Hi Reader,

When I first started homeschooling, I had a very clear picture in my head of what it would look like.

It looked something like me, sitting on the hearth, reading Little House in the Big Woods while my children listened attentively while knitting and... I don't know.

Whittling, or something.

Then I actually started homeschooling. My homeschool looked nothing like this, and somehow, the days felt simultaneously long and also like I needed more hours in my day.

There was a hearth all right, but it was covered in piles of laundry waiting to be folded.

The kids squabbled.

No one knew how to knit.

No one was "attentive."

And I felt perpetually behind.

It just didn't look at all like my initial vision, and if I'm honest, there were a whole lotta days when I didn't really enjoy this homeschooling lifestyle at all.

I asked a friend’s grown kids—kids who had been homeschooled all the way through high school—what their favorite memories of homeschooling were.

They didn’t hesitate. They started rattling them off right away:

• “The day we went bowling when we were supposed to be doing math.”
• “That time Mom surprised us with a hiking day in the middle of the week.”
• “Reading aloud on the back porch while we ate popcorn.”
• “A middle of the week movie marathon, watching Lord of the Rings.”

On and on then went. Not one of them mentioned anything that sounded remotely like school.

This surprised me, because this particular friend was kind of intense. She's just not exactly what most of us mean when we describe a "fun mom." (Hi Sheila, I love you! 🙈)

She took homeschooling pretty seriously and had high expectations for her kids.

So... how was it they had all this time for FUN?

I asked her.

"Oh," she told me, "It's easy. You need Just Because We Can days."

Every once in a while, she would look at the calendar, pick an ordinary school day, and cross it out. On that day, instead of doing school, she’d surprise her kids after breakfast by saying, "Today is a Just Because We Can day.”

Instead of school, they’d go hiking. Or bowling. Or watch movies. Or play board games all day.

The only rule? Nothing academic.

"It's a Just Because We Can Day because we do something other than school... just because we can!"

---

Here's the deal.

It's March. I bet you've snapped at your kids today.

(I'm not listening through your walls, promise—I just know what happens in a typical homeschool on a typical March day, and it's possible I've snapped at mine today, too 😬.)

Everyone is climbing out of their skin a bit. Irritable. Tired.

What we all need is a JBWC: Just Because We Can Day.

Here's what to do:

1. Look at your calendar for the next couple of weeks.
2. Choose any day when school is on the docket.
3. Cross it out, and schedule a JBWC Day instead.

That's all you have to do for now. Next you'll get to pick what to do with your JBWC Day. Bowling? A movie? The park? Roller skating? A trip to the local children's museum?

The only rule is that you do something for fun with the goal of enjoying your kid... just because you can.

That’s it. That’s the plan.

I can promise you this: 20 years from now, you won't look back and say, “I really wish we had skipped the park that one day in March 2026, and done more math.”

But you might be very glad you took the time to enjoy the wonderful, quirky, maddening, delightful kids sitting at your kitchen table right now.

(You might even remember that you kinda like them! 😉)

Homeschooling is about relationships. So let's nurture ours, just because we can.

xo,

P.S. 💻 The replays are up from our most recent Circle with Sarah retreat, where I talked all about how to be happier in your homeschool. Get the replays in RAR Premium and be happier in your homeschool this spring. ❤️

(Here's a little peek from the retreat):