Top 10 Homeschool Tips and Tricks

When homeschooling, part of the challenge is figuring out what works in your family and what doesn't.  Sometimes this takes a lot of time and trial and error and it is subject to change by the smallest of choices.  What worked last year - or even last week - might not cut it this week.  There are endless possibilities for a disruption in the schedule.  Anything you can think of that happens in your family can throw a wrench into the works.  Here are my top 10 ways I stay on track...

1.  Spend time with God each morning.  If you know me you know that I am not a morning person.  I grunt a lot until I have coffee and have opened my eyes.  But I have discovered that my attitude is much different if I don't do this.  I usually have less patience, am crabbier and am more self focused.  God first, check!

2.  Make the bed and get dressed.  For years, I have not diligently made my bed.  Or kept my room clean.  But I have discovered just in the last month that I can go into my sanctuary when I need a 5 minute respite or if my husband and I need to conference.  The kids know that this is a "do not disturb" zone.  It doesn't have the same tranquility if the room is a mess.

3.  Prepare lessons ahead of time.  I use the Homeschool Tracker software to plan out my lesson plans for the year.  Yes, the year.  That is what works for me.  If I only plan part of our year I will be worrying about when I have to plan the rest of the year.  That does not mean that I cannot reschedule or change my plans... I do this a lot!  Homeschool Tracker allows me to quickly and easily make changes to our agenda.  At the beginning of each week I print out the assignment calendar for each of the 3 oldest kids.  I call this their digital workbox system and it allows them to work through their assignments independently.  If they get stuck and I am unavailable, they use an "I need help" card which is backed with velcro and place it on the divider above my desk.  I can then go back when I am available and see who needed help first.  I am also able to designate certain assignments as "Work with Mom" boxes so they know that they need to wait for me.

4.  Schedule blocks of time with the beginning readers.  Anyone who has taught another to read knows that it takes much time and patience.  That is really hard to do when you keep getting interrupted.  So I have designated the first hour to working just with the non and learning to readers.  The older 3 still have a ton of stuff they can go onto without my help and I work with the youngest ones when I am still fresh and have the most patience.  This also works because, it makes the older ones really read the instructions to make sure that they need my help!

5.  Workboxes.  Sue Patrick has put together a workbox system that our family loves.  This has really helped me manage the kids day and it has helped them with planning and seeing what is expected of them.  The system basically works with a set of numbered drawer boxes that I would fill before the day with the work and materials needed to complete each assignment.  I said earlier that I have moved to "digital" boxes with the older ones.  This came out of the need of being able to "roadschool" and not have to take all of the drawer units with us!  The kids love it.  The younger 2 still use the physical boxes.  I do fill these with activities so they know exactly what is expected of them to complete the day.  Even my preschooler is part of our day as she sits down and works through her own set of "assignments."

6.  Meal planning.  Much stress is lifted when I have both lunch and dinner menus covered.  If I've done my job, I will have all ingredients defrosted and ready to go well ahead of the time I need them.  Leftovers always throw a tasty wrench into our lunch plans but I know that if there are no leftovers, I have a backup plan.

7.  Plan at least 2-3 days with no extracurricular activities.  In our fast paced world, we tend to over plan our days with sports, outside meetings and activities.  Nothing will fry me faster than knowing that I have to be somewhere at a certain time.  My stress level triples - no joke!  I try to plan all their activities on the same day so that I know this day is our activity and catch up day.  Any assignments that didn't get completed during the week is assigned on Thursdays along with group lesson time (currently art and geography) and computer learning (Times Attack and Spelling City).  Right now I have 3 days a week with nothing planned but school with the knowledge that every other week, one of our activities meets and also allows for doctor's appointments and such that can't always be planned on our activity days.

8.  Plan for the next day BEFORE I leave for today.  If I don't refill the youngest student's boxes before I leave today, I will inevitably get side-tracked with other tasks and forget (until 10:30 that night).  This also alerts me to anything special I may need for the following day such as copies or other items I need to complete.  Plus, if I put this off until the next morning I feel like I am already behind, which usually I am.

9.  Have each student clean up their desk/space before leaving for the day.  This helps them establish good work habits.  Plus, if I am going to do it, they are too! 

10.  Make time to share our successes and concerns with Dad.  When we include him in our day - what we are proud of and what we struggled with - it helps him as the leader in our home to know how to pray and help us.  The kids love showing him their completed assignments and hearing "great job!"  Also part of this is making time for one on one with my husband.  Part of our success in homeschooling is making sure our relationship is strong and growing. 

As I said at the beginning, this is what works for us now.  The top 10 from another family may look entirely different.  Find out what works for your homeschool and stick with it - don't change it if it's working!  Then figure out what's not working and find a possible solution.  If it doesn't work, try again.

A Day in the Life of Homeschooling

6:30 - Wake up.  Coffee served to me in bed by my hubby (you're awesome!).  Do my quiet time.  Kids start waking up and getting breakfast of cereal, toast or yogurt. 
7:45 - get up and make bed (I feel so much better when I do this!), get dressed and ready for school.  Kids are doing chores and bible studies until 8:30.
8:30 - start school.  The 3 oldest work independently while I work exclusively with the 2 youngest (kindergarten and pre-k).  This is a no-interruption time.  If the older ones get stuck, they move on to the next problem or assignment until I am available.
9:30 - Continue assignments.  This is when I help out and answer questions.
10:00ish - family devotion time with Dad.  We come together to discuss our family bible study, character attributes we are working on and pray for one another.  We also discuss the day's schedule and appointments.  Family hug!
10:30 - California history and continuing assignments.  We read aloud during this time then everyone gets back to work!
11:30 - Finish up with kindergartner.  Another "Mom Unavailable" time.
12:00 - Lunch
1:00 - Continue school until complete usually between 2 and 3pm.
After school - afternoon chores and then free time!  (For the kids, not me!)
6:00 or 7:00 - dinner
8:00 Bedtime for youngest
8:30 for oldest 3 - my dd can read in bed until 9pm.
9:00 Mom collapses!

Home... er, Roadschooling!

One benefit of homeschooling is the ability to go on field trips and experience what we are learning.  I am ashamed to say that I have not fully taken advantage of this opportunity until recently.  After taking a month long trip to see Grandpa back east and continuing our schooling, we figured out that it is possible to learn during our trips. 

Earlier this month we decided to head out to the California coast - Pt. Reyes to be exact.  Since we are studying California history we thought this would be a really great thing to go and do as a family.  And get an education as well!  Check out all the things we learned....

History....
 


At the Miwok Indian village - Pt. Reyes



Panning for gold

 

 Science.....



Studying earthquakes

 

Geology....

P.E.....

 

Recess....

Family Bonding 101....

 

 

 

 

 

Love my new PAL!

Well the actual name is Primary Arts of Language but I call it awesome!  This kindergarten program just came out last year and we are loving it!  My newest kindergartner can't wait to do school.  Just look at that smile!

When I first looked at this program published from Institute for Excellence in Writing, I thought, "Wow.  That seems to be a really fast paced program.  There is no way these young ones can be grasping all this info thrown at them."  Boy, was I wrong!  Not only is he getting it but he is excelling at it!  He grins from ear to ear and is so proud of himself (mommy and daddy are too!)

This program begins with poetry and mastering the alphebetic sounds (the first 2 weeks).  It incorporates file folder games, which by the way, my son absolutely adores.  The games are simple enough that once I have shown it to him, he is able to pretty much do them on his own.  But it's way more fun with mommy... or sister.... or brother for that matter!  It also has a writing component although I have tweaked this somewhat since he is learning cursive first.

The fact is that he is sounding out words, recognizing letters and sounds and growing and is enjoying what he is learning.  Isn't that what it's all about?