How to prepare to homeschool is usually answered with a curriculum list and a supply run, and that is not what this episode is about. Erin Meinel walks through her own twenty-year preparation, from deciding at age seven to become a teacher, through a decade in early childhood classrooms, to the parent-teacher conference and the book that finally made the decision undeniable.

Preparation is almost always retroactive. You cannot see it while you are in it. This episode is for the mom who thinks she is starting from scratch, and for the mom who has been sitting in preparation so long it has quietly turned into waiting.

In this episode

• Why preparation is the first season and the one almost nobody believes they are in
• Erin's full preparation story, including the teaching degree, the classroom decade, and the parent-teacher conference that changed everything
• How Hold On to Your Kids gave language to what she was already watching in her children
• Why everything you have already lived counts as homeschool preparation, even the parts that had nothing to do with children
• The two active things preparation asks of you, and how to keep this season from turning into indefinite waiting
• Why preparation comes back around every single year

Links mentioned

• Hold On to Your Kids, by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate
• erinmeinel.com

About Erin

Erin Meinel is a former early childhood educator, entrepreneur, and homeschool mom to two boys. She is the founder of Erin Meinel LLC and helps homeschool moms build businesses that fit the life they are actually living. Find her at erinmeinel.com.

Resources

• erinmeinel.com
• Eternal Parenting on Substack: https://erinmeinel.substack.com/
• Personal Brand Identity Quiz: https://erinmeinel.myflodesk.com/discover-your-brand