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You are here: Home / Simple Living / Margin / The Power of a Simplified Homeschool Life



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The Power of a Simplified Homeschool Life

Tuesday, July 19, 2016 (Updated: Monday, December 1, 2025)
2 Comments

Post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure statement.

Is it ironic that I’m writing about the power of a simplified homeschool life a day late? Kind of. But there’s still a story to be told and a lesson to be learned.

A Simplified Homeschool Life

When I started a series on homeschool encouragement, I wanted to have all ten days finished before it went live. I didn’t. I was a few days ahead at the start, but still doing some writing.




Last evening, I sat down to finish up numerous things but I could not access my site, write anything in my dashboard, nothing. My website hosting would not let me do anything because they were throttling my site. In other words, I had used too much of the hosting resources and they were punishing me because of it – despite the fact that we are paying for “unlimited” resources. It was frustrating and also the last straw. Time to make a major switch with our hosting.

However, it was not the end of the world. We still all went to bed on time. We all got fed. Our evening routine mostly stayed the same despite our frustrations and figurative head banging on our desks.

In other words, life went on.

That is the power of a simplified life.

If our life had been packed to the max, something like this would have completely derailed our family life. But because we leave a lot of margin in our lives for the expected unexpected events, they are an inconvenience, but not devastating. Because we keep margin in our simplified life, we could drop pretty much everything else this morning and spend it researching hosting and talking with reps on the phone.

The same principle applies to homeschooling.

Simplify For Homeschool Freedom

When you simplify, you give yourself freedom.

When you put margin in your schedule, you can deal with the crises that will come without them overwhelming your life.

The unexpected becomes an inconvenience, but doesn’t derail your life.

Remember the real phases of the homeschool year? Things like the flu, bad weather, and so on? They are going to come. Plan on the unexpected. Give yourself enough margin to make adjustments and keep rolling. Be willing to say no to homeschool pressures from others.

If your homeschool plans for the coming year are like a tightly choreographed death march (as my friend, Peggy, once described her holiday season) then you are setting yourself and your family up for much grief.

Instead, discover the relief of a simplified homeschool life.

Now, I’m off to simplify my life even more by finding better web hosting.

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Category: Margin | Relaxed Homeschooling

About Sallie Borrink

Sallie Schaaf Borrink is a Christian, wife, mother, homeschooler, homebody, and autodidact. She owns a home-based graphic design and web design business with her husband (DavidandSallie.com).

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Comments

  1. Trena

    Tuesday, July 19, 2016 at 9:43 pm

    WOW!  Expect the unexpected.  Leave margin.  Great encouragement that we all need to heed more often.

    Reply
  2. Dana Wilson

    Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 8:56 am

    Hi Sallie!

    I so agree about leaving margin and living a simple life, especially while homeschooling.  There are just so many minutes in the day and if we pack our days so tight the unexpected will ALWAYS mess us up.  Thanks for your wise reminder!

    Reply

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Sallie Schaaf Borrink

For 20+ years, I’ve been writing about following Jesus Christ and making choices based on what is true, beautiful, and eternal. Through purposeful living, self-employment, and homeschooling, our family has learned that freedom comes from a commitment to thoughtfully examine all of life and think for yourself. 

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