Alright, it’s time to face the ugly truth and admit what didn’t work last year?

You knew it was coming, but it still kind of hurts.

You’ve delved into the past year and found the positive moments. You celebrated your wins, embraced time savers, and taken a look at what activities you enjoyed.

But now it’s time to step back and discover what didn’t work.

As you embark on this next step, you need to remind yourself that you aren’t judging yourself, your family, or your homeschool. What you’re judging are your methods and results.

Just because you struggle with remembering appointments doesn’t make you a failure. It only means you haven’t found the best way for YOU to remember appointments. That system you tried may work great for someone else, it just doesn’t work for you.

What Didn’t Work?

Think back to a year ago and recall what goals you envisioned for the new year?

Probably, some happened and you wrote those down yesterday when we were documenting our wins for the year.

However, for most of us, there will be something, or a few things, that just didn’t work.

Perhaps you vowed to lose the baby weight but only managed to gain five pounds. Or maybe you wanted to gain control of your finances, but the transmission went out unexpectedly.

It happens to all of us. It’s life.

So let’s think of those things that were a flop even with the best of intentions. By identifying them, we can begin to see where it went wrong.

What Tasks or Activites Do You Dread?

Most homeschool moms have at least one or two tasks on their plate that they don’t enjoy, maybe more.

Perhaps you hate meal planning but know it makes the week go more smoothly.

Maybe you thought that math curriculum would be the answer to all your prayers, but cringe everytime you touch it.

Make a list of all those things you don’t enjoy. Now look them over and ask yourself if you can drop or outsource some of these things.

Are You Over-Committed?

Commitments seem to envelop us like rising water. You don’t notice it at first, but at some point, you barely have time to take a shower.

We want to do it all. We want to give it all to our children, but unfortunately, we can’t. It just isn’t possible.

We agree to teach at co-op because it’s only one day a week, but slowly realize how much of our time it begins to consume.

We volunteer to host the geography fair, only to find ourselves spending too much time answering questions when we should be cooking dinner.

What commitments have you taken on that just aren’t serving you well?

I often lament the fact that I’m an introvert who needs a significant amount of downtime, but it’s just who I am. This is where knowing yourself can become so important.

Everyone’s level of commitments will be different, and that’s okay. But be honest with yourself, and your family, about the number of commitments you feel comfortable with.

We’re Moms, Not Rock Stars

You are a human being on a quest for your dreams, though I know how easy it is to forget what those dreams are.

If you approach the evaluation with this in mind, you’ll be able to learn as much from your failures as you have from your successes.

Check out other posts in this series about setting thoughtful goals:

3 Easy Tips That Will Make Evaluating Past Goals a Breeze

Stop the Negativity and Reflect on the Positive First

Unachieved Goals Do Not Make You a Colossal Failure

Easily Create a Framework for an Awesome New Year

Amazing Results, Not Pointless Resolutions, To Have You Loving LIfe