New Year; Renewed Focus I have a love/hate relationship with the New Year. Every year I fall in love with Christmas break. I mean, I fall in love with the break… Late nights. Late mornings. Long walks. Christmas. Lights. Lots of coffee and cocoa. Celebrating Jesus. Family. Ahhh… heaven. Then comes the longest day of the year for me. New Year’s Eve. I am not a late night owl. (Yes, I said late nights were on my love list just a few sentences ago, but I meant late like ten o’clock). My kids seem to think that it is awesome to stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year. Me? Not so much. I hate New Year’s Day because it reminds me that Christmas break is over and that I have not thought about school for a few weeks. Drat. Well, we are now three days into this year and I am less prepared than ever. Each morning I am scrambling to make a to do list for each of the boys. As I remind myself of my priorities, I thought I would share them with whoever may be in the same boat with me. If you are brand new to homeschooling, you may find comfort in knowing that even us seasoned homeschoolers short circuit at times! New Year Resolutions Reminders My attitude sets the tone for the entire home: Make time to spend with the Lord each morning. My relationship with my husband trumps every other relationship: Focus on blessing, encouraging and loving my man. My kid’s character is waaaay more important than curriculum: focus on diligence, discipline, integrity, kindness, and love. Plan. This is a big one for me. I need to set aside at least a couple of hours every week to wrap my head around where I am leading the boys in “school”. I am behind. I need a big chunk of time to plan the rest of the year. Kids can smell when I do not have a plan… Relax. The best lessons in homeschool are found off the beaten path. Loosen up on the to do list and keep my eyes open for opportunities! Look ahead. I have one child graduating High school and another entering high school this year. I need to wrap my head around that. Make time (and a cup of coffee). Focus on the eternal. Yes, I am a Christian. I believe the Lord is coming back, just like He said He would. The daily news could have been taken right out of Old Testament Prophecy. I need to share my faith with urgency-especially with my kids! Take care of me. I am usually the last person on the list of people to help. I need to make sure I do not forget me. I tend to forget to eat and drink water. I need to lace up my shoes and get outside. I need to lose a few pounds. How about you? What would you remind yourself?
Planning Your Homeschool Day Homeschool kids smell a day without a ‘purpose and plan’ like wild animals smell fear. Normally this is not an issue. I take the time to sit and think through what we are doing in our homeschool day about 4-6 weeks at a time. I have a personal calendar that I print off for each of the boys so they know that “mom has a plan for today, so I better get busy.” I am a little-stressed right now because my current calendar/plan is blank and school is supposed to start in 10 days. The fact that I am not ready for the next step is like a ticking time bomb. If I do not have a clear plan of attack for the day and week before school starts, my boys will eat me alive. They KNOW when I do not have a plan. The run, they hide, they break out the Legos right after breakfast and look up at me with dirty faces and bed-heads and are shocked and even aghast that we have learning to do. If I do not have a plan, they will forget how to get up, make their beds, add and subtract, multiply and divide, and write legibly. Sometimes I think it is a conspiracy. “Psst-Maybe if we pretend to forget how to do school mom will let us play all day and live in our pajamas.” Can you relate?If kids do not see that we are well prepared for our day, week, or topic they do not buy in to whatever learning experience we set before them. They see us grab our teacher’s manual and then say, “OK, let’s get going. We have a lot of school to do today.” They see us begin reading the lesson and make that certain face that says, “what am I supposed to do?”and slip out from under our radar. When we, the teachers, finally grasp the core of today’s lessons they have snuck away from the school area and are resentful that we try to lasso them back to school. If I am honest with myself, I would resent attending a class where the teacher wasn’t prepared. I took the time to come to school, surely she could have prepared in advance to teach me. Our kids are no different. They need to see that we have invested in their education by taking the time to become familiar and excited with the learning material before we declare it is time for school. Kids smell a day without a plan and begin wiggling to get out immediately. What can we do: Plan school for 2-6 weeks at a time. Become extremely familiar with the material before we try to present it to our kids. (remember the teacher from Ferris Beuller? Help us not be like him!) Schedule lessons out for 2-6 weeks in advance. Write them in pencil, so that when life happens you simply erase and begin again the next day. Never try to teach the school week without a plan. Even if you take a rabbit trail because your kids show a sudden interest in penguins, you will be much better prepared. As homeschoolers include a dinner plan/menu into your school day. Be excited about what you are learning together. How do I plan? I have 4-5 weeks of student calendars printed and ready to go, labeled with their names and dates. I teach 5 core subjects: Bible, Math, English, History, and Science I schedule math in first. It usually is just the next number lesson. I include activities like flashcards, videos, and games in my calendars. If I do not schedule flashcards, the kids do not do flash cards. Next, I schedule those easy tasks, like handwriting, phonics workbook pages, and spelling. These are similar to math in that they tend to simply be “the next page#’s”. In our home, we learn memory verses, so I fill in the verses the kids are working on that week. History is my core, my golden thread. I try to incorporate English and Science activities that go along with what we are learning in history. I have to skim the readings, pull vocabulary and scour for student activities that will work with my boys. This year I am using Story of the World and they have a great Activity Book from which I pull reading comprehension, map, art, and cooking activities. And then, of course, there is Pinterest. I have Homeschool boards for every subject and I scour for activities for my boys and pin them often. Science is my weakest subject as a teacher. I am not entirely sure why, but even superman had a weakness. Science is mine. This year I am trying to integrate our science with what we are learning about in history. For me, that means that I am looking for and creating learning activities for the boys. I plan English last. This year I am teaching from Shurley English and LOVE it. It is very well planned, so in all honesty, it is another, “just do the next lesson” curriculum. I glance through the lessons as I am planning and try to spot potential issues. For instance, my boys need two days for the writing assignments, sometimes two so I take that into account. Lastly, I double check my pencil calendars against the master calendar looking for conflicts. Are we home all of the days I planned to teach school? Are there any obvious monkey-wrench days (days that are destined to fail before they begin). I make adjustments whenever necessary. SacrificeWhile every homeschool family has different goals and ambitions, talents and abilities, we all sacrifice something to homeschool.My husband and I personally sacrifice time. Lots of time.It is not easy homeschooling a troop of boys of various ages, grades, interests and learning styles. After 15 years I have learned that the key to success is being prepared before the day begins. We need to STOP measuring success by grades, achievements, awards, and worksheets. Yes PleaseThematic teaching is my secret secret sauce.Take any topic: bees, microbes, apples, money, pioneers, explorers, etc and think of ways to explore using lots of hands on materials.Your kids will not even know they are learning!Here’s a FUN Example
How the Heck to Plan a Successful Homeschool Day Inside: How the Heck to Plan a Successful Homeschool Day and what to do when everything goes wrong. Homeschool kids smell an unplanned day like wild animals smell fear. Normally this is not an issue. I take the time to sit and think through what we are doing in our homeschool day about 4-6 weeks at a time. I create an easy to follow calendar for each of the boys so they know that- “mom has a plan for today, so I better get busy.” I am a little stressed right now because my current calendar/plan runs out in less than 36 hours. Related: I have a free homeschool Success plan Printable for your refrigerator! The fact that I am not ready for the next step is like a ticking time bomb.Come Monday morning, if I do not have a clear plan of attack for our homeschooling week, my boys will eat me alive. Kids KNOW when we do not have a plan. The run, they hide, they break out the Legos right after breakfast, they seem stunned that we expect them to clean their dirty faces, fix their bed-heads and GASP- learn something. If you do not have a plan, your kids will suddenly forget how to get up, make their beds, add and subtract, multiply and divide, and write legibly. They may even forget that they are homeschooled. I think it is a conspiracy. “Psst-Maybe if we pretend to forget how to do school mom will let us play all day and live in our pajamas.” Can you relate?If kids do not see that we are well prepared for our day, week, or topic they do not buy in to whatever learning experience we set before them. They see us grab our teacher’s manual and then say, “OK, let’s get going. We have a lot of school to do today.” They see us begin reading the lesson and make that certain face that says, “what am I supposed to They see us begin reading the lesson with a confused expression and they silently whisper, “She doesn’t know what to do, let’s slip away”. When we, the teachers, finally grasp the core of today’s lessons they have snuck away from the school area and are resentful that we try to lasso them back to school. If you are honest, you would resent attending a class where the teacher wasn’t prepared too. I took the time to come to school, surely she could have prepared in advance to teach me. You took the time to come to school, surely she could have prepared in advance to teach you. Right? Our kids are no different. They need to see that we have invested in their education by taking the time to become familiar and excited about the learning material before we declare it is time for school. Kids smell a day without a plan and begin wiggling to get out immediately. What can we do: Plan school for 2-6 weeks at a time. In pencil. Become extremely familiar with the material before we try to present it to our kids. (remember the teacher from Ferris Beuller? Help us not be like him! I know this is hard. It takes time. I am currently teaching High School Algebra and Biology to our freshman- no fun. But I have to put in the time to study, otherwise, I confuse the hell out of him.) Schedule lessons out for 2-6 weeks in advance. Write them in pencil, so that when life happens you simply erase and begin again the next day. Never try to teach the school week without a plan. Even if you take a rabbit trail because your kids show a sudden interest in penguins, you will be much better prepared. As homeschoolers include a dinner plan/menu into your school day. Be excited about what you are learning together. How do I plan? I have 4-5 weeks of student calendars printed and ready to go, labeled with their names and dates. I teach 5 core subjects: Bible, Math, English, History, and Science FIRST, mark off all school holidays and family days. I schedule math in first. Cause, it’s easy. It usually is just the next number lesson. I include activities like flashcards, videos, and games in my calendars. If I do not schedule flashcards, the kids do not do flash cards. Kids need reminders. Next, I schedule the rest of the “do the next page” assignments. Handwriting, handwriting, phonics workbook pages, and spelling. Now I have to think. I plan a weekly memory verse and Bible reading. True brain power needed. I have a 5-6 week history focus. History is my core, my golden thread. I look for 3-5 main ideas to pull from a lesson and look for English, Math, and Science activities that go along with what we are learning. I have to skim the readings, pull vocabulary and scour for student activities that will work with my boys. This year I am using Story of the World and they have a great Activity Book from which I pull reading comprehension, map, art, and cooking activities. And then, of course, there is Pinterest. I have a whole series of Homeschool boards to help you and help me. Science is my weakest subject as a teacher. Alas, I am not entirely sure why, but even superman had a weakness. Science is mine. Again, I deal with science in chunks: main idea, 3-5 learning objectives, and at least one hands-on activity per topic. (This is ideal. I am lucky to get 2 experiments in a year). I plan English last. The older my kids, the more I plan. Younger kids need lots of time reading, being read to. Older kids need more and more time writing. Here is a great list to help you teach writing. Lastly, I double check my pencil calendars against the master calendar looking for conflicts. Are we home all of the days I planned to teach school? Are there any obvious monkey-wrench days (days that are destined to fail before they begin). I make adjustments whenever necessary. Sacrifice While every homeschool family has different goals and ambitions, talents and abilities, we all sacrifice something to homeschool.My husband and I personally sacrifice time. Lots of time. It is not easy homeschooling a troop of boys of various ages, grades, interests and learning styles. After 18 years I have learned that the key to success is being prepared before the day begins. Grab your FREE copy!