There are many things to we need to consider before starting a new home school year.
Are you going to do year round home schooling?
What curriculum will you be using this year?
What subjects do your kids need for the new year?
What the start date is going to be? What breaks will be taken?
One of the things to consider is;
How do you want to start the school year?
Some people will swear by one method for starting back to school while others will insist the exact opposite is better for children. Even if you are a seasoned homeschooler, it is not difficult to see how you might easily
become overwhelmed. In all of this, there is a little feeling in the back of your head, you’re terrified that you will do something wrong with such extremes saying they are correct. The truth is that how you start back to school is completely up to you and how your family functions.
The short and sweet of it is, there are three basic options for back to school.
I am sure that we can come up with more than three various ways to start a new school year but we are trying to avoid that overwhelmed feeling. When you read over these, think about your family, how the day goes in your house, what appointments and work obligations need to be considered, what the personalities of everyone in the house is like. While you read over each of these, which option is closest to what could work for you and your family.
Full course load
The first option is to jump in with all work every weekday. This is often how schools start back and it can help establish a routine from the word go. A child who needs routine and enjoys checklists may do better with this option. When you start off the school year with a full course load, a child can better understand the expectations for the day, plan out how they want to tackle the day if they are old enough, and establish a rhythm to their day to accomplish their work in a timely manner.
Half day, A/B schedule
Another option is to start the school year with half days. How this would work is when you set up your school schedule, the first week or two will actually take two to four weeks to do. With any given school day, you will only aim to complete half of the subjects that you would typically try to do in a school day. The next day you do the other half. This would be helpful for a family that is trying to figure out the best time to work on school and work it around their obligations. This is also a good schedule to start off with if you have a child who has difficulty sitting still but needs to know that school is again a priority, not summer fun.
Ease into it a few subjects at a time
Finally, the last option for starting back to school has you picking just two or three subjects at a time. A core subject can be chosen alongside an elective or fun subject and for a week, those are the only books worked on. The next week, add another core subject or two and another fun subject. This continues on till the full course load is being done every day. This type of schedule is helpful for a family that is brand new to homeschooling and is just starting to figure out all the little things about homeschooling. This is also a great schedule for kids who have difficulty with change or transitions.
The important thing is to pick what works for your house.
There are a number of different ways that you can start the new school year. Obviously if your schooling includes online learning and it is live with a given start and end date with deadlines, that is one subject you must start with. Outside of that, everything is up to you, your family, and what is best for your child’s learning style and personality. Whether you are new to this home school thing or you are a seasoned homeschooler, how to start the school year out is a shared deliema we all have. Do not feel you are struggling with this alone. Reach out to other homeschoolers, to people in your homeschool association, even good friends that really know you even if they are not homeschooling. Talk it out. It will help you calm your mind and create a plan.
But always remember to enjoy the journey.
Greetings! My name is Joy and I am currently a stay at home mom who is homeschooling her three kids in South Carolina. I love learning and I love sharing the love of learning with others so getting to home school my kids and watch the “ah-ha” moments when they understand something is unbelievably rewarding. I have been homeschooling since my twins were preschool age so we’ve been doing this for 9 years now. I am also a military spouse, so we have the added joys and some of the complications that come with it. As a family, we stay busy with our scouting groups, American Heritage Girls and TrailLife, and we do many camping and hiking trips with them. When I have downtime, I am typically reading books I have sitting around the house, on YouTube/websites getting more information on different home school programs, or working on plans for homeschool. I look forward to being able to share our experiences with everyone and help encourage all homeschooling families.