It's Back to Homeschooling Time

We're starting back to school this week. Yes, it is time for a new homeschooling year to begin. The summer has flown by! This will be my 14th year of homeschooling. Where has the time gone?! It seems like just yesterday I was starting this journey with our oldest. We graduated our first child this past May, so this year I'll be adjusting to just having to school two children. It'll be hard to wrap my mind around that, but I hope it makes things easier. I have been asking the Lord to give me renewed vision for this school year. I need His grace to continue this journey until our third and last child is graduated in seven years. We must get the Lord's vision for our homeschools. When we have God's vision for our lives, and we trust for His grace to flow freely, then we are able to faint not, not grow
weary, fail not to complete the race.

Here are some ideas of what I do each year that may inspire you:

*First and foremost, seek the Lord about making plans for the upcoming year. If possible, take a week off from all other activities. If it works into our schedule, we'll plan a day trip for dad and the children to do something special. That gives me time at home alone. They have fun and I get to have some quiet time to think. (The older I get, the harder it is for me to concentrate, so this quiet time helps immensely!) Spending time drawing near to the Lord with a daily time of worship, prayer and studying the Word of God makes the school year get started off on a better note.

*Begin to plan your upcoming homeschooling year with a "What I Want to Accomplish This Year" list. Write down everything you would like to accomplish this year for each child; don't forget to include character building, skill building, and good habit development for those weak areas. Pray over this list every day and write down ideas as to how you might accomplish these goals.

*Pull out all the homeschooling materials that you would like to use this year. If you don't have any homeschooling materials yet, pull out your catalogs and circle the resources you would like to use and mark the pages with sticky notes of flags. Pray over these materials, asking the Lord to show you how to use each one to meet each child's needs. This is also a good time to purge the materials you no longer need or will be using. Donate them to your homeschool group. You never know who might just be needing what you have sitting on your shelf unused. I've been blessed many times by instances like this in my homeschooling years.

*Make a list of all materials that you feel you need to purchase or acquire in the next few weeks. Include specific supplies of all kinds including software, school supplies, organizational tools, etc. This will save you time and gas money. I spend one day running errands gathering up as much as I can for the beginning of school.

*Create a "Teacher's Notebook" for yourself. You will want to keep copies your Resource Lists, "What I Want to Accomplish This Year" list, Mission Statements, lesson plans and whatever else you create in this notebook. I set this up using dividers and have one section for each child. If you multi-level teach, you might want to have one section for each subject or unit study.

*Create, download or purchase lesson plan forms. I use http://www.donnayoung.org/ for these.

*Create a weekly schedule for your child so they have a framework for their daily work.

*Ask you husband to review your plans and to pray over them. Wait for his input before proceeding any further. I find this to be very important. Sometimes the fathers get left out of our homeschools and this puts them in an active role. The Lord certainly has guided my husband in areas that affect the children that I wouldn't have thought about.

*After receiving your husband's input and comments, make any changes to your plans so far and order materials, books, resources, and go shopping for school supplies.

*When you receive your new resources, take time to read through them thoroughly making notes and using sticky notes to help you when you begin schooling your children. Do not skip this process. This is an important step that we often forget. I found early on that it's too hard to school if you don't know where you are going the next few months. That's what I call "flying by the seat of your pants". That's too hard, in my opinion. Homeschooling takes planning. As the saying goes, "Failing to plan means planning to fail." You are also setting an example of learning passion. We want to raise children who LOVE TO LEARN, right? Learning is for a lifetime, so watch the attitude you display during this stage.

*Set up an organizational system for keeping your resources orderly. I bought some crates at the Dollar General many years ago for each child and myself. It was such an inexpensive way to organize our schoolbooks. I require that my children put away all homeschooling materials when school is over each day. This will make your life and your home more pleasant.

*Create your daily schedule. Be very realistic. You can start by listing everything you want to accomplish Monday through Friday. Put a time beside each task. Make adjustments and pray over this schedule. You will want to make adjustments as you begin homeschooling. Again, I use http://www.donnayoung.org/ for this resource. I print off a "working copy" so I can pencil it in, erase, make changes, etc. I use that one for the first week of school and then make a real one to go by for the rest of the school year. You can have that laminated at Office Depot if you desire.

*Purchase or create a planner for yourself. You will want to keep appointments, fieldtrips, activities, special events, menus, chore schedules, and so on within this planner. This planner is your best friend. Make it work for you, not the other way around.

*Decide when you will begin school and make a plan for how you want the day to go. A friend of mine with many children told me the other day that she decided to have an orientation day this year. She took each child and spent the entire school time introducing them to their new books, went over what they would study for the year and got them started one on one. She said it was much less hectic than starting with five children all at once, all in one day. I think that's a wonderful idea. Make it fun, perhaps they can decorate bookcovers, organize their school supplies, let them get familiar with their new books, have a special activity planned. Start your day with prayer and a little time in the Word as a family. Another friend told me many years ago that when she started her homeschooling days with prayer and Bible time, the days always went much better. I took her words of Godly wisdom.

*Remember to ask your husband to pray for you in the weeks to come, and give him specific daily prayer requests for your family. This keeps him connected to what is going on in your homeschool.