Happy February! I was thinking this week about how things are going in our homeschool. This is the first February in several years that I haven't felt the winter blues. It's been kind of nice. But as I was sitting here evaluating the past month, I started thinking about our 2026 Homeschool Resolutions. I realized I can't really have a clear picture of how we're doing without revisiting these 8 items that I felt so convicted about at the beginning of the year. I also realized that they would be so easy to forget if I don't keep coming back to them regularly.
So I thought I'd do a check-in to keep myself accountable. I'm copying my resolutions here and I'll put my January Update thoughts in bold, just to help keep things at the top of my mind. So how did I do?
Our 2026 Homeschool Resolutions:
1. Reading Scripture together--While my kids each have their own devotional and Bible study times, I would like for us to incorporate some Bible reading together. I'm hoping this will open up some dialogue about what we're reading together and start our day on a good note.--This one is starting slow, but steady. We're reading together every morning during our morning time about 4-5 days/ week. We started in Mark 'cause I didn't want to start a new habit with the genealogies of Matthew. :-) We just read a portion of Scripture and I ask the kids if anything stood out to them. Sometimes I'll ask clarifying questions or add my own thoughts. It's been a nice low pressure way of spending time in His word together.
2. Praying together each morning--I realized our prayer times together have become route. The idea is that having this prayer time in the morning will open up an opportunity for us to share a little more freely. And practicing public prayer will make it less intimidating to pray with a group.--Ok, this one isn't going very well. I think we've only done this a handful of times. I'd like to pray to end our morning time, but it seems like everyone is pretty antsy by then. I may need to find a different place for prayer in our day.
3. 12 Read Alouds in the Year--We love our read alouds. And I love that reading good books together gives us a chance to adventure together... even on a limited budget. As the kids have gotten older and the books longer, 12 books feels like a good goal for the year.--We had two shorter read alouds at the beginning of our list so we actually read two in January. I really enjoyed Listening for Lions.
4. Go on 12 Hikes this year-- Ok, we've made hiking goals before and failed miserably.. So I'm keeping it really simple this year. Only 12.. should be doable.--No, no hikes yet, but we have one on the calendar for February. Yay!
5. Celebrate Lydia's graduation--I can't believe I'm graduating my second kid. Unbelievable! I have a feeling the way we celebrate this one will be very different from the way we celebrated the first. But I want to make it just as special so it's time to start planning now.--We did a little planning in January. Ordered the cap and gown. Panning on getting some photos together this next month.
6. One on One Dates--Yes, this is parenting. But with homeschool, parenting and education bleed into each other. Having strong relationships and time to listen can only allow for more openness and connection during our homeschool days.--January was a half-win. I did get a one on one date with my 9th grader, but not my 12th grader. I've got my thinking cap on for something she might enjoy doing together this month.
7. Plan 6+ homeschool field trips--Having one kid graduated and two in high school, I realize more every day just how small this window of time really is. So field trips mean so much. Making time to enjoy learning, experience new opportunities, expand their horizons... I have 2 in the works right now, with multiple tabs open for potential learning over the next year.--I'm putting the finishing touches on a field trip for February. No field trips in January, but we did go to the snow with our homeschool group, so I can kind of count that one.
8. Stay invested in our homeschool group--Our high school home group has been a lifeline this year. Giving my kids an opportunity to make likeminded friends AND be mentored by other quality parents... WIN/WIN! I'm definitely making time in our schedule to keep this going.--We're just getting our spring semester going, but we've had a couple of outings and have spent some time with one of the families outside of our weekly meeting.
As you can see, my theme this year is CONNECTION, CONNECTION, CONNECTION! Now more than ever, I'm well aware of how important relationship is in our homeschool. Everything flows from that starting point. So happy to be raising my very best friends.
Are you making homeschool resolutions this year?
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