State of the Homeschool

(the first State of the Union given by LBJ in 1964)

Apparently no one knows when President Obama will give the annual State of the Union address. He is trying to squeeze it in amidst everyone watching season premieres of American Idol and Lost and, of course, the Superbowl, I hear. (and here is where I refrain from being political on my blog by not making snide comments about the President or our country) But, I think it is time to do a State of the Homeschool.

Most of us homeschoolers have started our new semester/term already. Amidst the scramble of the holidays, we tweaked and pruned a little here and there and now have plowed back into our daily routines of reading, writing, and arithmetic. This year, especially, I find myself wishing that I had an entire extra week after the rush of Christmas and New Year's where I could sit quietly and evaluate our year this far. But, alas, the children were antsy, and we needed to get started.


Anybody else feel this way?!


So, I guess I am going to have to do the serious reflection and evaluation little by little over the next few weeks. I certainly do not want to fall into the trap of continuing to do something that does not work, just because I do not have the time to find a replacement or modify its implementation. It sounds like Angela is trying to do this for her children, too! Will you join me?


If you remember, last summer, I posted about several opportunities for reflecting on our homeschooling years. Locally, I helped lead a group of women who met for this purpose. I also led a couple of webinars through Homeschool Connections and posted all of the information here at Heart of a Mother (free recordings of those webinars here and here). This material was extremely helpful and inspiring to myself and others, as we truly took the time to prayerfully reflect on and plan our homeschooling years.


For the next few weeks, I am going to pull a small component from that material to help me reflect on the State of our Homeschool. My goal is merely to divide the most important areas into small chunks on which I can prayerfully reflect while in the midst of schooling. Here are the focus areas...

• Personal Spirituality


• Struggles


• Successes


• Goal-setting

(If you're ambitious, you can find the entire Personal Reflection Survey here, but I will be simplifying it in the coming weeks for our Mid-Year Reflection.)

I will share with you these four areas of reflection as best as I am able to encourage you to take the time (even five minutes a day) to prayerfully reflect on your homeschooling. You do not have to make a speech before Congress, just an internal report in your heart before the Lord. :) Please join me for this time of prayer and assessment.

Stay tuned for the Personal Spirituality reflection coming soon!