3 Sanity Saving Tips for Your First Week of Homeschooling

If this is your first year of homeschooling, you are in for a wild adventure.

Homeschooling is the only call to duty where you can feel utterly triumphant and drastically defeated in the same day.

Homeschooling can have just as many downs as ups and in the same moment.  So, it is important to arm yourself with three sanity-saving tips in your first week of homeschooling.

Participation over Progress.

Minimizing lesson planning and maximing interaction with your children by discussing with them what they want to learn for the new homeschool year sets your homeschool up for success.

When children have control of their education, they become owners of it.

Conversations about what your children’s goals are, even if your children are young, sets the pace for independent learning from the very beginning.

Avoiding a spoon-fed mentality, which can be the norm in public school will minimize your workload over the long haul.

From the beginning, meaningful conversations become a way to tap into what interests your children and more importantly it gives them ownership of their education.

I am the Boss of You.

One year I remember helping a new bee who was having trouble with her first grader.

Getting my mind prepared for some kind of academic problem she was having, I was surprised when the new bee mentioned that her first grader was telling her constantly, “You’re-not-the-boss-of-me.”

Just one year in public school in Kindergarten and the first grader did not view his mom as the authority when teaching him.

When authority is not respected, homeschooling gets tough to say the least because kids grow up quickly.

Character building is inextricably linked with academics.

Building respect for your authority as the parent helps your child to see that though you allow as much free choice as possible, you ultimately are the one in charge.

Progress can’t made when a child is constantly whining, complaining or questioning every decision you make.

List Your Non-negotiables

In your first or second year it is normal to have a mile long list of homeschooling goals.

Write them all out, but also have a separate list of one to three goals, which are achievable and reachable.

Reaching one to three goals becomes your foundation of your homeschool, but it also becomes your list of non-negotiables for the year.

Progress year to year is not made with mile high goals, but with tiny measured steps that turn into huge leaps each year.

Gear up for the new homeschool year by slowing down to engage your child in meaningful conversation about his choices for the day, balance your child’s growing need for independence while maintaining the authority in your day and building your homeschool foundation with a few well-chosen non-negotiables.

Have you implemented a plan for the new homeschool year?

Hugs and love ya,

Also check out:
Beginning Homeschool in Middle School – 3 Questions Worth Asking
Top 10 Tips to Get a New Homeschool Year Rolling