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Every year I like to reevaluate our homeschool goals and make sure that what we’re doing (curriculum, activities. co-ops, etc.) are matching up with our goals and our values. And over time, our goals can change. Obviously the goals for homeschool in the early years will look differently from the goals for the middle school/high school years.
Now that my kids are older, I’m finding that some of our values have changed too. For example, we have always been very low screen in our house. That’s still a value of ours, but my older kids use the computer a lot more than they did when they were younger. They are doing some classes online, they write stories on the computer instead of on paper, and they have access to some websites (with permission). So being low screen looks different than it did when they were really young.
Our family priorities change in different seasons of life too. The seasons where I had a baby had very different priorities than they do now. If we have something going on as a family (a health struggle, an aging parent, etc.) this will change our priorities too. Our goals even look different in winter vs. warmer months. Because we live in a colder climate, we do a lot more bookwork in the winter when it’s like -20F than when it’s warm outside.
If an activity or curriculum doesn’t match up with our goals, values, or priorities, it’s a good sign that we should take it out of our schedule or stop using it.
I also spend time praying over our school year, our curriculum, and the activities we’re doing. Does the Lord want to speak to me about what we’re doing? Am I listening to His voice about our schedule, our activities, our plans? Or am I just making my own plans, without any regard to what HE has planned?
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
So this is something that I need to check in on for our family every year – what goals have changed, how have our priorities changed for this season, what should stay and what should go from our schedule, and what is the Lord doing in our family this year?
Take some time to check in on your family’s goals and priorities for the new school year or the season. Use this printable below to help you get started!