When things go wrong

What to do when things go wrong …  because things WILL go wrong.   You will buy the wrong curriculum, your children will make errors in judgement, a subject will prove too difficult to master (at least in the format used), and/or you will make your own mistakes.  Sometimes life intervenes with sickness in the household, or COVID will threaten the doors, or….  

You get the picture… sometimes the unforeseen threatens all our plans, and the question before us is this: What will you do when things go wrong?

Something has gone wrong

We don’t always see it at first, but eventually it will become evident that something is not right.  This wrongness may be in your student’s world or in your own.  Infrequently events outside the home will set events into motion that grind education to a halt. 

We’ve seen this recently with COVID affecting the world.  Even though, as homeschoolers, our lives haven’t necessarily been affected much, the affects on others trickles down into the home.  The lack of activities and outside interests stifled plays a role in our outlook on life.  This can and will play a disruption in the educational lives of our children. 

Our students might make errors in judgement with how they manage their time and need to face the consequences.

We might order the wrong materials, or thing that something “will do” because we want it to, but it doesn’t work well for this particular student.

Or you could find yourself out of a job and that disrupts the balance in your household upsetting how everything runs. 

LIFE HAPPENS.  It does’  We cannot plan for everything or have everything worked out perfectly. 

What to do?

What do we do when things go wrong?   

1. Talk.  Seriously, just sit down and talk. Offer grace to your student if they’ve made an error in judgement and then move forward.  If you have made an error… admit it, move forward. 
2. Figure out what to do. Don’t wallow in the error, use it as a change to learn something new and then move forward with a plan that you have worked out together. 
3. Stop school if you have to.  Sometimes it’s necessary even if it’s only for a week, or even if it’s for longer.  As homeschoolers we have the option to school as we need to, not as we HAVE to, so use our freedom wisely. 
4. Remember education happens, even if we aren’t using books. Life skills, learning to cope with stress, the importance of helping family, hands-on learning, and more. Just change how learning happens. 
5. Change your perspective.  Often that’s all we need to do.  See the problem as an opportunity for conversation and change. 

Blogger List

Summer is almost here and let’s just celebrate now with the homeschool year wrapping up.

I’ve gotten together with 7 other bloggers to bring you this wonderful giveaway so that you can enjoy planning for your next homeschool year.

We are giving away 3 $100 giftcards from the place of your choice. You can choose from:

• Amazon
• Rainbow Resource
• Hobby Lobby
• Christian Books

The winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond to claim their prize or else another winner will be chosen. By entering this giveaway you will be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers. Read the terms and conditions for more details.