But as the demands of motherhood and a houseful of young 'uns began to increase, I felt as though I just couldn't do it anymore. I felt as though my brain was made of lead. Something had to give, but I wasn't sure what besides my sanity and will to live. In case you have not experienced it, burnout is that feeling you get inside that tells you that you just can't do one more day of sitting beside your children to go over their lessons, check their work, listen to them read aloud, or do anymore lesson plans!

...and that was where I found myself, unable to manage yet another day of schooling. I was in despair over my lack of energy and my flagging commitment. Somehow I had grown to dislike checking the kids' work daily and doing lesson plans weekly. I procrastinated. I still desperately wanted to home educate, but I woke up each morning and had to talk myself out of the bed. I was BURNED OUT! 

                                                                                                                                                                                 
Well, Baby Number Six came along, and with her came utter exhaustion.
For a lack of other options, I began to allow my older two children, ages nine and ten, todo most of their work on their own so that I could tend to the baby and my other two children who did need me to work with them hands-on. I was desperately trusting Nick and Lauren to "do the next thing" in their books without me telling them what to do.

The truth was, in my exhaustion, I really didn't care what they did, as long as they just accomplished something in each of their subjects. Something surely was better than nothing.

My usual location in those days was on the couch with a baby or two on me, around me, on the floor beneath me, and always with me. Nick and Lauren would show me their math, spelling, language and other subjects' work as it was completed. I even allowed them to use the teacher's editions to check their work. (Gasp!) They made great progress without my constant intervention.

What happened at that point changed our home forever!

       Not only could Nick and Lauren do their work on their own, but they seemed to enjoy it more than they did with me standing over them, telling them what they should do, when they should take breaks, and of course checking all of their work for them. I knew we were onto something. With the older children now taking the reins of their school day activities, I was free to be Mom to my four younger children. I lost the burden that was too heavy for me to carry, that of being Mom and Teacher.

                                                                                  Just for fun one day,
I hopped on the computer and pulled up a program that helped me to design a prototype for what would eventually become known as
                   The Self-Propelled STUDENT Planners and
              The Self-Propelled High School Planners

because I felt that what was lacking with our self-learning was a simple system to enable the children to keep track of their daily work themselves so that all I had to do was glance at it to see what had been learned at any given point in time!

And the rest is history. With this new system the children could:

• jot down the work they accomplished each day.
  
• record their grades.
  
• set short-term goals for themselves.
  
• record the books they read.
• record extracurricular activities they participated in.
• have a place in which to keep their loose papers so they ~ and I ~ could find them.

At the end of the year, I had a complete portfolio for each student
to pop into my file cabinet for safe-keeping.

Let me tell you, peace flooded our home.

No longer was it my responsibility to make sure the school work got done. The burden of educational responsibility was transferred to their young shoulders, right where it belongs anyway. This process of transfer of ownership is called self-teaching or self-learning.

Sure, my husband and I helped the children as needed. I helped them set short-term goals, looked over their shoulders occasionally, and asked questions to make sure the material was actually  being absorbed. My job became that of coaching my older students. I stopped micromanaging them, and simply began monitoring them regularly.

I gained the confidence that learning with excellence can be done by the student on his own. In fact, this was a superior way to learn. Students become motivated when they are given the keys to their little kingdom, so to speak.
The change in my children was immediate.
The change in our lives was profound.

The Results?

Time passes, as time tends to do.
Nick and Lauren have both graduated from the universities of their choice on full academic scholarships. Lauren actually earned cash back!
Taylor and Franklin are both attending their first choice universities right now.
FOUR out of our first FOUR children are on scholarship to their first choice universities. How did they get there? Self-learners are used to working independently and thinking independently day after day. Consequently, they test well.

Their SAT and ACT scores were amazing including perfect and nearly perfect scores because self-learning students ~ well, you can read more details about their individual success stories under the About Us tab. In fact, I hope you will pop over there to meet us all and get to know us a little better.

My kids' successes thus far have been truly outstanding, and I am so happy for them that they have been so rewarded for their hard work and achievements.

You know, not only have we home educated all the way through high school with four children so far, but our other four kids continue to work with excellence, confidence, maturity, and responsibility. Would they take a day off from school if given the chance? Ummm...You bet! They are not weird, but they are self-motivated and are high achievers quite naturally.

So if you are feeling overwhelmed, maybe frustrated with your students' lack of joy, scared of failure, tired, worried that your children aren't learning anything, or just discouraged with the state of your home, please be encouraged! You don't have to STAY that way!
                                                                You have my guarantee that:

• You can love homeschooling again!
• You can have a guaranteed system of success!
• You don't have to do all of the planning and all of the work anymore!
• In fact, do a tad of planning just four times a year!
• You can homeschool through high school!
• Your children can be self-motivated!
• Your children can be overly prepared for college!
• You can enjoy being an unfrazzled Mom again!
• Finally, your children will be the best that they can be!

Entrust your children with the responsibility for their own education.
The more they are involved in the planning and decision-making, the more motivated they become and the more UNDERWHELMED you become!



Go Ahead! Get the Self-Propelled Mindset Today and Become Underwhelmed!™