Episode 23 Planning Next Year Without Losing Your Mind

The school year isn’t even over, and somehow it already feels like planning season. In this episode, we’re talking about how to think ahead without spiraling into stress, comparison, or panic-buying curriculum at midnight. We’re sharing practical thoughts on what to consider before planning next year, how to keep it simple, and why your family’s real needs matter more than what everyone else is doing.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to homeschooling and life unfiltered with Court and Jess, where real talk meets real life. Court and Jess are two friends, fellow moms, and business partners who live in different time zones and juggle homeschooling alongside motherhood and entrepreneurship. Jess is a mom of eight and Court is a mom of seven, and together they're raising 15 kids and navigating the wild, wonderful world of homeschooling, each in completely different ways. Every week we invite you to pull up a chair for honest conversations, practical tips, and uplifting encouragement. You'll hear from moms across the country who are homeschooling in a way that works best for their families. Whether you're a veteran homeschool mom just getting started or somewhere in between, this is your space to feel seen, supported, and inspired. Because no matter how different our past may look, we are all in this together. Today, gosh, there's a dog back there going crazy. We just like kicked out. Oh my gosh, this is real life. Um, planning next year without losing your mind is what we're talking about now in spring. Like, I'm not sure why, but the second April hits, everyone's like, what about next year? What am I gonna do next year? It's everywhere, it's all over social media, it's all over in every conversation I have with any mom. What are you doing next year? What do you find next year? Like, holy cow, and we still have like two months of school left.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

I know, I'm not ready to focus on next year yet, but I'm I'm guilty of the same thing. I'm already thinking about next year.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

100%. Like, I I think it's crazy, but I'm absolutely 100% doing it. All right, so let's just chat. I'd love to know kind of like what do you do for thinking about next year? When do you do the bulk of your planning? How do you get your inspirations?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

So our like our starting to think about next year, right? I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but I feel like discontentment with like current school plans or like curriculum and things starts to rear its head early April, end of March, right? Like kids are starting to get burnout, and that's where when that burnout happens, like that's where you start to see, well, maybe this curriculum isn't gonna be the best fit for us next year, or maybe this co-op or this program. And so we had a little bit of that this year where it just felt like we got that renewed push after Christmas break, but then our enthusiasm died out a little bit early this year, and that caused us to really reflect on like, okay, do we want to do the same co-op again? Do we want to stick with this curriculum? Do we want to change something up? And so um our conversation started maybe probably mid-March, a little bit earlier than normally it does, and it was fueled by one child in particular who's a little discontented with her current uh homeschool uh co-op and curriculum. And so I think child interviews is kind of what I'm getting to, is the big one for me. Those regular check-ins with the kids of hey, how's it going? You know, watching their demeanor around schoolwork, are they starting to push back? Is it is the struggles just too real to fight with them every day to do school? Like those are some of the red flags for me. And then they kind of get my wheels turning and some discussions started um, you know, about this time, usually. Like I said, it was a little early for us this year, but about this time we're starting to talk about okay, do we want to do the same thing next year? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Well, some of it is kind of like forced upon us, right? So, like our co-op, we had to decide. Yes, yes, we had to decide if we're contribute, we're continuing next year, or if there's the pay, or right? Like, so some of it is kind of pushed on us, like we have to figure out what we want to do, whether we really want to or not. Um, like we had to make our decision about co-op a couple weeks ago.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yes, our renewal forms came out a couple weeks ago too. And I am blessed with such a wonderful director. She knows that I won't make a commitment this early. So she's like, Do you think you're gonna come back? She asked me this week, do you think you're gonna come back? Or it was last week. Um, she's like, I didn't um and she's made some comment about like, I know you don't you might not get your form right into me. I just kind of want a heads up. And um, so I'm blessed with a director who's super understanding that my personality is just that I'm still in this school year mode. I cannot make a decision for next year yet. So I'm like I said, super, super blessed to have an amazing director of our co-op.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

That's so funny. Yeah, I did. Well, because I my original answer was yes, uh yes, absolutely. We're totally coming back. And then, you know, things happened and we're kind of like, well, wait, what if we don't? Like, what if we take a break from a year? Like next year is um, it's kind of like a gap year for us. So my kids have always done like the tech high school. I know we've talked about before. Well, next year will be the first year I don't I have a break. Like we don't have anybody in the tech high school because Rory's only a sophomore. And so I was like, Oh, we should take advantage of this and do like something different, right? Because once they get to that, you know, junior senior year, they're pretty much out of our homeschool, like our everyday homeschool. Like they're really doing their own thing. They're off, they don't, they're not part of family school anymore. And I was like, Well, this is like our last year, and so we are gonna take a break from co-op, which is I don't know that I've done in as long as I can remember. I've never done that really. And so, um, anyways, I'm kind of like nervous about it. I honestly I'm nervous about it for me because you guys, I do co-op for me, for friends, and for like interaction, adult interaction, and like just there's a lot of camaraderie that happens. And so I was actually talking to the co-op and I was like, so what if we just did like a a mom's? Like they come to mom's night and you get to go to the retreat, and you still have like that little piece, like let us pay dues for the mom stuff if we can't contribute to the thing, and so I'm still gonna work on that, but um, because it's like there is there's a lot of value to that, not just for our kids, but we're there for us too.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Absolutely. And do you don't you find like I for me part like if I have to answer for co-op right now, it's a no. And so that's also part of why I don't respond right away, and um, and they're gracious enough to allow that for me. Um, because I feel so oftentimes, I mean, I do I feel a little burned out by the time we get here. So I know like I just need a minute to like process the school year. We just ended co-op just ended last week, and now I just need a minute to say okay, and then I'm always excited and ready for it at the beginning of the year. Are you worried at all that you might get to the beginning of the year where you don't, you know, you're you've had several months without co-op that you'll change your mind?

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Oh yeah, I'm already we're changing my mind. Like, I'm not because I committed to not, but I'm already like, wait, what did I do? Like, are we sure that? And and I told him, like, I only want to take one year break. Like, I'm coming back. Like, save my like, please save my spa. Because ours is like you have to apply and like it's a process, like not everybody gets in because it's limited anyway. So, oh no, the second I agree to it, just that like that's we're gonna do this field trip year that I was I went back and went, wait, is that what we really want to do? I don't know if I really want to do that.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Oh, I love it. Well, the good thing is, and and I always like to remind my friends who are just starting out about this, is that you're making one-year decisions, right? Nothing is permanent. You can change your mind, you can make a one semester decision um about a lot of things, but at most, you're making a one-year decision. You can change courses at any time, and that's part of the beauty and about the flexibility of schooling from home. Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Okay, so um I forgot what we were kind of like talking about.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Like what was your actual like we kind of digressed a little bit about that? Other things that I would say um that we do. Yeah, other things that we do. So, so we kind of have that first triggering moment of like, okay, evaluating what happened or didn't happen, which happened um and how well it went, which Courtney did an amazing training on, and she's gonna do we're gonna do that part of our podcast soon.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

And coming up in a few weeks, we're gonna reshare that kind of like how to evaluate your year.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yes. Um, but I I have a love-hate relationship with YouTube. So um, but I I think it's really valuable to watch other day-in-the-life videos of homeschooling parents um and then curriculum reviews. So I really value or f I I find value in finding time to go on there and start looking at other ideas. So one of the things I'm gonna do is um go on and look at more like family school, morning time um basket ideas, you know, based on our last podcast I shared with you guys. I was not very successful at that this year. So going to kind of research ideas and see what would be helpful. Yeah, go ahead. I have a book for you to read. Oh, all right.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Talking, I know, coming from I'm just looking at my bookshelf and I don't see it. It's by Pam Barnhill and it's all about morning time.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Okay, I have not read this book, but I have seen it. Um I must have lent it to somebody. Called Morning Basket or something like that. Maybe something like that.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Okay, but Pam Barn Hill fantastic, but it's full of tons of ideas. Okay, I should reread it because it had so many great ideas, um, like adding in like mad lips, like her little grammar practice, but it's so fun. Like I hadn't done that before, or the fallacy detective, like that was one reaction. Like, I haven't done that one in a while. Just it had so many incredible ideas, and it was so inspiring because she interviews like a bunch of different people and like how they do their morning times.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

That's so cool. Yeah, okay, I love that. Um, the other things that we do, and Courtney and I actually been talking a lot about this lately, is conferences. There's so much value in going to conferences. Um, in Minnesota, we have an amazing conference called um Mache. And it's they just they are amazing. They do so much good work in the homeschooling community. Um, and so it's one of my favorite conferences to go. And with having the baby, we haven't gone in a couple years. Um, and so I'm excited to try to get to that one this year. When is it?

SPEAKER_01 10:00

When are yours?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Um, ours is the I think it's the last, it's it's one of the last weeks in May.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Oh, so ours is in the middle of July, and I love it because it's like I've had time to evaluate what I'm doing, and I'm like getting I'm ready to plan. Yeah. And I we had it for a while. It was like in June, and it was almost like too early.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

I've seen some that are in August and September, and I'm like, well, that's too late. It's way too late. Yeah, I agree. We were just looking at a homeschool conference together, Courtney and I, and we saw one in September, and we both were like, Whoa. How could you do that?

SPEAKER_01 10:34

I think I've seen some in March also, which to me that's like too early.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

A little too early, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Really fast. I looked up the book. I was wrong on the top. It's called Better Together. Strengthen your family, simplify your homeschool, and save savor the subjects that matter most.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Love it. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

So, anyways, it was really good. I should reread it. Somewhere in my house, I have it, or I lent it somebody. I do that. I really I've always said, like, I have so many books, you guys. I should like have a checkout system and like write down who borrows my books because half the time I'm like, um, it's somewhere, somebody has it.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

So there's a great app. Um, and it's called uh I don't know if I'm saying this right, but Lebib. Um you ever heard of this? And you go in and so we have it. So um I've been slowly working on adding all of our books, but like you can see it's kind of hard to see, but it's these are all of our books. You catalog them and then to add that you just hit the little add button and it's got a QR code and you just scan the QR or the barcode on the book and it creates a library. And I wonder if that would be a good way to um like track borrowing it.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

So I have an app like that. I'm trying to remember what it was called, some kind of bookshelf app. Yeah. I have literally thousands of books, and I just couldn't keep up with it. It was too hard. It was yeah, so I we scanned all the books in, and then it was nice kind of having it to like look at. So when I was out shopping, I'd be like, Do I have this book? That's why I use it. Yeah, it was I we haven't maintained it. How's that?

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Yeah, no, that's fair. Um, so they do have a lending in circulation feature if you upgrade, and I am not I don't have upgrade account, but so I've used it um both in the store. I am terrible, you guys, at buying extra copies of books on accident. Like I'm not getting you some of my favorite books, I have four, five, six copies of because I'm at the thrift store and I'm like, oh, look at it, I would grab this book as my favorite book. Well, I have a million copies at home. Um, but I also like when we just did our we talked about last week, I think um my daughter just did this um Mary Queen of Scots uh Mary Queen of Scots presentation and um I was able to go on there and search like um some keywords to try to be able to find um books for her to use as resources. By the way, she gave me permission to share her thing, so it's a little off topic.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

But this was Oh my gosh, that turned out so cute.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

That turned out so cute.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

I love that it's like um in black and white or CP or whatever that's called so that it looks old.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yep, yep. So it was super fun. Um and um, but anyways, so we we are rabbit trailing today really bad. I'm so sorry. But um some of the other things that I do, which I think isn't talked about a lot, but I think it's really important, is we do kid interviews, but I also just talk to my spouse. Like, hey, you know, what sometimes it's a season of like, hey, like this is a perfect example. Um we in other years, not this year, but in other years, I have said, like, I need more help in math. Like, I need you to come help check assignments, give feedback, you know. So sometimes it's a it's a a very specific need that I need from him based on how the year went. And then we start planning that into our our way. Like um this year I had told him, you know, I just I need some help with co-op, right? Like I need you to have, I can do the work at home, but I need you to be more a part of bringing them to co-op and staying there because it was just that season for me with the baby, uh, with a well, an active toddler, really. Um and I think that um sometimes homeschooling moms tend to underutilize their spouse or their partner, um, or you know, whom whomever they have around. And and I think giving them very specific suggestions of how they can contribute and feel not just to help you, but also just so that they can feel a part of it and have some ownership as well. Um for many years, Wes was the one who did our read alouds, my husband who did our read alouds with the kids at night. So, like that was kind of a checklist item for me. Um, but I think now is a good time to evaluate what they could help with because we're just fresh off this whole school year, or we're nearing the end of the school year and might have some good ideas, or maybe they've made some observations um and have some some ideas as well.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

So, one of my favorite things to do near the end of the school year is get together with friends. Like, I'm actually going to a mom's retreat next weekend or something like that. I'm so jealous. I know, but we kind of get to, and I love to just like have the minds and be like, okay, what worked for you this year or what didn't work for you, and then we can like brainstorm it out. Um, and like just hear, not not in a comparison, like, oh, you did all these great things, but more of like inspiration, right? Like I get a lot of inspiration and ideas from you know, kind of spitballing with other people, um, you know, kind of like what we do. I never leave here without us being like, oh, I should try that, or I want to work at that. Yeah. Um, and so I think there's a lot of value in, you know, surrounding yourself with like-minded people and just kind of seeing, you know, what worked for them this year, what didn't work for you, or maybe I have an idea for you and you totally have an idea for me, kind of a thing. So I find a lot of value in that, like at the end of the school year, kind of wrapping up. And the other thing I do always, and I've done it for as long as I can remember, I'm super intentional and I have some kind of planning weekend. A lot of times I'll do it with friends where we'll all go away somewhere to a cabin, or you know, we we've done it here at my house before, like when nobody could get out of town, where we like made everybody go away, and like I have an upstairs and a downstairs, so I can like close the doors, like it's like it's totally separate spaces, and they can have upstairs and we all get together and we plan and have a planning weekend where we kind of hash out like dedicated time where that's the only thing we're thinking about is planning for the year, our homeschool. And I mean, you can't plan out everything, but to have a general idea of like what are what curriculum am I using and what or what videos am I using? And I'm like, I very much underutilize YouTube, and every time I use it, I'm like, why don't I use this more? Because it does have a lot of cool things. Excuse me, I have the hiccups. Um, but just being super intentional about having that weekend sometime in the end of July or mid-July, sometime before school starts, um, is doing that and having that and having a super intentional, like I I always regret it when I don't do it. There's been a few years that it just hasn't been feasible because the schedules and whatever. And doing it with other people, one, it keeps me accountable to do it. Right. Because if it were to do it on my own, I would just be like, oh, well, life happens, like we're gonna do family things. Um, having the kind, but it also again is coming back with like, hey, this is what I'm thinking, and what are you doing? And let me, you know what I mean? Like, I've gotten so many amazing things from friends, ideas, and inspiration on like how to organize or how to have, you know, however, we do it.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

I love that. And I think that it's worth saying too, because we want to be careful, you know, like we've talked about that comparison is death of contentment, but I think we're talking about something so different here. I think it has to do with perspective. So, like you're wise going into it. Are you going into it because you feel like everybody else there is better at it than you? So hopefully you'll learn something from them. No, you're going there, you're iron sharpens iron. You're gonna, like you said, connect with like-minded people who are doing a good job. So you can feel inspired to do it in the moment, right? That helps with the accountability. You're setting side the time, you're going in like with the spirit of being taught rather than um and inspired rather than setting yourself up to just feel like you aren't doing enough. So, and I think part of that too is focusing more on like for me, I find more about like, hey, what are you gonna do next year versus like tell me all the things you did this year? Um, sometimes that's more helpful for me if I'm kind of stuck in a rut of that comparison.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Yeah, well, and going to specific questions. Like I sucked at socialized this year. What did you guys say for history? You know what I mean? I need inspiration, and that's what I need. Like, I need that inspiration. I you go, I go at it with a um a mindset of kind of like an education. Like I always want to learn something. Yeah, you know, what books have you read that were inspiring for you? Or what did you, you know, that's that's what I go into it thinking. So it's it's never a comparison, like oh, I love that they were so good, or you know, or their kids so much smarter than mine. Like, that's not that's not don't go into it with that mindset, right? Go into the mindset where this is an educational purpose. Like our goal is to learn something new every day. I'm gonna learn something new, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Yeah, I love that. I think it's so great. You actually just have my wheels turning about, like maybe I should just be bold and put out there on Facebook, hey, you know, who what what are my local homeschooling mom friends want to do a uh planning weekend?

SPEAKER_01 19:27

So I've totally done it before because I've known that like I just do better in a group or I do better with other people, and so I'll just put it out. We have a like a group me. I'm like, hey, I'm planning this weekend, like it doesn't work to leave, but I'm gonna be home at my house Friday at five to you know Saturday at whatever. Yeah. Come and normally we'll like go get food and we'll we normally do like a Friday afternoon, like from lunch on, and then like an all-day Saturday thing. That's awesome. Yeah, and if we go out of town, normally we'll leave on Thursday, so we'll have all day Friday and all day Saturday.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

That's awesome. And this year, are you guys going out of town, did you say, or are you staying in town?

SPEAKER_01 20:05

That far in advance. I will say my other thing about it is I need a little time to like decompress at the end of the year. Like I cannot just jump in in May and plan for next year. I I need that like June brain detox until I take a step back from it and then like re-evaluate in July. Like, kind I normally do that kind of the wrap-up thing that I was talking about. I normally do that at the end of the school year when it's still fresh on my mind. Like, what did we do? What did we, you know, answer those questions? But then I just kind of like poof, take a step back, and then in July, I'm like excited and ready to go again.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah, I love that. That's the same. I think now is a good time to start doing some of your evaluation. Again, the training Courtney's gonna share with us is so fantastic, but it's time to do your evaluation, start making some little notes, but I'm not doing any serious planning until a little bit later in the summer, too. Yeah, yeah. I wonder if we should put that next.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Let's put this again. Yeah, so we'll do it for next week's thing. It's um just kind of like how to review your year and just evaluate what you did to kind of give you a really good. It's it's nice to do it when you're still in school, just because it's fresh on your mind. Yeah, right. Be able to answer the questions with like, oh yeah, even if you're just thinking like, what did we do last week? You know, I I find it super helpful to do before my mind completely shuts off in June.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Right? You block everything out from the year.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

So it does. Like, I just need a detox sometimes, just like, okay, we cannot think about anything. I just can't. Even though I still do a little school in the summer, but as far as like planning and like thinking ahead, kind of a thing is like I just I think that's my biggest thing is just kind of brainstorming. It's just to me, the end of the school year is just all about brainstorming and like just talking and like getting ideas from people and reading the books, or I miss blogs. Like, I used to love reading blogs, right? Sometimes I go on, I'm still a Pinterest person. I will totally go on Pinterest and be like 100%. Pinterest. I never thought to honestly, like, I've never once gone on YouTube and been like, Love it, show me your curriculum. I've never done that before. I never thought about it.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

It's so good. Yeah. Or like a day in the life with your um like high schooling homeschool student or your fifth grader. Or I mean, there's the there's I find so much value in those day in the life videos. It just gives you like ideas and then also helps you just feel normal about some things too. Like, oh, look at they struggle. Like that mom is also not dressed at 10 30 in the morning yet, you know?

SPEAKER_01 22:29

So it's kind of nice. I love it. Okay, that's awesome. All right. So next week, let's put the kind of how to review your year. And then what we'd like to do is we're gonna um do a little series about what are the curriculums that we've used and tried over the years, right? Because there's a lot of value when you're evaluating just kind of learning about different curriculums. So we're gonna just pick a subject um each week for the next four weeks and just chat about what we've used because we are very similar, but we are very different. So we have used a lot of different curriculums. A lot. Um, we didn't we don't have a lot of overlap, I don't think. Just in like casual talk. We really don't. I don't think we do. Yeah. Um, so anyway, so it'll be interesting to see. And it and honestly, like it changes per kid, right? So there's a lot of different curriculums that we can chat about, just because every single one of my kids is not always used the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

So or the changes where I'm not able to give as much one on one support the you know with a baby as I was three years ago.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

True that. All right, so that's exciting. I'm excited about our next little bit. It will kind of help us all get our creative minds thinking for planning for next year. So I love it.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

All right, have a great week, everybody. We will see you next week. Bye.