Thread: Weekly Poll: How do you feel about this past homeschool year overall?

May, for me, has always been a "take stock" kind of month. I look to see what has worked for us, what hasn't, and then begin to make plans on how to improve things for next year (we generally take a traditional summer break between school years).

How about you? Take a minute to look back and evaluate how you feel about things. Would you change any of your homeschooling curriculum? Would you take a different route toward your goals?

Weigh in!!

None of those answers was adequate for me but I chose "Our homeschooling year was disappointing. I feel discouraged." mainly because I am disappointed in the gaps in time we had due or our move and settling in to a new state, and that we didn't do nearly as much during the year as we usually do. It stresses me out and I feel like we're "behind" even though logically I know she isn't truly behind academically. I am definitely NOT discouraged though. I know these feelings are only because of the upheaval we had in our lives this past year. I know it'll get better from here on out.

I love our RU lifestyle... living and learning.

I chose "Our homeschooling year went pretty much as planned. I feel satisfied." However, I wish I had planned *better* and more activities to reinforce the lessons. That is the goal for 2010-2011: more fun and interesting activities, especially for history and science!

Our year went way better than expected. I started off so organized and lost it all about 2 months in, figured I was a failure, and then realized school was still happening every day anyway. My son learned so much this year and jumped ahead 2 grade levels in reading and we even never sat down at the table after October. Of course, he was only in Kindergarten this past year, so it's all pretty much life experience at that point anyway... but I'm pleased nonetheless.

I can't answer because my kids went to a charter school for the past few years, but we're considering going back to homeschooling because we miss the freedom and learning on our terms (despite the awesomeness of our school). We'll "practice" homeschooling as middle-schoolers this Summer, and decide if we want to go back to school or not and for how long as soon as we can.

So I'm gathering resources once again and getting excited about our Summer adventures. =)

I chose "pretty much as planned" because it did. I planned and we pretty much followed the plan's broad terms although I did change our resources several times and even our methodology. However, we didn't do most of the projects I had identified for us to do in History or in Science so no, I am not totally satisfied with how this year went. However, I am planning (again!) on using these last 4 weeks of official school time to work on those same projects that we skipped since we are coming to the end of our formal curriculum and hoping that Noah and I will enjoy these so much that we will continue working on them well into our traditional summer break. The thought of letting him watch cartoons all day is just too depressing, as much as he's looking forward to that I am very satisfied with his progress this past year!

What I really needed was the option: It's May already? What in the hell happened to the year?? Alas, that wasn't one of the choices...

Originally Posted by Firefly_Mom

What I really needed was the option: It's May already? What in the hell happened to the year?? Alas, that wasn't one of the choices...

No kidding. Our year went pretty much as planned or a little better. I hadn't planned on doing much for school work with DD being either pre-K or K this year I wasn't worried. Then we started added more things this spring. I've been amazed at how fast she learns.

I'm not going to vote since I haven't officially started yet....however, I am feeling very good, inspired and ready to go with our first year. I'm getting many words of encouragement from my own son who is sooooo ready to start. He is ready to see what it'll be like to do work at home, I've even caught him looking through some of the books and worksheets ready to get started. Everyday, I'm feeling more and more confident that this is the right decision and as much as I hate waiting, I'm glad that I have because it's helped me get over the initial excitement and I feel that much more prepared. Woo!