Homeschool Plan for Upcoming School Year

Have you been putting off planning for the upcoming school year? Is it on you're to-do list? Have you already done the footwork but having doubts? Well. Jenny Bales has graciously offered to help us all with this task that some of us love and others of us loathe.

Jenny's homeschool group holds a Day of Reflection for moms in preparation for planning the next school year. They developed a self-evaluation survey for the mothers to complete with questions covering personal spirituality, successes and struggles from this year, and goals for the next year.

Now Jenny is bringing that experience to the entire Catholic homeschool community via two free webinars. These are ones well worth your time. Make sure to mark the date on your planner so you don't miss it.

Prayerfully Reflecting on Last Year
(ADDENDUM: The live event was fabulous! I could not believe all the positive responses. I've corrected the link above to take you to the recorded event.)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
8:30 PM Eastern (7:30 Central)
Here is a chance to really step back from the busy-ness of family life and pause to reflect on the previous academic year's highs and lows. The focus will be to take some time to ponder our personal spiritual growth and our successes and challenges from the past year of homeschooling with a goal to prayerfully discern what, if anything, needs to change for next year. Participants will be provided with a thorough self-evaluation survey at the close of the webinar to complete on their own time, which has been an inspiring process for all who have done it, so far! This webinar is part one of a two part series, continuing with Prayerfully Planning for Next Year on July 15 but one can be attended without the other, if desired.

Prayerfully Planning for Next Year
(ADDENDUM: The live event was fabulous! I could not believe all the positive responses. I've corrected the link above to take you to the recorded event.)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
8:30 PM Eastern (7:30 Central)
Regardless of what stage of planning for next year moms have completed, this will be an opportunity to consider our plans in light of God's will through prayerful discernment. Having evaluated the previous academic year in the webinar Prayerfully Reflecting on Last Year on July 7, our goals for this discussion will be asking the Lord for guidance in choosing materials and preparing lessons for next year and setting some goals for ourselves, our family, and each individual child that truly reflect our priorities. This webinar is part two of a two part series but one can be attended without the other, if desired.

Presenter's Biography
Jenny is a richly blessed homeschooling mother of two children, so far, a daughter entering second grade and a son entering pre-Kindergarten. Previously a middle school and high school English/Language Arts teacher, youth retreat director, and strategic planning consultant (among other things), her enthusiasm for and experience with personal and curriculum planning has been a great asset to her own homeschooling way of life. She cannot wait to share with you the process she developed with her local homeschooling group to evaluate each homeschooling year and make plans for the next year all focusing on God's will for our families and raising holy children in Christ-centered homes!

Prayerfully Approaching Homeschool Planning

UPDATE: Jenny Bales took her group's experience and created a 2-part series of free webinars for Homeschool Connections.

One thing that I really need to remember to discuss in future organization/planning webinars is the importance of prayer. I just read about a homeschool group that recently held a Day of Reflection for moms in preparation for planning the next school year. This is an awesome idea!

They developed a self-evaluation survey for the mothers to complete beforehand. They were to do so prayerfully, preferably in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The questions covered personal spirituality, successes and struggles from this year, and goals for the next year.

This is to be done before you sit down and plan for next year, to help put things in perspective, and is something they encouraged the mothers to take to their Holy Hours and spend several weeks completing. It was a tremendous blessing to everyone involved.

This is the Catholic homeschooling community working together at it's best. We are here to build one another up and support each other in our vocation.

You can read more here: Heart of a Mother: Day of Reflection for Homeschooling Mother