The Freedom to Slow Down: Why Homeschooling Isn't a Race

by Vicki Stormoen
June 8, 2026

[Editor’s note: We are excited that Vicki is one of the many excellent speakers you will hear at CHEA's Parenting & Homeschool Convention, July 10 & 11 in Downey.]

Wrapping up another homeschooling year usually comes with some reflection on the homeschooling wins and challenges the year brought. Maybe your school year went exactly as planned (which would undoubtedly put you in the minority). More likely than not, the year held some challenges that you did not plan on, including perhaps some academic walls your student could not push through. Relax. That is all part of the homeschool journey that happens to every student at some point. That wall was not a failure; that was homeschooling working at its best. 

One thing I have learned to appreciate over the past 32 years of homeschooling is the gift of time. I have come to view homeschooling as a 13-year journey and not a year-by-year test. Having the benefit of taking all nine of my kids “all the way through,” I can clearly see how everything fits together and how the learning process is so individual and unique to each child. I have lived through the “this child will never, ever, learn to read” to “will you please put that book down and do your algebra!” I understand now not to panic when they still do not know their multiplication facts in 3rd grade. I know you do not need to lose sleep over the fact that you may still be doing dotted letters for your 1st grader. 

As homeschoolers we often talk about the fact that we have the ability to tailor our kids’ education to their individual skills and abilities. And when they excel above the grade defined textbook, we applaud our efforts and talk about how successful this all is. But when they struggle or cannot read the grade-defined reader, we convince ourselves we are inadequate to the task, or there is something wrong with that child. But it is in that moment, that moment when they are struggling and can’t do it, that homeschooling is the most successful. In a classroom situation, everything cannot come to a screeching halt while everyone waits for your child to “get it.” In a traditional school setting, your child cannot progress to the next grade level without being (more or less) exactly where everyone else is. Not so with homeschooling. You slow down when you need to (just as you speed up when you need to), and sometimes you just work with the difficulty and wait for it to work itself out in a year or two. 

My reminder for all of us as we wrap up this new school year is this: You have time. Lots of it. Your children will get some things faster than others, and most likely, will get some things slower than others. But they will get it. Work with their strengths and slow down where they need you to. That’s the beauty of homeschooling. If you start at the beginning, you have 13 years to work with. Looking at it that way makes the journey much less daunting, in that not everything has to be learned on a predefined timetable. Enjoy your child, and this precious time you have one-on-one with him, encouraging and leading him in his weaknesses and propelling and challenging him in his strengths. When he finally graduates, knowing everything he was "supposed to learn", it won't

matter that it wasn't until 5th grade that he finally mastered his math facts. But the time and the relationship you built in those years will matter. Focus on that. 

Congratulations on the successful completion of a great educationally custom-tailored year!

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Vicki Stormoen has been privately homeschooling since 1994. She and her husband, Ron, have been blessed with nine children, seven of whom have graduated from Heritage Christian School, a Southern California PSP. She is still homeschooling her remaining two children through Heritage Christian School where she currently serves as the school Principal. Vicki also teaches homeschool literature and writing classes and is a former Classical Conversations tutor. She is passionate about the vision of private Christian homeschooling as a means to raise a godly generation for the glory of God.