There are two types of weekly meetings we are going to cover today. The first is weekly meetings with your kids, and the second is weekly meetings with your spouse. When you take the time to sit down with your kids to discuss the week ahead, it can take a lot of stress out of your homeschool. When the kids do not have any idea of where they are going week to week, that is a struggle for them.
What are Weekly Meetings with your Kids?
This could be different for each family when you get to the specifics of the meeting. Generally speaking, a weekly meeting is when you will sit down with your kids individually and go through what is coming up during the week. You will go over what they are working on in school, any activities or sports practices/games that will be coming during the week, as well as any goals they are working on.
The purpose of these weekly meetings is to take time to help give ownership to your children in their education, and over their schedule. Yes, a lot of the information is put in place by you, mom, but, having your kids involved in the process helps you to make any adjustments that need to be made. Both to the schedule (what you are doing each day for school/activities) as well as the content of homeschool (whether a child is having a particular difficulty with a subject, or it is super easy and not challenging them).
When do you have Weekly Meetings?
I know what you are thinking, “how can I fit one more thing to do onto my to-do list?!” I hear you, I really do, but I also know that if you take the time to do this meeting with each of your kids, it is going to be a great help to your homeschool, and to your relationship.
What if you have too many kids? If you have more kids than you can comfortably meet with during an hour on Monday morning, you may need to do bi-weekly meetings, or even once-a-month meetings depending on what level your kids are at, and how long they want to sit and chat.
We have three kids, so weekly meetings are pretty manageable. Also, with young children, the meeting isn’t going to be all that long. I did not plan to have weekly meetings with my three-year-old, but she thought it was so much fun to have 10 minutes of undivided attention from mama in the morning, that she wanted it as well.
You can choose whenever is easiest to have your meeting. It can be Sunday afternoon, Monday morning. It could be at the end of the week. And it doesn’t all need to happen at once. If one of your kids has a class during the week, you can meet with your other children during that class time.
What do you go over during your Weekly Meetings?
The main thing you want to talk about is the week ahead. You want to let your kids know what the plans are for the week. If you never plan, and instead take everything at a whim, that is fine, you do not need to get into a detailed schedule. However, my kids have always operated much better when they know library day is Tuesday, Emma has band twice this week, we are going to the museum on Friday and everyone has dentist appointments on Wednesday morning.
Beyond what you have on the calendar for the week, you will want to talk about school work as well. It does not have to be a great, in-depth meeting. We have meetings every couple of months to talk about the big picture homeschool stuff with our kids, what is working and what is not. The weekly meeting is more to understand if they hate a certain book they are reading, or if they don’t understand a math concept, or they want to spend more time working on a story they have in mind.
Weekly Meetings and Unschooling?
This is a great time for all of the unschooling tendencies you may have. When you are in charge of your child’s education, you have an immense amount of freedom to follow their interests (as well as your own!). This weekly meeting can give you an idea of what they really love and are passionate about. If there is a way to incorporate those things into your week, do it. Your kids will be happier for it.
For example, my kids love coding – especially Jack. He has been begging me to get him into a coding class. The problem? I know nothing about coding computers. I gave him all the free resources I knew of; scratch, bitsbox, code.org, codecademy, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to take an actual class. He has been asking for a while, and I was hesitant because he is 8. Finally, I said yes to classes at Khan Academy (also free) and he and Emma are both working on learning JavaScript right now.
The caveat is that they must complete all of their other work before they can work on their coding work.
The Bottom Line
A weekly meeting is not necessary for homeschooling, but it does help you reconnect with each of your kids.
Homeschooling has a way of taking on a mind of its own. You can be trying to get through all.the.things. that you don’t stop and enjoy the education you are giving to your children. It is easy to say “we need to complete x by such and such a date.” However, just getting through the material is not the goal. You want your child to enjoy their education. Obviously not everything will be enjoyable. You will have an idea of what works and what doesn’t when you take the time for these weekly meetings.
Often our weekly meetings start with what is on the calendar and end with real heart issues that our children have concerns about. This is a time when they can seek council and really be open to you, as the parent, about what is troubling them. It will give you an idea of what they are struggling with, and also reminds you that growing up is hard.
What about Weekly Meetings with my spouse?
We won’t be getting into all the specifics here, but a weekly meeting with your spouse is always a good idea. It doesn’t have to be long, and it isn’t exactly about fun-loving stuff. The purpose of the weekly meeting with your spouse is to make sure you are both on the same page with what is coming up in the week.
Here are some items you may want to cover:
- Budget
- Calendar
- Kids’ activities
- How the kids are doing with homeschool
- Any prayer requests
- Big items that need to have approval from both spouses
My husband and I tend to chat on Sunday afternoons about all the things. It seems to be the best time, when we don’t have anything else going on, and can spend that time discussing what we have going on. It has been a big help to me over the past year, to make sure we are both on the same page.
Weekly meetings do not need to bring stress to your life. The purpose is actually the opposite. But, if you find that you are having trouble keeping up with a weekly meeting, move it to every other week, or once a month. But, taking that time to sit with your kids and really hash out what is going on in their lives and in their homeschool is time that is well spent.
Do you incorporate weekly meetings into your schedule with your kids? Why or why not?
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