minimalist homeschooling Archives

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!

Simple Minimalist Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum

September 4, 2017 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

My last little one is learning at kindergarten level this year. She’s working at first grade in some concepts, but there are a few important kindergarten objectives that I want her to grasp before we move on.

So we’ll be focusing there and then moving forward as she becomes comfortable.

In keeping with my desire to make homeschooling a lot less stressful than it has been previously, I’m practicing minimalist homeschooling this year.

Basically, that means using as few resources as possible to make lesson planning, teaching, and guiding as easy as possible.

And so…here’s a look at my minimalist kindergarten homeschool curriculum!

This is a great list if you’re trying to keep your homeschool plans simple this year.

By the way, if you’re teaching older kids, take a look at our minimalist fourth grade curriculum plans too!

A Simple Minimalist Homeschool Curriculum for Kindergarten

Image c/o: eskaylim / depositphotos

Note: This is a very minimalist homeschool curriculum for kindergarten. So this truly focuses on the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic.

I also include science, because I believe it is essential to introduce science to kids as early as possible. Thinking scientifically comes so naturally to young ones and it’s wonderful to encourage that way of exploration from the start.

All-in-One Program: ABC Mouse will be our primary homeschool program for kindergarten. We got to try it earlier this year and my little one has absolutely loved it. After working with it over the summer, her reading ability has skyrocketed. So, we’re sticking with it for this entire school year.

Reading: While ABC Mouse is a great core program, I want our kindergartner to get some structured practice in reading and responding, so we’re using 180 Days of Reading for Kindergarten to give her some regular reading practice daily. It’s also a good way to make sure we hit all the sight words for this grade level.

Handwriting: Since she already knows the alphabet and how to write each letter, we’ll be focusing on improving her overall handwriting. To do this, we’ll be using a standard Roselle Paper Primary Pad to do some basic copywork each day. We’ll try to complete one sentence each morning to warm up and see how her handwriting progresses through the year.

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks eBook

Math: Our supplemental math practice will be the Early Math section from Khan Academy. When this grade level was first introduced, I leapt for joy. We love Khan Academy, but I was looking for something to help my younger kids with basic math skills and this is it. Our kindergartner loves it.

Science: Finally, for science, we’ll be working through the Usborne First Encyclopedia of Science together. I used this book with my boys when they were younger and it was a big hit. In fact, our Floating Egg Experiment came out of this book!

In addition to these core subjects, we’ll be sharing plenty of crafts and stories together this year. Look out for list of reading choices for kindergarten – coming soon!

What are you using to homeschool your kindergartners this year? Share your curriculum picks in the comments!

Want to see more of our minimalist homeschool curriculum choices? Check out these posts for suggestions!

See more tips for getting your homeschool year started 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 curriculum choices from our fellow bloggers!

Minimalist Fourth Grade Homeschool Curriculum

September 1, 2017 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

When I first started homeschooling, I thought that I needed every single resource for every single grade level I’d ever conceivably teach. Nine years and four children later, I know better.

I was so intent on being “prepared” to give my kids the best education I could that I overwhelmed myself by buying ALL the curriculum I could. Most of it ended up in the hallway closet, buried for years. Just opening the closet door sent me into panic mode.

Now I’m homeschooling as a minimalist, which means using the least amount of resources possible to give my kids a good education. And thanks to the Internet, it really is possible to teach your children at home *well* without turning your house into Harvard.

Here’s a look at the minimalist fourth grade homeschool curriculum we’re using this year to teach my rising fourth-grader!

Image c/o: seregam / depositphotos

Our Minimalist Fourth Grade Homeschool Curriculum

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Before you look at the resources below, keep in mind that this is a truly minimalist homeschool curriculum plan. So there are a grand total of eight, count ’em, EIGHT items listed.

Of course, we’ll be watching educational videos and reading tons of books together this year, but the items listed below make up our core curriculum. And, since my son has ADHD, these are good resources that allow us to take frequent brain breaks and time off as needed.

All-in-One Program: Our comprehensive homeschool program this year is IXL. It’s an online program that includes practice exercises in ELA, Math, Social Studies, and Science for kids K-12. I love it because I can see all the skills for his grade level at a glance and then proceed in the order that works best for us.

To supplement his IXL lessons, we’ll be using the following individual subject resources:

ELA: For more specialized lessons in English Language Arts, we’ll be adding selected videos from Khan Academy Grammar. We’ll be using the workbook 180 Days of Language for Fourth Grade, which includes practice in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, parts of speech, and the writing process, as the supplement to our grammar videos.

Science: Mystery Science will be our supplemental science program. You can sign up for a free account and get access to some of the units to see how they work. This is an extremely well-crafted science program for elementary students. There are hands-on experiments, lesson plans, and activities that correspond to earth science, biology, space, and more.

Math: I am a huge supporter of online math programs. They’re typically short, interactive, and clear. But I also value traditional math education, so we’re using EnVision Math Grade 4 as our math textbook. Rather than focusing on covering the entire book this year, however, I’ll be assigning exercises that correspond to the lessons he covers in IXL. For math warm-up activities each day, we’re using Smartick Math to get some quick practice in the morning.

Social Studies: I really want him to learn more about the countries of the world this year. IXL covers the geographic aspect of these places, but to get a look at the culture and people of other countries, we’ll be using the beautiful book Children Just Like Me to see how children all over the world live.

Health: For health, we’ll be reading the book Eye Wonder: Human Body by DK Publishing and discussing the importance of nutrition for our body systems.

Art: We got to review the program Sparketh earlier this year and we’ll be using that for our year-long art program. The videos are easy to follow and the projects are actually interesting, even to a very active eight-year-old boy!

And that’s what we’re using for our minimalist fourth grade homeschool curriculum this year! What are you using for fourth grade? Share your picks in the comments!

For more homeschool planning ideas, check out these posts!

And get a look at lots of curriculum resources on my Homeschool Curriculum Choices board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the Back to Homeschool linkup from iHomeschool Network! Click over to read more curriculum choices from our fellow bloggers!

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for 6th Grade, 3rd Grade, 2nd Grade, and PreK

September 5, 2016 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

We usually hold off on beginning our new homeschool year until the first week of September each year. Which means we’re starting up this week! Woohoo!

Since we’re entering our 8th year of homeschooling, I don’t have the same intense excitement I once did. Now it’s more of a relaxed anticipation to what we’ll learn this year.

I’ve also changed my entire homeschooling approach this time around. After many years of hoarding curriculum and books, I’m making the change to minimalist homeschooling. I’ve been exploring it for the past few months and now I’m finally ready to take the plunge.

So – what does minimalist homeschooling look like when you’re trying to teach four children? Take a look at our minimalist homeschool program for 6th grade, 3rd grade, 2nd grade, and PreK!

Image c/o: Mr. Webicon / depositphotos

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for 6th Grade

Our sixth grader has definitely become a more independent student. So her workload is substantially heavier than the younger kids, as it should be for a middle schooler.

Still, since she has ADHD, it’s important that I don’t overwhelm her with lots of different curriculum choices. All that changing up takes a mental toll on her and adds to her stress level. This year, we’re keeping it pretty simple.

Here are my 6th grader’s homeschooling resources for this year:

ELA: National Geographic Hampton-Brown Edge Interactive Level B – A teacher friend of ours gave us this book and the accompanying practice workbook when she retired and, boy, am I glad. This is an excellent resource for teaching reading, writing, and language.
MATH: For math, we’ll be using CTC Math, which my daughter is loving. Plus, we’ll be supplementing with pre-algebra classes via Mr. D Math.
HISTORY: This year, we’re focusing on the 1920s using the book The 1920s in America from Kendall Hunt Publishing. We’ll also be reviewing ancient civilizations
SCIENCE: We had so much fun with Real Science-4-Kids Level 6 that it’s going to be our science curriculum!
GEOGRAPHY: I’m putting together her geography curriculum based on the National Geographic World Atlas for Young Explorers and the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. We’ll be covering both world cultures and the inequalities of human society.

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for 3rd Grade

My third grader has a huge interest in animals, so we’ll be visiting the zoo a TON this year. Since he’s an avid reader (as are all my kids), he’ll have a substantial reading list to complete. (I’ll be sharing all the kids’ reading lists in the coming weeks.)

For 3rd grade, we’ll pretty much be using these three resources:

What Your Third Grader Needs to Know – The CoreKnowledge series is excellent for giving you a framework for the elementary grades.
CTC Math – We have the Family subscription, so all of my three oldest kids are using this program.
Ancient and World History Unit Study Bundle – It’s time to introduce my boys to ancient civilizations, which is one of my favorite history topics! This is a super huge unit study bundle that is worth every penny.

With these, we’ll get the math basis we need and we’ll get the introduction to our other topics as well. When we find a topic of interest, it’s off to the library we go!

Since this is a standardized testing year for him and for my 6th grader, I picked up Spectrum Test Prep: Grade 6 and Spectrum Test Prep: Grade 3. But other than that, I’m not stressing too much about teaching to the test.

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for 2nd Grade

My ultimate goal is to combine my 2nd grader and my 3rd grader into one mega grade each year. Think of how much lesson planning energy I’d save! Plus, they could study together and help each other out! One day…

For now, I’m doing a sort of 2/3 year with the two. So their topics of study are pretty much the same this year. I’ll just be adapting specific lessons as needed to make sure they each understand everything they’re learning.

Our 2nd grader will be using these resources:

What Your Second Grader Needs to Know – Yes, again. It’s a really good way to make sure you cover all the bases.
CTC Math – This is my most active child and he has really taken to CTC Math. I couldn’t be happier!
Ancient and World History Unit Study Bundle – My boys are pretty much on the same level with reading comprehension, so they’ll be taking history together this year. Plus, it saves me time!

A Minimalist Homeschool Program for PreK

It feels a little strange to think about what a minimalist homeschool program is like for a preschooler. After all, we’re talking about a preschooler. But I’ve been a first-year homeschooler and I remember stressing about planning my preschool curriculum for my first daughter. Oh, how times have changed.

My preschooler’s homeschool program will consist of two main resources:

Teach Me Mommy – A wonderful preschool-at-home program written many years ago that is affordable and thorough. Just really, really good.
Starfall – This is a free website and app, but you can pay $35 a year and get the full version. It’s worth it. My preschooler loves it! And because it’s has PreK through 1st grade content, she can skip around and learn whatever she likes. She’s already learning about parallelograms!

What are you using for homeschool curriculum this year? Have you ever tried a minimalist homeschool program? Let me know about your experiences in the comments!

Interested in learning more about minimalist homeschooling? Check out these posts!

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

This post is part of the 2016 Back to Homeschool Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read other awesome homeschool curriculum choices from my fellow bloggers!

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!

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!