Episode 151: Start Your Homeschool Year with a Memory
What You’ll Learn
In this episode, we’re talking about how we’ll be starting this new school year. Brittany has some fantastic ideas to share, and I have a few ideas as well.
Creating a Moment (00:45)
Recently, I re-listened to The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath, and in their research, they’ve come up with the four elements that can make up a ‘moment’ (not ALL need to be present, but at least 1 will make a ‘moment’ memorable). The elements are…
Elevation
Insight
Pride
Connection
We can use these elements to create a ‘moment’ on our first day or week of school (and it doesn’t have to be a grand thing, like a graduation ceremony). Steffani Aquila of His Girl Sunday does a GREAT job of this, and you can find her in Episode 144.
Brittany's First Week Plans (04:40)
Something Britt has done for years to make the first day of school special is setting up the new school books the night before, and finding each child a school supply that aligns with their interest (special pencils or markers, and her oldest is getting an aviation class this year. Then…she tops the pile with a special snack.
Brittany was listening to Laura Vanderkam’s book, Tranquility by Tuesday, and the chapter on big and little adventures prompted a conversation with her husband. (You can listen to Laura in Episode 140). Lately, things seem to be more of the same.
As homeschoolers, we can choose differently, so these are the plans Britt has for week 1 this year…
Day 1…She’ll set out the books and surprises like usual, but when everyone gets up, they’ll load up the car and head off on an adventure!
Day 2…Everyone will dig in, but only with the subjects they enjoy. This will show Britt how the kids do when THEY get to choose, AND it will allow her to see what her kids enjoy (and help her to be a student of her children).
Day 3…This will be the first full day, but it will include a poetry teatime (thanks Julie Bogart). The kids LOVE poetry tea time so it will add a little whimsy to the day. In Britt’s family, they have little snacks (because anything in miniature tastes better…it’s science), hot (or cold) beverages, and ALL the kids love it! Britt’s FAVORITE poetry book is Sing a Song of Seasons (you can find it in our Amazon shop).
Day 4…Brittany’s family does four-day homeschool weeks (with the 5th for activities, science, park days, and other fun). LOADS of grace will be poured onto this day. Brittany will get an idea of how all the subjects are working, how the kids are working together, if the items on the clipboards are appropriate, and she’ll also pay attention to how the kids have leveled up over the break.
Week 2…Britt’s family will start getting into the regular homeschool schedule, because you can’t just be fun all the time and there is school that will need to be done. But, whimsy will be still find a way into the schedule on Fridays.
My First Week Plans (21:36)
This year, our family will begin our homeschool year with Mass (which I’ve decided will be August 1st). As I’ve worked through my Homeschool Plan Like a Mother, I’ve had some revelations about how life rolls for us. Our life seems to flip back-and-forth between calm(er) and crazy.
After Mass, we’ll celebrate with some sort of treat to kick off the school year and dig in to only 1 subject (the first day). We’ll gradually add more subjects as time goes on, and that will let me get a feel for the curriculums I’ve chosen for this year.
The danger for me is that I love experiences, and it can lead us to do more experiential learning and less book learning (which isn’t a bad thing, but this year we’re going to focus a bit more on book work).
A Quick Note on Clipboards & Spiral Notebooks (28:55)
I do set the books out on the table each night for the kids, and we’ve tried many different systems for tracking daily work, but have settled on the notebooks (as a family), and my daughter will probably design her own clipboard in Canva.
Brittany’s family will do a combination of clipboards and spiral notebooks for her kids this year. They tried clipboards for all this summer, and some kids did love them, but she’ll do spiral notebooks for the 13+ crowd.
The spiral notebooks and clipboards are literally the SAME system, just presented in two different ways. While people may consider them to be geared toward certain ages, it is really more personality and preference based (this is where being a student of your child, and a willingness to try different things are important).
Everyone will have different first days and different first weeks, and that’s ok! If you can take a little time, fill out your Homeschool Plan Like a Mother, and consider how you can add one of the four elements (elevation, insight, pride, or connection) into your first day or week!
Resources Mentioned in this Episode (33:18)
We’ve talked about several different resources, and they are…
The Power of Moments, by Chip & Dan Heath
Sing a Song of Seasons
We always want you to remember…
Sweet mommas, you are doing beautiful work!
