I’ve found that many moms don’t have a strategy when it comes to homeschooling. I know that when I don’t have a strategy it starts to feel like I am winging it. That’s usually when I have to start asking myself questions like:
*How is this serving me?
*How is this serving the kids?
A strategy is NOT about having everything planned out. A strategy is how you plan to approach something. It begins from a place of wanting an extraordinary experience and wanting the things that we care about to flourish.
I’ve thought about strategy as the cultivation of and careful attending to the things that matter most. Originally posted on Instagram, I developed a series that addressed this in more detail. I wanted to be sure to put it here on the blog too.
This homeschool strategy, or plan of approach, is rooted in a desire to cultivate eight core elements for a fulfilling homeschool life where the ordinary becomes the extraordinary.
NUMBER 1: CULTIVATING YOUR WHY
One recent early morning, I heard my kids huddled together on the bed in one room, my oldest son reading a story to his younger brothers. I quickly scrambled to capture a photo because I wanted to remember that I homeschooled for moments like that; for the ability to have them in abundance and to habitually memorialize their meaning. Maybe the moment for you means a display of confidence from an unsure child, a show of progress after a time of being stuck, a measure of empathy for someone hurting, the development of a character trait that’s often hard to pinpoint, or evidence of a connection you’ve been working hard to build. Moments like these speak to your why and they are the moments you’ll remember when you need inspiration to keep going. Your why will give you fuel, especially on days that are really hard, the encouragement you need to continue on in your journey.
Ask yourself these questions to determine if your why aligns with your actions:
*What things are of high value for me and my family?
*Am I consumed by things daily that are truly important according to what I say I value?
*Are the things we do daily only enough to keep me satisfied that we are getting by or do they truly bring purpose and meaning to our lives?
*What fears or roadblocks are keeping us from doing what we really want to be doing everyday?
NUMBER 2: CULTIVATING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Sometimes we talk about innovation without really pinpointing it’s meaning. Innovation is looking at something in a new way or from a new perspective. It’s about finding the new in things. Innovation actually stems from creativity, but also from curiosity and courage. Curiosity is looking at something and wondering what it is, what it can become, what else it can do, or what it can be beyond what it is (more on this later). Creativity is allowing space for exploration and imagination. People can be curious about something but don’t necessarily chase it with creativity. Courage is what many might be missing even though they have the first two. Innovation often means you’re the first one to do something or that you’re posing questions that are different or provocative. So, courage is necessary.
So how do we cultivate these things daily? What kind of environment does there need to be for a child to chase an idea, even a seemingly silly one? To explore freely? To not be afraid of getting things wrong?
Here are some questions to think about the creativity and innovation you are cultivating in your home:
*What kinds of ideas or actions from my child/ren have really stood out to me?
*What opportunities do I give to help a child improve upon his initial response or plan?
*What kind of time does this really take to see play out?
*Where do I see opportunities for innovation—is it across a wide field of topics or subjects or in a specific few?
*Do I or how do I encourage a child to see things from a different angle?
*What’s uncomfortable for me about innovation or creativity?
NUMBER 3: CULTIVATING AND IDENTIFYING STRENGTHS
Without even meaning to, we often look at children in relation to learning through a model that is focused on their deficits, or what they can’t do, rather than a model that is focused on their competencies, or what they can do. We fail to see or value their interests and how these interests are connected to their strengths. As a result, we see our role as one of directing and sometimes coercing rather than one of “joining with” and “following after.” When we observe a child often and reflect positively on the things we notice, we get better at supporting them in following their own pursuits and also gain valuable information that supports us in engaging them in other areas. The ability to do this well is something we can cultivate and grow over time.
Here are some questions to help you think about how this is happening in your home:
*What has to be in place to create space for you to reflectively observe your children at work?
*Do you respond to demonstration of strength with the same intensity used to respond to demonstration of struggle?
*What have you done to support the strengths you notice?
*What are things you can do to make the child more “visible” in your home?
*Do you allow room to let children lead or to instruct themselves?
*Does your environment give children opportunities to explore their interests? How?
*How can you extend a child’s learning? Is that different from facilitating it?
*Have you explored ways to apply a child’s ability to do one thing to other areas? Example: a keen ability to analyze or think critically used to invite the child to investigate cultural or societal phenomena; Or, a fascination with animals as an entry point to explore folk tale writing.
NUMBER 4: CULTIVATING AND IDENTIFYING INTERESTS, AND SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING
This strategy, or plan of approach, is all about a commitment to value what is interesting to the child, even if that doesn’t align with what is interesting to us. It is making space for the child to work out their own ideas without taking over. It’s important because we all should have a right to our own ideas and our own work. Most adults are comfortable with children doing this outside of the parameters of “school, “ but what if this became a priority for true learning? We all want to pursue work for our own purposes. Cultivating this approach daily involves trust and also a dedication to cherish process as much as product.
Here are some questions to help you think about doing this:
*Does our environment allow opportunities to pursue interests? How? How can it be improved?
*What is “enough” in order to present an opportunity for natural learning and growth?
*What can my role be in a scenario like this? What does a good mentor do?
*What home routines would support self-directed learning?
*How can I recognize the evidence of learning even when conventional visual work isn’t being shown?
*What is a good starting place to implement this strategy? It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
NUMBER 5: CULTIVATING CURIOSITY AND WONDER
Curiosity is looking at something and wondering what it is, what it can become, what else it can do, or what it can be beyond what it is. The dictionary describes wonder as, “a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.” How exactly can we invite all that these two words capture into a home learning environment?
I think we do this in part by preparing for the problems, the wonderment, the surprise, the honest attempts, and the wrong outcomes that occur from children exploring a variety of things in their own way. It’s an acknowledgement that children are coming to the table with a bounty of thoughts and ideas, and for things that are not yet known, there is a celebration of the virtues of not knowing. It involves getting comfortable with questions even more than answers. This is a really different approach than telling children exactly what they should know or do.
When children are engaging in activities that interest them and they have opportunities to look upon other’s work (even yours) and come to terms with their own ideas about what is happening, their wonderment, thoughts, ideas, theories, and questions all simply become part of their normal lives. Learning can seem artificial when it is disconnected from what children are doing, or want to be doing.
How can we make our home environments places that honor children and their work, that acknowledge and support their strengths, and that invite them to question, to wonder, and explore? There is not one generic answer. Maybe we are “laying a feast” or we are offering “invitations” to create, or “provocations” to imagine. In any case, we must honestly evaluate ourselves and the messages that our words, actions, and environment send to our children.
Here are some questions that might help further your thinking around this topic:
*What benefits are there in not knowing, or in being curious?
*Is sitting with questions a comfortable experience or do I feel as though I need to provide all the answers? Why?
*Can producing the right answer ever be less important than other pursuits of knowledge?
*How do I hold space for ideas to flourish?
*Do the conversations I have with my children provoke more questions?
*How do I prepare an environment that says to children, “Come explore, come play, come wonder here!”?
*What am I curious about myself? Am I in the habit of sharing my own work with my children?
NUMBER 6: CULTIVATING RHYTHMS AND ROUTINES
Rhythms and routines are about how our day flows. It’s usually one of the first things people think about when they set out to homeschool. But beyond establishing a routine, we can adopt a plan of approach that also seeks to cultivate various aspects of a seasonal, rhythmic intuition.
For us, a routine is very different from a schedule. There is no timer going off to tell us to move on to the next activity. We are not ruled by the clock. Instead, we tune in to everyone’s needs and joyful ways to learn.
If we don’t get to all that we had intended for the day, it just means that for that day, it was too much, and that’s ok. Or, if there are things we intended to do but skipped for one reason or the other, there’s no guilt associated with it. We’re spontaneous when we need or want to be, and we flow according to how everyone is feeling.
Cultivating a routine or rhythm requires that we reassess needs often. We also allow ourselves to be governed by seasonal shifts, recognizing that schooling doesn’t have to be all or nothing, every subject area everyday.
You can listen to more that I share on this topic in this podcast interview with The Homeschool Compass. You can find it here.
Here are some questions to think about in order to both establish and cultivate routines and rhythms:
*What pace feels natural?
*What are the values with which I am aligning our daily activities?
*What brings me joy? What brings my children joy?
*How can I embrace the notion of slow and intentional?
*What seasons dictate a different way of operating?
*What balances feel healthy? Unhealthy?
*Am I allowing time to practice our routine?
*How do we get to a place of routines being and feeling intuitive and not forced?
*What’s working with our current routine? What’s not working?
*What do I bring to the table? Am I a visible part of our daily routine? How visible are my children?
NUMBER 7: CULTIVATING CONNECTION
Cultivating connection is all about creating a deeper, more meaningful connection with our children, one that grows and endures. It has a great impact on a meaningful education. Our children aren’t just looking for information or direction from us, they’re looking for love. They want to feel loved and be led by love.
One simple way to define love is a deep and meaningful sense of belonging and connection. Authentic connection is one where there are no layers between the people trying to connect. Joy can be one way to gauge whether layers are being torn down or built up between us and our loved ones.
We can intentionally build an environment in our homes where we empower our children to be vulnerable and authentic (no layers) and where we are vulnerable and authentic ourselves.
And this is a lifelong pursuit – living life in this way in front of the people who matter the most. It implies a responsibility to make others feel safe, and an intentionality around how we spend our time and what we prioritize.
Throughout the course of our days, and along the learning journeys we take, we can make connection our core curriculum. All the other stuff comes second.
Here are some questions to consider how we are cultivating connection:
*What are the moments this week where you have noticed joy? How have you allowed for it to lead?
*What are parts of the day where joy is lost or things feel strained?
*What are some meaningful ways you can build more connection with your children? How can you intentionally incorporate them into your day?
*What distractions in your life are causing a disconnection with your children?
*What other roadblocks to connection have you started to recognize?
There is a free, downloadable PDF that I created called, “Thirty Days of Connection.” It’s available here. Please use it if you find it helpful for sparking ideas!
NUMBER 8: CULTIVATING YOUR HOMESCHOOL VISION
The number one thing that our souls are crying out for is clarity. Clarity is the ability to see what truly matters. In a fog, or in times of uncertainty, what we lose sight of first is our direction, or where we’re headed. But vision allows us to cut through the fog.
A vision is simply a picture of the future that inspires us. It’s a clear picture of what you, your children, and your family can produce, and what all of you can become. It’s a future that you must see come to pass because it’s a place where you are thriving.
The temptation in a fog is to not look toward the future but to only look at what’s happening around you right now. A vision, however, is not what we’re looking at. It’s what we’re looking toward.
So, what is your homeschool vision? What are you looking toward? What inspires you for the future? What do you see for your children? What do you see for yourself? (Don’t forget that your homeschool vision includes you!) What fears are causing the vision to be distorted?
Cultivate your vision and work everyday to move in the direction of how you want things to be. This will require you to be reflective, to extend grace, and to have courage. You got this!
