The Start of a New Year Freak Out
Must be the start of the school year in these parts.
A few sanity-saving reminders:
1. You don’t have to get all the plates spinning on day one!
It’s okay to “feather in” the subjects over the course of the next six weeks. Pick a subject, get to know it a bit, explore with your kids how it might work. Leave the others aside. Get the one subject going, then when some space and energy frees up, add the next one. You might be able to do read aloud, copywork, and math pages from the get-go, but if history and science feel hard or confusing—hold off a bit. Wait til you get that energy boost of success for the other stuff, and THEN tackle one or the other.
2. Read the instructions the day before you begin.
If you don’t have time to read “how to” do something before the day it’s scheduled to begin, don’t begin. Make sure you understand what you are asking your kids to do before you do it with them. If you don’t have time to read instructions or philosophy apart from your kids, this is a perfect reason to turn on the TV. Put on a movie or documentary and while they watch, sit at the table and educate yourself about the curricula, material, homeschool practice you mean to use. Do it right in front of them, using real time—time you think you don’t have—so that when you do come back to your kids, you feel the calm of preparedness.
3. Have big fun the first week.
Make sure you plan a super fantastic day for your kids during the first week: Poetry teatime, going to a movie matinee, visiting a nature center, picnic at the park, going to a theme park after local public schools are in session, making a backyard bonfire and cooking hot dogs and s’mores, staying up late and sleeping in, painting with real paints, canvases, and easels…
Set the tone for the year that says: Being at home for school is the best thing anyone would ever want in their entire lives!