Homeschool Planning Archives

Minimalist Homeschooling: Stop the Stress!

July 20, 2016 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Having a house full of children to homeschool can be exciting, fun, and…well, a little bit stressful.

After all, we’re accepting the responsibility for educating our kids (even if they’re living with special needs) ourselves. It can be lonely and challenging, and I know this from experience.

But a huge incentive of adopting minimalism is reducing our things to reduce the level of stress in our lives. And that applies to minimalist homeschooling as well.

How can we stop stressing ourselves out over our homeschooling year? Try these tips!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Stop the Stress

Mothers excel at many, many things. Unfortunately, one of the things we’re best at is feeling guilty. When we read about homeschooling, we can start to translate tips and suggestions into a lot of “should do’s” and “wish I had’s”. Which leads to stress and unhappiness about our choices.

If you decide to use some of the tips from this series to declutter books, reduce your paper trail, cut down your crafting supplies, plan your lessons the simple way, and streamline your schedule, that’s great! I hope the suggestions help you!

But please, please remember: This is YOUR homeschool. If there is anything you or your kids dislike, you can change it any time you want to. You don’t need to wait for a new school year and you certainly don’t have to “get your money’s worth out of it”. Just drop it and refuse to make yourself feel guilty.

And if there’s anything you or your kids love and don’t want to change, by all means don’t! If it ain’t broke and all. 🙂

Whatever you decide to do, take your time and enjoy the journey, no matter how much or how little you homeschool with.

Need more minimalist homeschooling inspiration?

Get more ideas for planning your homeschool on my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Visit the series page to read all of the posts!

Minimalist Homeschooling: How to Streamline Your Homeschool Schedule

July 19, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

One of the major reasons we decided not to stick with public schooling was the super-packed daily schedule our family had to endure.

Between getting up early for classes, staying in school most of the day, completing hours of homework, and getting to bed early – we were frazzled.

Surprisingly, though, it’s easy to fall into a similar pattern as homeschoolers, especially if we’re active in extra-curricular activities, lots of field trips, or just a busy schedule.

Personally, I work a job in addition to running my website, in addition to homeschooling, so my weeks are pretty full.

A few months back, my children actually said to me “Can we just stay home today?”, which is when I realized that there wasn’t much “home” about our homeschooling.

So I set to work simplifying our routine and things have vastly improved.

If you also need to learn how to streamline your homeschool schedule, here are a few tips that worked for us.

If you’re a new homeschooler, these suggestions may help you avoid falling into the trap of overscheduling your days. (Unfortunately, it’s so easy to do this.)

If you’ve been homeschooling for years, these tips may help you scale back and simplify your approach.

Need more ways to prepare for your homeschool year? Don’t miss our list of tried and true homeschooling tips from veteran moms!

How to Streamline Your Homeschool Schedule

Reduce the number of daily/weekly activities.

Try to set a certain number of days per week you will stay home, if you can. If you have the leave the house every single day, work to reduce the number of different activities the kids have to do.

Try to get them on a workable routine they can expect to follow most days. It’s easier for them and for you!

Use a block schedule.

Block schedules are blocks of time designated for certain subjects. Rather than trying to schedule each school activity down to the minute, use hour or 90-minute blocks.

That way, the kids can continue with an activity they’re enjoying without worrying about time running out.

And you’ll have some downtime before starting another lesson!

Avoid long-term commitments, if possible.

Some extra-curricular activities require long-term contracts and agreements, which can make you feel “stuck”, even if the schedule isn’t working for your family.

When you’re first embarking on a new hobby or activity for the kids, try to choose one that only lasts for a few weeks. You’ll get a chance to “try it out” to see how it works for you before committing to it for an extended period.

Don’t hesitate to stop something.

Years ago, kids were taught that it’s important to stick with something and never give up. I know. I was one of those kids.

Here’s the thing: If homeschooling is not working for Mom (or Dad if he is the primary educator parent), then it’s not working for anyone else.

When you feel overwhelmed, it’s okay to stop a routine, a homeschooling method, or a class that is adding to the chaos. Don’t feel guilty about “quitting”. Feel good about choosing what is best for your family.

Want more ideas to help you homeschool the simple way? Don’t miss these posts!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Teaching Several as One

July 18, 2016 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

We’ve been talking about minimalist homeschooling a lot lately and I’ve shared lots of tips for scaling down your homeschooling supplies, books, paper, and more.

But what can you do if you’re homeschooling several children? I mean, you can’t really minimize them, right? 🙂

You can, however, minimize the way you teach them and that can make your entire homeschooling journey much, much simpler.

Here are some tips for teaching multiple children in your minimalist homeschool!

Tips for Teaching Multiple Children

Combine grades, if possible. I got this idea from a good friend who is homeschooling three sons. Since she has twins and one child that is one year younger, she’s teaching them all at the same level. When she told me that, a lightbulb went off in my head. After all, I have two boys who are one year apart.

When I asked my soon-to-be second grader if he wanted to learn along with his soon-to-be third grade brother, he said “I don’t want to skip second grade.” Which is fine. But we’re going to do a 2/3 year for the two of them. His brother will get a much needed review and he’ll get a chance to move on a little early. And, best of all, Mom will only have to plan one lesson for the two of them. Win!

Use technology to your advantage. When you teach multiple kids, it’s generally easier to teach some subjects with the kids all together. History, science, and geography come to mind. This is especially true when you want to watch a video, do an experiment, or complete a craft project.

This year, I’m going to use a LOT more videos in our homeschool. Then the video can do the teaching and the kids can write reports about what they learn. Since it’s tough for the kids to crowd around a computer screen, we’ll be using the YouTube channel on our Roku. If I find other things on my mobile device, I’m going to use a smartphone projector so that everyone can see. Simple, right?

Those are a few ways I’ll be teaching multiple children in our minimalist homeschool this year. For more on simplifying your homeschool, check out these posts!

Learn more about planning this homeschool year with my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 9: Skip the Overscheduling!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Stick to the Basics

July 17, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Homeschoolers, let’s have a little chat, shall we?

One of the huge draws to homeschooling is that we have the freedom to teach lessons and subjects the way that we see fit. But, to quote Uncle Ben from Spiderman, “with great freedom comes great responsibility”. Okay, I’ve totally just told you my age. 🙂

We have a LOT of options and a LOT of flexibility, but we also have the sole responsibility of educating our kids. And sometimes the endless options and choices can shift our focus from providing a good education to providing the bestest, most complete education ever – which is probably impossible.

It’s easy to start with a few school subjects at first. Then you add more and more. Next thing you know, your lesson plan has 15 or 20 slots to accommodate extra subjects such as Latin, crafting, foreign language, engineering, and technology. That may work for some, but it has become overwhelming for me.

So – this year, I’m sticking with the basics only when it comes to teaching school subjects. Here’s how.

Minimalist Homeschooling: Focus on the Basics

Look at your state requirements. What subjects are you required to teach? Start with those! In our state, we are required to teach math, ELA, science, social studies, and reading. When I started to really look at those subjects, I realized that covering them each day is plenty enough for us.
Add in other subjects and interests, but sparingly. Say you want your child to study Latin. That’s fine. But do they really need to learn it every single day? Do you even have time to teach it every day? If not, do it once a week and let that be enough. Or: If you finish your required subjects for the year by summer, use the summer for those elective subjects.
Leave room for your kids’ interests! Homeschooling isn’t homeschooling if the kids don’t have a little say in the planning, right? Leave a slot or two open for them to explore something they want to learn about. Your day will go much, much better that way.

Want to simplify your lesson planning? Take a look at how we’re doing that this year!

Get more ideas for organizing your homeschool on my Homeschool Organization Tips Pinterest board!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 8: Teaching Several Kids at Once!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Simple Homeschool Lesson Planning

July 16, 2016 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

We’ve been talking about minimalist homeschooling for the past few days and, so far, we’ve covered making changes in the way we store books, use paper, make crafts, and manage digital resources.

Today, though, we’re on to the granddaddy of them all: LESSON PLANNING.

Lesson planning is both my favorite and my most-hated part of homeschooling. I love the idea of doing it and I generally love doing it…for the first few weeks of the school year. Then I start to do it a little less and less. By week eight or so, I’m hiding the lesson planning book somewhere in the room so I don’t have to look at it…lol.

So I know it’s time to make a change in the way I plan our homeschool. And that’s why I’m giving simple homeschool lesson planning a shot this year!

How to Simplify Homeschool Lesson Planning

As I’ve mentioned many, many times before, I’m living with ADD. Which means that I tend to hoard and overcommit myself frequently. Nowhere does this tendency show up more in homeschooling for me than in how I plan our lessons.

I tend to overschedule our days, include too many activities, and then do almost none of them. So that’s pretty obviously not the ideal way to homeschool.

This year, I’m keeping it simple with the following format:

Our basic school subjects
One craft per week
One video per week
A field trip every month

As for choosing our craft each week, I’m going to use up the craft resources I already have (see: Cutting Down on Craft Supplies) and once those are gone, I’m sticking with resources from the library from here on.

When it comes to choosing a video, I’m going to use the videos I already have listed in some of our homeschool unit studies. I think there are enough there to keep us going for some time. 🙂

I’m also going to make use of a digital planning program, such as Evernote. I just don’t have the time to write things down by hand anymore. If I can’t see it on my phone during the day, it’s probably not going to get done. (I still love the paper planners! In fact, I use one for my overall day, but I’ve got to let them go for homeschooling. Sad, but true.)

How will we tackle our basic school subjects this year? We’ll be talking about that tomorrow!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 7: Stick to the Basics!

Get more ideas for planning your homeschooling year on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Cutting Down on Craft Supplies

July 15, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Crafting. I both love it and hate it. I love the feeling of making things with my kids. I don’t love the work of cleaning the mess up afterwards.

Despite this ambiguity, I have managed to amass a collection of craft supplies far larger than what will ever be used during my homeschooling journey. So, like my book collection, my digital homeschool resource collection, and my paper cache, my craft supply space has got to have a minimalist makeover.

Are you drowning in pom-poms, watercolors, clothespins, markers, and other craft supplies? Here are a few tips to cut them down!

How to Cut Down on Craft Supplies

Step 1: Designate a fixed space for craft supply storage. If you think that you really want to continue making crafts with your kids, set up a small space for storing supplies. Don’t let yourself buy or keep any more supplies that can reasonably fit in that space.

Step 2: Do a sort-through. Bring out all the crafting supplies you currently have and spread them on the floor. Let your kids look through them and come up with ideas for crafts and projects they want to make with them. If there are any supplies they don’t plan to use, set them to aside to donate.

Step 3: Make, make, make! Set a deadline for your kids to make their projects, but don’t be strict about it. Ask them when they’d like to make their crafts and then offer a gentle reminder. If they don’t follow through, just set those supplies out to be donated as well. Your kids will probably never miss them. 🙂

Need some ideas as to what kinds of crafts to make with your supplies? Check out this list of beach crafts for kids!

Get even more crafting ideas on my Simple Crafts for Kids Pinterest board!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by Monday for Day 6: Simplified Lesson Planning!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Digital Decluttering

July 14, 2016 by Selena Robinson 10 Comments

Do you think of yourself as a hoarder? Have you ever watched Hoarders and thought “That’s not me. I would never keep all that stuff.”

I have. In fact, one of the reasons I’m slowly embracing minimalism in my homeschool is because I prefer to keep a smaller house with fewer possessions to take care of. When I talk about having too many books or feeling overloaded with paper, I’m really speaking about the amount that feels like a lot to me. To others, though, it never seems like much.

But I recently came to a rather surprising conclusion: I am a digital curriculum hoarder. Over the years, I have downloaded so many homeschooling printables and curriculum helps that I will never use them all. There’s just no way.

And now, I don’t even look at them because I get overwhelmed by it all. Guess what? It’s time to do some digital decluttering.

How to Declutter Digital Resources

Step 1: Organize the digital homeschool resources you have.

Open up the folder in which you keep all of your homeschooling downloads. And slowly start organizing them into smaller folders. Whether you choose to do it by grade level, subject, or type, just get them all organized so that you can see where they are.

Also, if the files have funny download names that include symbols or letters, rename the files to the actual name of the product. That way, you’ll know what they are without having to open each file.

Step 2: Look at your grade objectives and decide which resources you will use for each child.

Use a notepad or an open file on your computer to jot down which resources you intend to use for which child during this school year. If you don’t think you’ll need a specific resource this year but you might use it the next year, store it in a separate folder.

If you think you won’t need it for several years, delete it. By the time you need it, you’ll probably have found something more up-to-date.

Step 3: Do a purge at the end of the school year.

When you’re wrapping up your school year, take a look back at the resources you used. Did you love them? Keep them for the next child! Did you never get around to using them at all? You can probably delete those. If there were any that you were on the fence about, toss those as well. And make sure that every resource you get going forward is one that you really want to use.

Need help organizing your digital homeschool resources? See a simple way to do it with File Explorer!

Get more ideas for organizing your homeschool on my Homeschool Organization Tips Pinterest Board!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 5: Cutting Down on Craft Supplies!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Dealing with Paper Overload

July 13, 2016 by Selena Robinson 7 Comments

If you’re at home right now, go into your homeschooling space and take a gander around. If your room is anything like mine, you probably have more items made up of one material than all others: paper.

I had no idea how much paper I had accumulated over the past seven years of homeschooling until I started trying to simply our homeschool. And, oh boy, is there paper everywhere.

Worksheets, construction paper, writing paper, contact paper, butcher paper, drawing paper, graphing paper, planning paper – just paper as far as the eye can see.

This will probably seem unreal, but it’s absolutely true. I actually have planning pages that I printed FIVE YEARS AGO and have yet to use. I have no idea how much money I’ve spent in printer ink over the years, but I can guarantee it’s been a lot.

In this entry in the Minimalist Homeschooling series, we’re talking about how to deal with paper overload and free yourself of the paper trail!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Dealing with Paper Overload

First – I just want to clarify: I am not talking about getting rid of paper entirely. In our state, we have to keep certain records each school year and there are a few activities the kids completed that I’m saving for sentimental reasons. But a lot of this paper is just taking up space in my life.

So we probably (read: definitely) have too much paper on our hands. What do we do about it? We get real.

In yesterday’s post, I shared the tip that has been helping me declutter the most. Ask yourself: “Does this spark joy?” If it doesn’t, get rid of it.

With papers, we might tweak that approach to ask: “Do I really want to use this?” If you don’t really want to use it, put it in the “Get Rid of This” pile.

Personally, my pile consists mostly of extra drawing paper, old worksheets I printed but never used, old lesson planning pages that no longer fit our homeschooling approach, teachers’ guides I really thought I needed but will never, ever have the time to implement, and so on.

And guess what? If you’re feeling guilty about tossing all this paper, just take it to your local recycling center. They’ll be happy to take it off your hands!

Going forward, I’ll be printing worksheets, planners, and other pages on a strict need-to-use basis. If I don’t need it that week, I’m not printing it. Period.

Need some non-paper related homeschool planning ideas? Check out Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 4: Digital Decluttering!

Minimalist Homeschooling: How to Declutter Books

July 12, 2016 by Selena Robinson 9 Comments

I never thought I’d ever utter this next sentence, but: I have too many books.

There. I said it.

That was tough.

If there was an organization for Book Collectors Anonymous, I’d be at my meeting every week.

I’ve always loved to read and, when my husband and I decided to homeschool our children, I was off and running to the bookstore. Books about homeschooling, books with homeschooling activities, classics I’d read as a child that I now wanted my kids to read, new children’s books that were written by promising authors, out-of-print books featuring wonderful hobbies I still wanted my kids to learn…you get the idea.

But after seven years of homeschooling, I realized that I just have way too many books. As part of my experience with minimalist homeschooling, I’m..gasp…getting rid of some of my books. If you’re ready to learn how to declutter books, here’s a look at how I’m doing it.

Minimalist Homeschooling: How to Declutter Books

I’m going to borrow from the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up to explain how I decide it’s time for a book to leave my home. In that book (and, yes, I realize the irony of quoting a book about getting rid of books), the author says to touch each item in your home and ask yourself: “Does this spark joy?” If it doesn’t, out it goes.

For me, I look at a book and think “Do I really want to use this book for our homeschool or do I feel like I should use this book for our homeschool?” If it’s there just because I think I should use it, it heads out the door.

Pictured: A look into my storage closet (almost)

Some homeschooling books are super, duper famous. And they are wonderful resources for many families. But, over time, I’ve realized that some of them are just not a good fit for us, especially since we’re homeschooling kids with ADHD. So there’s no point in keeping a homeschool library that won’t help with our specific educational goals.

“If a homeschooling book is in my closet just because I think I should use it, it heads out the door.”

Now, this is not to say that I won’t keep buying books. But buying them because I only think I need them or, worse, keeping them long after they’ve served their purpose, ends now.

So, what have I been doing instead of hoarding more and more books? Why, visiting my local library, of course! And there are so many great and trusted tips for homeschooling available online now, that I don’t really need as many homeschooling and education books as I did years ago.

Do you have a way to declutter books? How do you decide what to keep and what to get rid of? Share your tips!

Don’t miss these great homeschool organization posts!

Need more ideas to get your homeschool organized? Follow my Homeschool Organization Tips board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! See all of our minimalist homeschooling tips by clicking the image below!

What is Minimalist Homeschooling?

July 11, 2016 by Selena Robinson 7 Comments

Confession time: I’ve struggled off and on with homeschool hoarding for YEARS.

I didn’t get a lot of support when I was a homeschooled student and I swore that my children would have all the books, resources, and materials they’d ever need. As a result, our bookshelves and closets are stacked to the gills with homeschooling supplies.

Here’s the problem: I will never in my life ever use all of those things. In fact, I’ve had things put away for years that I have found after my children are too old to use them. For example: I have a book full of toddler activities that I haven’t opened in nearly nine years (since Tigger was a toddler). Guess what? I no longer have any toddlers.

As my kids get older and my confidence in homeschooling grows, I’m finding that I don’t need nearly as much things as I thought to give them a quality education. So I’m stepping into the world of minimalist homeschooling.

What is minimalist homeschooling? And can a confirmed homeschool hoarder really embrace minimalism?

What is Minimalist Homeschooling?

Here’s where it gets a little dicey: what minimalist homeschooling actually is looks different in each family. For me, minimalism refers to a lifestyle that challenges people to make the most of what they have without buying more things. In short, it’s simplifying your life by getting rid of unnecessary possessions.

This lifestyle is well supported by the Bible. 1 Timothy 6:7, 8 encourages us to be content with “sustenance and covering”. Well, when it comes to homeschooling, I’ve got plenty to be content with. Too much, in fact.

So, it’s time to get rid of my unnecessary homeschooling things, no matter how much they may mean to me personally or how much money they may have cost me.

Can a Homeschooling Hoarder Become a Minimalist?

Since I’m a hoarder (when it comes to homeschool stuff), I know that embracing minimalist homeschooling is going to be tough. The challenge for me is letting go of my fear that I won’t have something my kids need when they need it. Which brings me to the most important reason why I’m venturing into this lifestyle.

I do not want to homeschool out of fear.

I’ve never been one to homeschool out of fear of the public school system. Nor do I homeschool out of fear that my children will do “something wrong” if they’re out of my sight. But I have been hoarding homeschooling materials out of fear that I won’t be a good enough teacher. And that fear has been draining the joy out of the homeschooling experience.

My hope is that homeschooling with the bare necessities will help me see that I am teacher enough for my kids, even without a closet full of supplies.

I’m looking forward to sharing more of my journey with you all in the next few days! Do any of you homeschool with a minimalist perspective? I’d love to hear how it’s going for you!

Need to homeschool on a budget? Grab my ebook How to Afford Homeschooling for just 99 cents!

Get more ideas for planning your upcoming homeschool year on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

This post is part of the 10 Days of Minimalist Homeschooling series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 2: Books, Books, Books!

Superhero Free Student Planner Pages

June 16, 2016 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

Getting ready for the new school year typically involves lots of planning for the parents. But as kids get older, they can start to take more responsibility for their school schedule, whether they’re in public school or homeschool.

My boys are nuts about superheroes right now, so I just knew they’d love these Superhero Free Student Planner Pages! Read on to get them for your little superheroes too!

If your kids aren’t really digging the whole superhero motif, take a look at our Strawberry Friends Printable Student Planner Pages too! And for more tips to get your new homeschool year going, check out my list of things you DON’T need to homeschool!

Superhero Free Student Planner Pages

To use these free student planner pages, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are provided for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

This pack includes free student planner pages for each weekday (Monday through Friday).

Since they’re unlabeled, you can use them to schedule subjects or assignments or chores or whatever else you’d like for your kids!

The pages have spaces for items from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., which is typically the timeframe that students need to schedule.

And each page features a different superhero, including Superman, Batman, and Spiderman!

We structure our day like this for early elementary learners. But you can schedule yours however you see fit! Since each line is fairly long, you could even place more than one item on each line.

And, if you want to encourage your children to work independently, print a set for them to use and create their own schedule!

Scroll down to get your Superhero Free Student Planner Pages!

Don’t miss our other homeschool planning posts!

And get ready for the new homeschool year with the ideas on my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

To get your free Superhero Student Planner Pages, sign up for our email newsletter! You’ll get access to it and lots of other exclusive printables after you subscribe. 🙂

This post is part of the Superhero Unit Study roundup! Click over to read other superhero learning ideas from my fellow bloggers!

Batman Books for Kids from The Jenny Evolution

Preschool Super Hero Printable Pack from Schooling a Monkey

Superheroes Coloring Pages from Mrs. Karle’s Sight and Sound Reading

Superhero Obstacle Course in Nature from Frog Mom

Strawberry Friends Printable Student Planner Free Pages

May 27, 2016 by Selena Robinson 9 Comments

Homeschool planning season is here!

Planning season is the bestest season of all. It’s time to think about the new school year, the grades our kids are going into (6th, 3rd, 2nd, and PreK here), and all the awesome lesson plans we’ll write down and never complete…lol.

This year, our oldest is going into middle grades, so I figured it was time to give her a bit more responsibility for her education. So I made up these Strawberry Friends Printable Student Planner Free Pages! Read on to get a set for your kids absolutely free!

Looking for more ways to help kids get ready for the new school year? Don’t miss our Superhero Student Planner Pages!

And, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list for the new homeschool year, take a look at my list of things you DON’T need in order to get started!

Strawberry Friends Printable Student Planner Free Pages

To use these student planner free pages, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are provided here for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

I had Tigger in mind when I made these. She loves Strawberry Shortcake and her friends, so I just knew she’d like these Strawberry Friends planner printables.

She took one look and fell in love with them. Let’s hope she falls in love with actually sticking to her weekly schedule. 🙂

This planner includes one page for each day of the week and there are scheduled time blocks from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. How you use these is up to you!

You might have your child write down a subject for each time block or use them to schedule out chores, activities, or field trips. The choice is yours!

We structure our days pretty loosely for early elementary grades, but for middle school, this list will be a bit more comprehensive. Since we alternate subjects, Tuesday’s schedule doesn’t resemble Wednesday’s or Thursday’s. Which is why it’s all the more important to keep up with the daily lesson plan!

Scroll down to get your copy of our free Strawberry Friends Printable Student Planner Pages!

Check out these other tips for planning your homeschool year!

And see even more suggestions on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

To get your set of our Strawberry Friends Printable Student Planner Free Pages, sign up for our email newsletter! You’ll get access to them and lots of other exclusive printables when you subscribe. 🙂

This post is part of the Strawberry Unit Study blog hop! Check out all the great strawberry-themed learning resources below!

Find the Letter: S is for Strawberries from 3 Boys and a Dog

Strawberries Nature Study from The Usual Mayhem

Strawberry and Gardening Books for Kids from CraftCreateCalm

Fun & Easy Strawberry Paper Craft with Handprint Stem from Crafty Mama in ME

Strawberry Number Recognition Free Printable from Something 2 Offer

Strawberry Moon Outdoor Activities for Kids from FrogMom

How To Make Strawberry Shortcake from Tales of Education at Home

Strawberry Picking Sight Word Games from Books and Giggles

S is for Strawberry Letter Maze from Simple Fun for Kids

How to Make Strawberry Lemonade from The Jenny Evolution

Preschool Strawberry Math from Schooling a Monkey

The Secret to Homeschooling and Working Full Time

March 14, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

I’ve been a homeschooling parent – except for a brief flirtation with public school – for the past several years. For six of those years, I’ve also been a work-at-home mom.

Recently, though, something has changed – I’ve become a homeschooling mom who works full-time.

If you’d told me years ago when I left the workforce that I’d end up returning along WITH my four children, I’d have thought you were insane. But eleven years later, here we are.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: It’s been challenging to adjust to this new lifestyle. But I really think I’ve found the secret to homeschooling and working full time and I’m sharing it today!

Image: c/o Tinatin1 / depositphotos

Why Homeschooling and Working Full Time is So Hard

This is a no-brainer, right? It’s hard because there’s only one you and there are kids, lesson plans, work deadlines, clients, assignments, grades, exams, and state reports to deal with – and that’s not all!

In the past when I’ve worked from home, I’ve had to pull full-time shifts for a short amount of time. But in those situations, I had the freedom to move my schedule around and get my work done when the kids were sleeping.

Now, though, I’m working both inside and outside the home. So I have less flexibility than I did before. Plus, my children accompany me to work. (I have a very understanding supervisor.) But that means keeping them still and quiet while I try to do my job. And that’s not easy.

The Secret to Homeschooling and Working Full Time

It’s really taken a few months to get the hang of this and I still can’t say that I’ve totally “got it”. But I have uncovered a huge secret that makes homeschooling and working full time easier. Are you ready to learn what it is?

It’s…outsourcing.

I outsource every single task I can to my children. And that includes choosing school assignments, doing housework, making meals, and completing lessons. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I only spend about five hours a week actually “teaching”. And that has greatly freed up my time to get my other responsibilities done.

After I started working outside the home, I explained to the kids that I would be contributing to the household in a new way: by earning additional money we could use to take a vacation, go to the aquarium, buy clothes, and so on. And that it was time for them to contribute to the household a bit more as well. 😉

For example, when it comes to housework, there are three chores that have to be done every single day and were taking up way too much of my time: laundry, cooking, and dishes. I rotate these tasks among my three oldest kids each week.

So one week, Tigger will prepare breakfast and lunch during the day, Roo will do the laundry, and Pooh will wash the dishes. Then the next week, they rotate.

Of course, they’re not skilled enough to be left to do all of these things without supervision, so I’m always nearby to keep an eye on them. But their daily chores are part of their school day, which is a win-win for everyone!

For more tips on planning and scheduling your homeschool, check out some of our other posts!

How I Homeschool Four Kids for $250 a Year!

Our Year-Round Homeschool Schedule

Get even more encouragement for planning your homeschool year from my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

Are you homeschooling and working full time? Let us know how you do it!

This linkup is part of the Balancing Your Life & Homeschooling linkup from iHomeschool Network! Click over to read how my fellow bloggers keep everything together!

Homeschooling: what to do when you want to quit

How to Homeschool in Five Hours a Week

February 15, 2016 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

Have you ever heard someone say…

“I wish I could homeschool, but I just don’t have the time!”

“You homeschool? How do you get everything done?”

“I’d like to homeschool, but it seems like it takes so long!”

I have. And I’ve tried repeatedly to get people to understand that it’s totally possible to homeschool in five hours a week. But it’s hard to get that message out in a way that makes it easy to understand, at least when I’m talking. So…

I’m writing it all down today! Check out how we get it done!

Image c/o: yuriyzhuravov via depositphotos

How to Homeschool in Five Hours a Week

Before I get started, let me clarify: I do not mean that your total homeschooling time per week will be just five hours. Ours isn’t. Altogether, we probably spend 15 to 20 a weeks “doing school”.

But I have managed to get my hands-on teaching time down to five hours a week, which has been a HUGE help to my schedule.

The first hour of our school day (9 – 10 am) looks like this:

30 min – teach a new concept and oversee practice
10 min – assign independent reading and projects for the day
20 min – answer immediate questions

The rest of the school day is spent on independent assignments, reading, an educational video, and generally a craft or a project. And, of course, I’m available for help as they need it throughout the day. But the real “Mom is teaching” time is done in that hour.

Here are three tips to help you do the same!

Plan ahead.

I cannot overstate the importance of planning here. I set aside time over the weekend to choose which objectives I’ll focus on that week and find the resources I have to teach them.

My goal is to introduce a new topic, observe the kids as they practice, and provide limited guidance. So I only teach one new concept per day and that keeps the amount of actual “teaching” time I have to do to a minimum.

Use the Internet.

I love to use the Internet when I teach. Love it. There are so many great YouTube videos and educational websites that can do a lot of teaching for us these days!

My kids use and love Khan Academy. And that’s one of my favorite websites because Sal does so much instructing that I don’t have to do much at all. I usually sit with the kids as they work through the videos and let them work the exercises on their own. Generally, I have my Kindle nearby. 🙂

Teach your kids to work independently.

This is probably the biggest step of all. When your kids start completing work on their own, you will get so much of your time back! And I will admit that this takes effort and LOTS of practice, but it’s worth it.

Start with little tasks: completing half of a worksheet, watching a short video, reading a page of a book and answering a question or two. And as your kids grow, they will start to enjoy the feeling of completing independent work.

As they work on their assignments, I get time to get my own work done, catch up on a household chore, or simply do nothing at all. It’s glorious.

Need even more tips for managing your homeschool? Check out the amazing suggestions in the book The Big Book of Homeschooling Ideas!

The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas by iHomeschool Network

How do you keep a handle on your homeschooling time each week? Share your tips in the comments!

Need more help planning your homeschool? Follow my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the “How Much Time Does Homeschooling Take” linkup from iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read the awesome posts by our fellow bloggers!

Back to School Snack Station with Savings at Publix!

September 5, 2015 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

We’re all in back to school mode this time of year, right? And that means hungry, hungry hippos. (Oops! I mean, kids. Hungry, hungry kids.) 🙂

My children are just famished during the school day. I think it must be all the mental effort they expend figuring out ways NOT to do their work.

So this year I decided to create a simple back to school snack station that they could use on their own during snack break. Thanks to some awesome savings at Publix, I stocked our station for a lot less than usual!

See how we stocked our snack station and get ideas for your own! Plus, you can download a Publix coupon and enter our giveaway to win $15 in PayPal cash to get some kid-friendly snacks for your family!

Disclosure: The information, products and Publix gift cards were provided by General Mills through Linqia.

Simple Back to School Snack Station

Sometimes I try to make homemade snacks for our children, but on some days I just run out of time to do it myself. So, picking up snacks I know my kids like can really be a time-saver.

Some of the simple snacks for kids I like to use include Fiber One chewy cookies, bananas, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, and Chex Mix. (Seriously, those Fiber One cookies are incredible. It takes a LOT of self-control for me not to eat the whole box.)

So here’s how I make up the station:

I empty the Chex Mix into small resealable bags – usually three bags at a time, one for each of my older kids. Then I remove the granola bars and cookies from the box and place them in the basket, along with the bananas.

That’s it! That’s all I do! When it’s snack time, I set the basket on the table and the kids go at it.

Hey, hey! One at a time! 🙂

I will say that I don’t let my kids snack during school. We take breaks to have snacks, but when we’re schooling, we’re schooling.

Do you need to fill up your back to school snack station? Save $5 on your $20 purchase of participating snacking items when you share the Publix Snack, Share, Save event with friends! Visit the campaign landing page to find out how.

Plus, you can save $5.00 instantly when you buy $20 worth of participating items from PepsiCo, General Mills, & Unilever between 9/24 and 9/30! So it’s a great time stock up on Fiber One Cookies, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, Chex Snack Mix and all the other kid-friendly snacks you can!

Here’s how to get your coupon:

1. Go To SnackShareSave.com and Choose a Design to share on your social media account
2. Log In to your Publix Skip The Clip Account
3. Share the social media design via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest
4. Check your Skip the Clip Account for your $5 Coupon.

And you’re done!

Want even more snack savings? We’re hosting a $15 PayPal giveaway so you can stock up on snacks right now! Woohoo!

You can enter using the Giveaway Tools widget below! One reader will receive $15 in PayPal cash!

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5 Awesome Homeschool Planning Resources for Busy Moms

August 4, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

If you’ve already gotten your homeschool planning done for this year, you are my hero. (Needless to say, I am nowhere NEAR finished.)

Even though I’m finished with my college experience, I find that I am still so, so busy! And I think most moms are. It can easily feel like we just do not have enough time in the day to plan our homeschool lessons, especially if we’re parenting more than one child.

So I’m excited to share 5 awesome homeschool planning resources for busy moms today!

Today is also another edition of the Laugh and Learn linky, so you can check out our features from last week and read the newest posts shared below!

5 Awesome Homeschool Planning Resources for the Busy Mom

Creating a Schedule That Works – Marlene Griffith

Need to get your life together in a hurry? Marlene explains how you can go from unscheduled to scheduled in just 12 days. Since homeschooling parents need a schedule that everyone can stick with, she also talks about starting with a clearly defined purpose. That way, you have an overall goal to keep in mind as you stick with your routine.

Blueprint Homeschooling – Amy Kneppers

Amy’s book is a really great way to outline your entire year in advance. Yes, I mean, your ENTIRE year. She includes exercises you can complete as you read to help you get a feel for the rhythm of your home and how homeschooling can fit naturally into the life you already lead.

Homeschool Planner – Jolanthe Erb

If you want to have one homeschool planner you can use year after year, Jolanthe’s planner is the one. This homeschool planner is composed of editable PDFs, so you can type in this year’s lessons and then print them when you’re finished. Next year, you can do it all over again!

Homeschool Planner 2015-16 – Patricia Espinoza

Do you want a pretty paper planner that makes you feel happy to plan lessons? (I do.) Patricia’s Homeschool Planner is so beautiful that looking at it just makes me feel better. You can print the pages you need, skip the ones you don’t, and get to planning your year peacefully.

Planning Your Best Homeschool Year – Kyle McVay

One of the issues with homeschool planning is that we can get so focused on covering the material or finishing our curriculum that we forget to consider our kids! Kyle’s book is excellent for helping parents consider their kids learning styles right from the beginning. There’s no point in planning a homeschool year your kids will hate, right?

And now, it’s linky time!

Welcome to our 44nd week of Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup!

Last week was our best linkup ever! Thanks for sharing 78 links with us.

Laugh and Learn – Homeschool and Parenting Linkup will be open by 6 am every Tuesday morning.

Each and every week all of the hosts pick one favorite post to be featured on the next week’s linkup. All of your links will be shared on five blogs.

We are also sharing the top posts on Pinterest: #LaughLearnLinkup {Featured Favorites}. It’s added exposure for your awesome content!

Your Fabulous Hosts 😉

Tina

Tina lives abroad in Latin America with her husband and four children. Currently in Mexico, Tina is active in homeschool, travel, and her Bible ministry. She blogs about all of their adventures and more at Los Gringos Locos.
Find Tina at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Google +
Linkedin
Tsu

Selena

Selena is a writer and a homeschooling mom to four kids, including three with ADHD/SPD. Selena and her husband, Jay, are committed to teaching their children at home and loving every minute of it! You can read about the family’s homeschooling experiences at Look! We’re Learning, written by Selena!
Find Selena at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Google +
Instagram

Sarah

Sarah lives in Kentucky, USA, where she and her husband homeschool three children. Sarah writes for and about, families with special needs. She hopes to provide support and encouragement to all special needs parents in the homeschool community. Visit Sarah at Dedicated Homeschooler.
Find Sarah at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest

Haley

Haley hopes to encourage stay at home moms. She wants to help moms learn how to make an extra income, to stretch a budget, to make crafts, and other useful information. Haley always has updates on the kids and funny things that happen. Visit Haley at Haley’s Vintage Finds & Deals.
Find Haley at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram
Twitter
Google+
YouTube

Lindsey

Lindsey is a passionate writer eager to touch the hearts and minds of homeschoolers and parents abroad. As a devoted mother to two, happy homeschooler, and scatterbrained housewife, she’s on a mission to find love and joy in “the simple life” and invites you to join her! Visit Lindsey at Nitty Gritty Homeschooling. Find Lindsey at her blog link above, and on the following social media networks:
Facebook
Google+
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter
YouTube

The Winners for the Week of August 4th:

20 First Day of Homeschool Celebrations

19 EXPLORING OUTER SPACE ACTIVITIES, CRAFTS, AND PRINTABLES FOR KIDS

25 Free Educational Websites for Kids

5 ADVANTAGES TO CREATING YOUR OWN HOMESCHOOL UNIT STUDY

European Espresso Cake

Thanks to everyone who submitted a post. Please check out the post above by clicking on the image.
[bctt tweet=”Come share your favorite #parenting or #homeschooling post with us. #ihsnet #ibabloggers”]

Now give us your best posts!

An InLinkz Link-up

Our 2015-16 Year Round Homeschool Schedule

August 3, 2015 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

This year we’re trying something that’s kind of new for us: an actual year round homeschool schedule.

We’ve always been year-round homeschoolers (sort of), because we don’t actually take a summer break. But this is the first year that I’ve actually sat down and planned to teach lessons the whole year.

If you’re interested in year-round homeschooling, take a look at our year-round homeschool schedule for 2015-16!

2015-16 Year Round Homeschool Schedule

The reason we’re embarking on a true year round schedule this time around is because I’m planning to become a full-time minister. Since I’ll be spending around 70 hours a month in our Bible ministry, I’ll be trying to do the bulk of my ministry during temperate months and NOT in the heat of summer…lol.

As a result, we’ll be doing the bulk of our homeschooling in the summer. And – in speaking to some other homeschoolers, I’m not the only one taking that approach. Summertime here is just too hot to do anything and most of the recreational facilities are packed with public schoolers during summer anyway, so…summer school it is!

One other note: I no longer use timed scheduling. I’ve done that in the past and it just does not work for our family. We do much better when we have a general rhythm to our day.

Here’s our year round homeschool schedule:

September – April:

Tuesday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, Science, P.E.

Thursday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, Geography, P.E.

Friday: Unit Study, ELA, STEM, Logic, P.E.

May – August:

Monday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, Science, P.E.

Tuesday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, History, P.E.

Thursday: Unit Study, ELA, Math, Foreign Language, P.E.

Friday: Unit Study, ELA, STEM, Art/Music, P.E.

And that’s it! Have any of you tried a year round homeschool schedule? What adjustments did you have to make along the way? Share your experiences in the comments!

This post is part of the 2015 “Not Back to School Blog Hop” from iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read how my fellow bloggers are getting ready to NOT go back to school this year!

5 Homeschool Dining Room Ideas

July 20, 2015 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

Last week we shared what homeschool curriculum we’ll be learning with this year. This week I’m excited to talk about where we’ll be learning it. 🙂

We’ve been using our dining room as our homeschool space for several years. As much as I’d love to have a dedicated school room, it’s just not going to happen for a while. So – we’ve taken a corner of our dining room and made it into Learning Central.

The thing about using your dining space, though, is that your homeschooling supplies can easily take over and leave you with nowhere to eat. So it’s good to get a few tips for storing your supplies.

If you’re cramped for space and you’re using your dining area for school, you’ll appreciate these 5 homeschool dining room ideas!

5 Homeschool Dining Room Ideas

1. Use a dedicated bookcase.

If you can’t have a dedicated room, use a dedicated bookcase! 🙂

Once we committed to schooling in our dining room, we pulled a deep bookcase from our garage and reserved it FOR HOMESCHOOL USE ONLY. Nothing goes on that bookcase that is not directly related to our schooling. Otherwise, it ends being a “catch-all” and I’ll never find what I need to teach the next day.

Most school resources are brightly colored, which is great because both our dining room and the bookcase are rather bland…lol.

At the top of the bookcase, we keep our pencil sharpener, our “Job Jar”, and our Brain Breaks. The Job Jar is our chore manager. Inside the jar are folded slips of paper – each with one chore to be done. The kids reach in, grab one, and get to it. Needless to say, it’s very popular with Mom. 🙂

We use Brain Breaks regularly to get the kids up and moving in between lessons. If you have kids with ADHD (like we do) or just kids who prefer to be active, definitely, definitely, definitely check out The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks. It’s been a huge help for us.

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks eBook

2. Keep only your most used resources nearby.

Now, I hope you guys don’t think that what you’re looking at is ALL of our homeschooling resources. It’s not. 🙂

We store the bulk of our homeschooling supplies in a hallway closet and we use the back of our laundry room door to store markers, pens, and paints.

Which brings me to tip #2: Only keep the resources you use the most in your homeschool dining room.

Every summer, I go through this crate and take out what we won’t use the next year. Then I look through the closet, pull out the resources we intend to use, and keep them in the crate for the new year. Easy peasy.

3. Separate each child’s grade-level resources.

This year, I hit upon the idea of keeping each child’s grade-level books in separate boxes. Previously, I was keeping everything in the crate, but all four kids will be “doing school” this year and the crate just can’t handle it all…lol.

These bins were salvaged from a toy bin bookcase that our oldest daughter outgrew. I kept those boxes for months until I found a use for them. 😉

Tigger and Pooh’s books are on the bottom, because they’re going into 5th grade and 2nd grade, respectively. Roo and Piglet, who are going into 1st grade and Totschool, keep their supplies on the shelf above.

4. Make use of your wall space.

We had a nice, big, blank wall in our dining room, so we hung up a small blackboard. School at home doesn’t work for our kids, but the chalkboard does help, especially when they get to come up and write on it themselves.

The corkboard next to the chalkboard serves as our Anchor Chart space. Because our kids are easily distracted (ADHD and all), I only put something there when I’m actively using it.

Like so. 🙂

5. Store your printables and lesson plans somewhere else.

We use a lot of digital homeschool resources in our family, which means I have a LOT of printables each school year. If I was to try to store them all in our homeschool dining room, there’d be paper everywhere.

So, I keep them in a crate separated by student and week.

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but I saw it in a homeschooling group on Facebook. It’s awesome. That way, I can print out lesson plans for a few weeks at a time and keep them in a folder for each child for each week.

Then, I just bring the folder out to the homeschool space and use it as needed. The crate stays tucked away under my desk in our bedroom. 🙂

And those are 5 homeschool dining room ideas you can use to keep your schooling space neat!

This post is part of the 2015 Not Back to School Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read even more school room posts from our fellow bloggers!

3 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum

July 17, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

As you might have noticed, we’re in a bit of a homeschool curriculum frenzy around here this week. 🙂 We’ve already shared our homeschool curriculum for this year, but what if you’re still undecided about what you want to use during the new school year?

Don’t worry! Today, I’m sharing a post I contributed for The Homeschool Post that features Three Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum!

3 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum

Homeschool planning season can be both the best and worst time of the year, especially if you’re a curriculum hoarder (like me). 🙂 But if you approach it with a clear focus, you can avoid overwhelming yourself with a litany of choices. (Trust me, I learned this the hard way.)

Visit The Homeschool Post to read my 3 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum!

3 Tips for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum – The Homeschool Post

If you’d like to get some inspiration for grade level curriculum choices, check out these posts from my fellow iHomeschool Network bloggers!

Nitty Gritty Homeschooling: Our Homeschool Schedule

Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus: First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

Heart of Michelle: Our Charlotte Mason Homeschool

Eva Varga: Curriculum Plans for 8th and 6th Grade

Unschool Rules: 10th Grade-ish Curriculum Plan

Relaxed Homeschooling for the Uptight Mom

June 29, 2015 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

Okay. I admit it. I’m an uptight mom. Over the years, I’ve learned that the best way to manage my ADHD is to be extremely structured in almost everything I do. As a result, I tend to be pretty uptight.

While that strategy works for me as an individual, it does not work for me as a homeschooling mom. And it doesn’t work very well for my kids, either. I firmly believe that my tendency to structure every aspect of my life led to my burnout last fall, which resulted in The Great Homeschool Public School Experiment.

Now that we’ve returned to homeschooling, I’ve learned something very valuable: Relaxed homeschooling is a beautiful thing, even for uptight moms.

Image: jolopes / Dollar Photo Club

Why Relaxed Homeschooling Was So Hard for Me

First, I have to say that the idea of relaxed homeschooling was not new to me. We’ve always been eclectic homeschoolers, so we follow bits and pieces of several philosophies, including Charlotte Mason, workbooks, and unit studies.

However, even though I pieced my curriculum together from several sources, I still tended to follow an extremely structured schedule with my kids. The idea of “letting go and letting them learn” was something that I just couldn’t bring myself to do.

I worried that my kids wouldn’t learn enough. I worried that I wouldn’t do enough with them. And I worried that they would lose appreciation for what they learned.

Why I Wanted to Try Relaxed Homeschooling

Watching my children adjust to the increased workload of public school, though, made it very clear that a structured, heavily scheduled approach is not always best for children. Instead of feeling driven to excel, my kids were exhausted, irritable, and overwhelmed. While they enjoyed some of their lessons, they only had a few moments to appreciate them before rushing off to the next subject or preparing for an upcoming standardized test.

I decided that, when we got the chance to homeschool again, I would make sure they could learn and breathe at the same time. And now that they’re home, we’re learning in a much more relaxed way.

What I’ve Learned from Relaxed Homeschooling

Rather than scheduling times for lessons, I just set a broad goal for that day and we go from there. We also explore our read-alouds together and expand on whatever is mentioned in the book. In our Pack-n-Go Girls review last week, discussing the story led to an exploration of Mexico and dolphins – all of which stemmed from just reading a book together!

Interestingly, now that we’ve taken a more relaxed approach, I’ve observed that my kids are learning more now than they did before. They’re less stressed and, as a result, they remember what we cover much easier. And I’ve learned that I enjoy our lessons more, which helps me remain consistent far better than having my planned schedule nag me to begin teaching.

I’ll probably still be planning our homeschool year this month, but I’m looking forward to implementing it without the pressure of meeting a set learning goal or covering a certain number of pages. If we can all enjoy our lessons together, that’ll be a learning win for the day. 🙂

Do you take a relaxed homeschooling approach? How do you cover your lessons each day? Share your experiences in the comments!

This post is part of the “What Mommy Learned in Homeschool This Year” linkup from iHomeschoolNetwork! Stop by to see what our fellow homeschool bloggers learned this year!

How to Organize Digital Homeschool Resources

June 19, 2015 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

As a second-generation homeschooler, my heart belongs with paper books, planners, and notebooks. (There’s just something about the smell of paper and erasers in the morning.)

However, I have seen the need to jump into the digital age and, as a result, I am now the proud owner of a TON of digital homeschool resources. A ton.

But here’s the thing: If you can’t find anything on your computer, then all of your resources don’t really do a lot of good, do they? 🙂 So I came up with a simple way to organize digital homeschool resources, which I’m sharing with you today!

How I Organize Digital Homeschool Resources

Here’s my big secret…

….

…..

I use Windows File Explorer.

That’s it!

It’s really, really simple, but it really, really works. Here’s how:

I have my digital homeschool resources organized by the type of “school” to which they belong: Elementary for PK-5, Middle for 6-8, and High for 9-12 – just like in public school. I also have a separate folder for Planning, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Within each “school” level, I have items separated by grade level. For example, my “Elementary” folder is organized by specific grade. Then for things that aren’t really grade specific, I have individual folders such as “Foreign Language”, “Unit Studies”, and “PE“. I also have a few general subject folders that include resources for several grades.

Within each grade-specific level, files are organized again by subject. This is a look at my second-grade folder. So when it’s time to plan second grade, which I’ll be teaching with Roo this fall, I can just browse through the folder for each subject and plan from there. Much, much better than stockpiling resources and then forgetting about them until a year or two after the grade is finished. (Been there, done that.)

Now, my “Planning” folder is organized a bit differently. I am a total homeschool planner packrat. I have all kinds of planners on my hard drive, so they have their own folder. Then I have a folder for “Notebooking”, one for “Clip Art”, and another for “Teaching Tips”, because those make up the bulk of my downloadable resources that are not directly for the kids to use on their own.

As you can see, I also have two other folders: one for the 2013 Omnibus and another for the 2014 Omnibus from iHomeschool Network. I was thrilled to be a contributing author last year and I’m looking forward to sharing in the sale again this summer.

I mean, look at all those wonderful resources! Whenever I need a homeschool pick-me-up, I click open one of those folders and just read and read and read. 🙂

How I Store Digital Homeschool Resources

Of course, sorting and organizing all of my files won’t matter much if my computer crashes. So, I use a couple of methods to keep my digital homeschool resources safe.

First, I store everything on my computer and on a USB flash drive. I usually have to get one with a decent amount of memory, because I am an admitted digital curriculum hoarder. 🙂

In addition, I back everything on my computer’s hard drive up once each week onto an external hard drive. I like Seagate’s portable external hard drive, because it’s super easy to use and I can take it with me if I go out of town. (Really, it’s so easy to use that I kicked myself for not having gotten one earlier.)

And that’s how I organize digital homeschool resources! If you have any tips or suggestions to share, please do so in the comments!

Ready to get a handle on your homeschool this year? Check out these posts!

Get more tips about how to plan your homeschool on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!