A child throws down his pencil in exasperation, and shoves the book away, shouting, “I hate this math, I can never learn to do it! The problems are always too hard! My schoolwork is impossible!” As homeschooling parents, we have all seen frustration like this begin to cloud the learning process. What can you say to help your child shift his attitude? In the book, The Optimistic Child, positive psychologist Martin Seligman has applicable tips to help change the tone of these kind of moments.

Describing the contrasting responses to the same naturally occurring phenomena, volatility specialist Nassim Nicholas Taleb begins his book Antifragile (Random House 2014) with this analogy, “wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire.” He argues that rather than suffering from the effects of unpredictable shocks, chaos, and disorder, we must use them. Taleb continues the analogy by describing what it would be like to fully embrace this adventure: “you want to be the fire and wish for the wind.

Influential Organizational Development leader Peter Block writes about the questions we ask as we begin a journey or pursue a dream. Forcefully, he teaches, “How is the wrong question.” He continues, “The rush to a How [question and] answer runs the risk of skipping the profound question: Is this worth doing? And it skirts the equally tough corollary question: Is this something I want to do?” Block wants us to recognize that starting with the right question will yield the answers we seek.

Managing a Homeschool experience requires many of the same skills as managing a business. In her book, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, Business management guru Liz Wiseman coined a term to describe effective managers. She calls them “multipliers.” Simply put, multipliers multiply the intelligence of others around them, enabling people to become smarter and more capable. The multiplier mindset can be a valuable addition to your homeschooling toolkit.

Who doesn’t need a little magic in their homeschool? I love Marie Kondo’s ideas in her darling little bestseller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It’s easy to see why this Tokyo-based organizer has gained a big following in America; her ideas are encouraging, liberating, and accessible. More than just keeping your house organized, her strategy, dubbed the KonMari method, is a lifestyle. She says, “Remember the KonMari Method…is not a mere set of rules on how to sort, organize, and put things away.

One of the reasons I love homeschooling my children is so that they can have the time and shared experiences that will allow them to develop good friendships with each other. But, since we are home together most days, I find that sometimes I feel like we are only a “group” and we are not focused on “individuals.” We came up with a solution for our family called “Playtime Permutation.

Self-proclaimed “wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz writes a witty and compelling book about her unusual perspective on being wrong. The idea of error as bad, Schulz argues, “is our metamistake: we are wrong about what it means to be wrong. Far from being a sign of intellectual inferiority, the capacity to err is crucial to human cognition. Far from being a moral flaw, it is inextricable from some of our most humane and honorable qualities: empathy, optimism, imagination, conviction, and courage.

Canadian psychologist Gordon Neufeld has this to say about the mindset of socialization : “The belief is that socializing—children spending time with one another—begets socialization: the capacity for skillful and mature relating to other human beings. There is no evidence to support such an assumption, despite its popularity.” That sounds like the beginning of a well-written answer to the perennial question every homeschooler hears, “what do you do about socialization?” Though the book he authored with physician Gabor Mate, Hold On To Your Kids, does not mention homeschooling, the ideas will feel incredibly validating to many homeschoolers.

Love of Learning I want to raise children that say “I love reading” and “I am good at math.” I want my children to believe that learning happens all the time, not just in the hours at a school desk. I never want them to ask, “Will this be on the test?” or “Do we have to learn this?” I want them to experience the flow that comes from full engagement and intrinsic motivation.

In 2018 I taught AP Chemistry to 10 homeschool high school students in my home. None of them had previously taken a Chemistry course, and our pace was rigorous. Seven of the students ultimately chose to take the exam, and I was proud of all of them for their hard work. Though, many of the parents and students were very frustrated with the speed of our class. We expected a minimum of six hours each week of homework.