It happens to everyone.  That day when your plans just aren’t working. Everyone is either bouncing off the walls or groggy with blank stares. It could be during a particularly dreary season.  It could be in the midst of what you had hoped would be a really great unit study.   It could occur while your kids struggle with understanding a topic.  Whenever it happens, the point is that it will happen, and you need to decide what to do next.

                Some may choose to push on through. You’ve nearly reached the light on the other side.  If only we could finish this math topic, or follow through the editing on that draft to finally have a completed writing assignment.

                But I have found that there are problems with that.

                When you push through just to complete something, what has truly been accomplished?  How were these things accomplished?  And what success has truly been achieved?

                I find when we push through learning, simply for the sake of having it completed, to be able to check it off in the lesson book, that it hurts rather than helps our learning.  The kids have just been taught that the learning, and ownership of the information or skill in that lesson wasn’t the important part of the lesson.  Completing the lesson was what was important.  That becomes the lesson, to complete the task no matter what.  The information isn’t given value.  The process is hurried, not thoughtful.  We’ve merely completed a task.

                What if instead, we took a break to reassess what we need to do in order to teach the true objective of the lesson.  What would that look like?  What could be done to bring energy to the topic? Maybe it would even be best to leave it and come back to it some other time.  Really, it’s okay to deviate from the plan, even if you’re following a formal curriculum.  Even the boxed curriculum comes with a giant disclaimer (or it should).  This is Your Family’s learning journey.  You need to do what best suits you and your children.

                Sometimes reengaging is as simple as taking a break for a day or two.  Try changing the routine by choosing to:

• Read aloud or listen to an audio book together
• Play some games
• Get outside
• Go visiting
• Have a cupcake party
• Enjoy a movie together

Maybe your homeschool needs to reengage in learning in a new environment by visiting:

• The library
• The zoo
• A museum
• A nature center
• The backyard
• A nearby planetarium
• A garden center

It doesn’t have to be a big ta-do.  Sometimes things just need a shake-up to get things going again.  And when you do come back to that topic, maybe you’ll have a new way of approaching it so that you achieve your objective. 

What do I mean?

Well, if your objective is writing complete sentences with correct ending punctuation, look at that draft that wasn’t finished.  Is the ending punctuation properly placed?  Why not celebrate that and not go on to a polished final copy.  Or use a white board to write down a quick conversation happening in the room, but leave out all of the ending punctuation.  Let the kids fill in the punctuation.  What happens when you play with the ending punctuation?  Reading the new sentences aloud may do more for cementing the need for the correct ending punctuation then editing that original copy.  Don’t worry, there’ll be other written works where they can show what they’ve learned.

How about that math topic that just doesn’t seem to be understood?  After a break, everyone may be relaxed enough to be able to see that key to understanding.  Or you may find a better way to present the information.  You might even learn that this isn’t the right season for that and need to come back to it another time.

Everyone learns at their own pace in their own way.  Isn’t that part of the great thing about homeschooling?  We get to discover how our kids learn and the best way to help them recognize their own learning needs and methods.

What are some ways that you reenergize your homeschool?