This is about the time of year, as the weather gets nicer and the mamas get more tired, that the school year can tend to feel like it’s dragging out. We can feel tempted to just pull the plug on the year or really feel like we have to force ourselves to finish. What if it didn’t have to be that way? What if instead we could finish strong and have joy filled days? I know you are feeling weary mama, but you control the climate of your home. Here are some ideas to help you finish strong.
Make a Plan
Pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee, put some worship music on in the background, and sit down with those school books. Open to the table of contents and see where you are. Count how many weeks are left in the book and compare that to how many more weeks you plan to do school. Can you get it done? If so, great. If not, do you need to get it done? Perhaps you can find a few lessons to cross out that you don’t mind skipping. Or if you do need to complete it all, maybe you will see a few lessons you can double up. Make yourself a checklist or calendar of your preference to help you stay focused for the last few weeks. This always helps me feel refocused, and it makes the workload seem manageable.
As a bonus, show the list to your kids or even print it off and hang it up. They’re likely feeling ready for summer break as well, and this will give them incentive. They could even cross off as they go and see their pre-summer workload dwindling.
Check in with Your Priorities
Take some time to reassess your priorities. What did you hope to accomplish as a family and for each individual child this year? How are you doing in those areas? These don’t have to be academic. For instance, you could have wanted to teach your child to tie their shoes and do their laundry this year. Have you accomplished that? Maybe now is the time! Or perhaps you’ll decide some goals will be rolled over into next year. Let this be an exercise that calms and encourages you, not adds stress. You are the author of your homeschool. You do not have to finish the year with everything tied up nicely in a bow. Let your plan work for you.
Be Encouraged and Equipped
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Go Outside
Switch up your environment! Now is a great time to start taking those lessons outside! Read aloud while they use sidewalk chalk, blow bubbles, or lay on the grass. Make a yummy snack plate and bring your math outside to the porch or a blanket on the lawn. Now is also a great time for any nature-type learning you may have been putting off for the dreary winter. You all want to be outside so work with that, instead of competing with the outdoors to get school done.
Be Flexible
Adjust your schedule if needed. Perhaps you typically try to get school done right away, but this time of year the beauty of spring is calling. Let your kids go outside and get their morning sunshine and get some energy out. When they come back in, grab a snack and gather around the table to get to your lessons.
Mama, you set the climate of your home. You can make this school year finish in a positive and enjoyable manner, without a big stressful rush, if you choose. Your attitude and demeanor will set the tone for your kiddos. This is a great time to remember why you are homeschooling and what you want your days to look like. Remember the building of relationships will always trump the finishing of lessons. Enjoy this time!
This article has been written by homeschooling staff writers of The Canadian Schoolhouse (TCS). Enjoy more of our content from TCS contributors and staff writers by visiting our themes page that has a new theme topic added every month!
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).