NOT Back to School

As Back to School fever runs wild this time of year, it’s not unheard of for homeschooling families to get caught up in it.

Everyone was fine and having a great Summer when suddenly, we feel the need to stock up on supplies, binge research curriculum reviews, and make snap decisions for #allthethings in our homeschool right now!

Though we’ve chosen to live and learn outside of traditional school systems, we still get sucked into the messaging that education must begin in September.

PSA: As a home educator, you have the flexibility and control to decide when your year begins and ends! Your homeschool year doesn’t need to begin on September 1. It doesn’t need to begin in September at all. You don’t even have to distinguish between one year and another. All of this is arbitrary in home education, unless you happen to live in a state that requires specific days be marked on a calendar for paperwork purposes.

Years before I co-founded Wildflower, my family was part of a co-op that held an annual NOT Back to School Picnic every September. The idea was to celebrate the simplicity of not having to stress, panic, or prep to be anywhere or do anything just because the calendar page had turned from August to September.

And what a breath of fresh air it was!

It was okay if we didn’t have all of our plans laid out yet, we could figure it out as we went along.

It was okay if we didn’t know which curriculum we wanted, we could always order down the line.

It was okay if we hadn’t signed up for anything yet because class registrations always come back around eventually.

We could just BE with our kids and continue enjoying living life and learning along the way, as life and learning naturally tend to happen whether or not we’ve planned and prepared for them or not.

If you’re feeling the back-to-school fever, remember: your children are not in school. They don’t have anywhere to worry about going back to. You get to decide when to begin, how, and with what. You can follow your children’s lead by taking all the time that they need. You can sit back and relax for the rest of your Summer and Fall if that is what works best for your family and still be a great homeschooling parent.

It’s NOT back to school time. Enjoy it!