Obstacles to Opportunities: Making Changes Mid-Year for Students

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The fall season can bring an air of confidence in your homeschool. It can also give you the early warning you need to head off a hectic, frustrating school year. Are you hesitant to start making changes mid-year? I get it.

Have you heard yourself say the following? I can’t throw out this curriculum, it cost too much. He only has one year left of jr. high. She won’t have “this” teacher next year. The trouble is, your child only has 12 school years to begin with. How many have you wasted hoping for change? It could be time to create the opportunities your child needs now. Making changes mid-year can save your child’s education.

Where are you with your students?

We are homeschooling the last few kids as we enter our last round of high school classes. This year, we have a 7th, 8th, 10th and 12th grade student as well as several teens still living at home. We were relieved when our last backordered items arrived. Now, we are finally using our full curriculum in our homeschool days.

I am still combining our students into one class. So, Biology, Algebra 1, Grammar & Writing and my own unit study for Government & Economics is being used by everyone. We made some big changes with curriculum this year, but we have some good habits from last year to help us.

We are using all of the tips and tricks from the last twenty years of homeschooling and tweaking them for this last crew of homeschoolers. As a working parent, I have had to make changes to our physical schedule as well as our curriculum. When I had an abundance of time at home we schooled with a literature based curriculum. I read about 80 books a year in our gathered schooling hours. I don’t do the reading anymore. We kind-of miss it.

This is the first year I ordered our curriculum a la cart. I use Rainbow Resource Center for my curriculum needs when I order independent items. You can’t beat their prices. I did have to wait on a few items on backorder, but I did order WAY late in the season. They did not hold my order and sent every item that was available right away.

Change is not bad!

Choosing our own curriculum and building a unit study was a huge change for me. Even after twenty years of schooling at home, I was a little intimidated to work out what each child needed to meet their individual skills. I was excited too! It was time to use the freedom we have to choose our own materials. In the past, I liked having an all in one package, but with a smaller group of students and a HUGE resource library already built here at home, I only needed to add the basics for each student.

Unit studies are a great way to meet the needs of a few subjects together and combine a range of student ages at the same time. We are using the Government & Economics Unit Study I built a few year ago for my middle group of students. Right now, we are staying in close communication to see that it is the right pace for this group.

What is Working for Us Right Now?

Accountability for everyone! Even though these kids are at the age where they are working independently, they need to be kept on track. If your kids have a schedule, get a copy for yourself. I have a printed MASTER copy of the schedule they are using. I use it to mark the expectations for the week and their schedule is for logging when the work is completed. We have a “staff” meeting on Tuesdays (no school on Mondays for us) and cover any extra work, expectations, and weekend-plan-exit-requirements.

In our meeting time the kids fill in ALL independent, expected work and we talk about any larger assignments, like papers and reports. Since they are using a unit study created for more advanced students, we also check in and see how the kids are feeling about the pace of our reading assignments. I would rather know it is too much right away and begin making changes mid-year, than have they be overwhelmed and give up because they got too far behind in the reading.

Communication is vital for keeping the whole family on task.

If you see things getting off in your school habits, making changes mid-year is a lot easier than waiting for later in the school year. You wouldn’t wait half the year before you corrected their math lessons, right? Same for school habits in general. I don’t let my newly independent workers get too far out on assignments without going over it and corrections.

To save time, we check work as we finish it. Setting a time for all of us to correct work together saves time when you have multiple students. I have them write the corrections as we go over them so they have the correct answers to study for upcoming tests. Writing the corrections helps to reinforce the right answer in their mind too.

Fall can also begin to expose trouble spots.

This is the season when I hear from parents who are are interested in switching to homeschooling because the same problems from the last school year are cropping back up again. Are you there again this year? Academic decline or social withdrawal can be a sign that your student needs a change. Homeschooling provides a great opportunity for families that are looking for a way to get their child back on track and in love with learning again. Homeschooling can help you get them back up to grade level with individual attention and support that the school can not provide. So many parents are choosing homeschooling in record number, and you have to ask why?

Are you thinking about homeschooling?

When a flower does not bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows in, not the flower. This quote from alexander Den Heijer, reminds me so much of the opportunity homeschooling offers to us as parents. Homeschooling is like changing the soil for a plant that is failing to thrive.

Is your child wilting under the pressures or environment? Change is possible. making changes mid-year could be the best choice for your family.

Choose the Change You Want

Change can be drastic and swift, or it can be strategic and incremental. The only guarantee is that change happens to us all. Even a seasoned homeschool mom like myself, feels the shifting with each new year and child.

In our homeschool, fall is the season when we discover that the math we chose this year is too easy, or the new program moves too fast. We have discovered that spelling can’t happen after lunch because no one can pay attention and that dictation is going to need a reminder in MY phone if it is going to get done!

Changes are a natural part of finding your best “soil” mix for each of your students. We are making changes mid-year and all year long, to help us have a great experience all year long.

Are you making changes mid-year with your child?

Is there a problem you are trying to solve this school year? Homeschooling can be a great option. Is there obstacles holding you back? Write it down and brainstorm about what tools or resources you could use to help you make a confident choice to homeschool. Switching to homeschooling mid-year can actually be a smooth transition if you know your goals ahead of time.

Are you new to homeschooling?

Check out the blog for tons of tip, tools and resources to help you meet the needs of your family.

From our 200 Fingers & Toes,

Amber

PS. Are you looking to get back on track or could you use some encouragement this season? Over 40 homeschooling experts will be sharing at the Fall Into Learning Summit October 10-15th. Tickets are FREE and you can hold your spot NOW. I am a speaker too, I’ll be sharing about increasing gratitude and alternative schedules for the holiday season in your homeschool. I hope you get a chance to check out the speakers and topics in the community.