Episode 83

Here in northeastern Ohio where I live, it’s the beautiful month of May. And the time when many homeschoolers are wrapping up their lessons for the year.

Getting through the month of May can take some perseverance. If you can relate, click the play button above to hear some ideas about how to finish your homeschool year feeling good!

Resources and links from the episode are below, along with a summary of the episode.

How to Finish Your Homeschool Year Feeling Good

The robins in our neighborhood are getting through May with some perseverance, too! They’ve attempted nest building on top of our mailbox, above our mailbox on the lamp, and now next door above our neighbor’s downspout. And I’m celebrating their success with this latest nest, as I think it’s going to stay put and be safe enough to hatch their eggs in.

Homeschooling is so much like this, with failures and successes, with trying and trying again. And at the end of the year, we can often feel overwhelmed by some messy feelings.

Maybe you’re feeling tired, burnt out, or impatient to get outside into the sunshine, the pool, or the garden. You might even be feeling guilty for not finishing everything you set out to accomplish this year.

I definitely felt like this at the end of some of my homeschooling years. So I created a process for myself to help me wrap up our lessons, gather up the learning materials, and celebrate everything that happened ~ planned or unplanned. To celebrate what we accomplished, no matter what.

These simple steps are now part of my Summer Reset, and you can find out more about that under the resource heading below.

I’m going to share with you here the first step in my list, which is how to gather and reflect on your children’s work this year.

Step One: Gather

The first step in my Summer Reset is to gather all the work your children have completed this year, including:

main lesson books
paintings
projects
rough drafts or writing samples
lists of books read
photos or memorabilia from outings or field trips
ticket stubs or programs
recital or performance programs
artwork or nature crafts

Just the act of covering the table with a year’s worth of work always brought me a sense of relief and delight ~ “Wow, we really did do some neat things this year! And wow, we did more than I thought!”

Next, decide how you’ll house and store all of this work. Maybe you don’t keep it all but have your children choose favorites. Just decide how and where you’ll keep the year’s homeschooling work. We loved using portfolio boxes or folders from our local art store.

Of course, you’ll want to keep in mind the homeschooling regulations where you live. Since every state and country’s regulations vary, this process will be influenced by those guidelines.

Then I suggest you write a summary of each child’s year. I love this step and it’s so simple. This can be a one-page summary. I wrote these for each of my children every year and I just love going back and reading them now!

Want to see samples? Here you go:
Sample Summary of Grade Four
Sample Summary of Grade Seven

Lastly, we took time to review the work. You can do this with your child and partner or even other family members. And if you’re in a state where you have an evaluator, you can also do the review with them. This was always an amazing experience for my children when they got to show off their work and describe it to someone outside of our family.

So there you have it! Three simple ways to gather your children’s work as you finish up your homeschool year feeling good.

Step Two: Celebrate

And after gathering the work, don’t forget to celebrate by planning a special dinner or outing for all of you. I love this step of planning a festive meal or event to really celebrate.

Check out the links below if you want to hear more ideas for this step in my Summer Reset process. I think you’ll really enjoy my story of “The year we only did one main lesson block the entire year” in a previous podcast episode.

And if you want to work through all 5 steps to wrapping up your year in a small, supportive group of homeschoolers, with me as your guide, check out the Summer Reset.

All the best to you as you wrap up and celebrate your homeschooling year! And congratulations dear parent. You’re doing great work!

Resources & Links

When you start on the simple steps of the Summer Reset, you’ll be able to shift into celebrating your year rather than just letting it fizzle out. And you’ll feel better about yourself and homeschooling, and more energized to continue on this homeschooling journey. You’ll find all the details here!

And here you’ll find more ideas about how to celebrate your homeschooling year: Art of Homeschooling Episode #33.

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