Our first week back at school in the new year was, well…let’s just say it stunk. Monday, Tuesday, and then again on Wednesday just felt like we had picked up right where we had left off before Christmas break, but forgotten all the fun stuff and just remembered the boring, stale stuff. There was no excitement, no motivation, just….blah.
Christmas break had left a lot of time to relax, enjoy the holiday, clean my house when it was over, and get my new planner ready to go. That’s all good stuff! But the thing I hadn’t done on Christmas break is really get ready for the third quarter of school because, well, Christmas break is only so long.
We called a homeschool reset.
Learning Well LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate links from Amazon or other programs are used on this website. For more info, please refer to our disclosure statement.
After three days of stale, boring school, listening to everyone wonder what was next–because I hadn’t written it down in their notebooks, and being completely uninspired, I called a homeschool reset on Thursday morning. I sat everyone down, told them to get out their notebooks, and write “3rd Quarter Goals” at the top. We went through every subject of our school weeks and then a little more.

Get the 6 Secrets to a Simpler Mom Life
Each kid wrote down Morning Meeting, Math, Language Arts, Writing, Science, History, Art, and then because we’re fun around here–Fun Stuff. Here’s the breakdown of what we talked about for each space…
Morning Meeting. We love starting our day out with a meeting around the table. I’ll do a post about what we do in our morning meeting at some point. We’ve started our day like this for years and it’s just a good way to convene at the beginning of the day. We discussed all the things we have done during Morning Meeting in the past and what we wanted included in it this quarter. Our final list looks like this:
- Calendar
- Memory Work
- New Headlines
- Idiom of the Day
- Math Problem (we love using this book)
- Vocabulary Word of the Day
- History Reading
- Science Reading
- Geography Reading
- and a short reading on Art
I'd love to hear a review of Brave Writer sometime! I'm looking at that for my kids. That or English Lessons Through Literature for my boys going on 4th grade next year.
It is so hard delving back into school after a holiday break. We struggled this last week too. Being new to homeschooling, after the much older two have been (and the one is entering her last semester of her Sr. year) in public school, I keep flitting around trying different things to find our groove and try and lose the school at home mindset and add in the enchantment, the fun. The boy says he wants more adventure. We have one co-op day on Thursdays. I need to go renew our MN Zoo membership and the Science museum as well.
Thank you for sharing, as I look to veteran HS'ing mamas and their wisdom, as I find my way into the new adventure. I don't know too many that have been at it awhile.
Oh my word you hit the nail on the head with this one here! We need to do this.. and why is science always left behind??! here too. but I really just count the chickens we have.. and the maple syrup we make in the spring as a good dose for the year.. that counts right?! I can't wait to hear all about your Morning Meeting. Ive been diving into all things morning time this year but have yet to nail a good plan down and implement it so I would love to hear your take!