How to Manage Your Time While Homeschooling

chunky wooden pencils sit in a yellow enamel mug

Making the decision to homeschool can seem very overwhelming. A million questions are probably running through your mind, such as:

  • What will my family and friends say about our decision to homeschool?
  • How will my children get to socialize?
  • What do my children need to learn?
  • How will I have the time to do it all?

Before I started homeschooling my biggest concern was definitely figuring out how to do it all. I felt as though I was already a very busy mom, but I quickly realized that with a little planning and organization, it is very easy to incorporate homeschooling into any lifestyle. Here are a few simple tips to help you manage your time while homeschooling.

1. Buy a Boxed Curriculum

What exactly is a boxed curriculum? A boxed curriculum comes from a company, such as BookShark, that provides materials for all subjects with detailed Instructor’s Guides in one box. All of the planning and research has already been completed for you, so you can simply open your guide and start teaching. The biggest advantage to purchasing a boxed curriculum is the time you save from not having to write lesson plans, create your own worksheets, or put together science experiments. Additionally, you will have the peace of mind knowing that you are teaching everything that your child needs for that grade level.

2. Set Up a Schedule

In addition to following the schedule provided in my BookShark Instructor’s Guide, I have also established a schedule to follow on school days. If everyone knows what to expect and when to accomplish certain tasks, everything runs smoother all around. In my schedule I like to include:

  • How to Manage Your Time While HomeschoolingOne hour lunch breaks—Lunch breaks are a great time for multi-tasking. In my home, not only do we prepare and eat our lunches, but we also do our daily chores. Since the daily chores are completed during our lunch break, when we finish school for the day we are free to enjoy the afternoon however we please.
  • One weekly chore per day—There are certain chores that only need to be completed once a week or every few weeks. Instead of spending hours cleaning at one time, I split my chores up over a number of days. For example, I wash bedding on Mondays, dust on Wednesdays, and sort mail on Fridays. Most of these tasks only take me 20 minutes or less, and everything stays neat and tidy because I am always cleaning up a little bit at a time.
  • Me time—Every week I try to include a little me time. Sometimes that means an afternoon away with friends, and other times it means grocery shopping by myself. Being a parent is a very busy, and sometimes exhausting job. Throw homeschooling on top of all your other parental duties and you can get burnt out very easily. Make sure to have a little time for yourself, because if you are out of sorts everything can get crazy.

3. Enlist the Help of Your Children

Homeschooling is a lifestyle, not a hobby. Since my whole family is living this lifestyle, I enlist the help of my children all of the time. Asking for help keeps me sane, and it is better preparing my children for adulthood. Some of the things my children assist with are:

  • Start or switch the laundry around
  • Grade a sibling's grammar worksheets
  • Watch a younger sibling while I am teaching a lesson to someone else
  • Daily chores (take out the trash, vacuum, and wash dishes)
  • Read school books aloud to each other

I hope these tips will help to ease your way into homeschooling. Just remember that no one expects you to be perfect. Whether a parent homeschools or not, everyone gets behind at times. It's okay if the laundry gets backed up and you have to eat pb&j sandwiches for the second day in a row. These extra years of homeschooling your children are totally worth it.

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About the Author

Roxanne Raiche

Roxanne Raiche is a book hoarding, coffee loving, homeschooling mama of three in Iron Mountain, Michigan. She is the voice behind Blushing Bibliophile.

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