Many of us, myself included, are heading back into our homeschool routines tomorrow. Some of us only took time off for the holidays – I’ve been in the Twilight Zone the last month because of a car accident, and so I’m having to reacclimatize myself to the whole thing. Whether you took a week off, two weeks off, or a month off from school, you’ll find the same challenges.
1. Motivation. It’s so easy to let school slide. If you’re tired or don’t feel well, school is one of the first things to go. And after time off, it’s really hard to get up the motivation to leap back in. I suggest (and I plan to) making the first couple of days back fun days. Pull out the crafts and the educational games. Ease back into the routine by padding the way with fun rather than diving right back in to all the workbooks. I think the teacher needs this just as much as the students.
2. Lapses in memory. When I was a homeschooled kid, we did year-round school because we forgot too much if we took the summer off. The same thing can happen if you just take a few days off – your children can forget skills and concepts they were learning just before the break. If you need to backtrack, no worries—just go back to where they feel comfortable and move forward from there. It’s not a race.
3. Keeping it positive. Sometimes when we’ve taken a break, we put pressure on ourselves to get back into the swing of things. We worry about how much time we’ve lost, and if our kids are reluctant, we might put too much negativity into the process. Homeschool is about finding joy with our children, and if we get too stressed about catching up, we’re missing the most crucial part of why we chose to homeschool in the first place.
Welcome back to school, and may it be fun and rewarding for you and your children!
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