There is no such thing as a perfect homeschool schedule. I wish I could wave a magic wand and hook you up with a smooth plan guaranteed to work for you.

The great news? you can take the schedules that work for me and other homeschoolers and give them a test spin.

Keep what works, and use the rest for paper airplane flying contests.

Tips

Keep your day as simple as possible
Explain the schedule to your family before running with it
Give a schedule a few days to settle, Some days run smoother than others no matter what you have down on paper

homeschool schedule — By A Better Way to Homeschool

Activities for Preschool and Under

You just want 20 minutes of quiet… so you can get things done.

Kids are energy in motion.

bouncing
leaping
expoloring
licking
singing
smiling
shrieking
skipping
loving
crawling
hugging
building
dancing
tapping
twirling
climbing
sneaking
GROWING
rolling
tumbling
discovering
learning
spilling
slipping
snapping
questioning
hopping

Energy. No wonder you’re tired!

Mom, there are simple to use easy to put together activities to help your kids learn to manage their time, make their beds, write their name, and even bounce some energy away.

And then there’s the Activity Room.

The Activity Room enrollment is closing tomorrow!

Take a moment to imagine your parenting 3 months from now…

Imagine that you wake up each day feeling excited, and knowing you’ll create a meaningful childhood experience THAT day.

You feel in control because you know not only when those moments of chaos happen, but what you can do when they do happen.

You’ve come to appreciate what activities can do for your parenting and your child — you feel more confident that you’re the parent you’ve always wanted to be.

You can do this!

Join The Activity Room and you’ll have everything you need to stay consistent, stay motivated and stay on track to get you to that point!

Here’s the ROOM promise: when you join The Activity Room and make use of the resources, you WILL have a parenting transformation.

You’ll create special moments with your kids, making them have a childhood to remember, and have a lot of fun every day.
You’ll be happily playing with your kids or freely getting dinner on the table.
And you’ll do so in a way that is easy and realistic.
You don’t have to be super creative or a Pinterest Mom to connect with your child.

That’s why so many of the members recommend The Activity Room to their friends.

If you’re curious, I encourage you to just try it.

Doors are closing soon and won’t re-open to the public again until September, so if you’ve been thinking about joining, now’s the time to take action.

Click here to join The Activity Room.

Yes, the kids will still bounce, laugh, skip, hop and roll but the ROOM will help you guide them through their day with a bit more purpose for them and a little more rest for you!

Make Toys from Sticks, Stones, and Natural Materials

Just because you’re stuck at home due to injury, illness, or global pandemic, doesn’t mean you can’t create a magical playtime for you and your kids.

While we all live in different climates and have different types of raw materials near our back doors, we can use what we find to make some fun natural toys.

Browse for a few ideas.
Go outside and gather your materials with your kids
Let them lead

I bet you’ll make something cool, but I’m also guessing you’re gonna make something else: MEMORIES!

toys from nature — Learn more from The Best Ideas for Kids

Make a SIMPLE draw string bag with your kids to store these NATURAL WONDERS!

Learning at Home: Everything you need in one place

Don’t stress about Screen Time

Building Trust with Your Child

When your child trusts you with their heart…

My youngest son is 14.
If you want to see his gorgeous face, just look up the phrase “ball of energy” in the dictionary. That’s his picture.

This boy spent his life surrounded by his four older brothers, but this year caught him off guard.

All 3 of the other brothers at home leave the house each day to go to school at the local college.

This shocked him like a stun gun the first day as he looked around a the VERY silent house and whispered, “I’m gonna die of boredom this year.”

I saw it clearly too.

” Buddy, we have a very unique gift from the Lord this year. It’s just you and me all day. Yes, academics are important, but we’re going to do school differently this year.

We’re going to enjoy our time together and strengthen our relationship. Especially since you’re 14, and mom is weird.”

Then I stripped back school to the bear minimum.

We do math every day, but not very long.
He is writing a handful of gut wrenching stories/ so I give him time to write most days.
Then he alternates between: history 2 days and science 2 days.

For history, I designed a power point/slide outline with my son to be his year long project. If you’ve seen me share, he’s transformed a black and white list into a beautiful presentation. I think he’s made it from Mesopotamia to Rome.

Science. We were doing health until the day he trusted me with his heart in the rain.

I think it was in January that I really saw myself in the mirror and realize I need to lose about 30 pounds.

My body is beginning to hurt and I know if I don’t get back into shape I will fall apart.

So I declared, “rain or shine, I need to you help me walk every day. Our first goal will be 2 miles a day for a week, then 3, then 4. But I need to get to 5.”

He said, “OK.”

Yes, we’ve been soaked a few times…
I even had to challenge his “man-hood” by requiring an umbrella twice. lol.

Phew! He’s LOVED the time together.

The infamous, “I think I want to be a cardio thoracic surgeon” walk, happened after a few WEEKS of getting closer to the 4 mile mark.

We had spent hours and hours each day, walking, picking up “treasures” on our beach (gemstones, pretty rocks, shells and sand dollars and just chatting about stuff.

I began weaving in some academic discussions while we adventured.
We’d pick a road and talk about academic things for the duration of that path: grammar things, history, health.

And out of that time together… he trusted me with his dream.

We were at least 3 miles into a walk when he said, “Please don’t laugh. I think I really know what I want to be when I grow up…”

💞My heart skipped.
He was trusting me with something.
I could feel it.

This didn’t just happen.
This was the fruit of all that time in the street, in the rain, on our walks chatting that unlocked his heart.

When I show people the level of work he’s put into his DIY heart unit, their mouth drops open.
This is a labor of love project for sure.
It looks like he’s an academic genius, absolutely.

What it really is?

Evidence that he feels loved and “seen”.

It all began because I decided to create a Huckleberry Finn style year of wandering,
I saw I was over weight and we just hung out and talked without distraction.

👩‍🦰Mama, give yourself permission to push traditional academics aside.

Walk beside your kids and sing in the rain, skip stones, catch butterflies, or go fishing at the pond at the far end of your property.

Dedicate a little bit of that time to chat about some “topic for learning” and simply enjoy their company.

Who knows.
Maybe, just maybe… like my son, your kids will trust you with their dream.

Learning at Home: Everything you need in one place

Teaching at Home QUICK START Part One (absolutely free)Download

Hi there,

This is a living resource. This time in history is unique and I do not remember anything like it in my own life.

Fridge reminder is the free download **at the top of this page!**

As someone who was tricked into homeschooling her kids, I can imagine how overwhelming it is for millions of families across the United States.

So I want to help.

Actually, my husband, Craig Sayler, encouraged me to put together something to help families. As usual, it was a GREAT idea.

Grab your 7 week SIMPLIFIED Plan for Teaching your kids at home

Teaching at Home QUICK START Part One (absolutely free)Download

Preschool page:6, K-2: page 7, 3-5: page 8, 6-8th: Page 9, High School: Page 10 in the FREE download.

Bookmark this document so you can find it
Like and follow A Better Way to Homeschool (Temporarily: You can unfollow after kids go back to school or the second you don’t think I’m helping you.

Do me a favor?

Don’t judge my spelling or grammar. I am building these resources together as fast as possible to help as many families as possible and i KNOW I will make more mistakes than usual. Deal?

Share this FB Post with anyone you feel can use this help: Just click and it should open https://www.facebook.com/ABetterWayToHomeschool/posts/4162016910482441

You’ve got this!

Simple plan

Plan your daily routine
Assign a few chores
Schedule a time for learning
Keep track of what you’re doing
KEEP IT AS SIMPLE as POSSIBLE

Yes, you can share this video!

Bookmark This Page. If you decide to continue teaching at home, come back here for Part Two

Like and Follow A Better Way to Homeschool on Facebook. I have new, free, and amazing resources for homeschooler and parents at home added daily!

Teaching at Home EXTENSIONS Part Two Download

Some Light-hearted Humor

I purposely created the Quick Start Part One without Religious material. If you’d like to add a simple FREE Bible lesson that works for all ages, grab this.

Parenting in Times of Crisis turned into MAGICAL Memories

Ready to Use Homeschool Schedules

Looking for Fun Indoor Games and Activities

Family Games that Count as LEARNING

Fort Building

10 Things You Need to Make an Epic Living Room Forts with your kids

OUTDOOR Play is a MUST!!

97+ Ideas for Making Math FUN

Math with a Deck of Cards

Amazing Handwriting Worksheets Teach Life Skills

Gifts from Heaven: Gifts and Letters from the Past

These are perfect for time capsule writing

DIY Teaching Kids to Cook Kit

PRINT THIS FREE REMINDER.

This post comes with a free printable reminder list to help keep your heart focused on the heart of our kids. I always have the hardest staying focused. This printable simplifies it!

Here is a sneak preview…

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE PRINTABLE

Download the checklist. You’ll get the printable, plus join 9,000+ homeschool moms who receive my weekly parenting tips and ideas!
Print. Any paper will do the trick, but card stock would be ideal.
Place it on your refrigerator as a helpful reminder.

Math with a Deck of Cards

Quick round up of all the math games I can find that you can play with a deck of cards.

Total of 10

Lay out 20 cards on the table (leave out face cards or change them to equal 0, while aces equal 1). Kids remove sets of cards that add up to 10, ultimately trying to remove all the cards from the table. It’s harder than you think! Learn more at First Grade Round up

Nifty 50

This game is great to develop logical thinking and problem solving, review two digit addition and subtraction regrouping, and is fun! The object is to come up with a math equation that has a sum or difference closest to the number 50. First player to five points is the winner! Learn more at Scholastic

21

This game is a simplified version played in casinos, with no gambling involved. Object: be the closest to 21 without going over! Learn more at Scholastic

Place Value War

Turn over 1, 2 or 3 cards. Place
them in any position to make the highest
number possible. The higher number wins all
of the cards for that turn. Learn more at Newark Schools

Once through the deck

Shuffle the deck and place it face down on the table in front of you. Flip the cards face up, one at a time.

For each card, say out loud the sum (or product) of that number plus (or times) the number you want to practice. Don’t say the whole equation, just the answer.

Go through the deck as fast as you can. Learn more at Denise Gaskins

Closest To

Starting with two digit numbers, deal out two cards per player. Each player takes the cards in their hand and rearranges the digits to create a number that is closest to 50. The players show each other their hands and the player who is closest to 50 wins the set of all of the players’ cards. Learn more at Math engaged

Math Memory

Lay all of the cards down on the table face-down in a grid. Players take turns flipping over three cards and seeing if they can make an equation with the face-up cards. Younger players can try using addition and subtraction, and older players can also try using multiplication and division. Players are challenged to remember what cards every player has flipped to help them create equations on their own turn. The player with the most amount of cards at the end of the game wins. Learn more at Math engaged

Here’s a game similar to the one described above, but this version allows students to compare fractions instead. You will need two pencils, one for each player, to serve as the fraction line. Learn more at Super Teacher Worksheets

Guess My Number

Place a student at the front of the room and give him or her two playing cards. The cards can be ordered any way the student wants. Be sure the cards cannot be seen by the class!

Take turns around the room guessing what the number is. The types of questions asked have to use math vocabulary, such as, “Is it even?” “Is it odd?” “Is it greater than 10?” “Is it a factor of 20?” and so on.

The student can only answer with a “Yes” or “No”, until the actual number is guessed at. Learn more at K5Chalkbox

More math with a deck of cards!

More math goodies

Math Picture Books Breath Life into Arithmetic!

97+ Ideas for Making Math FUN

Homeschool Math: Grab your Roadmap to Success

DIY Doll Game and Activity

This beautiful activity comes from author Gail Masinda, with Maestro Heights.

The idea is simple.

Learn to care for baby while living your normal life.

Perfect for training siblings for life with baby!

There are two sets of activities:

small manageable tasks
what baby needs.

How to play

Place each in their own jar/basket.
Begin the day with a smt. Complete the task
Then reach in and see what baby needs.
Set the timer and kids practice setting baby’s needs above their own. PLUS, you get a little bit of time too!

Back slips are included so you can customize chore/tasks and activities for baby.

Kids can use dolls or stuffed animals for “Baby”. I purposely used the word BABY and did not include his/her pronouns. HAVE Fun!

Download your free copy here

Best Subscription Boxes for Kids

There’s never been a better time to try subscription boxes. With all the supplies, instructions, and fun already hand-picked and ready to go… You’re kids are gonna love you!

Food for thought: These make GREAT gifts for people in nursing homes too!!

Quick Links

Free Science for three months from Mel Science? Here’s how you register!

When you really want to know what’s best you ask the experts, right?Kids LOVE getting stuff in the mail! Surprise them with a special gift – A subscription box just for THEM! Perfect for birthdays, holidays and more!

But, if you’re like me you’re wondering which are the BEST Subscription Boxes for kids.

So I asked all the moms On our Facebook page:

I’m looking for subscription box and membership ideas for homeschoolers.

Most subscription boxes are chosen to meet a specific need, want, or interest. Throw in the fact that you don’t need to look for duct tape, buttons, or instructions for how to whip together something cool and BOOM. Your kids will think you’re the coolest mom on the planet.

Not sure which boxes will best fit your family? That’s exactly why I asked a few dozen of my homeschooling friends.

Check out all the AMAZING subscription boxes other Homeschool Moms love.

…

Parenting in Times of Crisis turned into MAGICAL Memories

When I was about 11-years old I had the BEST summer ever.

Family wildflower walks every evening after dinner.
Family wifle ball games.
Family soccer games. (got a basement?)

We lived on a 15 acre farm in Connecticut and my dad spent the summer carving out adventures for us with his ride-on tractor.

⚽️First he cut the soccer field.

⚾️Then he lowered the mover and cut a baseball diamond into the same field.

💐He carved a 6-foot wide path around a huge field on our property so he could take us on a walk to see “which wild flowers bloomed” that day.

🌼We played
🌱Caught dragon flies
🌱Watch clouds float by
👀Sat in the yard playing I-spy
🎼Turned off all the lights in the house and blared the music while playing “who knows the most lyrics to each song”

We fed wild birds, watched the squirrels steal their food and simply enjoyed each other’s company.

🐾What a great summer!

It wasn’t until I was a grown woman that I learned the truth.

😳Dad had been laid off that summer.

While he applied for over 150 jobs looking for work at night, during the day he created, played, and was present with all four of us kids.

Today, we have a choice.

I say, let’s make this season of quarantine the “BEST Spring vacation of our kids’ childhood.”

🌸Be present
🌷Read
🌱Cut soccer fields out with a lawn mower
⚽️Play games

And at night, when the kids are nestled in bed make our plan for the next day.

I found the EXACT 200+ year old house I lived in at the time.
Yes, I had a heart attack too. It was not fully restored when I lived in it.

It was NOT this beautiful when I lived there.

But you get a rare opportunity to see where my DREAM summer was lived out.
Page 27. That yellow room is where I heard my sisters snore like tigers.
Page 28 was a closet PACKED with boxes and clothing and didn’t have a window.
Page 31 was the scary attic in our garage where my parents hid Christmas presents
Page 34 is the window I witnesses the greatest ice storm I’ve ever seen. I sat on the sofa and peeked out.
Page 38 shows you why I remember spending a HUGE portion of time doing yard work with my dad.

But the magical field?
Page 32. Walk to the right of the garage and hang a right after that clump of trees… I spent hours and hours and hours there with my family, led by my father…

When I lived here, all the walls were white. There wasn’t any fancy decor. We had 13 cats, no heat in my room (you could see your breath)

What’s your favorite memory from your childhood?

If you know people who can use an easy to follow plan for school for the next few weeks/months… Share this FREE, no gimmick plan with them.

Learning at Home: Everything you need in one place

A Family Fish Unit

INSTANT Activity day! Theme: FISH

Materials needed:

Fishing pole
weight/clay
Paint
Paint brush
Small snack like golf fish crackers

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Tie a weight to the line.
Set up targets in the yard
Have kids try to land the weight in the target.

FOOD:

Got goldfish crackers?
They can win a few for each great cast.

SCIENCE: Grab a free fish life cycle activity

MOVIE: Finding Nemo Yes! Pop some popcorn!

ART: Paint a fish! https://youtu.be/XgoXqxXlf5E

MATH: Group goldfish, or legos, into groups of 2, 3, 5, 6, or any number. Practice skip counting

Story: Listen to RAINBOW Fish! https://www.storylineonline.net/books/the-rainbow-fish/

Put on a Puppet show!

Make talking fish: https://youtu.be/LCsMvSEoadI
Make colorful fish on sticks https://youtu.be/aTcWPtoXcac
Make fish Sock Puppet

DIY Earth Crate for Kids

How Does it work?

Set a BUDGET (You can create a great crate for $25+)
Load up all the goodies into your cart (Items from Teachers Pay Teachers, Evan Moor and Amazon)
From your cart, make your final selections.
Download your printable lesson and prep lessons while you wait for your goodies to arrive.
Watch your kids get excited

GOODIES TO CHOOSE FROM FOR YOUR KIT

**Hands-on Activities and Printables

I am Earth Book

Earth Day Pocket Book Project

Save the Earth Stickers

3D Globe Puzzle

Mini Squishy Globes

Terra Cotta Mini Pots

Gardening Tools for Kids

Wooden crate

WHY DO LEARNING CRATE WORK SO WELL?

Experience Lead learning simply works BEST!

With over 20+ years of thematic/Unit based teaching experience, Bekki is an expert at wrapping a learning activity with hands-on activities, engaging stories, and fun projects to bring topics to LIFE.

*This type of learning transforms a dry topic in to a DELICIOUS and Contagious excitement. Sounds like a win!!

PRO TIP: ALWAYS GIVE STUDENTS TIME TO EXPLORE MANIPULATIVES, GAMES, AND TOYS PRIOR TO WEAVING THEM INTO LEARNING. THE YOUNGER THE STUDENT, THE LONGER TIME THEY WILL NEED TO EXPLORE.

Photos! Have your camera ready. You’re gonna want to capture their

smiles and excitement!

Preschool earth — Stories ALWAYS make learning better

HOW DO THESE DIY CRATES WORK?

Easy!

Open the DIY Crate/Bag plan of your choice
Grab and download the Printable Mini-Lessons that go with the Hands-on goodies
Click and add ALL the items into your cart on Amazon or from other vendors.
Set your budget and REMOVE all items that don’t fit you, your students, or your budget.

As you wait for your goodies, print and prepare your lessons.

FAQ- Why add everything to the cart?

Because, it makes is really easy to remove and re-add things that work best for you with as little hassle as possible.

SEE OUR FULL AND GROWING COLLECTION OF DIY GOODIES HERE

DIY Teaching Kids to Cook Kit

How?

Set a BUDGET (You can create a great crate for $25+)
Load up all the goodies into your cart (Items from Teachers Pay Teachers and Amazon)
From your cart, make your final selections.
Download your printable lesson and prep lessons while you wait for your goodies to arrive.
Watch your kids get excited

…

Don’t Homeschool Your Kids

Dear homeschool mom,

Don’t homeschool. I’m not kidding.

Yes, kids need to read and write and solve basic math problems, but they don’t need school at home.

They need to have plenty of time to run, jump, slide, swing, lay, laugh, build, and rest.

Related: building toys

Give them time to be bored, time to think, time to day dream.

Don’t give them workbooks, worksheets, and hours of assignments. Instead, give them LESS.

…

DIY Heart Foldable

This all began on a 4 mile walk in the rain.

He wants to be a cardiothoracic surgeon, that 14-year old son of mine.

Forget the fact that he’s dyslexic, a ball of energy and only an early teen. He’s diving in.

It all began on a walk a few weeks ago, where we brainstormed the steps he could take to pursue this newish dream of his…

… and has grown into a full emersion independent study of everything related to the heart.

**He’s been diving in to learning a few days a week…**

I showed him a cut, fold, and learn template of the heart on teachers pay teachers and said, “I’ll get it for you, but honestly I think you can create a better one yourself.

Boy, was I right!

…

Pincer Grasp Activities for Fine Motor Development

Your son is using all of his fingers to rake small items into his palm rather than pinching them together with his thumb and index finger.

Your daughter is choking her crayons rather than carefully holding them between her fingers.

Maybe your kids need some help strengthening their pincher grasp

The development of this fined tuned grasp is influenced by a child’s growing interest in objects and desire to hold them. Kind of curiosity’s way of helping our kids.

We all need great pincher grasps to:

zip zippers
button buttons
tie shoes
thread needles
write beautifully
hold pencils without cramping
beating someone at tidily-winks
putting on make-up
painting nails
and so much more!

8 Hands-on Toys to Help Kids Develop Pincher Muscles

Sewing Buttons!!

Related: Fine Motor Activity from Hands On As We Grow

More Pincher Grasp Activities!

Simple Activities to Improve Pincher Grasp and Help Your child Hold a Pencil

Peel Duct Tape: Place strips of duct tape onto surfaces like the sidewalk, garage walls, or the floor. Your child simply peels the tape!
Squishy Sponge: Give your child a sponge and bucket of water. Have them water plants by squeezing the water out from the sponge!
Tongs and tweezers: Give your child a pair of tongs, and egg carton, and a bin of small things (pom poms, beads, pasta, etc). Have them fish out objects with tweezers and sort them into the egg carton.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RZNG5PW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=abett06-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B07RZNG5PW&linkId=c20a374356badff2b7b81f0fe672daf8

Classic Games are the perfect way to sneak in Pincher Grasp Development

Don’t Spill the Beans

Medical schools are noticing a decline in students’ dexterity, possibly from spending time swiping screens rather than developing fine motor skills through woodworking and sewing.
The New York Times

The great news is Pincher Grasp Development is easy to weave into your child’s day. A Little less swiping of screens and a little more of old fashion fun and these intricate hand muscles can get a good work out!

For Older Kids

Crocheting and knitting

Embroidery

Tin Foil Art

Using a sock to improve pencil grip (Brilliant)

Print this free homeschool mom reminder.

This post comes with a free printable reminder list to help keep your heart focused on the heart of homeschooling. I always have the hardest staying focused. This printable simplifies it!

Here is a sneak preview…

Download Your Free Printable

Download the checklist. You’ll get the printable, plus join 9,000+ homeschool moms who receive my weekly parenting tips and ideas!
Print. Any paper will do the trick, but card stock would be ideal.
Place it on your refrigerator as a helpful reminder.

DIY Camel Bible Study Crate for Kids

How?

Set a BUDGET (You can create a great crate for $25+)
Load up all the goodies into your cart (Items from Teachers Pay Teachers and Amazon)
From your cart, make your final selections.
Download your printable lesson and prep lessons while you wait for your goodies to arrive.
Watch your kids get excited

bible study for kids — Bible Study Printable mini-lessons

…

Inside: A master list of simple, inexpensive, and fun ways to teach all the basic math principles your kids need to thrive. PLUS- Free Math Roadmap

Most homeschoolers overcomplicate math with fancy curriculum, worksheets, quizzes, stop-watches and tests. We choose to be different!

Stripping math back to its basic foundational core, we can set our kids up for success in life by giving them a solid foundation with allows them to add, subtract, multiply, divide, count, measure, weigh, and estimate.

Most kids are not mathematicians hiding inside little bodies. They are dancers, chefs, architects, designers, farmers, mechanics, bankers, writers or yet-to-be-decideds.

…

Sunday School Activities for Kids

Am I the only one obsessed with teaching kids all about God’s word and promises?

Fruit of the Spirit

A favorite Children’s Sunday School Lesson is the Fruit of the Spirit as explained in Galatians 5:22-13. The Fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

…