Goodbye 2020 – Hello 2021!

Sue Patterson

<<Listen to the Unschooling Mom2Mom Podcast here!>>

I’ve heard it said in multiple places that in 2020, each day took forever but the year went by quickly. It does seem to have been a bit of a blur!

But some good definitely came from it and most likely some lessons!

Like... don’t plan too far in advance!

So while most of our worlds were turned upside down, many of us were forced to pay more attention to the Present moment - and to the little humans we spent each day with.

And that’s a Good Thing.

It’s something we want to remember and bring with us into 2021.

Let's Look Back Together

Lots of ways exist to do “A Year in Review.” I like to start with the months and fill in the highlights I remember. For instance, I tripped in my new Christmas slippers and broke my shoulder last January.

But in February, we trekked up to Colorado for the Unschooling Now conference.

February and March bring the majority of our family birthdays - I’d plug that in next.

Work your way around for the whole year. As other things pop into your mind, make a note. Add them into their month, or just in notes below your calendar months.

This tool can help you:

Grab Your New Year's Guide Today!

This 12-page full-color guide will help walk you back through 2020 to see where the growth was.

Yes, 2020 was brutal!
But kids (and parents!) need to notice the good things that happened right alongside everything else.

Included:

Prompts for each month of 2020
Identifying favorites
Journaling pages for kids
Journaling pages for parents
Links to more free and low-cost resources

Moving around all the months of 2020 blows the dust off of these memories.

What about your unschooling path?
Did you do anything differently?
Did you overcome any obstacles?

What was happening?

What were you discovering?

What were the kids enjoying?

Any interesting conversations or topics?

Just to name a few general ideas that popped up in our world - some may have had a big impact on your day-to-day life:

Social justice conversations
Talks about protests - or participating in some.
We had our geography as Coronavirus traveled across our country
Listening to Gov. Cuomo explain how it was affecting New York - even though most of us didn’t live there!
Photos of vacant streets and closed businesses
But also singing and music from balconies in Italy
Birthday party pivots (drive-by celebrators and other fun ways to share in the moment)
Figuring out how to use zoom - for work, for classes, for family get togethers.
Virtual field trips and story times.
Elections, voting, learning details about the counties of Pennsylvania and Arizona!
Holidays looked different this year too

Maybe this was your first year to homeschool and it wasn’t long before you saw that unschooling was a logical option for your family.

Or maybe you’ve been unschooling a while and discovered that the lock-down gave your introverted self an opportunity to take a deep breath.

Maybe you started a hobby or cleaned a closet or found an app to get you walking more.

Or maybe you learned how to connect better with people online.

Yes, we had lots of disappointment this year - for some of us, tragic losses.

But we survived!

And that’s the message to remind your kids - humans are resilient. Life throws curveballs. We can find ways to make things tolerable - maybe even enjoyable.

Many parents did this all year long. Their kids will look back and say,

“Yeah, 2020. Covid. But my parents made our home cozy and pretty stress-free. Yes, a lot of togetherness. But it was ok.”

We parents may remember the squabbles and the cabin fever - but time heals all wounds. It certainly affects our memory. That may not be how your kids remember it at all!

Let them look back at their photos and the calendar months to remember how things went. What were some of their favorites?