Upcoming school year
With everything so up in the air due to this pandemic it isn’t a surprise (to me or other homeschooling families) that so many families are turning to homeschooling this upcoming school year. While I believe this will strengthen our community in the long run, I also know it’s going to be a struggle for those families that have reached this decision as a last resort.
Expectations vs. Reality
The following list are some of the pitfalls first year homeschooling parents can fall into. How do I know this, well from the most reliable source, experience. By sharing them I’m in no way trying to shame or belittle. But I’ve learned, sometimes the hard way, that being aware of our expectations of our school is critical.
- Straight A students- Of course all of us want our children to do well. And most of us have been taught that the measure of academic success is through grades. While I won’t discount grades all together I don’t believe it should be the end all be all. We are preparing of children for life, not test.
- Hour by hour planner- Scheduling your day to mirror what is done in public school a) isn’t homeschooling and b) it won’t work. Children are affected by their environment. And home is home no matter how many posters we hang up. So you’ll have to make allowances i.e. extended recess, or one-on-one review in place of individual homework
- Perfectly completed curriculum – A word to the wise, remove the word “perfect” from your vocabulary. As adults we can’t expect that of ourselves, let alone each other. So that word has no place in schooling. Now, that curriculum that you spent painstaking hours searching for may be a homerun. But chances are that some or even most of it may not meet your expectations or your child’s needs. You may even realize that you can skip certain selections. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t complete each text cover to cover. Little secret most public school classes don’t either.
Set reasonable goals
If you’ve read any of my blogs, or any homeschooling blogs for that matter, you’ll see that homeschooling isn’t only about changing the location of your kids school, but it is also rethinking what “school” can be.
- Create a mission statement- I’ll be honest, when I first heard this I thought it was cheesy. But I later realized that it made be force myself to focus on what I thought was important. And if that didn’t line up what my day to day then there was a problem. It kept me accountable to our family’s true goal, and not what others may be achieving.
- Get your kids input- In my planner I have a selection for each of my girls where I have them write down what their hopes and expectations are for the coming year. This is so valuable because it provides you a window into their mind. Of what’s important to them, as well as what they may be dreading. This can help you when personalizing their daily/weekly schedule.
- Planning- Speaking of schedules this is important not only for their success, but also for your sanity. Now everyone is different so I can’t provide you with the exact step by step here. But I can say if the curriculum you’ve purchase doesn’t come with a set schedule you’ll need to make that a priority. Plan more than a day in advance, but not the whole year. My thinking behind this is that you’ll have enough time to familiarize yourself with future lessons while leaving yourself flexible if things change. Which they often do. Also, I suggest writing it in pencil. What’s more frustrating than writing your plans is having to wait for the white out to dry.
https://www.ladydspeaks.com/homeschooling-must/
Find the joy in the journey
No matter what has lead you to this choice look for the joys in the everyday moments. Whether it’s the times where your children actually appear to like each other, or to their excitement when story time is announced. In these changing times we all must make allowances for each other. And as parents how we handle difficulties, such as changes beyond our control, will affect our children greatly. So let this be a time of learning and growing for children and parents alike. Good luck this school year. Whether it’s your first or fifteenth there’s always room to grow and areas to simplify.
