Well it's been quite a while since I wrote my last blog post. Life has been full and hard and challenging this past year. We took a long trip to Turkey last summer to visit my husband's family, and while over there we caught scabies. On top of this, I discovered I was pregnant with baby number five and although this was a blessing, it was tough trying to deal with pregnancy nausea on top of the scabies symptoms.
Both the scabies and the pregnancy took a lot out of me and blogging, among other things, took a back seat. Then my beautiful baby girl arrived at the beginning of May this year and now that she is turning three months old, I feel like my life is finally starting to get back on track.
We are adjusting to life with a newborn again and are thoroughly enjoying being a family of seven! It definitely has not been as hard as I feared to get back into caring for a baby again and her older siblings dote on her. They're constantly picking her up and playing with her and I'm finding it a lot easier having older children and not having to run around after toddlers whilst also caring for a baby, as I did in the past.
Now that the summer holidays have arrived and we are enjoying a much needed break from homeschooling and 'school term' busyness, I'm starting to think ahead to the new homeschool year and get organised. So, I thought I'd share my eight top tips on preparing for the new homeschool year.
Review your last homeschool year
Before you start planning for the next homeschool year, it will be helpful to review last year. The things that went well you can carry forward into the new homeschool year but the things that didn't you won't want to be doing again. You could get your kids involved in the year's review too. Ask them what they enjoyed and what they didn't. Once you've finished your review, you will be ready to plan the new homeschool year.
Think about your homeschool routine
If you're anything like me, you won't be planning the whole 12 months at the beginning of the year, however, you might want to think about how to structure your day. Are there certain hours you will be dedicating to homeschool learning, meeting with friends or attending groups? Thinking about which homeschool groups you will be attending can be a great place to start. Think about what your weekly schedule will be like and block in times for learning and times for play, making sure there is plenty of the latter! If you'd like more tips on establishing a homeschool routine, you may find this post helpful. Here's another post on weekly planning that will help you plan your week once the new homeschool year begins, it includes free printables!
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Think about the skills your kids need to learn
Another important thing to think about ahead of the new homeschool year is whether there are any skills your children need to acquire. Younger children may need to work on getting themselves dressed or counting to five, while older children might start working on independent study skills or learning to cook dinner for the family.
One of the main things I will be doing this year is teaching my fourth child to read. She will be turning six in October and will then be required to do some formal learning - I prefer to delay formal education until my children are around six years old. I have successfully taught three children to read so far and have extensive knowledge of language and literacy due to my professional background. I've even created an online course, Emergent Literacy, to support other parents who are preparing to teach their children to read too. Find out more about it here.
Get your kids involved
I always ask my kids what they would like to learn about and/or get their input on any topics I'm thinking of covering with them. When children are learning about something they are passionate about, they are much more likely to engage in the activities and remember what they have learnt. We have covered all sorts of topics over the years at my children's request. We spent the whole of June this year learning about bioluminescence and had a lot of fun doing it!
Organise your homeschool supplies
One thing I do at the end of the homeschool year is to clear out my children's drawers out. I chuck the things we don't want to keep, as well as getting rid of anything that's broken. I put any artwork, filled exercise books and other things they've produced that I'd like to keep in a box to put in storage. Deciding what to keep and what to get rid of is definitely easier said than done, particularly if your little people want to help you decide!
After clearing out some space, you're ready to bring in the new. Stock up on paper, art supplies and other materials you'll need for the new homeschool year.
Prepare your homeschool area
If you're lucky enough to have a dedicated homeschool space in your home, you can spend some time organising this to make it work for your family this homeschool year.
Arrange your home library
One final thing that you might wish to do is to organise your books. Are there any you could donate to charity? Do you need another bookcase because, like me, you just can't stop buying books?! Can you order them better? If you're like me, books will be a big part of your homeschool so it's important to get them arranged in a way that you can make the most of them!
Get homeschool coaching for more support
If you would like further help to prepare for the new homeschool year, why not try coaching? As an experienced home educator, I am able to provide coaching sessions to support you. Whether you are new to homeschooling, just thinking about it or have been homeschooling for a while, I will be able to support you to continue on this fulfilling journey with your family. I am also able to offer specialist coaching sessions for parents who have children with autism. This is due to my extensive training and experience working with autistic children as a speech and language therapist.
I hope these tips have given you some ideas of how to prepare for the new homeschool year this coming September, and will support you to get your year off to a great start! How do you prepare for the new homeschool year?
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