5 Questions that Will Help You Plan Your Homeschool Year

Planning your homeschool year is about more than just making a weekly checklist or figuring out what to use for science. If you want your homeschool to grow with you and take your kids where they want to go, keeping these questions in mind can help you stay on track.

When you plan your homeschool year, you probably spend a lot of time on the nuts-and-bolts: What math curriculum will you use? How will you organize your days? What kind of output and assessments do you want to rely on? These planning pieces can be helpful, but they’re only part of the story — and for most of us, they’ll end up being the least important part.

“If you’re homeschooling, it’s usually because of something bigger than just curriculum,” says Felicity Sterling, a homeschool consultant in Chicago. “Defining what that ‘bigger’ is may be the difference between a successful, happy homeschool experience and one that leaves you unsatisfied.” There’s no one right way to plot your homeschool’s bigger picture, but these questions can help you figure out what matters most to you in that bigger picture.

Where do you want to be a year from now?

It’s easy to get so focused on getting through the year that you forget to think about where you want to be when you declare the year officially over — but the whole point of the journey is to aim for somewhere you want to be. Think about what would make your homeschool feel successful and productive: It might be getting into a groove with your schedule, or checking off some academic milestones, or being part of an active homeschool community. Really think about what you’d like your homeschool to look like when next summer rolls around — what do you need to do to get there?

What’s working great?

A lot of people get excited about trying new things when they’re in the middle of homeschool planning, and new things are awesome! But planning season is also an excellent opportunity to pause and reflect on all the things that really worked for your homeschool. These are the things you want to hang onto — whether it’s a schedule that kept the days running smoothly, a learning style that always clicked, or even a kind of notebook that everybody loved. Don’t get so distracted in the pursuit of the Next Great Thing that you lose sight of the things that are already pretty good. You want to make sure that in your excitement about trying new things, you’re not sidelining tried-and-true homeschool joys.

---

---

What are you doing because of other people?

It’s not that other people’s input is useless: If your mom thinks your 7-year-old needs more friends or another homeschool mom has had awesome success with the local forest school, that information may be useful for your homeschool — but it also may not. Part of successful homeschooling is being able to hear what other people have to say, take what works for you, and let go of the rest. Pay attention to how much of your plan is based on other people’s input — your sister-in- law’s concerns or that cool mom on Instagram’s plans — and be willing to adjust those plans first if things aren’t working. You know your kids best. You are their best advocate. Lots of people will have opinions, especially when they find out you are homeschooling. You just have to remember that you know your life better than they do.

What are you doing to build relationships?

Homeschooling can get complicated because you are both parent and teacher, but the beating heart of both of those roles is your relationship with your children. Yes, you have academic and social goals for your child, but make sure that you’re being intentional about building a relationship with her, too. Make room for the things you student loves, give her plenty of say in how her days are structured, and really listen when she gives you feedback on how things are going — especially if it’s not feedback you really want to hear. Bringing your kid into the planning process is one of the best ways to build a homeschool that works.

Where’s the fun?

What are you looking forward to? When you look at your plan, is there anything that makes you smile just thinking about it? If not, why not? One of the keys to successful homeschooling is enjoying what you do — if you’re slogging through a to-do list that nobody is excited about, you’re missing all the fun and possibility of homeschooling. There may be parts of your homeschool life that feel hard or challenging, but there should be at least an equal number of parts that feel fun and exciting. If there aren’t, it’s time to readjust your balance.

---