My guest today has successfully homeschooled her four sons through high school. I had the honor of meeting one of her sons through my work.

Gina was tired of trading time and brainpower for lifeless learning … so she set out on a journey to reclaim the joy and potential rewards of what she now refers to as A LIFESTYLE OF LEARNING.

Through the years, Gina has found that successful homeschooling isn’t about recreating the public school classroom.

Her website GinaHamby.com is where she shares how she went from overwhelmed “newbie” homeschooler to seasoned homeschooling mom, helping many others see their ability to successfully homeschool their kids, all while building a stronger, happier, and healthier family.

Gina has homeschooled her children for 15 years. She shares a lot of wisdom when it comes to home education. More people are homeschooling than ever before. That's why I've invited Gina on the podcast today, to answer this question that seasoned homeschoolers get all the time. 

“Is Homeschooling Hard?”

The thing that I love about homeschooling is also part of what makes it hard for parents to get started; it looks different for everyone. While traditional school here in America looks pretty much the same from one public school to another, homeschool varies. 

We know why many people are considering homeschooling in 2020, but pandemic aside, let me start by asking, what ARE the benefits of homeschooling?

Benefits of Homeschooling

* Allows you the time to truly mentor your children through living life together day in and day out, which will help to impart your values and beliefs as they are forming into future adults. * Flexibility to teach and learn what you want, when you want, how you want to. Ex. boys loved learning about nature study/outside. They loved conquering, building, studying. So we tailored their studies towards learning how to survive in the wilderness, grow their own food, which also imparted an entrepreneurial spirit that led to our family farm business. * You get to create independent thinkers. The goal is not to cram facts and teach to the tests, but to create independent thinkers that can problem solve effectively through life. 

There's no way we can touch on everything but what are some ways that homeschool parents can go about educating their child? 

Home Education

Both Gina and I have each educated four children through adulthood but I still have two children left to go!  I asked her to share answers to some of the top questions she's been asked over the years:

What does schoolwork look like for a homeschooler? Gina shares thoughts about what a typical day looked like for her family.

What is homeschooling like?

Touching on the benefits of mentoring, the concept that will create successful homeschooling is about immersing your children in daily life with you. Not necessarily making homeschooling one more thing to add to your overwhelming list of things to do. It is working alongside them to morning chores, sweeping, kitchen chores, preparing food. Gina Hamby

How do we choose a homeschool curriculum? 

Gina mentions this briefly in the podcast. Homeschooling families are unique and each will have different challenges and situations they face. Working moms and dads can also have happy well-educated homeschooled kids.