Homeschool Musings: Summer Offers Time to Reflect

So often, homeschool parents end the school year exhausted. We want a break, a time of mindless wandering, schedule-free moments and fun.

Summer is also a good time for reflection. It’s a time of less pressure and living outside the grind. Our minds are free to take an honest look back, ruminate over the positives and negatives, and adjust our plans for next year accordingly.

Kelly Rogers, long-time homeschool mother and owner of Pilgrim’s Journey in Fayetteville, offers some advice. She suggests asking the following questions:

• Did the curriculum I use work, both for my child and me?

It is a most obvious question, but often least fully answered. We are easily persuaded by curriculums that offer personal security rather than fully meeting our children's unique learning needs—not to mention our unique teaching style.

"One of the worst mistakes I made," said Rogers, "was trying to bring the classroom home. Homeschooling is not schooling at home. Homeschooling is part of everyday life."

Understanding your child’s learning style and your teaching style takes time. Be willing to fail and try again. The best advice given me as a young homeschooling mother was this: Be willing to ditch a curriculum mid-year. Sure, it costs a little money, but this cost is paltry compared to the price you’ll pay with your relationship with your child, trying to drudge through a poorly matched curriculum day in and day out. 

• Did our enrichment activities work?

"Enrichment" can refer to all those things that take you outside home—field trips, sports, dance, co-ops, scouts, music lessons, horse-riding lessons, lessons about lessons—you get the idea. The freedom of homeschooling opens endless doors to enrichment opportunities. It is a great blessing, but can quickly become a curse.

Rogers suggests looking at homeschooling in seasons. What will the next season bring—deployment? New baby? A move? "Keep your mind open to what the year will bring and plan accordingly."

• Did our scheduling work?

Rogers is a huge proponent of lumping children and subjects together. If you struggle to find enough hours in your homeschool day, consider group teaching science and history. You can still give individual age-appropriate assignments, but lump everyone together for teaching time.

Also reflect on the amount of time spent teaching each subject. "You should be done teaching your early elementary children by noon—at the latest," Rogers said. As your student gets older, his or her workload will increase. Be careful, however, to not burn out your children — or yourself — by spending too much time on each subject.

• Did I spend enough time with my husband?

Homeschoolers easily fall into this trap—focusing efforts on school, home and extra-curricular, to the detriment of our marriages. The truth is, however, that if your marriage isn’t healthy, everything suffers with it.

"If you don’t have a thriving relationship with your husband now," said Rogers, "don’t expect one when the kids are out the door."

Make time for what matters. Let time with your spouse live on top your priority list, allowing everything else to filter through it.

• What are my expectations? Are they realistic?

So often, in our well-intentioned researching and planning, we glom onto unrealistic ideas. Suddenly and without realizing, we have heaped expectations onto ourselves, our children, our spouse and anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in our whirlwind.

One of Rogers' primary goals for The Pilgrim’s Journey is to be a place of support and help for homeschooling families, beyond curriculum needs. Throughout the summer The Pilgrim’s Journey will offer evening support sessions, where parents can come and hear recordings of the best speakers from this year’s North Carolina Home Education (NCHE) Conference. Parents can listen, share and hopefully unburden one another of the unrealistic expectations we all carry.

Enjoy your summer. Bask in lazy days. And add some reflecting time.
To learn more about upcoming support and educational opportunities visit The Pilgrim's Journey online. Click on Contact/Directions to add your name to the email list.