Homeschool Reflections: Our Journey So Far
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We are at the beginning of October, we all have a few weeks of homeschool under our belts and now is a good time to evaluate where we are at and how things are going. And more specifically to relieve some of the stress that we might be feeling. If you are overwhelmed, something needs to change. I know that I always dream big when I am planning my school year and overplan. You’d think I know better by now… And I do, a little…
The plan
When I plan my new school year at the beginning of the summer, I usually plan with the way life is at that moment. I cannot see in the future, thank goodness, so the present is the best way for me to plan. We all know life can change quickly and sometimes we cannot be prepared for that change. And when these changes happen, even the small changes, we quickly feel overwhelmed and our home education can quickly become one of the cogs that falls off the wheel. The temptation to pitch the entire plan down the drain is right there. But it does not have to be that way. Another thing I have been doing regularly BEFORE I plan my next year is to re-read Teaching From rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie. It always helps me think more clearly.
Re-evaluation
If you are following a Sabbath schooling pattern, 6 weeks of school, 1 week of break, then you should be getting to that one week of break. That is the best time to re-evaluate your plan. After a day of rest (or two), look at it objectively. How does our daily rhythm need to change? What is actually worth keeping? What does everyone enjoy? Are there certain topics that have to be kept going no matter what, outside of the three Rs, of course? What can be placed on a shelf for now? How about outside of the home commitments? Can any of these be trimmed down or simply cancelled? What other tools can I use to leverage my time better?
What to throw and what to keep
When we go through the purging of our curriculum, we need to remain unemotional. Go back to the basics and to your Rule of Six. Then just like purging our kitchen closet some things are worth keeping and others aren’t. Sometimes we have too many lids and not enough boxes. Throw the extra lids out. (And by throwing the extra lids out, I mean shelf that part of your plan for the time being). What could the extra lids be? Maybe it’s a foreign language, an extra read aloud, the beautiful fine art curriculum that you’ve been drooling over for years and finally got… You get the idea. Really, really think of what is serving your vision for your home education, your Rule of Six and stick to what serves it.
The rollover method
One thing that has brought me great peace of mind with our home education is what a friend and I call the rollover method. Instead of feeling pressured to finish what is scheduled for that day, being open to just rolling over what did not get done to the next day has brought great peace of mind. It seems that homeschoolers follow the myth of “we are behind”, but behind whom? Usually, for me, it’s just behind myself and my plan, lol! Once I realized that, it made a huge difference! I cannot be behind myself, that’s silly. Even with a boxed curriculum you cannot get behind. It is often one of the main reasons we home educate: to be able to follow our children’s pace.
Taking the pressure off
With the realization that I could not get behind myself came a sense of freedom to really let our home education be just that: home. Home life is the priority and education is part of that home life, just like fixing a meal or doing chores. Therefore it will be affected by the ups and downs of daily life, there is no way around it. Once I made my peace with that, the pressure was off. I cannot get behind, life ups and downs will impact my home education but I can just do tomorrow what was planned for today, just like the laundry. We will not be behind, we will still be learning, just something different.
To be able to respond with grace to daily conflicts is a mom’s superpower. And I am not talking about kids arguing, but more like the washer breaking down, the toddler running a fever and needing to be held… all day. If I can take the pressure off of myself and gracefully respond to the emergency of the moment, then life will be so much smoother for all.
Not making it a habit
Of course, I cannot roll over endlessly and every day, that would not work. But when life is so full and something needs to give, rolling a read aloud or the entire school day over might just be the ticket to peace. And if you find yourself having to rollover repeatedly it is a good indication that you might need to take a break for a week or more. And that’s ok.
With big life changes such as a move, a new baby, health issues we have to just stop everything. The day to day smaller emergencies can drain us in and of themselves, so let’s relieve the pressure, give ourselves and our children room to handle the situation and pick things back up the next day or take a more extended break to deal with life. And that is a beautiful thing to teach our children as well: sometimes you have to know when to stop.
Peace
Our peace of mind and a certain looseness in our days is important to maintain our sanity and a life full of wonder and excitement. We need rest, as the Lord Himself pointed out by ordering us to rest on the seventh day. And sometimes we do need to carve that rest out of a week full of emergencies. Something’s gotta give. With the rollover method I can give myself the necessary break, especially if I know that I can’t get “behind”.
The curriculum, the plan is a tool that is there to serve me and my family, not the other way around. Let’s not become slaves to it. It is alright to take a day off to just enjoy life or to deal with something more important that just popped up. Give yourself permission and it will rejuvenate not only yourself but also your family life and your home education.
Love,
Mattie
