Homeschool Mom Retreat
As a homeschool mom, it can be so easy to lose yourself while educating your kids.
Most of your daily focus is on something they’re doing or managing the house in general.
A homeschool planning retreat can be just what you need to regroup, and it can be accomplished in a couple of different ways.
Some homeschool moms like to take a homeschool mom retreat before the school year kicks off and use it as a homeschool planning retreat. This allows them plenty of time to plan what they think the year will look like and come into the school year with a happy heart, a scheduled school year, and ready to go.
Other homeschool moms take a homeschool retreat during the school year when they start to feel homeschool burnout kicking in.
And lastly, you could plan a homeschool mom retreat for you and other homeschooling moms. It could be a time to vent your frustrations and seek feedback and advice from other moms.
There is no wrong time to take a homeschool retreat. It’s a time designed to fill your bucket so you can continue to pour into your children.
Let’s check out how to have a homeschool mom retreat!
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Homeschool Mom Planning Retreat
Start with Prayer
If you are a person of faith, I encourage you to begin your homeschool mom retreat with a time of prayer. Ask God to join you in that space. Seek wisdom and guidance as you plan the upcoming school year.
List Your Reasons for Homeschooling
I’m not sure about you, but every so often, I have to circle back and remind myself of the reasons we chose homeschooling for our kids. I get so caught up in the monotony of the days, or in this case, of planning our school year, that I can lose sight of the reasons we chose to homeschool in the first place. Before you begin, I encourage you to list your reasons for homeschooling your children so that when you get caught up, frustrated, or distracted, you can come back and use those as a place to refocus and regroup.
Eliminate All Distractions
I think this is a big one. It’s so easy to become distracted at a time when you need to be very focused. I encourage you to put your phone on silent and designate a specific time to check it.
Create a Plan
This is another key part of a successful homeschool planning retreat. It is super important that you have a plan of what you need/want to accomplish during your planning day. A checklist of goals is super helpful here. Do you want to have a plan for each quarter that you can then use as a reference to go back and use as a guide? Are you planning your entire school year? Are you planning field trips? Knowing your main goal(s) will help you feel like you’ve used your time well.
Kiddos Out of the House
Remember the rule about removing distractions? Your kids are likely one of those. Before your homeschool planning retreat, make sure you’ve arranged for someone else to care for your kids. If you’re planning at home, ask someone to keep them for the day so you can be productive.
Collect All Materials
Family Planner
Homeschool Planner
Curriculum
Pens, Pencils, Highlighters, etc.
Scratch Paper
Post-It Notes or Tabs
Computer with Printer
Set the Scene
If you want to create the feel of a retreat, you can have your favorite playlist ready, have your favorite flowers, and diffuse your favorite essential oils. If these things will help you focus and bring you a sense of calm, do it!
Start with Your Family Calendar
Before you begin plotting all of your child’s material on the calendar, make sure you’ve placed important dates on the calendar- things like holidays, birthdays, vacations, etc. You’ll want to have those placed now in order to avoid needing to go back and rearrange your homeschool plans.
Work Through Learning Targets or Goals
I know every family homeschools differently to meet the needs of their family. For many families, this means working with a set of learning targets for each child. So think about the things you hope for each child to learn by the end of the school year. Work through where to place each concept and allot an amount of time for each thing.
If you’re working through units, this is where allotting a specific amount of time comes into play. If you’re following a time-scripted curriculum, this becomes less important.
I know other homeschool families who do a more skill-based approach to their child’s learning. Now is the time to identify the things you hope for your child to be able to do this year.
Use the Curriculum to Guide You
As I start working through all of things, I try to check back and make sure I am checking back and keeping on track with the curriculum. If you aren’t using a curriculum, use your learning goals in the same way.
Take Breaks
I 100% understand the mindset that “I only have today to get all of this done”, BUT working from a place of stress and exhaustion is going to be unproductive. When you find yourself mentally checked out, take the break your mind needs. Do something for yourself. Take a quick soak in the bathtub, paint your nails, grab your favorite drink from the coffee shop, etc.
Evaluate at the End of the Day
If you finish all of your planning in a day or at the end of your homeschool planning weekend, that’s amazing! If you reach the end of your allotted time and you haven’t finished everything you had hoped to, plan another day to make it happen. Reaching the end of your plans during the school year and then wandering aimlessly through the days benefits no one. It’s worth your time to schedule another day to continue your work.
Homeschool Mom Burnout Retreat
Mom burnout on its own is a real thing.
But compound that with the weight of educating your children, and homeschool mom burnout becomes alive and well.
One of the best ideas for self-care for homeschool moms is to allow yourself a homeschool mom burnout retreat.
When you’ve hit the point that nothing makes sense anymore, you can’t stand to look at one more assignment, and you’d rather allow your kids to do what they want all day rather than do any homeschooling, it’s safe to say you’ve reached homeschool mom burnout.
It’s okay to step away and allow your mind, body, (and patience) to have a break and regroup. Everyone will benefit from you refilling your own bucket so you can pour into your kids’ buckets.
This may look like a night away, a quick weekend trip, or even a fun trip with some friends. Whatever kind of time you need to help you refresh your homeschool outlook.
Homeschool Moms Group Retreat
As I just mentioned, you may find your refresh in a homeschool moms group retreat. There are a variety of ways you can go about this.
Maybe you are exhausted and you need a fun girls’ trip to help fill your bucket.
Maybe there’s a homeschool convention near you, and you can make a girls’ trip out of the weekend. You can refresh your ideas of how you want your homeschool to look, as well as gather ideas from people who are at the top of the homeschool field. Add to that any suggestions you can gather from other homeschool moms, and you have a great collection of tips to take back home.
If you have several mom friends who homeschool, you can collectively plan a homeschool moms retreat. You can stay local, or maybe rent a place where you can relax, explore, or go shopping. It’s a time to vent your frustrations, seek advice, and do things that you enjoy. Don’t forget to indulge in some yummy snacks!
Regardless of how you refill your bucket as a homeschool mom, there are great benefits to participating in a homeschool mom retreat. You can avoid sitting in homeschool mom burnout by reaching out to your homeschool mom friends and asking them to join you in your homeschool mom retreat.
I pray you’re blessed by this time you take for yourself so that you can come back renewed and ready to bless your family.
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