Are you sadly waving goodbye or are you running forward arms open?
2024 is coming to a close and no matter how you look at it – goodbye 2024 or hello 2025, this last bit of the year is an excellent time to look at your homeschooling and decide what needs to come with you into the new year and you need to leave behind. And since I’m not one to tell you all to do something and not do it myself, below you can find my end of 2024 goodbyes and my welcome 2025 hellos.
I’m Sorry BUT You’re NOT Coming with US into 2025 . . .
- Lunch Rush: I’m not the lunch lady in our house so nearly every day there is a rush for the best leftovers or the most interesting ingredients as the kids make their own meals. The number of tears that happen because “he got what I wanted since I wasn’t at a good stopping spot” is far too high. Goodbye lunch rush! Instead every child will be getting the day he gets to pick first. Since they already have designated days for other things, this should be an easy transition.
- 10AM Snack Scramble: Our 10AM snack has been a wonderful addition to our school year, but every day I feel like I am scrambling to figure out what I’m going to set out for the boys. Not any longer. Goodbye 10AM scramble. Instead I’ll be instituting a rotating snack menu for 10AM. I’m sure there will be days when I run out of one of our staples but in general a pattern should keep me from looking through the pantry frantically every day at 9:55AM.
- Waiting in Case I’m Needed: I’ve never been the Mom who only homeschools during our school time. I’m often writing an email to my subscribers – Want those emails? Of course you do. Join here – prepping breakfasts, brainstorming our menu for the month, cleaning bathrooms or some other house chore all during our school time. BUT I am guilty of making sure that before I start one of those activities everyone is settled and won’t need me for several minutes. Goodbye waiting. Instead I’ll be letting the kids know where I will be and letting them come to me if I can be helpful to them as they are learning. This is far from making myself unavailable. Rather it is about helping the boys realize that if you need help, sometimes you need to ask for it.
Welcome! We Can’t Wait to Spend More Time with You . . .
- Mom and Me Talks: Novel studies and book studies have been a part of our homeschooling journey for more than five years now and we absolutely love them. I love how they help the kids think about what they are reading and how they require critical thinking skills. The kids love the get out of the book questions and the lack of traditional worksheet type questions that they involve. What I miss though are conversations with the kids about what they are reading, especially the conversations with the oldest two who are far less likely to ask me to help them think through one of the questions in their novel studies. So, I’ve spent some time thinking about how to add these conversations back into our weeks and I think I have a solution. Welcome Mom and Me talks. Each week each child will have a talk where we will make tea or coffee or hot chocolate and sit on a couch and just chat about the book. We might use some of the questions in the novel study packet to get us going or if we get stuck but in general it will just be a time to stop and chat about something we are both reading. Yep, you read that right, I’ll have to be reading along in each book with them. I am hoping that this doesn’t come back to bite me but surely I’ll find a way to keep up if this is actually working for us.
- Homeschooling NOT at Home: A few times during our fall semester we packed up all of our school things and took them to the trampoline park. The kids would then work for a while before taking a break to jump for a bit. Then the process would repeat until we decided it was time to head home for lunch. While working at the trampoline park requires a good bit more effort in the focus department than working at home, we have found that sometimes we do better if we get out of the house. I think it might be the equivalent to going to the library or student union when in college. Welcome homeschooling in the community. Each week we will spend at least a couple hours working somewhere in our community. One week it may be the coffee shop. Another week the library. Another the trampoline park. Maybe even one week we will work from the park. I’m looking forward to how this will allow us to keep some sense of a schedule but will also get us out and about a bit more as the colder weather settles in around us over the next few months.
- Mini Brain Breaks: Ever get to the point when you just can’t seem to move forward on a project? What do you do to break free? Have you ever consider the fact that maybe your kids get to the same stuck place? I can’t say that it is news to me that the kids get to this point too but finding a way to help them make good choices about how to break free has been hard. Welcome the Mini Brain Break menu board. Our menu board includes nine activities that they can choose from to help shake the stuck feeling. Some of the activities on our menu board include ten push ups, sit ups or jumping jacks, two minutes of drawing or coloring, one round of pinball, listening to or playing one song and funny face contest.
Come along with us into 2025 and keep an eye on how well we say goodbye and hello by joining us on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Threads. We’d also love for you to share with us there what you are saying goodbye to at the end of 2024 and even more what you are saying hello to as you enter 2025. See you out there and remember, keep it smart, keep it simple.
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