End Strong! 8 End-of-the-Homeschool-Year Tasks

Most of our school work has been completed.

Motivation? Gone. The afternoons are hotter, the strawberries are ripe, and summer is so close we can taste it.

That leaves us homeschool moms in an in-between season. The school year isn’t quite done, but we’re feeling done.

Before you fully drift into summer mode, here are a few things that will make future-you very thankful for past-you.

Update Your Records

Let’s take care of the most tedious task first. Does your state require a portfolio at the end of the year? Do you need to submit your attendance records? Or do your home records need to be updated? Tackle it now while it’s still fresh in your mind.

Are you homeschooling a high schooler now? It’s really imperative you stay on top of record-keeping, if so. Ask me how I know! Make sure your transcripts and course descriptions are complete.

Does this part of homeschool overwhelm you? It does me! I worry that I have missed something or have done something wrong. It will feel so, so good when you can mark this off your list. I promise!

Last year (our first year with a high schooler), I took two mornings after school was over as “teacher workdays.” I went to the coffee shop down the street, paperwork & laptop in my bag, and finished the paperwork + a few other items on this list.

Purge & Sort!

File this one in the category of “Do what I say, not what I do.” I try to do this well every year, but I’m not always great at it. But if you do it now, the next school year it will be easier to know what you have AND find what you have!

We DO go through the schoolwork and make it a bit of a tradition. The music goes on, trash & recycle can get moved to their desks, and we get busy. It’s the books I have a harder time purging.

• Purge the paperwork! Save a few in a box for sentimentality if you want, recycle the rest.
• Gather up the reading books your kids have outgrown & pass them on to someone with younger kids. Or find a school teacher who would love to add them to their classroom library.
• Start photographing & pricing any homeschool materials you won’t use again.
• Don’t forget to declutter all of those digital freebies you collected this year! Any that you want to use again, make sure it’s well-labeled and easy to find. Delete the rest.

Evaluate Your School Year

Every year, I give my kiddos an end-of-the-year questionnaire (free!). They get to tell me what they liked & didn’t like about the year, their memories, what they are interested in for next year, etc. It’s always fun to hear what they really thought about the year and the things I chose.

I also take the time to really evaluate the curriculum for each kiddo, how I did as the homeschool mom, what went well (and not-so-well) in the home, etc. By taking the time to do this while it’s still fresh, I can begin to brainstorm what needs to change next year…and how!

Brainstorming is an important step in my evaluation. I don’t want to know “just the facts, ma’am” of the year; I want to take the information and do better next year.

Return Borrowed Items

That library book you keep renewing, the teacher’s guide you borrowed from your homeschool group, that novel or board game your friend lent you.

Now is the time to gather up all of those items and send them back to their proper homes. If you aren’t done with them yet, finish using them, of course! But make sure you know where the items are, and, importantly, put a return date on your calendar so you don’t forget.

Clean Up

This is both a favorite and a dreaded project. I love leaving our space in great shape for the summer. I dread doing it. The key for me is to make this one of the last things I do, at least waiting until we finish the purge & sort.

• Clean out backpacks
• Sort through desk drawers & baskets
• Wipe down workspaces & lights
• Straighten the bookshelves & pull out any books for summer
• Throw out dried-up markers, broken science supplies, etc.

Click here for a more detailed list, including tasks perfect for the kiddos.

Take Inventory

Did your markers run dry this year? Crayons down to the nub? Scrambling for lined paper? Slapping kids’ hands away from the last of your printer paper?

Make a list. And don’t lose the list! When school supply sales begin this summer, your list will be ready to grab and shop.

(I clip my list to the July page in my calendar. Or snap a photo with your phone. Or wherever you won’t lose it.)

Start Planning

Do you still have energy & motivation? Get started now if you do! Brain dump, get dates into next year’s calendar, and order any curriculum you’ve already decided on.

If your energy is running low (and it usually is for me), make a plan and then rest up. Make sure your plan has you starting early. If you take an hour or two each week this summer, you’ll easily be ready come fall.

Don’t let those memories slip away!

One of my homeschool regrets is not doing a better job of preserving the stories behind the photos.

• Grab your phone & delete the photos that aren’t very good, back up the remaining ones.
• Photograph it if you don’t want to keep the actual schoolwork you sorted out when you purged. You keep the memories but not the paper!
• Make a photobook of your year using the pictures you just sorted.
• Do you have a pre-teen or teenager? Let them learn basic movie editing skills by putting their photos into a movie.

What are your summer plans?

If you school during the summer, start planning if you haven’t already. What will your days look like? What days will you take off?

If you are taking off entirely (we do!), make a list of 5-10 books you could read aloud or listen to while on the way to the park + some movies (fun or educational) to enjoy. Put that list on the fridge, in your planner, or any other place you can easily find it. Maybe you get to the list; maybe you don’t. But it’s there if you want it.

If you enjoy crafts or other activities with your kids, make a list of supplies you’ll need. They’ll be ready if you want to buy as you go, or go ahead and purchase the supplies now so that you can be ready for summer.

Celebrate the end of the year!

Ice cream & books. That’s it. That’s what we do every year. Sometimes we eat lunch out instead of ice cream. Or the kids choose puzzles or magazines at the bookstore over books. But the basic tradition? It stays the same.

Depending on the year, we might also add in a trip to the IMAX or zoo. And the years I’m sliding into summer on fumes? This is still an easy tradition to do to celebrate the end of another year.