How’s it Going?
Hello, fall! We’ve all gotten our homeschooling in motion. How is it going? Are you off to a great start? Are you realizing some things aren’t going to work? One exercise I like to do is consider these questions:
What are you going to START?
Have you had ideas but been intimidated to try? Now’s the time! I encourage you to give it a shot. I did project-based learning when I taught in schools, but I really delved into it full force when my two oldest children were in upper elementary school homeschooling with me. My son who loved the military spent 8 weeks learning all about tanks. He researched, created models, read books about soldiers, read poetry written during war times and wrote some himself, wrote an essay about tanks, visited the Infantry Museum, and gave a presentation to his dad and me, and he loved it! Taking that leap into wrapping our studies into his chosen project was a little intimidating to me, even as an experienced and trained educator, but when I finally did it, it was wonderful.
What have you been dreaming of for your homeschool? What are you excited to try? I encourage you to just do it! Go ahead and start that new thing whether it’s a new teaching method, a new schedule, or a new read aloud.
What are you going to STOP?
Let’s be honest - sometimes we try something only to realize it isn’t going to work for us. Other times we get into habits that don’t serve our family well. The past couple of weeks, my boys and I tried working together on school work. No. Nope. Not a good idea for us, so we stopped. We went back to letting me work with each one individually when help is needed, and things were much smoother.
What are you doing that isn’t serving you well? Maybe a schedule you tried just isn’t working. Maybe a curriculum is frustrating instead of helpful. It’s okay to adapt or stop. That’s one of the beautiful things about homeschooling!
What are you going to do MORE?
We’ve considered what we want to try and what we want to release. How about what’s going well that could be expanded? Our family started doing Bible study in a new way this summer, and it’s inspired lots of good conversations. As I plan our school time, I’m incorporating more opportunities to dig deeper and apply what we’re learning.
What is going well that you want to do more? Are books read aloud a hit? DId that family art project inspire? Did incorporating cooking into math time help connect some dots for your child? I encourage you to embrace what’s working and add more where you can.
One beautiful aspect of homeschooling is the fluidity. We aren’t bound by “have to,” so we have the freedom to START, STOP, and DO MORE as we see fit to better our educational journey. I hope this fall is a time of growth for each of us!
