Happy September! It's time for my monthly check-in for our 2026 Homeschool Resolutions. I realized this week that I haven't updated since the May. We've been busy living life over here. The summer went so quick and just like that, we're into our homeschool year again. I was trying to keep these resolutions at the top of my mind so I can keep making progress. I felt so convicted about at the beginning of the year. So when I realized how long it had been, I started to get nervous. But coming back to them this week, I realized, we've worked a lot of these goals into our weekly rhythm already. As for the ones that have fallen by the wayside, I'm pulling out my calendar to put in daily habits.
So today I'm doing a check-in to keep myself accountable. I've copied my resolutions here and I'll put my current updates in bold, just to help keep things at the top of my mind.
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.--We didn't do great on this over the summer, but when school started, our Scripture reading went right back into our Morning Basket. In just the last six weeks of school, we've read through six books of the New Testament, one chapter at a time.
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.--This is the habit that we've made the least progress on. While I do pray with the kids each night, I do really want to pray with them in the mornings as well. I think this is the one I need to write down. I'm thinking of adding it to the end of our Morning Basket and see how that works for us.
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've really been keeping up our read aloud habit, bring out total for 2026 up to 13 books so far ... with The House of Sixty Fathers and the Hawk that Dare Not Hunt By Day in May, Jungle of Bones and The Wednesday Wars in June, The Pursuit of God in July, and Building 903 and The School of Obedience in Aug.
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.--So at the beginning of the year, we were not doing well with hiking. But camping absolutely helped us out. Over the summer, we hiked waterfalls, hiked multiple trails in the redwoods, and found trails near the lava beds. Currently, we're up to seven hikes (5 of them being over the summer). Also, my youngest son went on a two week adventure with the first 6 1/2 days completing a 60+ mi hike in the wilderness.
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 had a beautiful graduation ceremony and family party in May. And instead of doing a big party, she wanted to camp in the Redwoods which we did in June.
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.--We've done a little here and there. In the past two months, we've had a one on one at least once with each of them.
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.--Sometimes it's hard to identify where homeschool ends and life begins. But some of the things that we did over the summer that I would classify as field trips include: going to the Lava Beds Monument. So far we've gotten in 3 formal field trips and lots of fun outings as well. I'm currently working on a few things for the fall.
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.--Unfortunately, it looks like our homeschool group is fizzling out for the fall. I still have hopes of reviving it with a few families, but currently chances are looking slim.
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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