Tina Robertson

Today, in new homeschooler – mustering the courage to face the 4 homeschool biggies part 2, I want to clue you in on two more areas that you want to take time in your first few years of homeschooling to address.

In New Homeschooler – Mustering the Courage to Face THE 4 Homeschool Biggies Part 1, I shared tips on taming the curriculum colossus and defending against the socialization hype.

Can You Really Afford to Begin Homeschooling Without Knowing This?

But the next two homeschool biggies, which I will share in a moment, are equally important to try to tame early on in your journey.

It has been my experience that when new homeschoolers hop on the curriculum roller coaster, they don’t seem to get off until they have exhausted the ride, which is normally several years down the road.

By then, they have lost valuable time in learning how to address other important areas of homeschooling, which will be of more lasting value only if they had taken time to address them earlier.

Try to balance becoming acquainted with homeschool curriculum with making time to be an organized homeschooler, which is the next homeschool biggie to tame.

3. Organized Homeschooler – Yes You Can! Organization means something different when we homeschool.

I have found that explaining what it is not helps to bring relief instead of you becoming stressed out to the point that you don’t think you can.

This way you adopt organization that fits your family and not adjust to the way somebody else does things.

One of the most encouraging sayings I have heard is by Maria Gracia of Get Organized Now when she says “organization is a decision, not a disease” and I couldn’t agree more.

Empower yourself!

Simply put, organization is communication and we all have the need to communicate. What do I mean by this?

Well, if you think about, if you want your children to begin school at a certain time, then not only orally communicate it, but set up a chart where they can see what is expected of them.

If you want your children to check mark items on a food list, which they have used up in the kitchen, then prepare a grocery list and put it in a highly visible place in the kitchen. This keeps the guesswork out of what groceries you need to buy each month.

Communicate to them by preparing a system that works for your home and makes your job as home educator much more satisfying.

If you want your children to be responsible for picking their room up and doing chores each day, communicate to them by setting up a system, like a chore chart. Communication equals organization.

Organization is not for people who have it together, but it is for people who do not expect their family to guess at what their expectations are. Does that make sense?

Then with communication comes calm and organization in your home. It brings relief to chaos because you implemented a system and it also makes homeschooling a delight instead of drudgery.

Organization does not require some super human feat, but it requires the desire to change what is not working.

Get off the curriculum roller coaster because you will have many years to learn about curriculum.

Right behind taming the curriculum colossus, defending against the socialization hype and setting up a communication system are concerns over lesson planning, record keeping and testing.

4. Lesson Planning, Record Keeping and Testing.

Along with worries about curriculum comes the nagging worry deep down that our children will be behind or get behind if we don’t test or learn to lesson plan.

What I have learned along the way after teaching all of my sons how to read and write is that anytime I have felt that something is not working, I could change what I was using instantly.

Too, one-to-one tutoring is the best way of learning. This means that after a few years, I didn’t worry about testing my sons in the early years because I didn’t need a test telling me what they did or didn’t know.

Teaching them each day, I could tell you the strengths and weaknesses of each child.

Testing was a method introduced when you have to teach masses or a class, which generally is about 12 kids. Do you have 12 kids? If so, drop me a line, but otherwise for the rest of us, our  one-to-one time with our children gives a clear picture of their skills.

Oh sure, you can test anytime you want to and at the bottom I will add some of my posts about testing to help you.

As far as record keeping, from junior high to high school is when you need to be concerned about saving work. I have saved all of Mr. Senior 2013’s work but realized later I didn’t need near that much. Journaling was so much better for me in the beginning as I learned to lesson plan.

Journaling what we had actually done for the day was a precursor to lesson planning. Why? Because it gave me a realistic picture of what we could actually do for the day instead of some glamorous looking lesson plans on paper that we couldn’t accomplish in two days let alone one day.

Stepping back from even just one of these homeschool biggies and focusing on each area in a balanced way will put you miles ahead of the homeschool learning curve.

Not only that but you will be able to savor your first couple of years instead of meeting each day with stress.

Which areas do you think will give you the greatest concern? I’m listening!

Hugs and love ya,

Grab some more ammo to arm you for the new homeschool year. Check out these tips:
The Ultimate Guide for New Homeschoolers
What Do You Fear Most About Homeschooling?
Read my 31 Day Free Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers