The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled.
We use cookies for performance, analytics and marketing. By using this site, you agree to our use of cookies. For more information, view our Privacy Policy.
So you have started your new homeschool year. You may be a month or two in, and it’s time to think about how the year is going. Is your homeschool plan working? Some of you may be thinking, “The thought never crossed my mind; everything is great!
Or you might be in the camp of, “I am drowning! It feels as though nothing is going is right! Either way (or somewhere in between), it is good to reflect on what is, or is not working.
When I first started homeschooling, I had these read aloud fantasies. I pictured us snuggled up under blankets with a stack of delicious books at our side. I imagined reading for hours on end, my children enraptured by the story and clinging to my every word. As I read, a silence would envelop our home and all would be calm.
In reality, our read alouds are anything but calm, and my children are anything but quiet.
Some homeschoolers, though, maintain their enthusiasm throughout the entire school year. They wake up with energy, eager to homeschool their kids another day. They start a new curriculum or subject and actually see it through to completion, year after year.
If you want the same results, incorporate these secrets of homeschool follow through into your routine.
I am one of those people who love the first day of school. I have new school supplies laid out ahead of time, the kids are always excited, and I live for the newness of back to school season. But last year our first day of school came and went. And let me say it was less than perfect. The next day was even worse, and by the end of the week I was ready to ship them all off on the big yellow school bus.
But homeschool moms don’t really have that option, do we? Our choice is simple —we have to man up and overcome it! I did, and you can too! Here is how to overcome a bad homeschool day (or week).
What planner are you using this year? Have you found a new math curriculum? What’s your schedule looking like for fall?
The buzz in the homeschool world is hyped around planning, planners, and all things organizing. I get it. We’re homeschool moms. We plan things. That’s what we love to do!
It gives us a sense of control in our often chaotic lives. Add it helps us to manage our days full of history lessons, co-op meetings, and dance lessons.
If you browse Pinterest for the term homeschool you will undoubtedly run across drop-dead gorgeous homeschool rooms dedicated solely to learning. The cutest ones I’ve seen have small desks and chairs in a perfect row, student work hung on the wall, an alphabet chart running close to the ceiling, orderly book cases or cubbies, and a welcoming rug on the floor. There may even be a cozy reading nook with soft cushions or a bean bag chair. It's enough to inspire jealousy when you compare that vision to your dingy bookshelves crammed with paperwork and a crumb-laden kitchen table that doubles as homeschool desk.
Homeschool moms have sonar hearing for words like planner, list, and curriculum sales. We find joy in laying out the next school year to come, as we should! The anticipation of an upcoming school year is a great motivator, but sometimes we can let the planning get in the way of other things that are really important too—things like enjoying the summer months and the break you have from school. Or we let stress and worry seep in while we plan. Or, worse of all, we can overlook the ones who we’re actually doing this for—our kids!
With one foot in childhood and the other entering adulthood, eighth-grade is a pivotal time. Choosing homeschool curriculum can be nerve-racking when you realize that eighth grade can set your child up for success or hold him back. I found inspiration for my son's curriculum choices in a very odd place—a 1912 eighth grade exam.
Kids with ADHD are bright, funny, and charming. Typically, they are highly intelligent and creative. But when it’s time to do a lesson for school, these positive traits can be replaced by other not-so-positive traits: inattention, hyperactivity, daydreaming, irritability, even outright defiance.
Trying to parent a child with ADHD is difficult. Trying to teach a child with ADHD can feel almost impossible, especially if you are using a traditional approach to homeschooling.
I was so worried about summer slide and about keeping ahead of the curve that I didn’t stop to think about any other consequences of my choice to school through summer.
Homeschooling through the summer kept the kids academically up to pace. For instance they didn’t lose math concepts since they were practicing them all summer long. What they did lose, however, was a true sense of freedom, breathing deeply, and just being.
