Friends, 2020 has departed (don’t let the door hit you in the bum on the way out) and a fresh year has begun. Praise God! Can I get a hearty and enthusiastic Amen?

I doubt that anyone needs me to review the reasons a shiny new year is more exciting than ever. The sheer need to say “2020 is (finally) OVER” has me reminiscing about how much I really enjoy the process of reevaluating, setting new goals and taking stock of whats going right and wrong with the aim of implementing fixes before the fresh new year gets dingy and cluttered. Maybe you’re like me and chomping at the bit to take stock of the “State of Your Homeschool” or maybe you’re avoiding it at all costs. Hopefully I can offer some tips that will be as fresh as the new year for the eager and encouragement to “git ‘er done” for the reluctant.

First off, let me encourage the reluctant or discouraged: There is nothing like taking stock of your successes to spur one on to greater accomplishment. On the other hand, maybe you feel failure or shortcomings pulling you down. Maybe you can’t think of a success and schooling your precious ones at home is a picture of frustration, fighting, and learning how to make one another crazy. Maybe your great plans have been eroded by health issues, distractions of the world, a scheduling disaster, depression, financial challenges, job loss, an unexpected move, detours resulting from consumption of news (be kind-its a thing), a lack of discipline, a last minute choice to homeschool, poor preparation or any of a million pitfalls. Maybe you’re beyond ready to throw in the homeschool towel and you’re counting the minutes until the “anyplace but homeschool” will take your kids away!

Hold on! Take heart! Please, hear me out. If you are facing reluctance, discouragement, failure, disillusionment or any of a myriad of setbacks may I beg you to sincerely approach the Lord and humbly ask Him to shine light into darkness, to replace these emotions with His wisdom, that scales would fall from your eyes if needed, truth would be clearly revealed and that He would (if needed) drive the enemies lies from your mind! The Bible says that God can do all things – not some of the things but ALL of the things (Matt 19:26, Luke 1:37, Mark 10:27).

Pause. Chew on that. God is champion, victor, capable for all things. ALL. Yes – the problems in our homeschools, too.

In thinking about my own doubts and times when my homeschool prowess seemed non existent, I thought of Moses. He had great doubts and literally had a chat with God about it. If you need a refresher, just read Exodus 4:1-12, a conversation between God and Moses in which Moses lays out the reasons he’s gonna fail and God counters with bonafide “equipment.’ The dialogue ends with God saying something like” Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Exodus 4:12). God didn’t fail Moses and, when we are doing God’s work He isn’t going to fail us either. God’s word instructs parents to teach their children so if you are homeschooling, you’re right where He intends you to be and you are doing His work.  I have covered this topic here and here.

So how do homeschoolers reevaluate to finish the year strong? Where should I start? Are there standard goals? What do I do with the good, the bad and the ugly bits? I’m certain there are a thousand ways but I will share with you some of the means that I have used, many gathered from years in business and others honed in the school of hard knocks as a homeschool mom.

First, may ask if you have prayed about your original plan (or whatever you’ve been doing thus far) because there are earthly goals and Godly plans all wrapped into a successful homeschool. Expecting God to bless our goals without discovering His plan first is putting the cart before the horse. I keep pointing to prayer so I won’t harp on this more than to conclude with the old saying that the road to h- e-double toothpicks is paved with good intentions, not prayer.

Also, keep in mind that people (kids and adults) grow and change. This often comes in spurts and I believe that teaching our kids to love the Lord and how to learn about God is our most important and pressing job. Period. In addition to this is a set of grade/age appropriate academic goals that shifts as students mature. This is highly dependent on individual students and can be negatively and positively impacted by more factors than I can list. If your kids are experiencing a growth spurt or your family is experiencing a major life event (marriage, death, job change or loss, financial issues) this will likely impact academic accomplishment. In my experience, years filled with growth spurs, job losses, tragedies and moves included massive life-skill building but less book learning. My new years reevaluation often looked that the previous calendar year, spanning portions of two academic years filled with wins and losses in both categories: academics and spiritual. In especially crazy years of our family life, I’ve looked back and been reassured that insulating my kids from “life” by sending them away for academics wouldn’t have served them best. They always made up on the book-stuff we were too busy to cover and would have entirely missed out on the survival skills never taught at brick-and-mortar institutions. It has also challenged me to be a more consistent parent, buffering my own ups and downs (through prayer, usually) to ensure my kids had the best environment I could provide.

That said, as you begin to ponder what your shiny new year should include and not include, chew on these questions:

These are just a few questions to get your new years resolution juices flowing. I’ll dive into them deeper in coming posts. If you are seeking a mentor in any of these areas or just have a few questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. You can reach me by email at jesushomeschools@gmail.com and I’d be happy to share my experience and pray for you, too. Be sure to check out my other posts at homeschoolmentormom.com/blog and thank you for checking us out. May God perfectly prepare us all for everything that this year has in store!