homeschool planning Archives

What to Do When You Have Too Much Homeschool Curriculum

April 10, 2018 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

The question of what to do when you have too much homeschool curriculum might seem like a strange one to ask. The more curriculum, the better, right? Well…

Remember when you first started homeschooling? Did you look at your bookshelves and imagine them filled one day with gorgeous picture books, beautifully-illustrated encyclopedias, and resources your kids would love?

I did. I wanted to make sure that my kids had the opportunity to learn from any book they wanted and that I had any resource I needed to create an engaging and happy homeschooling experience in our home.

Fast forward nine years later. Instead of staring lovingly at our academically-equipped bookshelves, I was fighting to keep the door of our homeschool closet closed. Actually, I was in the habit of hurriedly slamming it shut before an anchor chart fell on me. Something…went wrong somewhere.

What went wrong is that I went on a curriculum hoarding spree over the years. In my desire to make sure that my kids had every homeschooling resource they’d ever need, I’d managed to store materials for literally every grade level and their first two years of college. And, no, I’m not exaggerating.

Rather than feeling comfortable and secure in my homeschooling arsenal, I felt overwhelmed at the very thought of trying to plan the new year. So, I had to take some drastic steps to minimize our homeschool. And if you’re overloaded with homeschool curriculum, these steps might help you too.

What to Do When You Have Too Much Homeschool Curriculum

Images c/o: belchonock & ArturVerkhovetskiy / depositphotos

Revisit Your Educational Goals.

Before you dive head first into your curriculum hoard, take some time to revisit your homeschooling goals. After years of homeschooling, we can get so used to following a “routine” that we lose sight of exactly what we’re trying to accomplish with our kids. It’s understandable, but it’s also counterproductive.

Grab a notebook and write down a homeschooling mission statement. Imagine what you want your children to be able to do by the time they finish homeschooling and then write it down. Or imagine what you want to have accomplished for them by the time they graduate and then write it down. Be very, very specific with this.

Keep the Resources That Align with Your Goals.

Read what you just wrote. Then read it again. Think about what you’ll actually need to make your goals a reality.

Now, open the door of your homeschooling closet (watch our for falling charts!) or venture over to your overloaded bookshelves and start pulling everything down. And I mean everything. If it’s a LOT (like ours was), do one bookshelf at a time to avoid collapsing into a puddle of overspending regret.

As you sort through each resource, reread your homeschooling mission statement and ask yourself: Will this help me accomplish my goals? Trust me, you’ll know when it will. If it will, put it off to the side.

Get Rid of Everything Else. Really.

Okay. We’re at the hard part. You have to get rid of every other thing that will not help you accomplish your homeschooling mission statement.

Complete curriculum you personally love? Get rid of it.

Expensive reference book you saved up to buy? Get rid of it.

Program you’ve kept for years just waiting for the right time? Get rid of it.

Just so you know: If you’ve been homeschooling a long time, this might be excruciating. So, to ease the pain, do NOT flip through any of the materials you plan to discard. It will not help.

Now when I say “get rid of it”, I don’t necessarily mean throw it in the garbage. Find another family to donate or sell the program to. Donate it to your local library. Feel free to pass it on, but just get it out of your house. Once you do, your homeschooling space will look better and you will feel wonderful!

One last thing: Now that you know what to do when you have too much homeschool curriculum, resolve never to get into this predicament again.

The next time someone offers to “give” you a program, reread your homeschooling mission statement. If it won’t help you accomplish it, it’s okay to say no! When you find out about a curriculum that’s on sale, read the details and reviews carefully to see if it will harmonize with your learning goals. If not, don’t buy it! It’s that simple.

Don’t miss these other homeschooling tips!

Get more tips for managing your homeschool on my Help for Homeschoolers Pinterest board!

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Our Minimalist Homeschool Schedule

September 18, 2017 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

We’ve been homeschooling for nine years now. And, since I’m a planning junkie, I have tried literally scores of different homeschool schedules. In a way that’s been a good thing. Since we’re teaching kids with ADHD at home, being flexible has been one of the keys to our homeschool success.

But all kids, and kids with ADHD especially, need consistency. And one thing I have not been consistent in is our daily homeschool schedule. Know why? I was trying to cram way too much in every day. No human on Earth can possibly maintain the type-A kind of schedule I was attempting to follow every day.

Now that we’re practicing a minimalist style of homeschooling, I’m using a far more streamlined schedule and it is working wonders. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by lesson planning, get a look at our minimalist homeschool schedule! It’s a really simple way to get started.

Image c/o: massonforstock / depositphotos

A Minimalist Homeschool Schedule

Note: Our two oldest kids are using K12 at home this year, so this homeschool schedule is largely based on their live class times. Because they have live classes each day, those windows are excellent for working with my two younger children.

My third-grade son is working at a fourth-grade level in most subjects and at a third-grade level in others and he has ADHD, so I tend to use short lesson times to keep his interest. My kindergartner has her lessons as the same times, though with different materials.

As you’ll see, we cover math and ELA every day. The rest of the subjects are done weekly. I schedule time in the afternoon for independent work so that they can practice what they learned in the morning. Friday is largely a review day, with time for elective subjects based on what they’re interested in that week.

Without further ado – here’s our minimalist homeschool schedule:

Monday:

9:00 – Math

9:30 – ELA

10:00 – Health

1:30 – Independent work

Tuesday:

9:00 – Math

9:30 – ELA

10:00 – Geography

1:30 – Independent work

Wednesday:

9:00 – Math

9:30 – ELA

10:00 – Science

1:30 – Independent work

Thursday:

9:00 – Math

9:30 – ELA

10:00 – Art

1:30 – Independent work

Friday:

9:00 – Math review

9:30 – ELA review

10:00 – Elective (Foreign language, music, coding)

And that’s it! It truly is a minimalist homeschool schedule, because we’re focusing on the most essential subjects right now. My number one goal is to help my hyper son get into the routine of having his school lessons daily. Then we can branch out into longer sessions or even more advanced subjects.

What homeschool schedule are you using this year? What have you learned from prior years that’s helped you develop a consistent routine? Share your experiences in the comments!

Want to simplify your homeschool? Try these tips!

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

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This post is part of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read more homeschool schedule ideas from our fellow bloggers!

Our K12 Daily Schedule for Two Grades

September 14, 2017 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

Our two oldest children are trying a brand new method of home education this year: K12. And adjusting to it has been…an interesting experience.

After years of relaxed homeschooling, shifting into a full school day based around live classes, offline assignments, and readings was a complete course change. We’ve have seriously bumpy days, days that were awesome, and plenty in between.

Now, though, we’ve developed a K12 daily schedule for two grades that has simplified our daily routine quite a bit – something we really needed since we’re still homeschooling our two youngest kids. If you’re considering K12 for your kids, take a look at our daily schedule to see what it could look like in your family!

Image c/o: seregam / depositphotos

Our K12 Daily Schedule for Two Grades

As you look at this schedule, keep in mind that this is the routine for our kids, who are in seventh and fourth grade. Younger children who use K12 tend to spend very little time in online classes and the vast majority doing offline work with their learning coaches (usually parents).

In upper elementary grades, though, kids start to spend more time with their online teachers. In fourth grade, the ratio is about 2 hours of online education to 3.5 hours of offline education per day.

My seventh-grader, though, spends about 3.5 hours of class time online and about 2 hours in offline assignments. These totals vary by day, but it averages out to about this much.

Now – for a look at each child’s daily schedule.

Our K12 Seventh Grade Schedule

Each K12 student has live classes called “Class Connects”. These daily sessions feature live instruction from a professional teacher and interaction with other students. My seventh-grader has Class Connects in four subjects: Math, ELA, Social Studies, and Science.

Here’s her weekly Class Connect schedule:

Monday: 8:30 a.m. – Social Studies; 10:00 a.m. – ELA; 11:30 – Science

Tuesday: 8:30 a.m. – Math; 10:00 a.m. – ELA; 11:30 – Social Studies

Wednesday: 8:30 a.m. – Math; 10:00 a.m. – Social Studies; 11:30 a.m. – Science

Thursday: 8:30 a.m. – Math; 10:00 a.m. – ELA; 11:30 a.m. – Science

Friday: 8:30 a.m. – Math

Since she finishes her classes at the same time Monday through Thursday, she stops at 12:30 to have lunch and then gets started on homework. We encourage her to take a look at her assignments for the week on Sunday evening, so she can plan out how much work to do each day. Getting behind is NOT fun.

The remaining subjects (Art, Health, and Phys. Ed.) are self-paced, so we work on those day by day. By the time she completes all of her assignments, homework, and studying for the next day, she’s usually done at 3:00 p.m.

There’s only one live class on Friday, so we spend most of the day catching up on anything that’s unfinished or studying for quizzes. We generally wrap up by noon on that day and have a long weekend.

Our K12 Fourth Grade Schedule

My fourth-grader is a completely different story. Since so much of his work is completed offline, I am still the primary educator, which takes a significant amount of time each day.

Here is his Class Connect weekly schedule:

Monday: 9:00 a.m. – Science

Tuesday: 9:00 a.m. – ELA; 10:15 a.m. – Math; 12:45 – Social Studies

Wednesday: 9:00 a.m. – ELA; 10:15 a.m. – Math

Thursday: 9:00 a.m. – ELA; 10:15 a.m. – Math

I spend about an hour on Sunday evenings looking at his schedule and his upcoming assignments. The lesson plans are already written for the subjects I need to teach, but I still have to read over them and make sure we have the necessary supplies in advance.

We get a monthly instructional calendar from his school, which outlines how much to do for each subject per day. All of the assignments are related to the live classes, so I tend to wait until after he’s had a live class on the topic before I start an assignment.

So, I often hold off on teaching Social Studies for the week until after he’s had his Social Studies class on Tuesday. That way, he’s already been introduced to the topic. Fridays are his days “off” from Class Connects, so I save most of our science experiments for that day when we’ll have plenty of time to complete them.

As with my seventh-grader, my fourth-grader’s art, health, and phys. ed. classes are also self-paced, so we do some of those day by day to keep up with the hour requirement.

I’ll be sharing my homeschool schedule for my younger kids next week, but here’s a hint: It’s largely situated around our K12 daily schedule.

Are any of you using K12 with your kids this year? How do you schedule your routine? Share your ideas and experiences in the comments!

Need more school scheduling tips?

And see plenty of tips and ideas for structuring your homeschool year on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

This post is part of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read more homeschool schedules you can use from our fellow bloggers!

P.S. Get regular tips, support, and ideas for teaching kids at home in my email newsletter! You can sign up using the widget below. 😉

How to Create a Flexible Homeschool Schedule

August 29, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

I’ve been known to overschedule my homeschool lesson plans just a tad.

Okay, maybe more than a tad. More like a WHOLE LOT.

Like so many homeschooling parents, I start the planning season with a huge amount of enthusiasm and excitement. We’ll study all the great civilizations of history! We’ll read every classic children’s book ever written! We’ll visit every museum in the United States!

Naturally, I’m running on fumes by October. By January, our homeschool year is practically dead in the water.

I was diligent about homeschool scheduling, but I was totally unreasonable in my method. When a child would need extra time to master a concept or to finish an assignment, everything I’d planned for that week or month would get pushed back. Eventually, we’d be so far behind we’d never catch up.

Last year, though, I learned a new way of lesson planning that was far more suited to our busy family life. Here are the three tips I’ve used to learn how to create a flexible homeschool schedule!

Disclosure: I was compensated for my time to write this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positively-slanted article.

Image c/o: Dragonimages / depositphotos

How to Create a Flexible Homeschool Schedule

Plan according to resources, not weeks of the year.

How many times have you scheduled a week’s worth of lessons for a specific week of the year? For example, you might choose the third week of September to learn about fall or the second week of April to study the Titanic. These themed schedule ideas are great for getting kids excited about events.

But if you overdo the exact scheduling, you can wear yourself out. You’ll find yourself saying things like:

“We NEED to finish this entire math unit by Friday!”

Or “If we don’t get this read-aloud done today, we’ll have to double up on Monday!”

There’s nothing like a time crunch to get kids to hate school.

Instead of obsessing over finishing lessons by a certain date, plan your lessons around your resources. If your Language Arts textbook has 20 units, then you can aim to complete half a unit a week if you want to finish the whole thing.

That’s a much more flexible way of structuring your lessons. You’ll have room to pause and stay on a topic a little longer or even suspend lessons for a week so you can go on vacation!

Set individual objectives for each child.

Another tip that helped me be more flexible in my lesson planning was to evaluate each child’s progress from the previous year and set individualized goals accordingly. My third-grader, for instance, is not a fan of reading for fun. He has ADHD, so his attention span is so short that it’s hard for him to exercise the patience it takes to read aloud.

This year, his reading objectives are totally different from those of his fourth-grade brother. He’ll be working with short story collections on topics that interest him. That way, we can work through stories that he’s interested in reading and practice lengthening out his attention span as we go.

And it doesn’t matter if it takes us all year to complete one book. As long as he says he enjoys reading, I’m calling it a success.

Shift difficult concepts into future terms or even future school years.

My seventh-grader really has a hard time enjoying her math lessons, so when she and I looked at the list of objectives for the upcoming year, we both nearly had a panic attack.

Instead, we’ve decided to focus on strengthening the skills she struggled with last year. She’s already familiar with them, so it won’t take as long. Plus, she can focus on other math concepts as she builds. Since math is a comprehensive subject, kids will eventually learn it all. It’s perfectly alright to hold off for a while until our kids are ready to tackle new topics. That’s one of the beauties of homeschooling!

The Flexible School Schedule Digital App

So if you like to use homeschool planners, how can you find one that accommodates your flexible homeschool schedule? That’s what Flexible School Schedule is for!

This digital app is designed to be completely customizable to your family’s homeschool plans, no matter when your year begins, when it ends, or how long it takes!

With Flexible School Schedule, you can collect and organize all of your homeschool resources – digital, print, and even video – right in the app! No more sorting through your homeschool closet and coming across a resource you meant to use this year and forgot about. (I have totally done that, by the way.)

Keep an eye on how your individual students are doing this year with the student progress tracker. You can view their progress according to subject, topic, or a specific objective you’d like him or her to master.

Need a quick check on how your school year is progressing? View each child’s progress at a glance by the term and the year!

This app is truly designed for families that need a flexible homeschool schedule (like mine). It’s in development now, so be sure to visit the Flexible School Schedule Kickstarter campaign and make a donation to help make this project a reality!

For more ideas to plan your homeschool year, try these tips!

And don’t forget to follow my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board for more suggestions!

I’m Too Broke to Homeschool!

August 21, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Now that we’ve been homeschooling for nine years, I think I’ve heard just about every objection to homeschooling possible. But it always interests me to hear from people who would like to homeschool, but feel that they can’t.

I’ve heard all of these:

“I want to homeschool, but I’m too busy!”

“I want to homeschool, but I’m not a teacher!”

“I want to homeschool, but I can’t stand being around my kids all day!”

And – “I want to homeschool, but I’m too broke!”

Do you think that you’re too broke to homeschool? If so, you’re not alone. Many people think that they can’t afford to homeschool.

But that’s probably not true! Most of us who are homeschooling are not financially comfortable by any stretch of the imagination and yet we make it work! Read on to see how.

Image c/o: Maridav / depositphotos

I’m Too Broke to Homeschool!

Why do some parents think they can’t afford to homeschool? Because of some very common misconceptions about what it takes to actually teach your children at home. Take a look at some of these mistaken ideas to see if you’ve been assuming you can’t afford to homeschool.

Misconception #1: Homeschool Curriculum Costs a Lot of Money

Let me be clear here: You CAN spend a lot of money for homeschool curriculum. But you absolutely do not HAVE to, even if you’re laser focused on high-quality materials. There are plenty of ways to find good homeschooling resources without spending much (or sometimes without spending anything at all).

Many boxed curriculum programs are rather pricey, but you can buy them used and save a bundle. Or you can use a virtual online school option that may be provided for free, depending on the state you live in. Or you can put together your own program using online resources that provide your state’s educational objectives for each grade.

There are plenty of ways to get your homeschool curriculum without spending much money at all. Trust me. We’ve been doing it for years.

Misconception #2: Homeschooling Requires A Parent to Stop Working

Another common idea is that you have to stop working in order to homeschool your children. You don’t. In fact, you may not have to give up your career at all. Depending on your profession, you may be able to work from home a large amount of time and only stop in at the office as needed.

Or, if you want to work from home, there are plenty of ways to do so. I actually work full-time hours and I’ve been homeschooling for years. It can be done. And here’s another tip: homeschooling doesn’t take nearly as much time as public school, so you may not need as much extra time in your schedule as you imagine.

Misconception #3: Homeschoolers Need a Lot of Extracurricular Activities

If your kids attend public school, then you already know about the amount of extracurricular activities involved: field trips, sports, dances, fundraisers. So you might think that you need to duplicate all of these events if you switch to homeschooling.

You don’t. You can, but (again) you don’t HAVE to. You can choose a couple of sports for your kids to play at a local rec center, which will be much less expensive than playing for a school team.

Or pick up a couple of classes online in foreign language, cooking, coding, and just about anything else your kids might want to learn. Since they’re available all the time, how many you try and how much you spend is up to you. Your kids will be just fine if they do less. In fact, they may even enjoy learning more.

How do you make sure your family can afford to homeschool? Are you someone who wants to try teaching your kids but think you’re too broke to homeschool? Share your feelings in the comments!

Want more ideas for homeschooling on the cheap? Pick up my book “How to Afford Homeschooling” for more simple tricks to stretch your homeschool dollar!

How to Afford Homeschooling eBook - Look! We're Learning!

Don’t miss these other homeschooling tips!

And get even more ideas for your homeschool year on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

How to Simplify Your Routine with an Online Homeschool Lesson Planner

July 28, 2017 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

We’ve all been there. It’s the start of a brand new homeschool year and we start to experience a mixture of excitement…and dread.

I have always loved homeschooling my children, but as they’ve gotten older (and my responsibilities have increased), planning just isn’t as much fun as it used to be. When I first started homeschooling, I eagerly shopped for new paper planners and spent hours color coding them, decorating them, and binding them the way I wanted.

Now that I have four children to teach, though, I just don’t have the time to devote to planning by hand like I used to. Plus, I work now and I have a lot more to care for around the home – with four kids and all.

So I was so relieved that I’d get a chance to try an online homeschool lesson planner this year – Homeschool Planet from Homeschool Buyers Co-Op! And after using it, I can honestly say that it is a wonderful tool for simplifying my entire routine (both home and school).

Read on to see how we’re using Homeschool Planet and learn how you can score a free trial for your family!

Disclosure: I received access to this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review. This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

How an Online Homeschool Lesson Planner Works

So how does Homeschool Planet work? Well, the best way to learn is by signing up for the free trial. That way, you’ll get a first-hand look at all the features. But here’s a quick primer.

When you first access the program, you’ll get video tutorials that explain exactly how to use each feature of Homeschool Planet – everything from how to schedule assignments, how to plan lessons, and how to add calendar appointments for each member of the family.

This is the monthly calendar view. On the left side, you can add as many family members as you need to the schedule. Plus, there are widgets on the right side and underneath the calendar. The program automatically adds the Daily Quote widget, the To Do List widget, and the Shopping List widget, among others. But you can adjust those and add others (we’ll talk about this in a bit).

As you can see, the default view has a pink and beige theme. But you can change it to one of several color themes until you find the one you like best.

Ahhhh…that theme is much better. I love green.

How to Simplify Your Routine with Homeschool Planet

Okay, so that’s how Homeschool Planet looks and those are some of its features. Now, how can it actually make lesson planning easier?

Here’s a look at how to schedule your child’s lesson assignments. Start by adding the classes they will be taking. For this session, I focused on my two youngest children.

They won’t begin classes until after Labor Day, so I’m still in the pre-planning stages. But I know they’ll be working with Math and Reading. I started by adding my youngest son’s math class.

Since I already have his textbook, I can schedule the first day of class and the last day of class, as well as the time of day for each session. I can also add his daily assignments to the schedule. Once I choose what pages of the textbook to cover each day, I can continue adding them for the entire month.

The other tabs allow me to make notes, mark grades, count the hours spent on each class, and list the resources I intend to use. So I can use Homeschool Planet to schedule lessons and track them as we go through the year.

Once you schedule your regular class days and times, they’ll appear on the weekly calendar like so. Each day shows the class name and the child who will be taking it at that time. Classes are color coded, so there’s no confusion about what to teach when.

After all of the assignments have been added, they’ll appear on the calendar as well. You can even check them off as you go!

And speaking of checking things off, I can keep up with the progress of my To Do List. I actually got some stuff done as I was planning!

As I said earlier, you can add more widgets below the calendar view. A couple I chose to add were Weather and Reading List. We are big reading list fans here and I typically assign one for each child each year, depending on their grade level.

For my youngest son, we’ll be reading several books and I can keep up with them in the Reading List widget. But I can choose each grade from the dropdown menu and take a look at the books I’ve assigned to each child right from the planner. Homeschool Planet is truly one-step planning – a perfect fit for busy homeschool moms.

Oh, and did I mention that you can also buy prepared lesson plans in the Homeschool Planet Marketplace? Just scroll down to find the curriculum you’re using and then browse to find a lesson plan that you want to use! It is basically no-prep lesson planning. Plus, you can even sign up for virtual field trips the kids can experience!

But… I Still Love Paper Planners!

“But”, you may object, “I still love my paper planner!” Which is fantastic! I still use a paper planner myself. But I just don’t love writing things in it as much I used to.

Homeschool Planet can help with that also! Once I finish inserting assignments into the calendar, I can use the Print option to print out the kids’ schedule for the entire month.

If you’re on a budget with printer ink, you can choose to print it in color or “economy” view. I prefer the color version, because I want the kids to know which color means which class. But you could easily print it in grayscale and then just highlight their classes as needed.

What I like about this digital and print versatility is that I can let the kids consult the schedule, no matter where they are in the house. If they’re at a computer, they can log in and view it that way. If they’re not, they can check the paper planner to get an idea of what’s coming up.

He’s a little unsure about this whole calendar thing. But having all of his assignments in one place is going to be a HUGE help for both of us, especially since he has ADHD and often has trouble remembering what to do each day.

I will be hanging his calendar (along with my other children’s) on the memo board each month, so they can consult it on their own and get to work. Which makes my life so much easier!

Are you ready to get a look at Homeschool Planet? Stop by the Homeschool Buyers Co-Op and sign up for the free trial! You’ll get time to check out the program, try it for schedule and lesson planning, and see how you can use it to make your daily routine easier.

Trust me, it’s definitely worth your while.

Learn more about Homeschool Buyers Co-Op and the awesome homeschool deals you can score by following the company on social media!

Need more homeschool planning inspiration? Check out these tips!

Plus, see even more ideas for getting your new homeschool year up and running on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

What You Don’t Need to Homeschool

July 17, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We made the decision to homeschool before our first child was even born. (Since I’m a homeschooling graduate, it was a kind of a no-brainer.)

But I told myself that this homeschool was going to be the very best homeschool that ever homeschooled. I was going to teach my children everything they could possibly know. And I was going to be organized and cheerful every single day. A modern-day Mary Poppins, if you will.

Well, we’ve been learning at home for nine years and I have to admit I wasn’t any of those things, but my kids are still learning and thriving. So you don’t need to be Mary Poppins to homeschool. Turns out, though, that there are a lot of other things that really don’t matter on your homeschooling journey.

Take a look at this list to find out what you don’t need to homeschool.

Image c/o: thandra / depositphotos

What You Don’t Need to Homeschool

A school room.

As much as I would love to have an honest-to-goodness school room, we’ve been getting by without one for years and it’s been fine. Homeschooling without a school room has forced me to simplify our curriculum and books quite a bit, but that’s okay. I think I would have been more focused on keeping the school room organized than actually teaching school anyway.

If you do have a school room, that’s awesome! (Also, I kind of hate you.) But if you don’t, you can still homeschool!

A boxed curriculum.

When I was homeschooled, my mother used Calvert School, which I believe is still a great program. I remember getting the big box of school books and supplies and opening it excitedly. Like a giant educational present.

But we have never used a single boxed curriculum program with our kids. Not one. Why? We can’t afford it! With four kids, shelling out hundreds of dollars for a program has just been impossible. Despite that, we’ve still managed to homeschool our four kids for $250 or less a year. And they’re at grade level and doing fine.

A full schedule.

Remember going to public school? Class starts around 7:50 or so and it continues until the buses arrive at 2:30 (or 3:00 for upper grades). If you’ve been thinking you need to imitate that schedule in your homeschool, you don’t! I don’t know any homeschoolers who teach all day. In fact, if any of you meet a homeschooler who actually teaches class from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., I want to meet that parent and shake her hand.

Even public school teachers don’t actually teach for that long. Kids rotate to classes with different instructors, go outside for recess, have lunch, and spend at least 10 minutes out of every hour lining up for the bathroom.

The amount of actual time I spend teaching in our homeschool is about five hours per week. The rest of the time is spent supervising my kids as they work and practice concepts on their own, and then following up to see if they need help. Homeschooling doesn’t have to take all day or even all week.

Want to streamline your homeschool? Learn how to become a minimalist homeschooler!

Did you find this post encouraging? Read some of our other homeschooling support posts!

And get even more tips for planning your homeschool year (without the stuff you don’t need) on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

Are You Too Busy to Homeschool?

April 11, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We’ve been homeschooling for nine years now. (Wow. It’s been nine years.) And in that time, I’ve heard no end of variations on the “I Want to Homeschool, But…” theme.

“I want to homeschool, but I’m too broke.”

“I want to homeschool, but I need to work.”

“I want to homeschool, but I’m not a teacher.”

“I want to homeschool, but I can’t take being around my kids all day.” (My personal favorite!)

But the one I’ve heard the most is: “I want to homeschool, but I’m too busy!”

Lots of people automatically think they’re too busy to homeschool. So if you’ve thought the same thing, I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone! A lot of us (even veteran homeschoolers) have felt the same way!

If you think you can’t homeschool because you’re too busy, you might not be! Read on to find out just how flexible homeschooling can be, even for your full schedule.

Image c/o: creatista / depositphotos

Are You Too Busy to Homeschool?

I’m not going to begin by telling you that you’re not busy. It’s 2017. We’re ALL busy. Even people who don’t look busy are busy. And if you have kids, you are busy. Busy taking care of them, managing your home, possibly working or caring for aging parents (or both), and trying to maintain some semblance of health. It’s a lot. I’m not going to lie.

So if you’re thinking that homeschooling is something to add on top of all of these things, it’s no wonder that you feel too busy to homeschool. I would too! After all, if you’re already juggling bowling balls, it’s going to be harder if someone throws another one at you, right?

How to Make Homeschooling Fit Your Life

Here’s what I want to encourage you to do: change the way you think about homeschooling. It’s not actually a separate job to add onto your other responsibilities. Instead, it’s a continuous experience that can go on as you do other things.

“Homeschooling is not a separate task. It’s the constant in the background of whatever you do with your children.”

Look at like this: The device you’re using to read this post has several programs that automatically run in the background, no matter what app you use. So as you’re browsing the internet (and reading this post), your device is using a ton of other apps in the background.

These are not applications you have to stop and open up separately. In fact, if your device is running smoothly, you don’t even notice that they’re in operation. But they’re keeping up with every new program you open.

And that’s how homeschooling can be. When you think of it as an educational journey you travel with your children, it’s not a separate task that you have to begin and end at some other time in the day. It’s the constant in the background of whatever you do.

Naturally, you need practical homeschooling suggestions for putting together a schedule, choosing a curriculum, and teaching your kids, especially if you have more than one child. But please, please don’t dismiss homeschooling at the outset because you’re too busy. You CAN make it fit your life. You can.

Need more homeschooling support? Don’t miss these posts!

Plus, see more tips on my Homeschooling Pinterest board!

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens

August 12, 2016 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

It’s back to school time! And this year, I have a rising middle schooler. Eeek!

In keeping with my decision not to use a homeschool planner this year, I’m putting the organizing squarely on my sixth-grader’s shoulders. So that means it’s time to shop for gorgeous middle school student organizers that are lovely enough for tweens to use!

Check out this list of fun and functional middle school planners your child will be psyched to use this school year!

Need more tips for planning your homeschool year? See how to simplify lesson planning and streamline your daily homeschool schedule!

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens

Want to ease your child into planning his or her own schedule? Try these fun student planner printables!

Grab more tips to make this homeschool year the best one ever on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

This post is part of the Back to School Unit Study Hop! Stop by to read all these great posts from my fellow bloggers!

Back to School Teacher Gift {Free Printable Bag Topper} from Crafty Mama in ME

The Best {Back To School} Books For Kids from Play Dough & Popsicles

Back to School Interview for Kids from CraftCreateCalm

Free Kissing Hand Songs, Poems, & Videos to Ease Separation Anxiety from Living Montessori Now

How to Help Kids Back to School from iGameMom

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens from Look! We’re Learning!

Back to School Party Ideas from Schooling a Monkey

Not Back to School Picnic from Tales of Education at Home

Back to School in a Forest School from FrogMom

Back to School Hand Washing Water Play from Play & Learn Every Day

52 Preschool Themes (& FREE 2016-2017 Preschool Theme Calendar!) from Preschool Powol Packets

Homeschooling? Have a Not Back to School Day from Adventures in Mommydom

Books for Kids About Starting Middle School from Planet Smarty Pants

Why I’m Not Using a Homeschool Planner This Year

August 5, 2016 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Okay. If you’re shaking your head at the title of this post, stay with me! 🙂

When I first started homeschooling eight years ago, the number one thing I would have said homeschooling moms needed was: a complete homeschool planner. I had the most fun choosing a planner, organizing it, and filling it out each fall.

Here’s my problem: I was great at filling out the planner. I was not so great at following what was in it. I can make lesson plans like no other, but when it comes to following same plans, well…I pretty much stink.

After year after year of tossing out old (and unused) homeschool planners, I decided to do something drastic this year – figure out how to homeschool without a planner. And, surprisingly, it’s not as hard as I thought! Here’s why I’m not using a homeschool planner this year – and what I’m doing instead!

Image c/o: grekoff via DepositPhotos

How to Homeschool Without a Planner

So…how do I plan to homeschool without a planner?

I’ll be using our state’s list of grade objectives as the framework. As for actual resources, they’ll include lots of different books, websites, and videos. (Similar to the way I do our unit studies.) I’ll be sharing more about our homeschool resources for this year in an upcoming set of posts.

As for the actual lesson planning…I’m outsourcing it to my kids!

I’ll give them a timeframe within which to complete each objective, using the materials I collect, and they’ll have to decide how much to do each week to finish it. They’ll be using their own printable student planners each week to write down what lessons to complete on each day.

For example, one of my third grader’s ELA objectives is to compare and contrast themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters. We’ll be heading to the library so he can choose a few books in a series to compare. I’ll give him about four weeks to do it and he’ll have to decide how much to read each day in order to complete his assignment on time.

Every few weeks, I’ll sit down with them to check their progress toward their yearly objectives and talk with them about any lesson plan changes they’ll need to make. (Basically, I’ll be serving as their college adviser this year…lol.)

Have you ever considered trying to learn how to homeschool without a planner? Were you successful? Share your tips!

If you’d like to help your kids plan their lessons, grab these free printable student planners!

And for more about minimalist homeschooling, check out our series!

Ready to plan your homeschooling year? Check out the tips and suggestions from my Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!