Today we’re talking about homeschool time management, which helps us deal with one of the biggest obstacles to happy homeschooling in our home: NOT ENOUGH TIME!
We have four children, including some with ADHD, plus I’m a full-time minister and I work – so time is extra precious around here. But, I’ve learned a few great tips for managing our homeschooling time and I’m thrilled to share them with you all!
How to Improve Your Homeschool Time Management
1. Make a Schedule and Stick to It
I’ve previously sung the praises of a consistent homeschooling schedule and I’m still a huge fan of scheduling. When time is at a premium, using a daily homeschool schedule can literally save your lesson plan. So if your days are extra busy, block out a regular time for your schooling and hold class at the same time each day.
Tricia over at Hodgepodge has a great homeschool routine that works for her family. It involves a great early morning routine that calls for all of the kids to be up, dressed, and ready for school by 8:45. Genius!
2. Delegate Housekeeping to Your Kids!
What if you’re drowning in housework? Get your kids involved! Assigning daily, age-appropriate chores to your children accomplishes two things: 1) It reduces your workload and 2) It teaches them valuable life skills. With a little planning, you can even incorporate it into your school day. 🙂
Tristan from Our Busy Homeschool is a homeschooling mom of 8. Eight! One of the things that keeps her homeschool on track is having her kids do chores everyday. She even manages to get her toddlers and preschoolers involved!
3. Restructure Your Lessons
One of the many wonderful things about homeschooling is that we don’t have to follow a regimented lesson plan. We can rearrange our lessons whenever we like. For example, Tigger finished her language lessons early last year, so had a chance to double up on math for a few weeks.
Beth at 123 Homeschool 4 Me manages to work in schooling, housework, and errands in a single day! How? She keeps the “school” time to three hours a day and uses other activities to teach, including library visits, storybooks, and educational iPad games. Beth also makes use of the workbox system, which is great for assigning work to each individual child without disturbing the others.
Great Books for Homeschool Time Management
There are a lot of great books for homeschooling parents who need to work on their time management. I’ve enjoyed the tips in these two in particular:
The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling: Barbara Frank
Scheduling – The Secret to Homeschool Sanity: Plan Your Way Back to Mental Health – Lee Binz
Use these tips for better homeschool planning!
For even more homeschool scheduling and planning tips, follow our Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!
This post is part of the “I Can’t Homeschool Because… linkup at iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read how some of our fellow bloggers overcome obstacles to homeschooling!