Planning for the New School Year: Where to Start, Mama

This time of year is when I feel like I need to just scrap everything and start over so planning for the new school year gives me the fresh start I need. 

Maybe you are feeling down, like you don’t want to even think about the new school year or don’t know how to start. If so, it might be time to review The How and Why of Home Education. 

Some of you plan years in advance what you will be studying and the curriculum you will use. Some plan during the summer for the next year. Some of you are very detailed-oriented, and some are not. Some plan each morning, and some of you wait until the end of the day and write down what really happened. Some of you write nothing down. God created each of us uniquely (as our children also reveal) and He uses all these methods as they are yielded to Him. Seek Him FIRST, and God will give you wisdom for each child and strength to carry it through. 

• Don’t just add God to your own cleverly devised plans; rather, make pursuing God and His Word your family’s main purpose. 
• Don’t ask God to follow your plan and bless it; follow His plan and bless Him.
• Our life is not our own to do with as we please but to do what would please God. In the same way, our children are not ours to do with as we please but to do with them what would please God.
• After prayer, evaluate each child, do some research, make a simple plan, and present it to your spouse. Pray together, and then listen to what they have to say! They see things from a different perspective so be willing to adapt the plan. 
• Plan to give God’s Word and prayer pre-eminence in your school day, and He will bless your efforts in the academics. He has a way of filling in gaps with knowledge and wisdom that we know nothing of. 

 “I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me” (Psalm 57:2).

He will be faithful to lead those who have yielded all to Him. He has already gone before you into the new school year so there is nothing to fear as you keep your children Home Where They Belong.  

~Deborah

More on the subject: 

The Dad-Plan: Leading the Charge in the New School Year by Todd Wilson

 New School Year Resolutions: 5 “I Will’s” by Deborah Wuehler

Developing a Philosophy of Education by Tia Phillips

P.S.  If you are new to homeschooling, or know someone who is, here is a bundle of freebies to share: www.tryhomeschooling.com.

Deborah Wuehler is the Senior Editor and Director of Production here at The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. She would say she is a very ordinary homeschool mom–with one exception: she has an extraordinary God Who provides all she needs for life and homeschooling. She has eight children aged 11 to 29. Deborah’s mission is this: to point other homeschoolers to the Lord in all they do, think, and feel—and to confirm that they, too, can find everything they need for life, godliness, and homeschooling in their knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3-4).