365 Things to Avoid while Homeschooling
#10 Thinking textbooks are the best way to learn...
As Dan Meyers shows in the above video, the way textbooks present a tiny subset of information and then ask predictable questions does not encourage learners to think deeply or understand the topic. Textbooks can be a helpful resource, but they do not hold the key to learning. And, often as not, they cost a fortune, and are DULL.
#9 Lose sight of the big picture...
It can be easy to focus on just how today went, and stress about fractions or grammar, but there's more to homeschooling than just academics. We're raising whole people, and we can make sure our kids have healthy meals, healthy sleep habits, and healthy relationships. This is incredibly valuable.
#8 Fighting Spring fever
From Mark U.: Trying to talk about biomes in a copse when there's a playpark next to it, particularly during the Spring.
#7. Museums filled with school field trip groups.
Ask the employees when the museum is quietest and go then-- it's better for everyone (but mostly you!)
#6. Competing with other homeschoolers or your local schools.
Being inspired by others is wonderful, trying to prove you can do everything they do, but better, will lead nowhere good.
#5 Busy Saturdays
One of the luxuries of homeschooling can be scheduling as many activities as possible during the week, and leaving Saturdays gloriously open for stuff like family-time or mom doing her own thing while Dad watches the kids. 
#4 Going to every single field trip because its there.
Sometimes its OK to NOT go see how potato chips are made every year. ;0) From Phylis O.
#3 Panic when a stranger...
at the grocery store/church/park asks you or your kids where they go to school, take it as an attack on homeschooling, and launch into your complete explanation for why you homeschool. 99 times out of 100, they were just trying to make conversation. :)
#2. Forcing a reading program on a preschooler
Life's too short, and your sanity is too valuable.
#1 Mummifying a Chicken
For weeks, you have a raw chicken on your counter, you go through pounds of salt, and at the end, there's a dried up chicken! Is this really the best way for kids to learn about ancient Egypt?
