In this episode of the Homeschool Better Together podcast, I’m chatting with Katie McCune, a mom from our community, about her journey with the Homeschool Consistency Boot Camp. Katie shares how, before the boot camp, their homeschool days were often filled with morning time and spontaneous field trips, but progress through their core subjects was slow. She talks about how she struggled with perfectionism and how that mindset made it hard to feel satisfied with her homeschool efforts.

We discuss how the boot camp helped her implement small, consistent habits that made a huge difference. Katie shares how the accountability and practical tips she learned transformed her homeschool—leading to less resistance from her kids and a much more joyful, organized approach. We also dive into how showing up consistently helped Katie feel more confident and in control, making homeschooling feel more like a rewarding vocation.

If you’re on the fence about joining the boot camp, this episode will give you a peek into how it can help you move from feeling overwhelmed to building a homeschool routine you can feel proud of.

Pam Barnhill [00:00:01]:
Are you ready for homeschooling to feel joyful again? Do you long for support as you learn alongside your kids? Welcome to Homeschool Better Together, a podcast about building a homeschool experience that works for your family. I’m Pam Barnhill, and it’s time to step out of the overwhelm and into the wonder. Let’s do this. Alright. Today, I am joined by one of the moms from our Homeschool Better Together community. I’m joined by miss Katie McCune. Katie, thank you so much for being here with me today.

Katie McCune [00:00:40]:
You’re welcome, Pam. Thank you for having me.

Pam Barnhill [00:00:42]:
Oh, I just I’m so glad that you’re here. And I just start by telling me a little bit about, like, yourself and as much as you’re willing to share about your family and your homeschool journey, how long have you been doing it? How many kids do you have? Sure.

Katie McCune [00:00:56]:
Happy to share. I live in Colorado with my husband of 16 years and our 3 hilarious kids. They are 12, 10, and 7. In my spare time, I enjoy silence as I think most moms do.

Pam Barnhill [00:01:11]:
I I love it.

Katie McCune [00:01:13]:
Copious amounts of coffee, reading fiction or non fiction books and dark chocolate. We have just begun our 5th full year homeschooling, just after seeing how the public school system wasn’t meeting the needs of our oldest kiddo, and our kids are just so much happier being at home with us and with each other.

Pam Barnhill [00:01:37]:
Oh, I love it. So you were actually a pre COVID homeschooler. You guys started homeschooling before the pandemic?

Katie McCune [00:01:43]:
Yes and no. We were kind of off and on before then, but definitely, we went through a period of elearning. My oldest and my middle kiddo were in public school at the time. And we went through that e learning phase and it was just really rough. And so we definitely decided to pull them out fall of 2020 and just homeschool full time because that was just easier for us at that point.

Pam Barnhill [00:02:11]:
Okay. Okay. So tell me a little bit about what was your homeschool first of all, when did you do the boot camp for the very first time? Because we’re talking about the homeschool consistency boot camp today. So when did you do it for the very first time?

Katie McCune [00:02:24]:
I think I did my first round of the homeschool consistency boot camp in 2022 or 2023. I think it was fall of 23 maybe. So it’s been a couple of years and I’ve done a couple different rounds of it so far.

Pam Barnhill [00:02:43]:
Okay. So what was your homeschool like before you did the boot camp? What kind of challenges were you facing as a homeschool mom?

Katie McCune [00:02:50]:
Our homeschool was fine, but I knew it could be better. Before the boot camp, we had a lot of days that were just morning time and educational board games or morning time and either reading or math, or we do a lot of spontaneous field trips just to avoid getting any work done. I know there are a lot of other people like that. Like let’s, let’s go somewhere and then we can just have fun today and not have to stress about doing work, which is fine, but we were doing it probably once a week or more. Sometimes if the weather was nice, The biggest challenge that I was facing with that kind of mentality was not making a lot of progress in the resources that we were using. So I feel like we were going through our books really, really slow and it was taking us a couple of years to finish like kind of one grade range of curriculum. And so I personally wasn’t happy with that and didn’t feel like that was enough for our school and I knew that I could be more diligent and more consistent with what we were doing.

Pam Barnhill [00:04:09]:
Okay. So I can remember, like, back in the day when I was struggling with consistency and this was about 2013, 2014. I spent a lot of time just really kinda beating myself up for that. So what kind of relationship did you have with yourself over, you know, this idea that, wow, it’s taking me longer to get through. That’s you know, I’m listening to you talk about what what you were doing, and I’m like, well, that’s not horrible. I mean, one of the things we teach you to do in the boot camp is to create a minimum viable day, and it sounds like you kinda had that going. And it’s not horrible to take field trips. So why did this bother Katie McKeown so much?

Katie McCune [00:04:47]:
Definitely. Once I learned about the minimum viable day, like, we were functioning at the minimum viable day level, just all the time, just doing it really easy, really superficially, which like you said is good once in a while. But that was, that was just our everyday. And I, it did, it bothered me. I’m a finish the book person and we haven’t always finished the book. So I do try to do that. So it was bothering my perfectionism a little bit that it was taking so long for us to get through things and that my kids were, you know, quote unquote behind, even though there’s no behind in homeschooling. And so I think part of that was just my beginners homeschool kind of mindset, My expectations needing it to look a certain way and it not living up to that.

Katie McCune [00:05:43]:
So I was very hard on myself during that time period with just functioning at a bare minimum.

Pam Barnhill [00:05:51]:
Yeah. And that was where the boot camp was born was just because I was so hard on myself, and I’m like, okay. I need to create something that I feel good about. Right? Because what I’m doing right now, I don’t feel good about, and I don’t think I would ever feel good about what I was doing. So I need to create something that, number 1, is doable that I can actually get up and do every day, and number 2, I can feel good about. And so that’s when I started, like, you know, really kind of digging into. And you said the word perfectionism. I think so many of the people who go through boot camp really do struggle with perfectionism.

Pam Barnhill [00:06:25]:
I did a podcast episode a couple weeks ago about that very thing. And, you know, for the longest time, I would like, oh, like, you can’t do school because you’re lazy. You can’t do school because you’re lazy. And I realized, no. It wasn’t because I was lazy. It was because I was a perfectionist. You know? And I don’t know if you can relate to to any of that at all. But, yeah, I spent a lot of time beating myself up.

Pam Barnhill [00:06:49]:
So you’ve done the boot camp, so kind of explained to people in your words, in Katie’s words, like, how did it make an impact? Like, what were there was there anything that really stuck out to you? What did you do during the boot camp? And everybody I think everybody does the boot camp a little bit differently, honestly.

Katie McCune [00:07:07]:
Yeah. So during the boot camp, you know, you’ve got the the little lesson modules with videos that fit in at certain times. So I enjoyed watching those, taking notes, hearing your experience on those different topics. There were usually like daily check ins.

Pam Barnhill [00:07:26]:
Mhmm.

Katie McCune [00:07:26]:
And so during the afternoon, once we’d already done our school day, we would check-in, in. Did we do it? Did we not? Why what might have gotten in the way? We didn’t get done what we wanted to kind of where we had set the bar for our personal homeschool day. There were also the, like, morning time texts that went out. Don’t forget to start your school day. And so that was really helpful for me, because those would usually pop up in my time zone before we started. So that was just kind of a good gentle nudge to get going with our homeschool day. And then, the various tips and strategies and tricks that you guys shared were very quick and easy to implement or to think about and formulate a plan for different aspects of making either our homeschool day simpler if we needed it to be simple on certain days or for planning ahead a little bit to make it easier for the next day.

Pam Barnhill [00:08:34]:
Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, you gave a really great overview of the different parts of the program. So what was your favorite part?

Katie McCune [00:08:42]:
I think my favorite part was learning and then actually being able to implement the ideas. And even now, like, I haven’t done the boot camp in, I think it’s been about 6 months since you guys ran it last. And even now I’m still implementing things that I learned from the bootcamp that really helped me and helped our day run more smoothly and efficiently. And I’m still using those and making them my own.

Pam Barnhill [00:09:17]:
Yeah. So I think one of the the fears that people have when they they hear, oh, boot camp, and, like, they’re over here thinking, I’m struggling, I’m drowning. I’m not doing school every day. I feel really bad about this. I would love to be better, but, oh my goodness. How in the world am I gonna do a 4 week, like, a month long class about being more consistent in my homeschool, and it not just kill me under the weight of everything that I have to do. And so I would like for you to speak to that because I know that we’ve designed it in such a way that, you know, it causes you to do school. Like, it’s not like a bunch of stuff on top of, and now you’ve got to choose, well, am I gonna do the boot camp or am I gonna do school? Like, boot camp is doing school.

Pam Barnhill [00:10:05]:
So what was your experience with that? Was it manageable for you?

Katie McCune [00:10:09]:
It was very manageable. And honestly, I would compare it to someone extending a hand and offering like support into a lifeboat. It was very doable for me during our school days. It was just literally a quick check-in in the afternoon. I don’t even think that those are super duper mandatory, but the accountability.

Pam Barnhill [00:10:35]:
I was gonna say, did you check-in? Because I mean, nothing’s mandatory. It’s not like we come to your house. Yeah. But did you check-in every day? I I think

Katie McCune [00:10:45]:
most days I did. There might have been a day I forgot. So sometimes I would go back, like, the next day and comment on yesterday’s post. I did school yesterday. I just forgot to comment. And so it was really quick and easy to keep up with it. Wasn’t, it wasn’t an extra thing that I had to do. It very easily just kind of slid into my day.

Katie McCune [00:11:09]:
And it, it didn’t take a lot of time at all. Like maybe 30 seconds to a minute to just make that comment and then like a little bit of work every now and then whenever there was a video to watch. And, and so it was, it was very easy and manageable for me.

Pam Barnhill [00:11:27]:
So what would you say is the biggest change that bootcamp has made in your homeschool?

Katie McCune [00:11:33]:
Yeah. So honestly, it’s been kind of a night and day scenario before, especially once I started implementing these ideas and doing like all of our subjects on a consistent basis, my kids were like, do I have to do language arts and math today? And yes, you do. And so there was initially like some grumbling, but with the consistency and with having that plan and setting the expectation that we’re going to do these certain things in communicating that to my kids pretty clearly and just setting that out, the complaining is gone. I mean, we don’t have perfect school days and I had a kiddo this morning who was complaining about doing his work, but that’s very atypical now. And I also feel like we have more time to do what I would like to do. Before, I was starting about 9, 9:30. And so that was kind of a late start for us to get in subjects like history or science or art, music, poetry, things that added beauty. And now we’re starting at a much earlier time, and I don’t feel as pressed for time to sprinkle those in.

Katie McCune [00:13:06]:
And so our homeschool has become more joyful and more peaceful because of that.

Pam Barnhill [00:13:13]:
Oh, I love that so much. And, yeah, that was totally what I discovered with my kids was when we were being consistent with school, when we were doing it regularly, then the pushback just you know, they stopped asking. They it stopped being a fight. They stopped seeing, like, maybe if we, like, drag her feet and cause problems and, you know, stuff like that, that she will, like, just throw up her hands and say we don’t have to do it today because I’ve done that so many times. Right? And when when we got consistent with it, they realized, you know, no. That was not what I was gonna do. Okay. So I wanna know I think another thing that a lot of people worry about is that boot camp is going to make them feel bad.

Pam Barnhill [00:13:55]:
That, you know, somehow they’re going to feel less than or because, you know, when you think about the the vision of boot camp, it’s like there’s a drill sergeant yelling at you. And sometimes I’m scared of Dawn, but most of the time I don’t. Gotcha. So what was your experience there? And then too in the receiving and offering support from the other boot campers.

Katie McCune [00:14:20]:
Yeah. So I think that Pam and Dawn are both the most gracious drill surgeons ever.

Pam Barnhill [00:14:28]:
Oh, thank you.

Katie McCune [00:14:29]:
And they’re, they’re very encouraging. The whole atmosphere is just one of positivity. It’s uplifting to parents who are struggling and it’s very, very helpful. I didn’t rely on the community a ton just because that’s my personal kind of preference, but I know that if I had an issue or if I had a hard day, I could come to the community. You and Dawn were both very, very full of grace, but also not afraid to kind of give us a gentle nudge when we needed to think more deeply about something or whether we needed to kind of examine our motivation behind not doing as much work or why didn’t we get a day done? Just really loving, gentle questions to get us to think more and kind of come to our own decisions.

Pam Barnhill [00:15:27]:
Yeah. And I think it’s so important to point out, and you mentioned this earlier kind of in passing as part of one of your answers, that you get to determine what success looks like. We never tell you, hey, Katie. In order for you to be successful with your school day, you’ve got to do 4 hours or you’ve got to do this many subjects or, you know, any of that stuff. You are the one who gets to determine I mean, that’s the very first thing you do in the warm up is what does success look like for me? And so the the mom with a brand new baby, you know, can and I’m just gonna be honest. I don’t know that moms with brand new babies really need to take boot camp. I would say, like, yeah. Put it off, but we’re gonna do it 6 months later.

Pam Barnhill [00:16:09]:
Like, do it 6 months down the road. Right? But they do. You know? Sometimes they they take it. And so she gets to define what success looks like. And for her, that that might be just getting that 5 minutes before everybody else and, like, putting clothes on.

Katie McCune [00:16:25]:
Mhmm.

Pam Barnhill [00:16:26]:
And we’re just gonna encourage her to do that. Yeah. I’m way and I’m with you. I’m way more fond of the, like, the accountability techs than I am necessarily the community aspects. But then Dawn is really into, the community stuff, and this is Dawn Garrett who runs the boot camp with me. She’s really into the community stuff, and so I think we play off of each other really well because she’s in there, like, having all those conversations with people about what can we do to help you out. So Definitely. So you’ve talked about how there was more joy in your homeschool.

Pam Barnhill [00:17:00]:
There’s way less pushback from your kids. Has your mindset shifted at all around homeschooling since the boot camp?

Katie McCune [00:17:08]:
Oh, yeah. Definitely. I think of homeschooling now as my my vocation, my career, so to speak. And I show up every day like it’s a job. Some days I’m really stoked And then other days I’m kind of lagging behind everybody else, but it’s the highest calling I think that we as moms accept. And so I definitely have changed my mindset about, oh, it just being something that we do to, you know, this is my job. This is what I’m here to do and the most important thing of my day.

Pam Barnhill [00:17:48]:
I love it so much. And that that was a huge mindset shift for me too. I mean, that was the thing that I I had to make it in my head because I was not the kind of person that ever you know, when I had a job, I showed up. Right? You just Mhmm. Because you were supposed to do it, and that was such a huge mindset shift for me too, so I totally get get on board with that one for sure. What would you tell somebody who’s on the fence? They’re like, do I wanna do this? Do I not wanna do this? Is it gonna be worth it? And can I change?

Katie McCune [00:18:22]:
So I would say to someone who’s on the fence, what have you got to lose? For me personally, I think that people who are looking to have more consistency in their homeschool have so much to gain by going through this course, learning from the experience of other people who have walked before us also walking through kind of the valleys and the peaks with other people who are in it with us. It’s definitely a journey and can be lonely and this course offers support on that journey, but also just such invaluable advice.

Pam Barnhill [00:19:09]:
Yeah. Oh, thank you for saying that. And, like, I do think that’s one of the big things for people is, you know, I think so often as homeschoolers, we feel isolated. You know, like and then we have a problem and we think, oh, I’m the only one who has this problem. And if, like, math is not working for a kid or spelling is not working for a kid, it’s real easy to reach out to somebody and say, this isn’t working. Can you help me figure it out? Right? That’s an easy piece of advice to ask for either on a part date or at coop or something like that. But who feels like saying, oh my gosh. Like, we only did school 2 days this week, and we only did school 3 days last week, and we only did school 4 days the week before.

Pam Barnhill [00:19:53]:
You know, I’m feeling like a failure. Nobody wants to say that at park day or at coop. And so to have this whole group of people who have been brave enough to raise their hand and say, me, you know, I’m struggling with this, and put them all in the same place so they can actually talk to each other. And, you know, when I say talk to each other, I mean, like, you and I are talking to each other here. I mean, like, you know, in the community talk to each other, but to have somebody, first of all, who understands who’s not going to judge you and then who probably has some good advice to offer as well and come along on this journey with you. I just think that’s so, so valuable. Yeah, I think so. Well, Katie, thank you so much.

Pam Barnhill [00:20:36]:
Thank you so much for coming and talking about your experience. Are you gonna do boot camp again this fall?

Katie McCune [00:20:42]:
Yes. I am definitely going to do boot camp again this fall and keep kind of honing those little tips and tricks and just keep the ball rolling.

Pam Barnhill [00:20:53]:
Yeah. I revisit it. I don’t do it every time you guys do it. Every once in a while, it’ll be something like, oh, I’ve fallen off track with my morning time. And so, like, you know, like, we’re getting school done, but we’re not getting morning time. Like, you know, it’s been sometimes I just it’s been a couple years, but sometimes I’ll just go, like, 6 weeks. And it’s like, man, like, I love morning time. Why can’t I get back to it? And, boot camp will be the thing that helps me get back on track, or you could use it for just about getting on track with just about anything.

Pam Barnhill [00:21:25]:
Mhmm. The same way you build habits for homeschooling, you could also build habits for other things like going for a walk every morning or something like that. So Yes. Yeah. It’s just a really good course. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Katie.

Pam Barnhill [00:21:41]:
I so appreciate you being here. I’ll see you in boot camp in a few weeks and I appreciate you sharing your experience with everybody.

Katie McCune [00:21:49]:
You’re welcome.

Pam Barnhill [00:21:52]:
That’s our show for today. Be sure to follow, subscribe, and leave a review so you never miss out on the wonder of homeschooling better together. To stay connected and learn even more about the homeschooling better together resources and to join our free community, visit hsbtpodcast.com. Until next week, keep stepping out of the overwhelm and into the wonder.

Links and Resources From Today’s Show

Key Ideas About Katie’s Consistency Success Story

  • Katie’s struggles with consistency and perfectionism before boot camp.
  • How the Homeschool Consistency Boot Camp helped build effective routines.
  • The impact of consistent habits on reducing resistance from kids.
  • Homeschooling as a vocation: showing up every day with purpose.

Finding Consistency in Your Homeschool: Lessons from the Boot Camp

Today, I’m thrilled to share with you an inspiring conversation I had with Katie McCune, a wonderful mom from our community. If you’ve ever struggled with consistency in your homeschool, Katie’s story might be just what you need to hear. Let’s dive into her journey and the lessons she’s learned through the Homeschool Consistency Boot Camp.

The Challenge: Doing Just Enough

Katie lives in Colorado with her husband and their three kids, aged 12, 10, and 7. Like many of us, Katie began homeschooling after realizing that the public school system wasn’t meeting her children’s needs. She enjoyed the freedom and flexibility of homeschooling but found herself often struggling with consistency.

Before joining the Boot Camp, Katie described her homeschool as being stuck in a bit of a rut. They had a lot of days that consisted only of morning time, maybe an educational board game or two, and a lot of spontaneous field trips. Now, don’t get me wrong—those days can be fantastic! But for Katie, it was happening too often, and she felt like her kids weren’t making enough progress through their curriculum.

She also found herself feeling frustrated and disappointed. The perfectionist side of her wanted to finish the books and keep her kids on track. But they were often working at a much slower pace, and that made her feel like they were falling behind.

The Turning Point: Honoring the School Day

Katie decided to join the Homeschool Consistency Boot Camp, and that’s where everything started to change. One of the first shifts she made was to start honoring her school day. Honoring the school day means setting aside dedicated hours for homeschool and treating that time as sacred—no interruptions, no multitasking, just focused time with the kids.

During the Boot Camp, Katie set clear expectations for herself and her children. She communicated that homeschooling was their priority during specific hours, and they were going to do it consistently. No more spontaneous field trips just to avoid math or language arts!

This shift made a huge difference. At first, there was some pushback from the kids—after all, it’s always fun to avoid schoolwork and do something else instead. But with time, they settled into the new routine. The consistency paid off, and the complaints started to disappear.

The Power of Accountability and Small Steps

One of Katie’s favorite parts of the Boot Camp was the accountability it offered. Each day, participants could check in and share whether they had completed their school day. These check-ins weren’t mandatory, but they were a helpful reminder to stay on track. Katie loved receiving the morning texts that said, “Don’t forget to start your school day!” It was just the gentle nudge she needed to stay consistent.

Another key takeaway for Katie was learning how to define what success looked like for her homeschool. She realized that success didn’t mean doing it all. Instead, it was about doing the most important things well and being consistent. By focusing on small, manageable steps, she found that her homeschool days ran more smoothly and felt more joyful.

From Overwhelm to Joy

Since completing the Boot Camp, Katie describes her homeschool as being more joyful and peaceful. The kids know what to expect, and they’ve stopped complaining about doing their work. Katie also finds that starting earlier in the day gives them more time for the things that bring beauty into their homeschool—like history, science, poetry, and art. Instead of always feeling pressed for time, they now have space to enjoy learning together.

Katie also experienced a significant mindset shift. She came to see homeschooling as her vocation—her most important job. She shows up for it every day, just like she would for any career. Some days are exciting, and others are harder, but she knows that what she’s doing is valuable and worthwhile.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been struggling with consistency in your homeschool, Katie’s story is proof that change is possible. Honoring your school day, being clear about your priorities, and finding accountability can make all the difference. And remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect—just showing up consistently is what truly matters.

If you’re ready to take the next step toward more consistency, I’d love for you to join our Homeschool Consistency Boot Camp. It’s designed to give you the support, accountability, and tools you need to create a homeschool routine that works for your family.

Thank you so much for joining me today. If you’d like to connect with other homeschool moms on this journey, be sure to join our free community at hsbtpodcast.com. Until next week, keep stepping out of the overwhelm and into the wonder!

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