Back To School After The Holidays

First, Happy New Year! I pray for a wonderful and blessed New Year for all of you!

The most wonderful time of the year for many people is the celebrations during Christmas and New Year – however, with the holidays fast behind us it is time to take a look at the new year, and homeschooling is a big part of our lives. How are you approaching the coming weeks? Are you jumping right in? Are you taking it slow and easy? Are you planning to delay school for a week? In the past, I’ve done all of the above, and here are the results:

Jumping into school right after the holiday:

Pros:

Get the kids back into a routine
It allows you to get ahead and therefore end earlier once your lessons are complete for the school year.
It keeps down the discipline problems that tend to happen when kids have too much time on their hands.

Cons:

You may not be ready for school to begin.
There is still a mess from the holidays to clean up.
No one feels ready for school.

Taking it slow and easy after the holiday:

Pros:

Introducing one subject at a time allows kids to acclimate to the routine.
Remediation if needed – helps to go over past learned information.
It helps to get everything organized and plan for special projects or experiments.

Cons:

What do you do the rest of the day if only one subject is introduced a day?
Most kids do well with routine, and what happens when you keep changing daily?
Keeping track of more subjects and planning.

Whatever you decide, be sure you are ready. There is nothing like “losing” your class very quickly when mom is looking for printables on a specific subject on the computer – hops on Facebook for a second (that turns into 15 minutes), and then looks up to see everyone is running around, or outside…okay, for those of us who live in Florida this happens. Really!

Do you have some after-holiday tips that have worked well? Share them with us.