that's my honest account.
Hoping for a simplearticle. Yeah. Bye guys.
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