School Is Done! (But What Does That Really Mean?)





We probably have all been there. You and your children are plowing along in your homeschool. It's the end
of April and you check your Facebook or Instagram and your fellow homeschool friend has declared, “We
are done with homeschooling for the year!!” You sigh and think to yourself, how can they be done
already?? And then you begin to play the dangerous comparison game, comparing your homeschool to
someone else's.


Before you stress yourself out, let me give you some insight on what being finished for the year really
means. I actually asked a few different moms what they meant and this is what I found.


you actually are finished with everything
Yep, that’s right. You’ve finished every book for every subject and every assignment is complete. And
you can rest easy for the summer, knowing that you’ve checked every box and crossed off all items on
your list. That is probably not the reality in most homeschools (or in any public school for that matter),
but every now and then, you come across a brave mama who has accomplished this for her homeschool.


calendar date
You have set a date for when school will end and no matter what, that date on the calendar reflects your
last day of school. (Depending on your state, this date may be guided by the required 180 days of
instruction, at which time, school is over.) School stops for the summer before it resumes again in the fall.

feeling as an indicator
Sometimes you just reach a point where the feeling in the air is: school is over. The kids are done, you’re
done, your husband is done and everyone is ready for an academic break. Rather than fight through for
another few weeks because everyone is still in school, you decide to listen to what is going on in your
home. You place a bookmark in the last place you left off and you shelve that book until the fall and
declare that school is over. At that point, you pick back up where you left off and carry on.


year-round homeschooling

School never really ends, but is adjusted at a certain point. That “end date” on the calendar signifies a shift
in how schooling is done, but you don’t stop everything. Instead of doing all the subjects and all the
worksheets and all the maps and all the projects, you slow down and go at a “summertime” pace. That
means just a few core subjects, like Bible and Math, and you sprinkle in some summer reading and
self-led projects, and your summertime schooling is set.
-------
These are just some of what can define being “done” because don’t forget that there is unschooling and
Sabbath-schooling which may or may not follow the traditional school year. Anyway, I offer this little bit
of clarity because I use to always wonder what other mamas meant when they said school is done.
Somehow, when I began homeschooling, my perception of being finished with school for the year meant
completing every book for every subject. (Why did I ever think that?!) So, it stressed me out to see those
Facebook posts declaring homeschooling over, while I felt that we were still drowning in tons of work.


In my home, we are a big combination of all of these. Some subjects we actually have finished to the
very end and felt so accomplished that we did. Others, we called it good enough, know that forcing the
learning process and dragging things out really isn’t learning at all. For some, we dog-ear the page and
pick back up when we are good and ready. And, we school year-round, meaning that core subjects
continue, but at a slower pace, with a good bit of summer reading and fun.


What do you mean when you say you’re done for the school year?




Comments

  1. Thank you SO much for this post. We had so many interruptions this year, so our math is not "done". I'm feeling like a failure. But I have other things to do first now, so school is getting done as I'm able. And I'm just now starting to feel that it is okay.

    ReplyDelete
  2. School is done means all the same things you've listed here in our home as well. All of them! You've articulated the definition perfectly! I'm sure it will encourage every mom who reads it, especially the new homeschooling families.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments are always welcomed!!

Popular Posts