5 Tips for a Great Monday Meeting

Before we get to the 5 tips for a great Monday meeting, you may be asking yourself, what exactly is a Monday meeting? It is a time when you get together with your kids and prepare them for the homeschool week ahead.

It gives you, the parent, the opportunity to connect individually with your kids. You can ask questions, they can ask questions, and you can get a better idea of where there may be struggle points, and where they may need extra help throughout the week.

Monday Meeting for Different Ages

This will look different for different ages. For the pre-k through 2nd-grade set, you will want to talk about the big things that will be happening during the week. If there is a field trip or a lesson that you are going to. And then let them chat with you about whatever is on their heart.

For the older elementary age, you would also want to include any projects that you have for them to work on during the week. This helps to give ownership over the material.

For middle school, you will want to give them their assignments or lessons for the week. Let them then transcribe that information into a planner so that they know what they have to get done by Friday. This doesn’t mean not to check in with them, but you are again giving them more ownership of their education. You are showing them how to take ownership of their education.

For high school, this is the point where your child will most likely let YOU know what is going on during the week. If they have events or classes out of the home that they need to be at, work schedules etc.

Monday Meeting Tips

Tip #1 – Plan Your Week on Sunday

My biggest tip for your Monday Meeting is to plan your week out on Sunday. Sunday afternoon planning was something I started doing several years ago when our school year went off the rails. I had all of these wonderful grids of information in front of me. All the weeks were planned out for the entire year. Everything was planned out perfectly for each day. But then, my daughter wanted me to read more from one book than another, there were little emergencies that continuously popped up.

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My Monday Meeting was not working because I was trying to stick to a schedule that wasn’t working. While I would love to plan out my entire year ahead of time, I know that it is better for me to focus on goal planning for the year, and then plan my weeks on Sunday afternoons.

Tip #2 – Monday Meeting Agenda

When you set a Monday meeting with your kids, you need to have your agenda ready. Now, that may seem a little more formal than it needs to be, but I will tell you from experience that if you give your kids 20 minutes of your time on a Monday morning and you do not have your plan in place, the time will get away from you. Kids have an interesting way of derailing plans, and individual time with mom can become the time that they want to tell you about all of the special things going on in their life.

I’m not saying that taking that time to chat with your kids is a bad idea, far from it, but it isn’t the purpose of the Monday meeting. If you know that your kids will need some time to audibly process what is going on in their life, you may want to block more time off for the meeting. Or, you can redirect and let them know that you will have another time to chat with them later in the day.

Tip #3 – Have your questions ready

The Monday meeting is a great time to ask them if they are having trouble in any area. Once you give them their “to-dos” for the week, you ask them if they have any questions or concerns about the week ahead. Do they have anything that they want to work on individually? Is there a passion project that they have been working on and want to have special time to continue that work? Do they need any supplies or resources to help them as they go through their week?

Tip #4 – Put the Monday Meeting on the Calendar

It is very easy to skip right over the Monday meeting. Honestly, sometimes you just want to get started on the week ahead, especially if you have a lot going on. It can make you anxious to know that you are going to take an hour or so out of your morning to have this meeting. However, I guarantee you it is worth it.

If your kids know that it isn’t a priority for you (as in you skip the meeting more than you have it), it isn’t going to be a priority for them either. It won’t have the same benefit of preparing for the week ahead, and making sure you have all of your ducks in a row.

When the Monday meeting is on the calendar, and everyone puts in the effort, you will see that it pays off. In fact, after you have a few meetings under your belt, they will move faster and you will get into a better rhythm overall.

Tip #5 – Listen

I know what you are thinking “but you just said not to let the kids chat your ear off!” And that is true, you don’t want to let the kids chat your ear off, but you do want to listen to them. Part of the purpose of the Monday meeting is to see where there may be struggles. It doesn’t mean that your kids can go off on a tangent about Minecraft (although, inevitably it happens), but that you need to listen when they are talking to you about their challenges.

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It is easy to try and either push through the meeting so that you can get going on your school day, or try to fix their problem without really hearing what the problem is. If your child says they are struggling with math, you don’t want to say that you will add more math worksheets so they can get that concept down. Instead, learn why they are struggling with math. Then figure out together what will make it easier.

It isn’t necessarily the learning side that is the struggle. Often it is something else that is being exacerbated by the curriculum rather than the curriculum itself. You don’t need to come up with a solution in the meeting, rather take note of the problem. Then work on a way to work through it and come back to it at another time.

How does a Monday Meeting Cultivate Simplicity?

The simple fact of the matter is that it will get everyone on the same page. Often, with homeschooling, there are so many outside forces challenging us, the parent, as to whether or not we are doing the *right* thing. We look at what others are doing, and compare ourselves to that. But, what you need to do is to listen to your kids. You need to make an assessment on your individual rhythm, your individual kids, your individual goals.

Will a Monday meeting clear all the stress from your homeschooling? No. However, it will help you to have a good handle on how your kids are doing, and how you are doing, with the materials and resources you are using.

If there is a problem, you work on a solution to fix it. If you listen to your kids’ struggles and successes, you will be able to help fix the struggles and incorporate more of what will help them succeed. That is how a Monday meeting will cultivate simplicity in your homeschool, you will see the fruits of your labor while also being able to make the small adjustments to keep you all on track.

The Bottom Line

When you show your kids they are important, it goes a long way. This Monday meeting does just that. It is easy to start the week and want to get right into whatever is on your list – it is a new week, let’s start strong! But, when you give your children that time to work through any struggles they may be having, it will be worth the time.

While it may seem that you will be starting behind by having this meeting, you will in fact be ahead. Everyone will have an understanding of what is expected for the week. They will know if there are activities outside of the house to look forward to, as well as know what they are expected to accomplish (for the older set).

Do you keep a Monday meeting on the calendar for your Homeschool? How might it help you stay on track?