Counting Pinecones: Homeschool Rescue (A Homeschool Crew Review)

Whether your just beginning your homeschool journey or you're a seasoned veteran who's already graduated a student or two, there comes a point in every homeschool experience where you need a reboot. Maybe you're trying to force a curriculum thinking you have to finish it even though it's not a proper fit for your child, maybe you're overwhelmed with not just school but with other stresses in your life, but at some point a situation is going to arise that leaves one wondering how to get their homeschool back on track.

For the last few weeks, I've have the pleasure of working though Homeschool Rescue, an online course designed by Heather Aliano from the homeschool website Only Passionate Curiosity, who's goal is to help solve many of the problems homeschool families experience that often causes them to call it quits.

What is Homeschool Rescue?

Homeschool Rescue is exactly as it sounds - a way to recognize common problems that homeschool families often face and then give you the tools you can use in order to overcome those problems and put your schooling back on track. Using a series of videos, handouts and resources, Heather Aliano helps guide you through those pitfalls while offering encouragement, advice and various approaches that you can utilize to help "rescue" your homeschool adventure.

However, Homeschool Rescue is more than just a recovery program for when problems arise but also

a great way to refresh and to gain new prespectives for your teaching even before problems start. Addressing situations like burnout, curriculum choices, time management and goals for student success, Homeschool Rescue has something for everyone.

The beauty of Homeschool Rescue is that it's a self paces course. Comprised of five modules that contain between three to five lessons each, members can select the module that immediately addresses problems they might be having or they can work though each module in order. Each lesson includes video lectures that are roughly 20 minutes each, as well as "homework" assignments that help you to identify problem areas, recognize time hogs that can be eliminated from your schedule, how to reduce schoolwork that might be repetitive, and introducing chores into your child's schedule (and help reduce your workload). Each lesson is designed to help you as the homeschool parent to make your life easier.

How I Used Homeschool Rescue and What I Thought:

I admit, our homeschool doesn't run as smoothly as I would like. Between chronically being tired all the time, my son's special needs and short attention span, and both kids who would rather do anything but school work, we tend to find ourselves slipping further behind than we would like. Homeschool Rescue came to me at the right time for me, as I was really starting to get a big discouraged. Back in November, we were well ahead of where we wanted to be and by March, we were behind.

The first module was exactly what I needed. It addressed many of the reasons we feel guilt in regards to homeschooling and discussed why we should let go of that guilt and how to get back on track. It also covered when falling behind is a result of underlying issues such as depression and suggestions on where to get help if you fall into that category and not just a typical homeschool issue.

I opted to work my way though the Homeschool Rescue modules in order. With videos that are pretty short, it was easy to find a bit of time each week to watch a few videos, print out the homework and work though it once the kids were asleep.

I found that Heather addressed many of the problems I felt we were facing, especially with the time management and with my feeling of guilt for what I felt was my failure to keep on schedule. I was able to let go of much of that guilt as well as eliminate some of the work we were doing - eliminating multiple individual subjects by opting instead to focus more on multi-subject combinations. I also found myself copying many of the quotes she used onto sticky notes and posting them where I would see them as a big of encouragement throughout my day, even if my time management only allowed that for a quick trip to the restroom.

I think this is a great offering for any homeschooling parent, regardless of whether or not they are currently having problems.