You may be excited about the holidays this year. Or maybe not so much. Either way now’s a good time to think about homeschool mid-year course corrections. You’ve got a little over a month before winter break. Think about what you want to accomplish between now and then. Consider your December destination. Your end of the school year destination. Are you on track?
I’ve been thinking about how to wrap this semester up and what we want to do after the holiday break. This past weekend, we had our first taste of the upcoming holidays.
Your Semester Destination
When you started school this fall, you had a destination in mind. A plan for what you want each child to accomplish this year. Depending on how you schedule your school, you should be hitting the halfway mark sometime between December and early February.
I’m mulling over what we’ve done this semester, what we need to get done, and what we’ll be doing after the first of the year. I like to get my brain going on this and then let it sit in the back of my brain. Kind of like I do at the beginning of summer when I ponder the upcoming school year.
Small Course Corrections
Now is a great time to make some small course corrections. Take a look at each of your subjects. I like to finish up chapters, unit studies, and any projects before a break from school. If we have a larger project going like National History Day, I look for a logical place to pause it. This means we may push harder in one subject and finish up sooner with another in December.
Larger Course Corrections
Maybe you’re thinking of changing up one part of your homeschooling. Or maybe a lot of it. The New Year is a great time to make a fresh start. A few tips to keep in mind:
- Talk to your child. Get their input. All the research and planning in the world won’t help if your child isn’t on board.
- Decide if you need to rethink your destination. Maybe you over or underestimated how far you could go. Don’t forget, homeschooling allows YOU to set your own pace.
- Do as much research and planning as you can before your holiday break. You need a solid break from homeschooling as much as your children do.
- If you can’t get it all done before break, schedule some time to do it. Put it on your calendar and then forget about it. Don’t have it on your ‘to-do’ list every day of break.
No Changes Needed
Really? You’re completely on track? Awesome! But… can you tweak things to freshen them up for the New Year? Because we wouldn’t want you to sail through this homeschool thing without putting some effort into it… ha!
I find myself asking how I can change things up as the days get shorter and the weather gets colder. This time of year is always a little bit of a transition as our outside time decreases. And this year is harder with Covid-19.
Beyond changing up your curriculum, seek out the interesting and unusual. I just happened to catch a post about the Christmas tree for the U.S. Capitol. It was a great pick-me-up on a very windy and just plain blechy November day.
I know most of us are starting to focus on the holidays. But now is also the time to consider any homeschool mid-year course corrections. Look at these corrections as ‘opportunities’ not problems. These opportunities might involve curriculum changes or just some different activities, whether at home or out and about.
As always, enjoy the journey!
By the way, if you want to know more about the history of the Christmas tree at the U.S. Capitol, check out this link.