Regaining Your Homeschool Focus
Even with all the resources available at our fingertips today, we still tend to lose focus in our homeschools from time to time.
Often, this is for completely valid reasons. We have a lot on our plates, and things aren’t always in our control!
When you do lose focus, though, how do you bounce back?
How do you regain that focus?
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I’ve been there, many a time, and for many different reasons.
At times, it was because my son’s needs changed mid-year. All of a sudden, what was working suddenly…didn’t. Something clicked and he was ready for a different level of instruction, and I was left scrambling for a new curriculum to plan.
Other times, we lost focus for health reasons. My son has dealt with multiple critical illnesses, and while he’s healthy today, this wasn’t always the case.
When you have to choose between math homework and meeting with a specialist…well, the doctor’s appointment wins. Schoolwork gets set aside and routines change.
And sometimes, we really didn’t have a good reason. We just got off track. It happens to the best of us!
When this does happen, how do you deal with it? How do you get that focus back?
Regaining Your Focus
What I’ve found as the surefire way to regain focus is to remember your “why.”
Why did you begin homeschooling?
Why is it best for your children?
What has your family gained from it?
One thing to realize…this is not the time to weed through and nitpick everything that might have gone wrong this year.
This is the time to honestly, objectively evaluate your homeschool and bring your focus back to where it should be.
Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable PeaceGrace for the Homeschool Mom
Why We Homeschool
For us, homeschooling has been somewhat of a windy, rocky road. It’s been filled with plenty of twists and turns, and I really can’t think of a year that’s gone “according to plan.”
And that’s ok. To be honest, my plans are never all that perfect.
Many, many moons ago, we started homeschooling for one reason: my son asked to be homeschooled. (Begged, actually. Promises of eternally clean rooms were even involved.)
We never planned to homeschool – just the opposite, actually. But when that choice was placed in front of us, we chose to take it on.
Dipping into uncharted waters was a bit scary at times, but it was also incredibly worth it. I got to know my son better in the first 6 months of homeschooling than I had in the previous 6 years of sending him to daycare and school.
But we kept homeschooling for one simple reason: for him, it was the best choice.
He thrived in ways that he never would have been able to in a classroom.
He was able to learn at his own pace (rather than what was predetermined by people who had never met him).
And he was able to pursue his interests in ways that made sense to him, and to dig as deeply into them as he wanted.
And when medical issues arose, we were able to immediately tweak expectations and methods to meet his needs.
It worked, plain and simple.
Rediscovering Your Why
Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a lot of parents who are just tired. They are questioning whether their choice to homeschool really matters.
If this is where you are, please let me encourage you: It matters. A lot.
I also want to encourage you to dig in and rediscover your why.
Look back through the past year, the past few years, and honestly evaluate: what changes have you seen in your children? What growth? How have their interests and abilities been allowed to shine?
You may also find some areas that need changes, and that’s fine. We all have them.
But focus on what matters, and keep it in front of you.
Because it does. What you do matters!
I’d love to hear your “why” and your story. If you need encouragement, I’d love to give it! Please comment below and let me know!
Be sure to download your free Homeschool Goal Planner to plan your semester or year with confidence!
Hi! The link does not seem to be active for the free planner or I’m not seeing it. 🙂 I love the advice about “why”. Actually right now, we’re not homeschooling and part of it has to do with my mental health. I struggle with depression and anxiety and we have 4 kids ages 7,6,4,2. My kids also have health issues and our oldest and only daughter seems to struggle making friends. We tried to homeschool when she was in kindergarten and I majorly flopped it. For this year I know we made the right decision, but I’m still exploring…what do I need to do to make it work and thrive for all of us? I am not a thrive at home kind of girl (even though that’s where I am). I want it to work for us, but am not sure how yet. Ideas? I’d love to hear what you have to say if you’ve already written on this topic. Thank
Hi Ashley,
I’m sorry about that! There should be a form at the bottom of the post that will give you immediate access to the planner, but you can also find it in my shop at https://lifebeyondthelessonplan.com/product/homeschool-goal-planner/. It’s free and should be easy to access either way!
I understand the challenges you’re going through; we’ve had periods of critical illness and huge transitions, and I’ve dealt with quite a bit of depression and anxiety through parts of it. At times, we just had to take a step back from formal schooling all together (when my son was healing from an illness that almost killed him); at other times, we did whatever we could and focused on the goals and objectives we could meet. I often had to learn to adjust my own expectations and let go a bit. I’m a teacher’s kid, so that was really hard!
What I found when I did that though, was that kids are designed to learn – not always in the ways we think they should lol, but they love to learn. During the years that we had to step back a bit, I made sure he was surrounded with different resources (books, audio books, projects, movies, whatever) that he could just pick up and have fun with whenever he felt like it. He felt like it a lot more often than I anticipated, and he thrived with it.
During the years that we were able to stay on track and “hit school hard,” we took a more structured approach and really worked on skills. This method probably looked a little haphazard to some, but it really worked. Through all of that, my son ended up graduating early (by choice), has carried a 4.0 through college, and is interning with a youth ministry that he loves.
Posts that might be helpful based on things we experienced:
Planning Out Your Unschooling Studies (helpful even if you don’t unschool)
In Everything, Give Thanks (this is on my sister site and gives a pretty real look at how I got through my son’s illness and my depression and anxiety)
Finding Your Homeschool Tribe (sometimes, you need to look in unconventional places to find the support that fits your needs – and that’s ok!)
Flexibility is Key (how to homeschool through life’s storms and still keep it together)
Homeschooling + Life: Keeping It All Together (because it’s definitely not easy!) 😉
I hope that helps! Please feel free to comment any time or to email me (jen@lifebeyondthelessonplan.com) if I can help.