 Welcome to the Waldoch Way. I'm Jessica and today's video is going to be my tips for how to homeschool an only child successfully. Now we all know that homeschooling an only child if you're watching this means you're probably homeschooling an only. So all of you guys know that homeschooling an only can present some unique challenges. Some things that are a little bit different than homeschooling multiples. And so having a few tips to be able to do that successfully or maybe better than you're already doing it can come in handy. And these are some of the tips that I've learned from homeschooling an only for more than five years now. Again, like I said, homeschooling an only isn't easy. It's unique. It comes with its own sets of challenges. If you're wondering some of the biggest misconceptions about homeschooling an only, you can watch that video right here because I've already talked about that. So today we're only going to talk about the tips for how to homeschool an only successfully or to the best of our ability. Tip number one is to do it as a family. Homeschooling a single child can be difficult because it's just you and one kid. You don't have a group. There's not a lot of people to participate which can sometimes make things difficult. It can make it difficult to play certain games because there's only two of you. It can make it difficult to do certain lessons because there's only two of you. Sometimes it can make it difficult to do anything because, well, you're butting heads and there's only the two of you. There's no buffer. So make it a family affair as much as possible. Homeschool in the evenings if that's what it takes so that your spouse can join in. Homeschool on lunch breaks or save things that need more people for those times. You know, we typically used to do poetry tea times on the weekend. We would play most of our games in the evening. We would do our Universal Yums boxes after dinner. All of the things that I felt like were better with more people, we would do when Kevin was home. Now, he's home with us a lot more but we still make sure we reserve certain things for when he can participate too because it's just more fun with more people. So make it a family affair even if that means inviting the grandparents over on the weekend and saving some of those things for when they come over. That's okay too. Homeschool doesn't just have to happen Monday through Friday, 8 to 2. So embrace the fact that you have family or friends around you and involve them in any way possible. Reach out, build a bigger community, have more people. It makes a little bit more fun sometimes. My second tip for how to homeschool only successfully is don't forget about yourself. Carve out a piece of the day. I don't care where it is for you. For me, that looks like having our lunches separate or at least like mentally separate. So I know that if I don't get some me time around lunchtime, I am not going to be my best going into the afternoon. As a homeschool of an only child, as the mom, I'm her everything. I'm her teacher. I'm her playmate. I'm her sibling. I'm her classmate. I'm everything to her. I am on all day long. So come lunchtime, I'm like, oh my gosh, don't talk to me for five minutes. So I instituted a long time ago what I call a learning lunch. So we use lunchtime to learn something. Sometimes that means me putting her in front of the TV while she eats lunch. Sometimes that means putting headphones on for her to listen to a podcast or an audio book. And then I do the same. So I will eat my lunch or do dishes or clean up while I'm listening to a podcast or an audio book or reading on my Kindle. Sometimes screaming or crying into a pillow if it's been one of those days. But she knows that our lunches are separate. Even if we all sit at the table together and we're like eating together, we still all have headphones on or we're scrolling on our phones or our tablets or whatever. We're learning something. We're trying to still fill our brains. But we're doing that individually. We're not like, I know that sounds opposite. Like dinner, we still all come together. We talk, we do all those things. But lunch, that doesn't happen. Lunch is leave mommy alone. Because if I do that, I'm a better homeschool mom the rest of the day. I've had my 15 to 20 minutes to recharge. And I'm ready to be on again for her for the rest of the day. So judge me if you want, but that is what works. And if something like that is what's going to work for you, and it's going to make you a better homeschool parent, and it's going to get you through the rest of the day, then by all means do it, institute it whatever it takes. But that is one of my biggest tips is to find something somewhere, carve that little bit of time out because you do have to be on all day long. And that can be exhausting. So find somewhere to carve out some time for yourself. Tim number three is to find somebody, anybody, a community, even if it's me, somebody who gets it homeschooling and only like I said, is unique. It is its own. It's just it's its own thing. It's its own dynamic. And unless you know somebody who's doing it, people just don't get it. Moms of multiples, you feel like you can't complain to because while they're teaching four or five, and they feel like homeschooling and only is easier. Again, it's not easier. It's just different. But you feel like you can't complain. And so then if you don't have somebody who gets it that you can talk to you don't talk to them. And then you end up like all bottled up and exploding normally at your child for something that they didn't even really deserve. Find somebody who gets it. I don't care if it's your husband. I don't care if it's you know, somebody down the road who only has one kid left in their homeschool but they had four kids at one time. I don't care if it's me. If you don't have anybody else, I will be your person. I volunteer to be your person message me, email me, DM me, leave a comment, whatever you need to do, because you need somebody in your corner, you need somebody who understands when you say, Oh my gosh, I just can't listen to my kid for one more minute that understands and gets it and isn't going to judge you for saying that when I first started homeschooling. That was the thing that was the hardest for me was because I felt like I couldn't complain to moms of multiples. They had their job was harder than mine. It was different than mine. They didn't get what I was going through or I felt guilty for telling them like, Oh my gosh, I'm so we're out from homeschooling one when they're homeschooling four. And then when I would go, you know, even to my husband sometimes and I would say like, I'm so we're out. He would tell me, Well, at least you're lucky enough to be home with her all day. And I wasn't not grateful and I didn't feel unlucky. It was just that I had a bad day and I needed somebody to understand he gets it now but at the time he didn't. So if you don't have anybody else, if you don't know anybody else who's homeschooling only, I will be your person. I will listen to your complaints, you can email me, you can DM me like I said any way of contacting me because it is unique and you need to be able to vent. You need to be able to get it out so that you don't take it out on your child in the midst of you know, let's say a math or handwriting lesson and I won't say that I'm guilty of that. So those are my tips. Those are my top three tips. Those are the things that you really need to try to have in place to homeschool and only successfully. You really, really need to make it a family affair. More people equals more fun sometimes and that is an easy way to have more people. You need to not forget yourself. Carve time out for you. You are still important and find somebody who gets a community. I don't I don't care where you go to find it but find somebody who gets your specific situation. Somebody else who is homeschooling an only child and if you don't have anybody else, I will be your person. If you have more tips for how to homeschool and only successfully, I would absolutely love to know. I would love to create a treasury or a collection of tips about homeschooling and only. So please leave your tips in the comments down below.