Putting The Puzzle Together: Planning for Next Year

Although the tulips are blooming and I’m longing for warmer temperatures, I am already planning our activities for next fall. This is not by choice, mind you. Despite the fact that we homeschool, most of our activities follow the school-year calendar and it’s time to register for classes at our co-op, sign up for soccer and figure out what other classes the kids want to take.

I find putting together our schedule for the year one of the most challenging and stressful parts of homeschooling. With three kids, including the oldest starting high school and the youngest ready for more and more of his own activities, it’s really a balancing act to make sure everyone’s needs and some wants are met. We also need to make sure there is time at home to do academics and I need to schedule time in the week for running errands, doing household chores and exercise for myself. I haven’t always remembered to do that, but it really makes for a much smoother year if I set time aside for those types of activities.  

Part of the challenge for us every year is the shear number of options to choose from. We live in an amazing area in which to homeschool. My kids have participated in a large variety of classes and activities over the years, including sports, theater, music, Lego club, outdoor education, science, robotics, book groups and art. We simply can’t do everything, every year because there is a finite amount of time and money. So we’ve taken to doing some activities for just one semester (theater and sports lend themselves well to this) and some we do every-other-year.

One of the things I take into consideration when choosing what activities in which to participate is whether or not I can provide something similar at home. For example, I am very comfortable doing math and language arts at home so I’m not going to sign my kids up for a class. On the other hand, high school science is an area I struggle in, so I need to farm that out! Likewise, activities that require multiple people – such as team sports – are something we’ll find outside the home.

Another concern is that my kids have different temperaments and social needs. Both my 14-year-old and my 6 year-old are very extroverted and social. The more time out and about with friends and engaged in classes, the better, as far as the two of them are concerned. By contrast, my 10-year-old, Isa, typically prefers one-on-one time with friends and needs a lot of down time to do her own thing. So balancing these two divergent needs can definitely be tricky. There have been years when I have overscheduled us in Isa’s point of view, and she struggled a bit. And there have been years when I haven’t planned enough for Davis, and she was bored and unhappy. I don’t mind my kids being bored some of the time, but she really wasn’t having her social needs met, and I needed to step it up. Of course, we don’t have to do all of the same things, and I think I’m finally getting the hang of scheduling the optimal number of activities for each kid (famous last words, I’m sure!).

In addition, I like to leave some time open to take advantage of impromptu opportunities, like a field trip to the Burke Museum, or a play date at the park on a sunny day, or more likely, pulling out a board game on a rainy day.

So scheduling the upcoming year is like putting together a puzzle with a lot of pieces. Fortunately, once I get the pieces fitted together, I can usually sit back and enjoy the remainder of this year, and get back to dreaming about lazy summer days!