A Fall Homeschool Assessment, Then and Now: What I’d Ask 10 Years Later

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October is an unusual time for a fall homeschool assessment. Typically, we review our homeschool at the end of April, when the year is nearly done, and a homeschool conference is around the corner. Otherwise, we do it in early August, just before the new year begins. But October? Aren’t we in the thick of the year?

Here’s why I like it. By October, we’ve spent a few weeks living our plans and ironing out the multitasking wrinkles. As a result, we can finally see what’s actually working and what only looked good on paper. And if you’re also feeling the mid-fall slump, you’re in good company. Here are 7 simple, real reasons you lose motivation in October.

Why I’m Revisiting My 2016 Fall Homeschool Assessment

I wrote the list below during my own fall homeschool assessment in October 2016. Reading it now, though, I notice something. Every single item is about curriculum: better math manipulatives, a new science kit, more Latin. Those were good tweaks, and some of them helped. But after 20+ years of homeschooling and coaching hundreds of homeschool moms, I’d ask very different questions today.

Recently, for example, a mom in her seventh year of homeschooling told me, “I can’t do it all and be it all anymore. I feel like we’re all bored and sick of each other.” She thought the answer was a better discipline approach. That was a symptom, though. The root was that she was trying to be teacher, counselor, mentor, and caretaker all by herself, with no one to share the load.

That’s the difference between a surface-level fall homeschool assessment and an effective one. So in this post you’ll find both: my original 2016 list, and then the deeper questions I’d ask now.

Start With a Quick Overwhelm Check

Before you read on, it helps to know what’s really weighing you down. Is it the curriculum, your originally scheduled plan, or something deeper? I’ve created a free quiz to help you get clearer. It takes just a few minutes, and your results will show you where to focus first.

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My 2016 Fall Homeschool Assessment: 9 Curriculum Lessons

Here’s what I wrote ten years ago.

1. Change it up every day

Writing projects, for example, can range from purchased curricula that teach essays and research papers to free-writing stories or poetry exercises. Really, the possibilities are endless. And when those start to feel ordinary, we can change those up too.

2. Focus on math mastery, not the workbook

Instead of racing to finish the workbook, we’ll use manipulatives, with or without the math program, along with Khan Academy videos or Pinterest activities. I’ll use whatever gets multiplying and dividing fractions firmly into my kiddos’ minds. The same goes for the concept of area and multiplication facts. Also, my fall homeschool assessment reminded me to track down Explore Math Art by C. Ford Brunetto, which is a creative way to work with fractions.

3. Don’t spend endless hours on each subject

Switching subjects at short intervals can quell boredom, a concept Charlotte Mason used. However, when the kids are in a groove, let them flow with that too. If you’re curious how this fits our broader approach, here’s what the classical homeschool method looks like in our home.

4. Keep up second-language study

First, our fall homeschool assessment showed we need to reinforce the Latin concepts we learned last year. Latin is a challenging language. In fact, three years in, I’m only now understanding what declining a noun means. Since Latin isn’t spoken, though, there’s no need to worry about pronunciation.

French, on the other hand, is spoken in France, Quebec, and the local French school, so it requires a certain savoir-faire with pronunciation. For that reason, we’ll keep exposing ourselves to French at home through the Écoutez Parlez program. Here’s more on teaching French in a child-led way.

5. Protect project time

Reading Lori McWilliams Pickert’s Project-Based Homeschooling reminds me of many books on unschooling, but with a schedule. (Confused face inserted here.)

The idea is to let the kids plan activities around their interests and then pursue them regularly. As a bonus, project time motivates them to finish their scheduled work, because once it’s done, they get to dive in. That might mean researching lemurs, redecorating their study space, writing resumes or cooking blogs, writing stories, or planning Thanksgiving dinner.

Of course, there are certain things I want my children exposed to. Still, kids learn to solve problems, and learn fastest, when they’re pursuing their own interests. To try it yourself, start with how to facilitate child-led learning in your homeschool.

6. Teach notetaking

We do our history and science reading together, and taking notes encourages listening. After all, they’ll need this skill from post-secondary school all the way to marriage. It also helps that we turn what we’ve learned into a Jeopardy game every Friday. Because they win Skittles instead of cash, and that means they’re motivated.

7. Discuss current events daily

Every fall homeschool assessment I do includes current events, so each day we’ll open Twitter or Maclean’s, The Economist, or Newsweek. Then we’ll ask them to highlight the who, what, where, when, and why and discuss the main point of the article. As a result, this may also be one of the best ways to build vocabulary.

8. Explore obstetrics (at the request of two kiddos)

Yes, really. We’ll dig deep into this area of physiology. I’m not talking about the birds-and-bees discussion, though. We seem to have that one routinely, and in the oddest places, like beside a parking meter on our town’s main street. Instead, I mean 1st- to 4th-degree tears, prenatal development, and footling breech rescues. Their dad has delivered enough babies to stir up plenty of curiosity.

(And fun little side note, that kiddo that compelled this rabbit trail is planning to do her MCATS next summer–isn’t that cool? Also, it wasn’t a straight line for her chosen path to be clear.)

9. Try Forces & Motion and a Kooky Kitchen discovery box

One of my kiddos loves mixing stuff. In this house, cleaning products are for more than cleaning! Since we’ve already used the National Geographic Chemistry box set, it’s time for something new. Next up are Tom DeRosa’s Forces & Motion and the Kooky Kitchen discovery box.

NOTE: Do not allow your kids to make slime. Two of my girls did that, clogged a lot of sinks, despite creating an online international business via Instagram in their spare time. ps they didn’t make a lot of money, but they sure had fun. And one of them is still making slime in her spare time. Rabbit trails from 8 typically follow you throughout life.

What That Fall Homeschool Assessment Missed

Looking back, I’m still proud of that list because I wanted to make things work better. You want that too? I mean, if you’re putting all this effort in, you definitely want it to be useful, right?

Even then, I knew that books are the minimum for a well-rounded education and shouldn’t get in the way of learning. (If you’d like to explore more on that idea, read a perspective shift on the art and science of an education.)

But notice what’s missing. There’s nothing about me. Nothing about whether I was tired, whether I had support, or whether I still remembered why we started. In other words, I assessed the curriculum and skipped the person behind the homeschool.

And that’s the part I now see trip up so many moms. You can read all the books, go to all the conferences, and buy all the right curriculum, and still question whether you’re doing enough. That’s not because you’re doing something wrong. It’s because the curriculum was never the real problem.

How to Do Your Own Fall Homeschool Assessment Now

So here’s what I’d ask today. Grab a coffee, and work through both layers.

Layer 1: the surface. Start with the practical questions. What subject keeps getting pushed to tomorrow? When do your kids light up? Are you finishing the book, or trying to master the material?

Layer 2: the roots. Then go one level deeper. This is where most of us never look:

• Vision: Can you still name why you started homeschooling? Or has it become foggy?
• Roles: How many hats are you wearing in your days and who is supporting you?
• Boundaries: Where does your energy leak away each day?
• Village: Who outside your house actually knows how you’re doing?

If Layer 1 is full of answers and Layer 2 makes your stomach drop, pay attention to that. In my experience, that’s where a fall reset can be super useful.

It also helps to compare where you are now with where you were last spring. I walk through that in 5 useful things I learned after I assessed my last homeschool year. And if you’re teaching little ones, this grade 1 homeschool case study for a six-year-old shows what thoughtful planning looks like at that age.

When Your Fall Homeschool Assessment Points to the Roots

Those questions can show you where you’re stuck. Seeing clearly from the inside is hard, though. When you’re living it every day, the symptoms look like the problem, and the roots stay hidden.

That’s why an outside perspective changes everything. Imagine talking it through with someone who has no curriculum to sell and no method to push. She has walked alongside moms in every homeschool approach, from classical to unschooling, from first year to final year of high school. Someone who listens without judgment, asks the questions you haven’t thought to ask, and helps you arrive at your own answers.

One mom described her own assessment this way: “There were some real slap in the face moments… I’ve lost myself to the day-to-day and no one, including myself, is thriving.”

If that hits close to home, you may need more than a new math program. Sometimes the first step is stepping back, and here’s how to practically deschool your homeschool. Other times, you need someone to walk through it with you.

That’s why I’m hosting The Homeschool Reset on Friday, October 30. It’s a small working session with no more than 8 moms. You’ll use the Root Journal to find what’s really driving your overwhelm and the Rhythm Map to build structure that is malleable to your own life. Then you’ll leave with a personalized 30-day reset plan and a village of moms who get it.

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What I’d Tell My 2016 Self

If I could sit down with the mom who wrote my fall assessment list ten years ago, I wouldn’t tell her to toss the math manipulatives or the Latin. Those mattered. Instead, I’d tell her to put herself on the list too. Ask how she was doing, not just how the curriculum was working.

So as you finish your own fall homeschool assessment, start small. Pick one practical change from Layer 1, like a new math approach or a shorter lesson. Then pick one question from Layer 2 to keep asking yourself this month, like how am I really doing?

Other Ways to Act on Your Fall Homeschool Assessment

Would you rather plan on your own? Then the 2026 Homeschool Mom Vision Planner will help you reclaim your vision and map out your next steps at your own pace.

And if you’d like someone in your corner, that’s exactly what one-on-one homeschool coaching is for. I help homeschool moms trust themselves, edit expectations, and make intentional choices that lead to a more confident, connected, and present homeschool life.

Originally published October 2016. Updated October 2026.