Mid-Year Homeschooling Reflections

I sit here at the local swimming pool, watching my husband and kids play in the water. It's difficult for me to believe that we are nearly halfway through this current homeschooling year. As I sit, many questions run through my mind. Foremost among them are these - How is the schoolyear really going? And, What will we do for school next year?

open book with glasses and pen near a laptop computer

I like to take time throughout the school year to evaluate how things are going. It's good to take some time to step back and carefully think through how things are going. I try to consider how the kids are doing with the curriculum we are using, how I'm doing with the general oversight and organization of things, and how our family is doing on the whole. I look for things that aren't working or need tweeking to perhaps (hopefully) work better. I find that these times of reflection improve our school year and help me when planning for the upcoming school year.

When considering the next school year, I use the information I learned from my reflections about our current school year to guide me in planning the new school year. There may be routines or curriculum that are working really well, and we will continue with them. There may be something new that I want to look into and try out next year. I take time to consider all these things and give myself plenty of time to look at options and ask questions of others.

Next year I will have 2 of my boys in high school - a sophomore and a senior. I honestly can hardly believe that my oldest will be a senior next year! So, this upcoming year will be the final year that I plan for his home education.

student writing

With several of the boys needing accomodations due to their dyslexia and other diagnosis, I have to consider these things as well. Especially important is how much reading is required in a particular subject. I typically try to find curriculum that offers an audio version, or that has an online text where my child can use a text to speech program. Then I look at the amout of writing required. If my child with dysgraphia can type the answers, that works well, but something like math requires a little more consideration. Does my child need to copy from a hardbound book onto another paper? For my dyslexic children, this can be a recipe for disaster as they oftentimes don't copy correctly, often inverting numbers. Then, for the one with dysgraphia, is there enough space for them to write out their math problems in the book? These and other questions guide me as I make decisions for the upcoming school year.

Perhaps this process sounds complicated to you, but honestly, I love the planning stage. I take my time with it and spread it out over several months. This gives me time to carefully consider various options and research the things that will work the best for each child.