NOT back to school week

As a home educating parent, the start of a new school year is an odd one. It comes with a kind of ghost attached - a schooled, slightly anxious, feeling like everything needs to step up - more needs to be achieved and more pressure added. It is a hang up from our school days and one that I work extremely hard to squash and this year is the first year I haven't felt its looming weight upon me.

It kind of feels like it should feel like more pressure this year too, as our smallest is officially school age and would have been headed off to reception next week!

We instead celebrate 'NOT back to school' week - usually a day out and a chance to witness our children learning and happy in their element and this week I wanted to encourage you to do the same.

These moments in the academic calendar can, if we let them, have a profound affect on how we home educate. The pressure to 'up the output' can lead to you (albeit usually temporarily) abandoning your values, your intentions to provide a more 'at their own pace' style of education that you have already seen working.

I know that you, like I have in the past, needed a reminder of what is important.

Curiosity

Peace

Grace

Inspiration

Maybe your words differ to mine, but ultimately our kids do not need that pressure to succeed. We do not need that pressure to provide a great education. We aren't doing all of this for a set outcome, we are doing this for a way of life that means we can wake up happy, curious or open, at peace - as many days of the year as possible.

So take a breath with me, take your kids somewhere, learn somewhere together that they are usually in their element and take a photo, print it off and stick it on your fridge as a reminder - that is what it's supposed to look like.

You got this.

And if you need a way to ease back into the new school year without stressing then you need my 'first 30 days of home ed' calendar - with 30 days of prompts to help you slow down, reconnect, redesign your routine and know that you are on the right path for your family.

I will be following it myself this September to try and settle back in gently.

Come say hi if you decide to download it and tell me how you are getting on!

Want more support easing into a new rhythm? Come listen to The BIG Home Ed Conversations podcast - available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or follow along on Instagram and TikTok. And if you'd like personalised support finding your family's rhythm, you can find out more about working with me here.