How To Reset Your Homeschool

This is a guest post contributed by Leah Hudson. You can learn more about Leah in her bio at the bottom of her post.

Each year I go through some sort of purge. Some sort of reorganization. It happens throughout my home. Yesterday, I was sorting through some things on my bookshelves and I came across some notes to myself about homeschool.

I looked up the Bible verses jotted down and realized they were a reset for my homeschool, at just the appropriate time for spring cleaning. These notes are the way to reset your homeschool any time of year. But somehow they seem to work best right now - in the midst of the wind-down of the year. Weariness has set in. There is light at the end of the tunnel and yet there is still so much work to be done.

I offer these simple ideas for resetting your homeschool as a sort of torch to guide the way to the rest of the year. I hope you find them encouraging. There are three "gets" and a "remember."

Get excited!

I have shared before I can celebrate the smallest of successes along the way. My general celebratory nature allows me to get through the rough days. I get so excited to see the end of the line just so I can look back and see the road which lays behind. To see the progress my kids have made in the past year.A

But don't just get excited about the end of the year.

Get excited because this homeschooling thing is good. You have been doing good this year! 2 Thessalonians 3:13 exhorts us, "Do not grow weary of doing good." The context of this passage is talking about setting a good example and modeling - an essential homeschooling practice. When you get excited, when you model excitement - not weariness, your kids will see it and imitate.

Get thankful!

This homeschooling thing is a high calling. And it is not for the faint of heart. But it is dotted with multitudes of miracles along the way. Just the mere fact you have your kids at home with you to teach them is worthy of multiple prayers of thanksgiving!

The routine of homeschooling can sometimes get a bit tedious. Take the time to thank God for the beauty and abundance of your homeschool. For the books on the table, brains in heads, pencils, pens. For the fact that you can take a walk with your kids in the middle of the day just to look at God's creation for a few minutes. For the hearts and minds God has given each of you.

And on the days when all is rough, I remember this one line from Psalm 56:9

This I know, that God is for me.

What an idea worthy of prayers of thanksgiving!

Get a plan!

Wait a minute. Plan? At the end of the year? Yep.

Hear me out. You are going to like this plan. It's from 1 Thessalonians 4: 11-12.

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you; so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

How do we pursue this quiet life, this attending to one's own business? Turn down the volume!

The chaos of our weeks can get loud. We can run from one thing to the next. Drive on to the next project and the next task in a sort of race against the clock.

Make a plan to turn down the volume in your homeschool. Drop something that is too loud, too distracting, too busy. Let something go!

Instead opt for something quiet, something simple. End your year with a feeling of refreshment, not exhaustion from doing all the things.

Remember the Reason for Homeschooling

Remember you are not in love with instruction. At this point in the year, you may be on the outs with instruction. You are not in love with the material. Yes, there are some amazing resources out there, but you likely didn't start homeschooling for the curriculum.

You are in love with your child.

Both the reason we homeschool and the goal of homeschooling is love.

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

1 Timothy 1:5

When we lose sight of the reason and the goal - love - we are in danger of getting blown off course before we reach the destination. The context of this 1 Timothy passage is the idea of being distracted by what doesn't matter. When this happens in the spiritual context, it is very dangerous. When we lose sight of it in our homeschools, it is similarly dangerous - we can feel "less than." We can forget our personal goals and start trying to meet the standards of others.

Take some time in this homestretch of homeschooling this year to remind yourself of your "why." Refocus your homeschool around the love you have for your kids. I think it will help us to finish well.

Hi, I am Leah, the wife, homemaker, and homeschooling mom behind Simple.Home.Blessings. I like to think of myself as a problem-solver and joy-seeker. Instead of getting bogged down in the problems of life, I try to find a solution and then glory in it. I would like to share one of all-time favorite solutions with you - head over to my site to get a FREE set of our Gathering placemats! Find me on Instagram as well!