New Year, New Homeschool!

Is a new homeschool wishful thinking? I mean, we are dealing with the same children and the same teacher, so how do we change things up this year? We can stop everything and start over. A new year can mean a new homeschool! Here is help.

The new year is an opportunity to look at your homeschool with a new perspective and ask yourself some questions. What has been working? What hasn’t been working? How and what do I do for the rest of this school year? Here are three steps that might help ease back into schooling with success:

1. Review and Re-evaluate

• What areas were problem areas before the holidays? How can you resolve those problems before starting again?
• Do you need to incorporate an all-grade approach to teaching a subject?
• Does one child need private instruction in a particular area?
• What do you need to just drop? Now is the best time to drop what isn’t working or necessary.
• Where have the children shown success?
• What are the gifts the Lord has given them? And what opportunities can we find for their skills to be used?
• What did you really want to teach this school year that you haven’t started yet?
• If you take a summer break in June, where will you incorporate that new area of study for the next five months (January through May)?
• What kind of daily or weekly or monthly schedule would help you follow through? Take the days necessary before you start school again to assess and get organized for starting again.

2. Repent and Return

Have you lost sight of the true eternal priorities of educating your children? Did you forget that it is your obedience and not your ability that God rewards? Now is the time to repent for your lack of desire to be obedient, your lack of courage to continue, or your lack of vision for what is eternally important, and return to the assignment God has given you in training up His children for His glory.

3. Homeschool Resolutions and Courage

The new year is famous for bringing new resolutions. I suggest we really be intentional about keeping our old resolve to homeschool. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary (https://webstersdictionary1828.com/) defines the word “resolution” (for our purposes) as this: 

RESOLUTION: . . . Fixed purpose or determination of mind; as a resolution to reform our lives; a resolution to undertake an expedition. The effect of fixed purpose; firmness, steadiness or constancy in execution, implying courage.

We see here that we not only need to be resolved in our old and new homeschooling efforts, but we need courage: courage to remain fixed in purpose, determined in our minds, and resolute to follow through in execution. Let’s look at the definition for courage as well:

COURAGE, n. [L., the heart.] Bravery; intrepidity; that quality of mind which enables men to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, or without fear or depression of spirits; valor; boldness; resolution. It is a constituent part of fortitude; but fortitude implies patience to bear continued suffering.

Homeschooling often requires courage in the face of persecution, as well as courage against our own minds that tell us we are failing; courage against “depression of spirits” and courage to bear through difficulties to the end. The only way to find this kind of courage is to dig ourselves out of our own thinking and become buried deep in the Word of God. There are over 100 verses in the Bible about courage. Here are two to start:

Psalm 31:24: “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”

Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

~Deborah

We Want to Know! 

What homeschool resolutions will you start this year? 

Where do you find your courage to homeschool? 

Find Connections with Others! 

Looking to make connections with other parents? Check out these resources: 

• Looking for a stronger homeschool community? Why not start your own Schoolhouse?
• BaseCampEd: Watch the podcast today to learn more!