I often joke with moms in consultations that I have homeschooled long enough to make every mistake that it is possible for a homeschooling mother to make, and am eager to help others avoid some of the pitfalls. I was slow to learn, and as I shared last month, God has been faithful to my children in spite of my failures. Still, I do hope my experience can give others a little more wisdom for their own journey.

One of the things I would encourage you to do is to stop right now before you slam the drawers and pitch the books and walk away for a much needed summer break from the daily toil of teaching to think over this past year. Our culture in general is not fond of reflection or meditation. Resist the urge to bury this past year and rush out to summer fun and not to think about what’s behind—just for a moment or two, or maybe an hour. Take a time-out for yourself, Mom.

Nicole began a practice several seasons ago of taking time out quarterly to reflect. She pulls out her planner and her pictures from the last few months and writes about some of her memories of the season just past, before plunging into the next. I think this is such an excellent practice, I commend it to you for an end-of-year homeschool teacher ritual. I offer some suggestions that could shape how you use this reflective pause in your life to consider this past school year. These are just a few possibilities to get you going. Perhaps they will spark even more fruitful ideas of your own. Take the time. Get up early one morning, use afternoon quiet, or get someone to watch the children for an hour. Your children have finished exams, now it’s time to examine yourself. Don’t shrink from reviewing your year, it might be the healthiest thing you can do for yourself. If you have a pretty book or journal someone has given you that you’ve never used, here’s your chance. If you don’t, treat yourself to one the next time you’re at Target or Walmart for the purpose of noting down some of your reflections. You don’t have to write a lot, unless you love to spew words, and even cartoons or photos may fill your pages.

1. First, think back to the first term and move through your memory bank. Write down some of the hilarious moments you experienced. They may not have seemed very funny at the time, but often our most catastrophic or chaotic day will end up being one of our fondest memories in the future. 

2. We always think we will remember the cute things our children say, the delightful play we spied when they didn’t know we were watching. Remember now. Write them down so you won’t lose those treasures. If you have any photos from a hiking day, or craft day, or recital, print them and put them in your book. Write captions for them of some of the things you remember from those events.

3. For each child, write out their favorite subjects from this past year.

4. Write for each some memorable moment when the “lightbulb came on,” or that child had a breakthrough in something difficult.

5. One child at a time, think over the progress each has experienced over this past year. Look at some of their September work, and some of their May work. Note the positive changes. Even if it’s a stretch, encourage yourself by writing them down.

6. Look through your curriculum plan. What subject was surprisingly better than you expected. What happened? Why did it turn out better than you thought it would? Make some notes.

7. Write down two or three of your own favorite books from this year, then a couple of each of your children’s favorites.

8. Make a note of your favorite subjects to teach. 

9. Which subject did not go well. What are some reasons you can think of for this? What could you change so that this is not a repeated experience next year? Make a game plan for how you could improve this next year—one practical thing. For example, that will be the first lesson I spend time working on each week next year.

10. What subject did you ignore, neglect, or entirely omit from your plan? What can you do over the summer to learn more about it and what plan can you make for including more of the feast next year?

11. Write down any ideas you have for doing things differently next year, whether that is how you organize the school room, manage your schedule, include or exclude extracurricular activities, how you plan meals, etc. Write down your ideas as specifically as possible. 

12. Write a brief prayer for each of your children, first out of gratitude for how God helped you guide them this past year, thanking Him for special progress that was made, then requesting His help for areas where they each need more work or encouragement.

Now put your thoughts away. You will enjoy them when you look back next year. When graduation comes, and it is coming, these will be lovely trail markers all along the way.

~Liz