A Real Mom's Homeschool
By Maggie Hogan
What are your priorities? Are you the type to plan ahead? Do you have lists for daily activities . . . weekly menus . . . grocery & coupons . . . or even a list of things for which you need to make a list? Or instead, do you find yourself disorganized and short on teaching time?
I am a Real Mom, not the Martha Stewart of Homeschooling. Planning ahead and staying organized are not my strong suits. I will admit there have been times when I’ve had to run to Wal-mart for underwear when I got too far behind with laundry. And even though I’ve been married to the same wonderful, forbearing man (with a healthy appetite!) for 22 years, there are still days when I’ve simply forgotten to cook dinner.
How does one keep on track with teaching when one is organizationally challenged? I could attempt to inspire you with Biblical principals and great quotes and examples regarding planning ahead. I could set before you lofty goals. I could even try and make you feel guilty for not being better organized. (Although with my own reputation for using a shovel to clear off my desk, who would take me seriously?) But that is not my purpose.
Doing my best in homeschooling is important to me and therefore, I’ve had to develop strategies for successfully completing each year. I hope these ideas will encourage you as well.
Before I share, one caveat: you have to find your own style. Just because I do things a certain way doesn’t mean you should, too. I intend for this list to be suggestions - not the 10 commandments of homeschooling. If a tip doesn’t work for you, evaluate and adjust it, or toss it.
1. Plan. Okay, you’re laughing at me. But at some point I realized that if my kids’ education was really important to me I’d have to put some time into planning. Realistically, I know I won’t keep up with daily lesson plans. But I found out that I can sit down once a month and write out a monthly objectives. What works best for you? A summer planning marathon? Monthly planning times? Weekly updates or nightly reviews of what you got done that day and hope to accomplish the next?
2. Consolidate Teaching Time. How often per week do you teach history or science? Do you and your children function best with a little everyday? A medium amount 2 or 3 times per week? Or a big chunk once a week? For me it works best to teach these two courses twice a week through about 5th grade. Then weekly in the upper grades. On the days I’m not specifically teaching, they have reading and other assignments to work on. I find doing history or science in one or two big chunks is more interesting because we can dig deeper into the subject before running out of time.
3. Choose Your Time Wisely. Know your students, yourself, and your household. When would be most productive? Personally, I could care less about Alexander the Great at 8:00 a.m. but find him truly fascinating later in the day!
4. Bedtime Bonus. One ritual that was consistent in our home when the boys were younger were our evening bedtime stories. We often used compelling history books or books with science topics during this special time.
5. Combine Courses: Literature with history, history with geography, or geography with science.
6. Think Outside the Box.
- A. Creative map and timeline work can count for history, geography and
art. Pay attention to community service hours, Scout projects, and other
“non-school” endeavors that are actually educational.
B. Keep school fresh by occasionally surprising the kids. Would they get a kick out of having school in a weird place for a day? Pile pillows in the bathtub (empty, of course) and have the kids work in the tub. Or go undercover by draping a blanket over a table and doing school underneath with pillows, blankets, and flashlights. My favorite, turn the master bedroom into the classroom. Take everything you might need onto the bed (including the popcorn!) and pretend to be on a boat surrounded by sharks. Provide a pathway of socks that become tiny islands to step on for getting to the bathroom.
7. “Mini” Mega-Cooking. The days I cook a few extra meals to put in the freezer are a blessing. I often double up on any given meal so that I can have one for a busy day or a sick friend. I almost never cook a single chicken! I prefer to brown 5 or 10 pounds of ground beef at a time (perhaps with onions) and I’ll freeze what I don’t immediately need. The extra can be pulled out for a head start on chili, tacos, spaghetti, etc. Crock pots are a mom’s best friend. Good pizza coupons are treasured. And the husband who offers to bring home the occasional Chinese or deli meal is worth his weight in gold!
8. Share. Teaching plans and resources can be shared with a friend. Although I love co-ops and have been involved in them yearly since 1991, they aren’t feasible for everyone. But if you have a friend who is teaching the same course as you and would be willing to share the work load in planning lessons or gathering resources, what a blessing! Bonus - checking in with each other to see how it’s going adds accountability.
9. The Baby Connection. Babies & toddlers - gotta love ‘em! Learn when to include them and when to work around them and when to wait till they are asleep. Some moms have a high tolerance and some babies are low maintenance. As a mom with low tolerance and high maintenance babies, I had to learn flexibility. Special toys only brought out during teaching time helped. They enjoyed the read-alouds even though the material was over their heads. History costumes, building forts or re-creations, and other hands-on projects can often be completed with little ones in tow. For work best done uninterrupted, use naptime or videos. (Yes, I happily used quality videos as babysitters!)
10. Summer School. Use summers for history/science projects and field trips. We even had a couple of short summer school sessions utilizing appealing material that the kids were eager to dive into. Count the hours toward the following year’s school. This provides leeway and less pressure during your more formal school time.
1. Be Logical. Use history as your cornerstone. Work chronologically. Start where you are and work forward. Or go back to the beginning and progress onward. It’s easy to tie in literature and geography (and often art and music) with history.
2. Invest. Select interesting resources that both you and the kids will enjoy. Buy kits, games, costumes, etc. for Christmas and birthday presents. Give the grandparents a wish list. Purchase items that have tremendous appeal and/or long-term value.
3. Catch-up. Overwhelmed? Feel like you are falling behind? Take an entire day or more and use it to catch up in one subject. You can cover an amazing amount of territory in a single day. Have a special pizza and school night if you and your kids work well in the evening hours. Then camp out in the school room and play favorite games when everyone’s work is completed.
4. Delegate. Plan on-going jobs they can do independently. Use non-school time to train them properly in their chores.
5. The Big Picture. Keep an on-going map and timeline visible for a constant reminder of where and what you are studying.
6. Notebooking. Have students keep what they are learning in a notebook.
7. Getting Ahead. Grab an hour or more when you and the kids are feeling on top of things and intentionally get ahead in something. It provides a great source of accomplishment and is like putting money in a savings bank. You’ll really appreciate it when you need to “draw” on the time you saved.
8. Homeschool Holidays. Take a break for a week or two when needed. Teacher Planning Days are allowed, even recommended! Make your own special family holidays and keep them.
9. Solicit Wise Counsel. Enlist the support of your husband, friend, mentor, senior at church, or someone else to encourage you and/or to be a resource for information and ideas.
10. Reality Check! Periodically look up from the books and ask questions about your homeschool. Are we learning anything? Are we enjoying the process or getting burned out? Are we displaying Christ-like attitudes? Stop and pray then re-evaluate!
A. You can’t do it ALL.
Are you a person who tries to teach everything? Do you worry that your child isn’t studying the exact right material for their grade? In our zeal to be the best teachers we can be we often put unnecessary burdens upon ourselves. For example, let’s say you have picked a particular publisher and are following their history scope & sequence. They have decided that 5th grade should be American history and 6th grade should be world history. You have both a 5th & a 6th grader. Are you one who would then attempt to teach two completely different history courses the same year?! Ahhhgg! Don’t do that to yourself or your kids. History is the ideal subject for families to study together. Publisher’s scope & sequences may provide you with some ideas but they aren’t the law! So.... please, cut yourself some slack! Teach the same time period to all your students together.
B. Teach them How to Learn
This is vital - realize that you CAN’T, no matter how hard you try, cover everything! NOBODY can! If your children are still in elementary grades realize they will be hearing this stuff again and in greater detail. If your kids are college bound, ditto. We are to teach them how to learn, how to research, how to dig. We can’t supply them with all the facts - we CAN supply them with the necessary tools for discovering facts.
C. Let it Go
You have to stop somewhere! No matter how great we’re doing, most of us think we should do more. Let it go. Lay the foundation - don’t try to erect the entire skyscraper in one year.
D. Look to the Lord. Without prayer and wisdom from God, no homeschool can truly succeed. Look to Him who loves your children best for direction; yearly, monthly, daily, hourly.
Now, with all that said, how do I know if our homeschool succeeded this year?
Did my children learn?
Do they want to learn more?
Was God honored in our home?
Yes? Then we had a successful year!
Looking for great resources and practical curriculum to help make your homeschooling successful? Check out home of the brand-new, complete and incredibly easy-to-use history program, The Mystery of History.