Fresh Start Energy

hello , hello . Are you feeling the pull of a fresh start , but aren't quite sure how to channel that energy into your homeschooling ? Well , in today's episode , we'll explore how to embrace the new year with intention , ease and joy . And happy new year . To those of you listening in real time . As I'm recording this , it's the early days of 2025 .

Time for a fresh start , I'd say . I've found , though , that in January , at the start of a new calendar year , we're often low in homeschooling energy , am I right ? The holidays are over and we have a lot of shoulds rolling around in our heads , but not a lot of follow through .

That was me , anyway , and so today , I want to share with you three strategies for a little shift in perspective . After all , just a little shift might be just the thing to embrace that fresh start energy , and that's where we want to begin with ourselves , with us , the homeschooling parent .

Where can we find the spark of inspiration for homeschooling again after the holidays , for homeschooling again after the holidays . Let's dive into fresh start energy and how to make the start of this new year one of connection , connecting with ourselves first , and finding what motivates us so that we can return to engaging learning experiences with our children .

Engaging learning experiences with our children there's definitely a fresh start energy this time of year , but I , for one , often felt guilty because I could feel the energy , but it didn't translate into motivation for doing homeschooling lessons , and what I found for myself and have discovered from coaching hundreds of homeschooling parents maybe thousands at this point ,

coaching parents inside my Inspired at Home community is that , in order to get our mojo back for homeschooling lessons

, we have to start with finding sparks of joy inside ourselves first . That's why , every year inside the Inspired at Home community , our focus is a masterclass called Gathering the Light . It's the place to begin . You can find out more about the community in the show notes if you're interested . Here in this episode , though , I want to share some new strategies

for harnessing that fresh start energy . These are new to me anyway , and my hope is that one or more of these will inspire you . Be sure to hop on over to the show notes for this episode , because that's where you'll find links for more details on each of these ideas , and you can find those show notes at artofhomeschoolingcom slash episode 212 .

Okay , here we go . Three strategies to garner that fresh start energy . Number one create a becoming board . Recently I saw a post from Karin Norden , a coach in mindset and behavior change , where she talked about creating a becoming board rather than a vision board .

I don't know about you , but I've made many a vision board in the past , hung it on the wall or near my desk somewhere and then kind of forgotten about it .

Karin describes a becoming board as a collection of images that are just tiny snapshots of what you want your daily life to look like , and as the days go on , you can replace the images you've collected with pictures from your real life to show your brain that your ideas and dreams are actually coming to fruition . This is very motivating , it seems .

I'll link to Karin's Instagram post about this , where you can request the link to her private podcast episode to hear more about the idea of creating a becoming

board . We're going to try this inside the Inspired at Home community this month and in fact , one of the members of Inspired at Home , sent me a link to Karin's post just a few days after I had seen it Love this spin on a vision board . She wrote those synchronicities are so much fun . And thanks , justine .

Okay , strategy number two start with a clean slate . Now I know this might seem obvious . It's a new year , you can start with a clean slate , but here are some might seem obvious , it's a new year , you can start with a clean slate , but here are some specifics on actually how to do this . The idea here is to literally get a fresh start .

And how do you do that ? Think about taking all of your to-dos and putting them on an archive list , and then you simply have a clean slate . Ask yourself a few questions here , like what do you want your days to look like ? Then you can create a simple morning routine and an evening routine that will get you there . I like to start with mornings .

I think that's the best . We have a lot of energy first thing in the morning , and so it's the most achievable way to begin a new routine . My simplest morning routine is the acronym ME , m-e , which stands for meditate and exercise . When life gets really busy , this is literally my morning routine .

I wake up to a latte that my husband , brian , makes for me I know so sweet . And then I do a short guided meditation from a free app called Insight Timer and I do a little bit of cardio or yoga , sometimes only for 15 minutes , but you can choose whatever you want . You can make up acronyms . You can borrow this one .

I like acronyms because they help me remember what I decided to do , which we sometimes need when trying this strategy of starting with a clean slate . Be sure to keep my mantra in mind scale back until it works and then build back up from there . Yes , you have permission to simplify Start small and build from there .

Find out what works for you , especially to get your day started off in an uplifting way . Check out the

YouTube video from Laura at how to GIST , which stands for Get your Shizzle Together . I've edited that get your shizzle together . I've edited that and I'll put a link to it . The video is called how to Transform your Life and it's about crafting new beginnings for yourself . I'll link to that in the show notes as well . All right .

Strategy number three create a plus minus next journal or chart . I love this because it is so incredibly simple , easy to do in a short amount of time .

This can be as simple as just a chart that you draw on a piece of paper that has three columns and then you label the top of each column Add , delete , keep doing or , as Ann Laurie at Nest Labs describes , label the columns plus , minus and next , represented by a plus sign , a minus sign and an arrow pointing forward .

You can then give yourself 10 minutes or so to just jot down ideas for things that you want to first of all start doing this month , this year , this week however you want to look at it and then the next column . The second column is things you want to stop doing and the last column is things you want to keep doing or move forward .

You might begin this process by asking yourself a few questions like how did my year go ? If you're looking at the year as a whole , how did last year go for me ? What do I want to start doing in the new year ? What do I want to let go of and what do I want to keep doing or move forward with ?

I just love this idea because it's so simple and super enlightening . I'll link to Ann Laurie's website , ness Labs , in the show notes . She creates science-based content to answer the question how can we make the most of our lives without sacrificing our mental health ?

I love that question and she has a new book coming out in March that looks wonderful , called Tiny Experiments how to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World . I've already pre-ordered it and I'm really looking forward to reading this book . Here's a wonderful quote from the first chapter of the book . Here we go , quote . Uncertainty has so much to teach us .

By having the courage to leave the shore , we trade the illusion of control for the possibility of discovery . Rather than resisting uncertainty , we befriend it . The first step is to kindle your curiosity to imagine new possibilities end quote . That's what I'll be working on in the new year befriending uncertainty

and embracing curiosity , creativity and connection . What about you ? What are you going to start , stop and keep doing ? There you have it three strategies to harness the fresh start energy of this time of year in a holistic and gentle way . This transition time of the post-holidays shift can be both exciting and overwhelming .

As a homeschooling parent , I know from experience . I actually think it's harder to get going this time of year than it is to start in the fall at the beginning of a new homeschooling year , so I'm here to remind you to start with gentle rhythms and rituals .

I hope these three strategies help you feel more grounded and connected to your inner spark so that you can begin thinking of reestablishing rhythms and routines with your children . Maybe you just start by lighting a candle and singing a song or reciting a poem with them . That's enough for now . Small steps can create a sense of accomplishment without adding pressure .

I often refer to this as layering in , and if you're interested to hear more about this , check out episode 167 here on the podcast called Layering in the Learning . But for now , I invite you to embrace winter's energy for inner growth winter's energy for inner growth .

After all , if we want to emphasize connection , balance and even seasonal awareness , we need to allow the time to reconnect with and kindle our own light . Thank you so much for being here today . You'll find the show notes for this episode at wwwtofhomeschoolingcom , slash episode 212 .

And if you want to join me and a wonderfully warm and welcoming community of homeschoolers , we'd love to see you inside , inspired at Home . Bye for now . That's all for today , my friend , but here's what I want you to remember Rather than perfection , let's focus on connection .

Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you on the next episode of the Art of Homeschooling podcast .