Asalamu’alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu ladies, how are you? Todays post is about something super important in the homeschool planning process; evaluating our home atmosphere (I’ll get to why in a minute). Hence, I’m posting this out in the evening because it’s one of those things you need a little quiet time to think about.

See, by this time of the year, it’s likely you’ve been homeschooling for several months; looking forward to summer break, or might be continuing on if you year round homeschool. But for the most part, even with breaks in between to rest and recharge, by this time most of us are feeling the fatigue!

The demands of family life, juggling our kids education, perhaps nursing newborns, managing the home, and the day in day out nurturing of our children is a mountainous task, Alhamdulillah. And a beautiful task, at that.

And so, sometimes we’re so focused on the ‘getting things done’, and being content with ticking off to-do lists and crossing out completed curricula, that we can fall short in perhaps addressing the bigger, more important issues within our homes.

So much so, that the atmosphere in our home can begin to feel compromised.

But stop for a moment and think here sis. Our home atmosphere, is in essence the way our home feels to those living in it.

It’s our kids feeling at ease to spill out the Legos, being excited to spontaneously bake a cake, talking to us after we finish Qur’an in the early hours, elaborating their feelings in an Islamic studies lesson with excitement and looking forward to starting their day.

It’s us as mothers knowing we have a lot on, but carrying out our day to day with a positive attitude, taking out quiet time if we need to, learning not only alongside the kids but in our own time too, because our home atmosphere encourages resting and striving. And even when we’ve had a challenging day, the home atmosphere encourages us to look for solutions.

On the other hand, our home atmosphere might feel tense and cold. The kids might decide they’d rather not play even after finishing up core work because it might mama stressed. You might wake up feeling flustered daily, and so the kids too wake up feeling uneasy. And even though you might get through your hifdh, English and Math there mightn’t be much interaction, laughter or warmth scattered in.

And so it’s easy to see why we need to look deeper into our homes, to really reflect accurately on our homeschools.

Especially when we’re living in a day in age where devices can become addictive, we struggle with staying present because of likes and comments and overall there’s just a whole lot going on in the outside world which is so easy to access in our four walls.

But we know that homeschooling isn’t just us taking the role of becoming our child’s primary educator; it’s so much more.

So we as mothers continue to exert ourselves because…
we want to raise our family to know and fulfil their purpose to worship Allah alone.
we want to raise our children upon the Qur’an and sunnah.
to strive in our day to day lives so we can draw closer to Allah.
foster connections with our children so they can grow up to be confident and competent individuals.
nurture of children so they have a beautiful firm foundation to their lives.
safeguard our children from harmful influences and protect them.

We have so much we want to achieve, in sha Allah.

So when it comes to making improvements, we might start with the things that seem to be the obvious choice. Curricula, approaches, routines. But all of these things are secondary. Evaluating our homelife comes first because homeschooling is a part of homelife, not the other way round.

And the atmosphere of our homeschool stems from the ambience of our home.

They’re both interlinked, there’s no separating the two, and both parts influence and overlap every day.

So with so much in mind, the day to day doing of things, we don’t want to fall into overlooking the ‘tiny crack’s. And for those tiny cracks to turn into crevices. Instead, we want to be on the lookout for things we need to work on within our homes, so not only our homeschool thrives, our family life as a whole benefits in sha Allah.

So if you’ve been feeling a little under pressure lately, feel like things aren’t quite the same, or can sense a little colder tones in your home, ask yourself questions such as…

How is my emaan?

How are our relationships doing? Are they blossoming or do they feel strained?

Do I feel at ease within my home or am I constantly stressed and flustered?

Do the kids feel enthusiastic to learn or are they reluctant, and show a negative attitude?

Do I take moments in the day to connect with my child/ren beyond the lessons?

Do I look forward to homeschooling?

Do I really embrace flexibility or does it throw me off?

Do the kids feel they can approach me, or do they feel like they’re walking on eggshells?

Do I feel more responsive or reactive as a parent?

How is my time spent when my children aren’t around? (And is this beneficial).

Let these prompts encourage you to dig a little deeper (I’ve created a free printable HERE you print to make it easier). And when you do, work on solutions in areas you feel need improving. Be that developing your own connection with the Qur’an even further, seeking beneficial knowledge, taking time out in-between lessons to hug, play and laugh with your children.

Because though it might seems evaluating your homeschool means researching more and opening all the tabs.
It’s better to start at keeping tabs on our home in sha Allah.

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