2019-2020 Homeschool Year Wrap up

It is time for the 2019-2020 Homeschool Year Wrap up. This year has been like any other for my family. It started on a sour note in August with all three of my kids getting incredibly sick right as we were to start our first day of school. The kids had horrible fevers that lasted longer than normal, and couldn’t easily be controlled by medicine or cool baths.

We then immediately decided to put our home on the market, also while the kids were sick. Not the best timing, right when school is starting. We plowed ahead though.

Now we are at the point in the year when I am starting to look ahead to the new school year. New books, new supplies, new rhythms. All of these things mean that we are ready for our 2019-2020 Homeschool Year Wrap up.

Grab your free Homeschool Wrap up Questions Printable below!

2019-2020 Homeschool Year: The Good

While the year was difficult in many ways, it was also a really great year in many ways. We made a lot of progress in math and spelling. Spelling has been a struggle for us. I am a natural speller, but one of my kids is not a natural speller. What that means is that my child who loves writing has a difficult time communicating using the written word.

The fact that spelling is now clicking a bit more is such a relief to both me, and my kid. I know that developmentally there are some challenges with self-editing – this is true of all kids, not just mine. And relaxing a little bit so that they can move at their own pace is important.

Follow along with me as we go through the FREE Printable Questions

Lucy also started reading this year. She decided she wanted to read, and sat down with Jack and some of the first reader books that we have from Sonlight, and did it. That made my mama heart happy. Having her start to break through the code and learning to read is such an important part of schooling to me. I truly believe that reading is the key to learning. Once your child can read, they can learn just about anything.

2019-2020 Homeschool Wrap up: The Bad

With the good comes the bad. Honestly, it wasn’t altogether bad. Instead, it was more of a challenging season.

Our entire fall was kind of a cluster, to be honest. It was a huge challenge to have so many house showings while still trying to stay on top of school and get Emma to band three days each week. I realized that band really cuts into our day. It is a sacrifice to essentially give up two mornings each week and an afternoon to bring Emma to band.

I’m not sure if the struggle was due to the number of showings we also were having weekly, or if the fact that Jack and Lucy are now requiring a bit more schooling as well, and trying to fit it all in was considerably challenging. But, it was a challenge.

2019-2020 Homeschool Wrap up: Planning

Another good part of the year was that my weekly planning sessions were really successful. I got into an amazing rhythm in 2018 of planning our homeschool weeks on Sunday afternoon. Making this time a priority was a game-changer for us. That was the single thing that continued to keep my sanity throughout this school year.

The weeks that I did not take the time Sunday afternoon to plan were the most challenging weeks. So, if I have learned anything, it is that I need to continue to make that a priority.

When you leave planning to the day of school, it isn’t as successful of a day as it could be.

2019-2020 Homeschool Wrap up: Portfolios

Due to the pandemic and essentially shutting down the entire country, our state has decided to wave the “days of school” requirement for the year. However, we are still required to do a portfolio review with a Maine certified teacher.

The reviews will be different this year because most teachers are only giving an online option at this point. That means that if you have a portfolio in a 3-ring binder, or something physical, it will be a different presentation of it this year.

Some of the homeschoolers I know will continue to do the physical portfolio and then do a facetime, or live video chat call with their teacher. Another option is to put the information onto a password protected blog or website for the teacher to go in and look at. It has given people a way to stretch their minds to think about showing the progress of their student for the year.

Looking Ahead

I have already started looking ahead to the new school year. But part of the 2019-2020 homeschool wrap up for us is to sit down with the kids and see how they felt about the year. Obviously, if you have kids that are really young, this isn’t necessary. However, I believe if you have kids even in kindergarten you should be able to ask them what went well and what was hard for them this year.

You can think back to the first day of school traditions where your kids do a little interview. The same opportunity at the end of the year is available to you! Sit down with your kids individually and go through their year with them.

This is a good exercise for them to understand how their year went as well. Eventually, they will come to see the value in a yearly review, and it will become a normal habit for you. This is a good time to figure out places you may want or need to make adjustments for the next year since you are starting to think about the year ahead now anyway.

How does a homeschool yearly wrap up Cultivate Simplicity?

When you are in the thick of the homeschool year, it is difficult to always make adjustments on the fly. Sometimes you are just treading water, trying to get to the next thing. I am thinking especially of February where most homeschoolers have a lot of problems getting back into a good rhythm.

However, when you sit down to do a 2019-2020 homeschool wrap up, you are able to see the big picture and drill down on the parts of the year that were less than successful as well as the most successful times.

When you are looking back, you are able to put some distance from the emotion of the moment. Why did that resource not work for your youngest when your oldest excelled with it? Why was there such a struggle with the morning time? Were there character issues that needed to be addressed but you were too concerned about getting through your math program, so you plowed ahead?

These questions will help you formulate a better plan for the new year. It also will help you see the positive things that were happening, that you may not have noticed at the time. When your youngest brought you flowers picked from the yard every morning in the early fall – perhaps a unit on flowers and their lifecycle should be included next year?

The Bottom Line

My homeschool year wrap up is one of the best parts of the year for me. It helps me to see the forest for the trees. Once you can step out of the day-to-day trees, you can then see the big-picture forest. How was your year overall?

In the moment it may seem like everything was hard, no one was learning anything. That is how my year felt. But, when I think back on the year as a whole, look at all the books that we have read, see the projects the kids chose to spend their free time on, and really look at what we accomplished, that is when I know that we had a good year, despite the challenges. I believe that every year is a good year, they all just have their own unique challenges.

Do you take the time to do a homeschool year wrap up? What is the most important question that you ask yourself? Let me know in the comments below!