Gel Pen Learning

The first quarter of the homeschool year is officially behind you, and if you’re anything like me, you’re staring at piles of notebooks, half-finished unit studies, and a suspicious stack of “art” projects that could just be paper clutter in disguise. Congratulations! You’ve made it through the hardest stretch of the year. The routines are (maybe) built, the curriculum kinks are showing, and everyone’s true academic personality has revealed itself.

Now comes the First Quarter Reset. That moment between “we survived” and “oh no, the holidays are coming.” Quarter Two is what I lovingly refer to as The Holiday Quarter. This stretch includes Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and usually a Valentine’s sugar crash. If you’re Catholic, it also includes Advent, and Lent. It’s a season that feels short but you still have to fit in the full 45 days of instruction.

The trick is to reset, realign, and pace yourself so that you can enjoy the season without losing academic traction…or your mind.

Do a Quick Debrief Before You Collapse

You don’t need a full post-mortem, just a quick “what worked, and what didn’t.”

Ask yourself:

• What routines actually stuck?
• What caused the most friction?
• Which subjects dragged every. single. week.?
• Where did I overcommit?

You’re not judging yourself. You’re gathering data. This is your end-of-quarter operations review, homeschool edition. Write it down somewhere visible. Quarter 2 will be smoother if your remember these answers when you’re knee-deep in wrapping paper and sugar cookies.

Sort the Paper Trail

Before you shove everything in a drawer to “deal with later,” deal with it now.

Create three piles:

• Evidence: Work samples, reading logs, and project photos that back up the quarterly report. You don’t have to keep every piece of work, I usually keep 10% of the assignments.
• In Progress: Anything you’re carrying into the next quarter.
• Everything Else: Recycle it guilt-free.

This small act of sorting saves you hours of confusion later and it closes the mental loop between quarters. When you file that report and clear the desk, you’re telling your brain the quarter is done.

Audit the Systems

Now that the dust has settled, look at your actual day-to-day systems:

• How did the schedule hold up?
• Were mornings productive or chaotic?
• Did your recordkeeping method work, or did it make you resent paperwork even more?

Use the Keep/Tweek/Toss Method:

• Keep what flowed naturally.
• Tweak what caused friction.
• Toss what made you dread the day.

Small adjustments today prevent burnout tomorrow.

Reevaluate Curriculum Fit

Now that you’ve had a full quarter to test things, you know what curriculums were worth the hype and which ones you’d like to ceremonially set on fire.

Your Options:

• Supplement: Add videos, projects or explanations when the material is too rigid.
• Adjust: Reorder lessons or condense units to match your child’s pace.
• Replace: If it’s not working, drop it. The regulations require instruction, not loyalty. Just remember to inform the school of the changes.

Be honest: it’s not a failure to pivot. It’s a strategy.

Rest. Intentionally.

This part is the part most homeschooling parents skip, and it’s why they start Quarter Two exhausted. Ask me how I know.

Rest is not procrastination. You’re not a machine.

Take a week to decompress.

Let the kids free-read, bake, build, and play.

Catch up on your own backlog of “real life,” because I know you have one.

If you plan rest on purpose, it becomes part of the rhythm and not a guilty pleasure you sneak between obligations.

Prep the Holiday Quarter

The Holiday Quarter is sneaky. It feels short, but it’s full of interruptions. You’ll lose at least two full weeks to festivities, travel, or illness. Plus, New York doesn’t care about your calendar. The 80% rule still applies, which means that you can’t just replace your curriculum with holiday crafts and call it a day.

That’s why the reset plan needs to include strategy, not survival.

Here’s how I handle it:

November: The Bookwork Push

This is when I double down on structure. We do our regular schedule plus a few quiet “sneak-in” lessons each week. I schedule it so I don’t have to convince my kids to work extra, they just do it because it’s on the schedule. An extra math or grammar lesson snuck in here or there makes a big difference over time. Those small pockets of progress really build up quickly. When the holidays hit, I’m not panicking about falling behind because we quietly built up a cushion.

December: The Hands-On Month

I save all the projects, experiments, music, and creative work for December. That’s when the bookwork naturally slows down due to events, weather, and family plans. We still report instruction, because we are still in school and doing curriculum, but we’ve built in all the rich, hands-on learning that keeps the kids engaged through the season. Writing assignments, science experiments, larger books, more art and music, are all ways we carve out breathing room during the busy month.

January: Back to the Core

By January, the new-year energy is back, and so is our focus. I treat it like a second September: tighten routines, reestablish expectations, and clear out the mental cobwebs from the break.

The point isn’t to cram, but to plan with awareness. When you’re strategic about pacing, you can stay compliant and enjoy the season without burning yourself out.

Let’s Chat

What are your strategies to stay on top of the Holiday Quarter? Let me know in the comments below!