Finishing Strong Month Two

Helloooo and welcome to month two of Finishing Strong, my attempt at finishing everything I’ve started before moving on to the next stage of my life. If you read my first post (A Homeschool Journey Coming to an End), you’ll know I am attempting to complete the following ten things:

• Finish homeschool well
• Finish my master’s degree in childhood and youth studies
• Finish my romance novel
• Finish my Mesopotamia Unit Study
• Finish my Mesopotamia Picture Book
• Update all of the 2000 blog posts on my website
• Add all of these updated blog posts to my Instagram
• Add all these updated blog posts to my Pinterest account
• Create a product to sell each month and open a shop on my website
• Declutter our cottage

Finishing Strong Month Two YouTube Video

Homeschooling Teens: GCSEs, Creativity, and Independence

In the video I’ve focused on Becs because she had a rather large issue with her dragon corset project. Becs wants to be a fashion designer and is completing as many creative courses as she can in with the goal of going to UAL (same uni as her sister). However, UAL is very difficult to get into, particularly their fashion school. Anyway, as the video will explain, she was struggling and problem solving for most of the month!

Abigail is pottering along with her GCSEs. She has a much stronger idea of what she wants to do with her future, which is very obvious in her peaceful demeanour. Abs is completing one set of exams per week for the three GCSEs she’s hoping to take this summer.

Learning as a Homeschool Mum: Study, Research, and Focus

Oh my days! This month has been all about the master’s as I have an assignment due in on Wednesday. It’s been heads down and study every spare minute.

Writing About Difficult Themes

Another of my homeschool mum projects is writing a romance novel that explores trauma and healing. Reaching emotionally heavy chapters has required intentional, careful writing.

It has also reminded me that:

• Love does not “fix” everything.
• Healing belongs to the individual.
• Growth takes time.

These are powerful themes to discuss with older teens in literature studies.

Decluttering Our Cottage

Books are my weakness. As a lifelong reader, I attach memories to pages. But decluttering over 100 books recently reminded me that keeping everything is not the same as treasuring what matters.

For homeschool families, physical space affects mental space.

Decluttering became a lesson in:

• Stewardship
• Emotional awareness
• Letting go
• Gratitude

And yes… sometimes grandparents add four more books back in.

Creating my Mesopotamian Unit

One major focus this year has been creating and refining my Mesopotamian unit studies.

This month my goal was to make learning about kings interesting so I turned leadership studies into a hands-on ‘pizza box presentation’ project. Students choose between historical leaders and design a visual storytelling display inside a pizza box.

Suddenly history becomes tactile, visual, and creative.

Blogging and Sharing as a Homeschool Mum

After years of blogging, I’ve been revisiting over 2,000 posts and updating them for clarity and SEO. Nearly 20,000 readers visited in just two months, which is humbling and motivating (an increase of 5000 on last January and February and an increase of 9000 on 2024 January and February! Yay me!!). Perhaps more importantly, it reminded me that consistent, faithful work compounds.

In addition to updating one post per day, I’ve also posted two posts per day to Instagram and two posts to two boards each on Pinterest.

Creating a Children’s Picture Book

Inspired by woodland adventures my children once created, I’ve begun drafting a picture book set in a fictional woodland called Lantern Hollow.

This project combines:

• Illustration practice
• Storytelling
• Observation of nature
• Character development

It’s been fun: art, creative writing, editing, and design all in one. What’s not to love?!

Finishing Strong Month Two: Summing Up

I am so impressed by myself! And yes, I know, I shouldn’t actually verbalise that. But I really am. It’s amazing how a list focuses my mind and my intentions each day. I have to admit, I’m working long hours to get everything done, but being busy suits me much better than not being busy.

Two months down, sixteen months to go. Bring. it. on.