In this post, I talk about getting back into the homeschool routine after winter break, the two different approaches and why I’m team Cold Turkey.
In the last few weeks, our family has celebrated Christmas and New Year’s, been blessed with another daughter and experienced a mini snow storm. Obviously, the snow storm was the only thing that wasn’t anticipated and kind of threw off my plans for second semester. But if you read this post about how I prepared for baby, you’ll remember I said I write my school schedules in pencil for precisely this reason. And yes, I did have to make adjustments. But now we’re ready to get back into our homeschool routine. Second semester, here we come!
Reflect & Make Adjustments
Making New Year resolutions might have fallen out of fashion with some people, but New Year’s is probably my favourite holiday. Taking the time to reflect on the past year, dream and plan for the future is definitely something I look forward to all year. And that reflection, dreaming and planning also encompasses my role as a homeschool teacher. Second semester is a fresh start to make adjustments where needed. So I like to take time to reflect on the first semester and think about what worked and didn’t work for us. Any break from the routine is a good time to do this.
Sometimes, it’s not just about something (a routine, a curriculum, etc) that didn’t work for us. Sometimes it’s about good habits that have slipped. I was especially guilty of this at the end of last year when I was feeling too sick from being pregnant to carry through with the good habits and routines we had started the semester with. For us, that was nightly read alouds, enforcing tidy-up time before bed where the kids put their own toys away and strictly enforcing a formal dinner. If I were still pregnant, I would notice that these are all evening routines and they suffered because I was completely out of energy by that time of the day. I could then try to make adjustments accordingly. But because I feel like myself again and back to my normal energy levels, I can go back to those habits and routines.
How to Start? Cold Turkey vs Soft Start
When it comes to getting back into a routine after any lengthy break, it seems there are two schools of thought: going “cold turkey” and jumping straight into your new schedule versus easing back into the routine with a “soft start” and then gradually ramping up the work load.
Cold Turkey
When it comes to getting back to work, I’ve always been team Cold Turkey. I’m not a patient person. So if I decide to do something, I just do it. When it comes to getting back into the homeschool routine with kids, I don’t think this is a bad thing. Or particularly difficult. The key is mentally preparing them. Have the start date marked on the calendar. Remind them. For example, “Let’s have an extra fun weekend – we’re starting school on Monday!” or “What would you like for breakfast on Monday? It’s a special day – we’re starting school again!” That way, when the day does come to jump back in, it’s not such a shock to everyone.
Soft Start
Sometimes, when extracurriculars don’t quite line up with our school schedule, it feels like a soft start. Where we live, the academic year starts in August instead of September. So my daughter has a week or two to get used to her extracurricular schedule before school starts. This is a nice way to ease back into the schedule. But you could also do something similar with the academic load if it makes sense with your calendar. For us though, I know it wouldn’t work. If my daughter had a soft start to school, she would have that expectation set from the beginning that the school days are short / easy and when I do gradually increase the work load, she won’t like it. However, if we start strong, expectations are set realistically and we just get used to it. Something to consider as you decide if you want to go Cold Turkey or Soft Start.
That First Week Back into Your Routine
This post is specifically about getting back into your homeschool routine after the Winter Break. That usually isn’t going to be more than 2 or 3 weeks off. But that’s still a significant amount of time when it comes to remembering material. For some subjects, it will be easy to just pick up where you left off. For other subjects, you’ll need to implement review time. Subjects like arithmetic that rely heavily on memorisation of math facts to keep lessons running smoothly are going to benefit from lots of review that first week back.
When it comes to writing your homeschool schedule, I would suggest a combination of the cold turkey and the soft start approach. As for the timing of your subjects, I would immediately get back into your routine. No short days. It’ll just set unrealistic expectations for the rest of the semester. But when it comes to the material itself, you can do a soft start. For us, that means playing games to review material, like French vocabulary, to get back on track.
Thinking Ahead to Next Break
If I had one tip for homeschool mothers BEFORE the start of winter break, I would highly suggest not letting everything go. Yes, it’s nice to be on break from school. But that shouldn’t mean a break from every bit of structure: things like bedtime routines, practicing an instrument or read-alouds. Whatever routines are critical to maintaining structure for the day are important to not let fall apart during a break. The more structure you keep during the break, the easier it will be to get back on track when the break is over.
Do you have any other tips for getting back into the homeschool routine? What did I miss?
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