On this sunny second last day of 2023, I’m thinking about the year that’s almost over. I ask myself: “Was it a good year?” and immediately a voice in my head shouts, “No! It was a very difficult year. It’s one I want to forget.”

But then a few good things come to mind. At the beginning of the year, I published my third unschooling book, The Unschool Challenge. I shared the joy of a child receiving an apprenticeship. I had a fabulous beach holiday with a young adult daughter in February. My husband Andy and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in June, and we went to Canberra for a few days to celebrate. And I met up with dear friend I rarely see. I had long and deep chats over coffee in cafes with people I love. I made a few new friends this year.

The longer I think about it, the more happy memories come to mind. Maybe it was an excellent year after all, despite the bad bits. Here’s a curious thought: could the bad bits have been good? Did I learn a lot about life, myself, and my family as I faced the big challenges that came my way uninvited? Did I gain a deeper understanding of what it means to love and to trust? Do I feel grateful and appreciative of everything that happened in 2023?

So, I’m wondering: do you examine the year that’s disappearing before the brand new one arrives? Do you do an end-of-year unschooling review?

Perhaps the following challenge will be helpful if you’d like to examine the outgoing year. It’s Challenge 75 from my book, The Unschool Challenge.

Write-an-End-of-Year Review

The changeover of the years is an excellent time to examine our lives, isn’t it? As Socrates said, An unexamined life is not worth living. Yes, we should think about the year that’s just ended. What did we learn? How did we grow? Is our family going in the right direction? Do we need to make some changes? And what will we take forward with us into the year that’s about to begin? What are our hopes?

We may have had a tough year, and we could be reluctant to examine the difficulties we faced. Maybe we just want to forget them and move on, saying, “I hope next year will be better!”

2020 was a tough year, wasn’t it? The first word that comes to mind when I think about it is ‘awful’. We lost our freedom and endured a lockdown. My husband and children either lost their jobs or had to work from home because of covid restrictions. I was lonely. “I hope it’s all over by Christmas,” I said. But it wasn’t. With another lockdown and vaccine mandates, 2021 was worse than 2020. But it wasn’t all bad, which was just as well because we can’t ignore a year or two of our lives and pretend they didn’t happen, can we?

Each year is important. Good or bad, each one represents 365 days of our kids’ lives and ours as well. Would we really wish a year away and do without that time with our family? Every moment we have together is precious.

The Challenge

1. Make a cup of coffee or tea, settle down with your journal, ready to review your year. Or gather together as a family to talk about the last twelve months. Or do both!
2. Think carefully about your year. Don’t take it at face value. Look between the obviously good bits for the positives hidden amongst the difficult days.

Here are some questions you could ponder:

• Did you have any magical moments with your kids?
• How did your kids grow and develop and delight you?
• Did you face any difficult times as a family? Did they bind you closer together?
• Did you explore anything new this year?
• Did you take another step along the unschooling path? Were you able to let go of anything that used to worry you?
• Did you change in any way? Did your kids?
• What enjoyable things did you do with your family? What made you laugh? What touched your hearts?

This challenge could have a rule: choose to be positive.

It would be so easy to get bogged down in the negatives, wouldn’t it? But it would be sad if our difficulties affected our joys. If you’d like to list your concerns, including any worries about your kids, can you turn them around until you find something positive to take their place?

I’ll never forget the difficulties of our covid-affected years, but I will also remember the good things buried amongst the frustrations and fears. Here are just a few of the positives:

We got to spend extra time together as a family.
My husband learnt new skills as he adapted to online learning.
I conquered my fear of Zoom, which opened up new possibilities.
We learnt a lot about viruses and how they work!
We thought deeply about the meaning of freedom.

So, was your unschooling year good? Did you have no trouble finding delights and achievements to add to your journal or your family conversation? Or did you have to go deeper until you could see that the year you experienced with your family was okay?

Wouldn’t it be good to end every year, not just the easy ones, feeling grateful for what we’ve experienced? Instead of wanting to forget the year completely, turning our backs on it with relief, we could compile a list of joyful memories and encouraging moments that will propel us into January with enthusiasm for another unschooling year with our families.

We should be thankful for every year, shouldn’t we? Easy or difficult, they all happen for a reason.

Photos

These journalling images are from Unsplash.

1. Lilartsy, 2. Prophsee Journals 3. Hannah Olinger 4. Prophsee Journals

So, what do you think?

Do you find it helpful to review each year as it comes to an end? What will you always remember about 2023? Are you planning to make any changes in 2024?

I have a few things that I’d like to change next year. A couple of them involve my blogs. I’ll have to write another post and share some of my thoughts. I’ll do that in the new year!

If you plan to ponder unschooling more deeply in 2024, why not take a look at my books? If you feel ready to dive into unschooling or just need ideas to put passion back into your unschooling days, take a look at The Unschool Challenge!

Happy New Unschooling Year!