Homeschool Simplified

efore I begin, I must start by acknowledging that there are some people who think homeschooling is irresponsible.

I am obviously not one of them, since I engage in it every day. While I am definitely in favor of homeschooling when one is called to do it and has the resources, time and patience (at least mostly) to invest in it, homeschooling is not easy.

If I had a maid, a nanny and a cook I don't think homeschooling would be so overwhelming at times. But I have learned as we get into our groove this year that homeschooling can be simplified.

I'm not talking about simple as in - just get the basics out of the way. There are days that go that way, but what I mean by simplified  is this: Homeschooling is easier to accomplish if you set yourself up for success.

This is just as true on a large scale as it is on a small one, but the one I have trouble with is the latter. I can get so busy that I get to 9 am on Monday morning and find that I have absolutely nothing planned for the school day, so the whole time I am teaching I am also organizing books, pulling out papers and tests and grading last week's. Add this to trying to entertain the Sarge, pulling Screech from the dog bowl for the 700th time, making sure the laundry keeps moving and getting the kitchen cleaned up before lunch and we have an awfully bad day of school. Everyone gets grumpy; no one wants to learn anything, including the teacher.

This happened on Monday. It was so bad I took a picture in the midst of it, telling myself that I was going to figure out a way to make the next day the opposite, and then I was going to blog about it. So here we are!

Five ways to make it a good school day:

1. Get lessons ready the night before.

I did this Monday night by getting all papers needed for the day (and the week) copied or pulled out, setting them in the instructional books, and stacking those in a neat pile in order of how I would be tackling them. So from Sarge's Bible Storybook to Spirit and Mac II's Apologia Astronomy textbook (which I HIGHLY recommend, by the way... fascinating!) we were ready for the day and whatever it would bring us. I put Spirit's long addition and multiplication problems on the dry erase board, I stacked Spirit and Mac's homework on their desk with a sharpened pencil, I got out all manipulatives and art supplies.

2. Clean up.

I don't know if this happens in regular classrooms, but by the end of just ONE school day, our homeschool room is a complete mess. Bits of paper and crayon wrapper everywhere, Soggy pieces of crayon that have found their way into Screech's mouth and back out again, dog hair, crumbs from who knows what... add that to the piles of books, toys that Screech and Sarge pull out when I'm busy and dump everywhere - I think you get the picture. The way I got it clean was to first tell the three oldest to clean the room. Then I went behind and got all the little stuff (and bigger stuff) that they missed. End result, a nice, clean room. I think everyone learns better in a clean and organized space.

3. Lock the toy cabinet.

Our cabinet locks, and I bought it that way on purpose, to keep down on the mess. All of the toys are on the bottom shelf, and for awhile, I was opening the cabinet during school and letting Screech and Sarge have at it. This made for a mess so huge by the end of school that we couldn't walk across the floor. The answer is so simple I felt kind of brainless for having to learn the hard way. Take two or three favorite toys or sets out, and LOCK IT. They were still happy, and the mess was avoided.

4. Get moving so you can relax.

I tend to get a little snippy and rush when we are getting too close to the stop time and are still swamped with things to do. Getting up on time, getting moving and not letting myself get distracted first thing in the morning helps IMMENSELY with the overwhelming feeling of being late. Monday night I also started putting everyone's clothes out so we didn't have to deal with that in the morning either. It also helps to delegate responsibilities. Spirit or Mac can take the dog out and see to his needs, Spirit can change Screech most of the time.

5. Don't forget prayer time.

Monday was so harried that I didn't take the time for us to stop and think about our prayer focus, which ironically was "self-control" this week. On Tuesday we took time to all pray that we would learn and practice self-control in our lives and in homeschool.

Putting all of these tips into practice made a different week for homeschool. We enjoyed it more, we learned more, we fought less and never once felt like stomping off and crying. I suggest that if you are a homeschooling family and are struggling with feelings of being overwhelmed, you give these a try.