Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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Schedule/Balance Home & School

Homeschool Day: 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting It All In

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I can’t drive and talk on the phone at the same time and have any kind of quality conversation much less pay attention to my driving. Add in a homeschool day and In this day and age it’s called multitasking.

I really don’t like that term in my homeschooling day because it makes me think that I am not giving 100% to the task on hand.

Not only do I not feel productive while driving and talking, but in a lot of places it is illegal because of the dangers.

Simply put, we can get side-tracked.

Homeschool Day: 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting It All In

1. Homeschool Prioritizing = Important Things First

Prioritizing is a term I prefer to use because that is really what a homeschool day is about.

Did you know that prioritizing is the secret in not surviving homeschool, but treasuring each day?

Homeschooling is a long trek and stacking all the things we want to do in our day by multitasking can leave us sidetracked with very little ability to do what is needed.

Prioritizing your tasks in order of importance is the key to a stress free day.

I am not really even talking about getting an early start in the day even though this proves very successful for most homeschoolers.

What you need to remember is that what ever time is first in your day, that time needs to be your school zone.

Your teaching needs to be given priority so that before anything else comes up, you have accomplished some of your goals.

2. Do Opposite Planning

Another mistake I was making for many years is setting my homeschool schedule to the beat of my oldest son.

If your household is filled with lots of little ones, your rhythm needs to beat to the youngest and not to the oldest child.

Many years ago, I heard David Hazell of my Father’s World give the best piece of advice.

He said the oldest child needs to be dethroned.So true! In other words, quit setting the schedule to suit them.

We worry so much about our oldest child that he may view his time as absolute to the other children’s time.

It is okay to worry about doing school with them, we need to be conscientious.

However, the lessons we teach our oldest child about patience, forgiveness and an independent attitude to pursue some learning on their own is what homeschooling really is about.

How does this fit in with getting it all in the day? We are moms first and it always take priority.

Caring for our family’s needs, whether it means cradling the toddler, hugging the preschoolers or wiping the tears of a hormonal middle schooler, our homeschool schedule needs to work around our family.

3. You Have to Plan

Sample Homeschool Schedules

Another tip for maintaining a calm flow to your day is to plan it or schedule it.  Don’t let a schedule stranglehold you.

A homeschool schedule is a like a vacation plan.  You use it to be sure you don’t miss any of the important things along the way.

It is a guide to your day but should never be viewed as another stress inducer.  It points your direction so that you keep going along.

Look at two of my homeschool schedules I followed for quite a few years.

Older Household

Mon. off.

Tue –  Fri. School

9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

2:00 – 4:00 reading time, chore time and quiet time.

Younger Household.

Mon. off

Tues – Friday School

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

1:00 p..m. – 3:00 p.m. school (school, hopefully while the toddler and preschooler napped)

3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. chore time and quiet time.

I even did school on Saturday one year when I had a toddler and a newborn.  The Mr. was home and I could get so much accomplished with my oldest son.

If you love white chalkboards like I do, then you’ll love this whiteboard for organizing.

Instead of panting through the day and giving homeschooling, cooking or caring for the little ones with meager energy, prioritize your day.

Seasons of time pass by quickly. Don’t spend precious homeschool days that won’t last forever by pushing your limits to the max.

And if you need more help, you’ll love my book, Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers: When You Don’t Know Where to Begin Paperback.

You’ll like these other posts and helps:

Homeschool Day: 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting It All In
Homeschool Day. 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting it ALL In @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

What does your homeschool schedule look like now?

Homeschooling Kindergarten: What Subjects to Teach and For How Long?

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Giving you practical advice on homeschooling kindergarten, what subjects to teach and for how long, now that all of my boys have moved well past kindergarten gives me a different perspective than giving advice in the moment, which may or may not have been helpful. You’ll love the tips on my page kindergarten homeschool curriculum.

Homeschooling Kindergarten

I always prefer giving you specifics, which were way more helpful to me than generalities.

In helping a lot of homeschool moms plan their kindergarten day, one thing a lot of them had in common was over planning academic subjects.

Homeschooling Kindergarten: What Subjects to Teach and For How Long?

Let me back up first and tell you how I felt when I started homeschooling kindergarten with my first son, Mr. Senior 2013.

I wished that I could say that I was reasonable, balanced, and unafraid when I started with my kindergartner. I was not.

I was terrified that if I didn’t start the formal learning part of kindergarten on time or earlier that my son was simply going to be behind and evermore I would ruin his chances for success as an adult.

Focusing on more scare tactics I read than practical advice, I made the mistake a lot of parents do which is to rush the part of learning that comes with kindergarten, which is to play.


It’s ugly to admit, but I wasn’t the mom interested in if he was delighting in learning, I was only interested if I could prove what he was learning. Ouch!

Going one step further to reveal my twisted attitude, I thought that moms, who spent their day doing crafts with their kids didn’t have the same goals I had, which were rigorous standards. There I said it.

In my defense though those feelings were coming out of a heart of love. I wanted to be a conscientious homeschool mom because like you, I wanted the best for my son.

Kindergarten Beginnings

This is the very opposite of the way I feel today.

It is a privilege to learn and I will take a child any day with an almost unquenchable resolve to learn over one who only cares about getting finished.

Would you believe me if I told you it starts in kindergarten?

That is how important your beginnings.

You can nurture a scholar who basks in learning and then rigorous learning comes OR you can raise a learner who resents academics because you feed a “show me the results” attitude only.

Part of the hard time I had in kindergarten was that my son, though I didn’t fully understand it at the time until he got around other kindergartners, was advanced for his age. I was told at public school that he was gifted as the term was used then.

Did you know that this is common for some homeschoolers to have high achieving children?

Many times I hear moms say: “Oh you don’t understand, my son or daughter wants to sit and do schoolwork for hours and hours.”  I will talk about that in just a minute.

Whatever label the public school wants to give advanced learners, which I never worried about much, I knew the subjects I did and did not do in kindergarten had a positive affect on his development.

Essential Subjects to Cover When Homeschooling Kindergarten

Like I mentioned before, some of my experience was based on failures or what did not work because it was unbalanced.

However, many things and subjects I covered did work.

I have divided homeschooling kindergarten subjects or activities into two groups.

One group, which is vital and the other group, which if you can find the energy to possibly do, adds enrichment to your kindergartner’s path and what is more creates the life long learner we all want.

New Homeschooler Online Self-Paced Boot Camp By Tina Robertson

Too, I have given an estimated amount of time to spend on that subject.

Before I give you estimates for the formal part of learning, one important point to remember is that kids this age are learning with every breath.

That is why playing outside, nature, and plenty of time for arts and crafts is part of a learning. They are just as important IF not more so depending on your child’s development for learning.

Subject

Time Covered

Phonics

20 minutes direct instructions which means 1:1 time each day.  Then an unlimited amount of time exploring the sounds through hands-on crafts and movements.

Penmanship

10 minutes with direct instruction which means 1:1 time each day and showing them how to form letters. Then an unlimited amount of time enforcing the shape of the letter and strengthening fine motor skills through play and movement.

Reading

30 minutes with direct instruction which means having them read to you mixed with a combination of you reading to them. Then an unlimited amount of time each day as they want to read to you, listen to audio books and yet still more reading aloud by you.

Math

30 minutes with direct instruction which means working with them 1:1 teaching them about the basic operations. Then an unlimited amount of time reading living math books, playing games about numbers and using interactive content like iPads along with hands-on manipulatives to learn math.

This next group of subjects is inextricably linked to a kindergartner’s development and like I mentioned play a valuable part in stimulating the intellectual growth of my sons.

  • Art, music, and gymnastics.

Art stimulated imagination and fed their creativity.

Music played an important in stimulating math and science thinking skills and gymnastics helped to strengthen their motor skills for both large gross skills and fine motor skills.

Learning Through Play – Vital to Kindergarten.
It’s called Developmentally Appropriate

My reason for dividing out the groups in this manner is because when you are overwhelmed taking care of so many littles, you need the assurance that if you just do the vital subjects that your kindergartner will still have a huge head start.

I am sure you noticed by now that the actual direct part of teaching kindergarten only takes about 1 1/2 hours.  Yes, that is it!

This is the only formal part of teaching that is needed. 

Learning at this age is intertwined with playing as it such be.

I almost made the mistake of allowing Mr. Senior 2013 to do workbook after workbooks for hours because he wanted to until I realized that by second grade I almost had a homeschool burnout.

All About Reading Pre-reading

When children are high achievers, gifted or just enjoy learning, think of long term hands-on projects or activities that can be expanded to feed their almost tireless need to learn.

Guide them to expand that learning not only takes place with seat work, but that is it more hands-on than seat down.

Look at some wonderful, detailed tips for teaching young kids:

I have never heard an older child reflecting back say that he or she did too many crafts or interactive activities during their kindergarten years, but I have heard many who wish their moms had done more fun things and crafts.

They only have ONE year to be a kindergartner, make it memorable for the right reasons and they will remember and better yet grow up to be well-rounded high achieving homeschoolers.

How many subjects are you covering in kindergarten? Do you need some help? Post them here and I don’t mind a bit looking them over.

Do you want to see some of what I used in kindergarten?

I look fondly at these products like Dr. Maggie’s Phonics readers because this set was my very first set and Alpha Omega Horizons phonics challenged us.

Also, be sure to look at my Amazon Store where I have subjects organized for you on things I’ve used through the years.

Homeschooling Kindergarten: What Subjects to Teach and For How Long?

Hugs and love ya,

Homeschool Kindergarten. What Subjects to Teach and For How Long @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Controlling the Time Spent on Homeschool Subjects or Running a Homeschooling Boot Camp

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Controlling the time spent on homeschool subjects can mean the difference between quitting homeschooling and not ever coming back to it or sailing along with a few ripples that are easily conquered.

In upcoming posts I will get down to the nitty-gritty by giving you suggestions for time to spend on each subject and tips to remember.  You know details are more valuable then generalities anytime.

However, before I jump into sharing what has worked for me, it is important that I don’t stress you out when I share those posts.
Posting some questions and tips to mull over before you read about specifics of scheduling homeschool subjects will help you to determine what tips will work for you, which ones you can discard and when to make changes when the time comes.

Is your goal in a subject to have your children complete the assignment or to stay within the time scheduled?

Look at this example.  If a math assignment has 31 problems, is your goal to complete the whole assignment or to stay within the time frame you allowed for math?
Do you see the difference between teaching to completion of an assignment and teaching thoroughly in a time frame?

Are Time Tested Ways of Teaching Always the Best?

If a system has children studying all day for 8 hours and it is not working, do we want to follow that same mentality?

Please tell me you are not homeschooling for 8 hours straight.

Yes, I have mentored homeschoolers who homeschool for 8 hours in a day.  They tell me that there is just no way they get all the subjects completed without spending that long homeschooling.
No reasoning on my part helped them to see that they are on their way to crash and burn.

Unless you are running a military camp, homeschooling for 8 hours straight can be flat out disastrous.

Learning and living naturally for the day is very different than running a homeschooling boot camp.

The longer I talk to homeschoolers who homeschool endlessly into the night I realize that most of the “learning” is not spent on project based learning, hands-on activities or interaction with other family members.

The homeschoolers I helped were panicking to complete assignments by distance learning programs, which they thought would ease the stress in their day only to be the culprit of a majority of it.

Before you can plan the length and time of homeschool subjects, you need to be in control of determining them.
It’s a simple concept that is easily overlooked.
I am always for outside help when you need it through your journey but never give up control in determining what and how much for the day your kids will need to do.

Do you know what percentage of time in the public school classroom is actually spent learning?

I don’t think you have to have kids that attend public school before you can appreciate how much time is actually wasted learning to walk the line, standing in line, sitting criss-cross, waiting on the teacher to correct the little boy who got no sleep the night before, taking the attendance and lunch count for the day to the office and recess to name just a very few interruptions.

One-on-one learning is absolutely intensive and I don’t think it’s talked about nearly enough in homeschool circles.

I have talked about this before and that is what I see when parents bring children home from public school.  I am not just talking about normal kids, but kids that are high achievers too.

The common thread they share is that it is extremely hard for them to sit still and learn without wanting to take a break.

To say, that bringing them home to learn while having minimal interruptions can be difficult, might be an understatement.

It requires a retraining period at home because they are use to moving constantly for a bathroom break, talking to another student or just having a shift in focus.

So don’t fall into the homeschool trap that more hours always equal productive learning.

How to encourage the sheer delight of self-teaching?

Encouraging our children to see the sheer delight of self-teaching shifts the focus from simply completing assignments to learning thoroughly in a time frame.

Another foundation you want to build your homeschool subjects on and how much time your children spend on them is on the delight of learning.

It is one thing to savor the time our kids have learning while being mindful of a time frame and yet another to be stressing out about a schedule because an assignment is expected to be completed.

No matter what your preference is for teaching, whether you are more of a shoot from the hip homeschool mom with a minimal schedule or you have a very detailed schedule and maybe even use a timer to schedule subjects, both styles of teaching require being punctual.

Balance is always the key to homeschooling and scheduling subjects and time spent on them is no exception.

Some homeschoolers feel that being controlled by the clock takes the delight out of learning.  It actually can be quite the opposite and seen as a bit selfish (ouch) if we don’t have some kind of flow to our day.

Unintentionally, we may be running late the whole day for every subject and not get to subjects that our children have been waiting all day to do.  If our day is calm and organized with subjects balanced, we get so much more done for the day.

Starting from a faulty point by giving up control of when and how much to plan, following the methods of public school by schooling endlessly and into the evening with homework and not holding to a time frame to foster the delight of all subjects planned for the day are barricades to worthwhile learning.

Whether you use more of zones for your planning or have a very specific schedule for covering the subjects, do you find that you are covering each subject in a balanced way?  It’s not easy for sure.

Hugs and love ya,

Grab some more points on scheduling and doing meaningful learning.

Divide And Conquer The Ever Growing List of Homeschool Subjects

Dynamic Reader Question–How To Get All those Homeschool Science Experiments Done?

Easy Hands on Homeschooling Ideas When You’re Not the Bomb Mom

Linking up @ these awesome places:

Stop the Homeschool Time Drain!

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Because we genuinely care about raising well-rounded children, we are constantly analyzing our homeschool approach, poring over how-to articles and are trying to think of creative ways to connect with more homeschoolers.

We never want to be one of those homeschoolers.  You know the ones that didn’t socialize our kids.

The “art of socialization” is a never ending topic in the homeschool world.

I am not even going to go there about the hotly debated term of socialization because I’ll leave that when I have had more caffeine.

Today, I want to encourage you to think about the stress we bring on ourselves when we try to adopt this world’s view about our children needing socialization.

Are Your Homeschool Activities Losing Value?

How do you stop the homeschool time drain when you are connected with more groups, homeschoolers and co-ops than you would like to be at this time in your journey?

In our quest to raise our kids in the real world, we can take on more than we should when it comes to homeschooling activities.

Justifying our demanding schedule in the name of learning and homeschooling can lead us down a road where we are reacting instead of being proactive about our schedule.  Have you lost control?

Finding homeschool balance is not easy and it’s normal somewhere in our journey to be over involved with outside activities.  Finding the exact number of activities that enrich your year instead of encumber it is what counts.

For example, the time I had when my household was younger with preschoolers and toddlers was a terrific time for outside enrichment.

Not only did going to Kindermusik (music classes for babies, toddlers and early childhood) nurture my sons’ readiness for learning, but it was a way for me to educate myself about child development and to make lifelong friends with other homeschooling moms.  I didn’t realize that of course at the time.

When my son got to high school age and before Mr. Senior 2013 was driving on his own, his need for visiting with other young men his age, his need for fulfilling some of my class requirements in high school and his desire to look for a job made for more demands on my time for outside activities.

Stop the Homeschool Time Drain! It's not easy to manage your time with so many outside activities to do. Look at how one seasoned mom did it!

Gauging how much time to spend outside the house is not easy.

Look at these points that can be used to help you take control back of outside activities.

  • Return on your Time.  What value are you getting from the outside activities?

If your goal is for your children to have more homeschooling friends, then is taking a private class worth the investment right now?  The class has to be weighed against several factors to see if it’s of value at this present time.

For example, if you have several children and they are all very young, then would an active group with a regular park day be a better investment of your time than an activity for one child?  Don’t make decisions based on mommy guilt.

The more kids you have the harder it is to satisfy their individual needs.  I am not discouraging you from doing this, but I am encouraging you to try to meet whatever your goal is for the current year.

I do know this and that is the older kids get, the easier it is to meet their individual needs because you have help in getting out the door, help with the house and even have supper cooked for you on certain days by your teens.

  • Alternating Activities = Sanity-Sparing.  Also, as kids get older, they really don’t care how many siblings they have when it comes to a class or hobby they want to take.

One reason we are homeschooling is to explore unique educational opportunities for each child.  To balance one child’s needs with the needs of the other family members can be downright puzzling.

When I got to the point in my journey when each son wanted different classes, I came up with another solution.  I alternated their classes each week.

I cannot tell you how much stress this relieved, but also how effortlessly it worked.

Though it took more time on my part working out a new schedule other than the one suggested by the different teachers, each of my sons were delighted to be taking classes that interested them and I was glad I was able to control how much time we were away from the house.

Raising Selfless Children in a Selfish World

It worked something like this.

Using Tuesday as an example, we would take art class the first Tuesday.  The next Tuesday, it would be wood working class and then back to art class the third Tuesday and so forth.

Did I mention a couple of unexpected side benefits? The cost was lower because it was spread out and the extra time in between classes allowed the boys to focus more energetically on what they were learning.

The plod along pace was a luxury that made learning about each topic more meaningful for the year.

Too, I switched to year around homeschooling and that was a perfect fit to help my sons finish the full course though it was done slower.

The key to making this plan work is to be sure you use the same weekday.

Making my schedule stick to one day outside the house in what would be otherwise be two days away from the house because the woodworking teacher wanted one son to come on Wednesdays and the art teacher wanted my other son to come on Tuesday is the sanity-sparing tip.

Be very picky in about giving up another day away from home and be very creative in how you use days away from the house.

  • Half-Day School.  Half-day classes are not just for kindergarteners.

This was my other revelation the longer I homeschooled.  If I was going to be away from the house, then I could also satisfy all of my children’s needs for unique classes if I divided up one day.

Getting two classes in on one day for different kids is not easy when they are young, but when they are older, it is easier.

The tidbit to remember here is to try to schedule first in the day the class that is more academically intensive when your child is fresh.

Mr. Senior 2013 took a writing class in the morning with other homeschoolers and then in the afternoon, I scooted by the piano teacher for music lessons for Mr. Awesome and Tiny.

When Mr. Senior 2013 was at his writing class, I headed to the library for read aloud time for my younger boys.

After traveling the distance to town, the younger boys were ready to move around and we will never forget Mrs. Lou Lou at the library because she made reading time come alive through dancing and singing.

The piano lesson in the afternoon was only about 45 minutes for the younger kids and it was time enough for me and Mr. Senior 2013 to grab a cherry limeade at our favorite drive-through restaurant, talk about what he learned without interruption from his younger siblings and to share some heart felt moments when he and I were alone.

It was hectic to get out of the house many mornings but I tried my best on minimizing stress in the morning by having their clothes laid out and trying to prep my crockpot the night before.

It has been worth every effort of both driving in the rain and sitting outside in the car in the hot sun as my sons made lifelong friends.

I finally found just the pinch of socialization we needed each week.

Finding balance with not only filling the individual needs of my sons but my need, though I didn’t always realize it at the time, for homeschool friends was not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

I tend to over do things and have to find my center of balance again.

Over homeschooling, over parenting and over socializing can drain your homeschool time.  It’s worth considering the time you spend away from home each year.

Weigh outside home activities for the return value at the present moment, be creative in alternating your children’s schedule and look at half-day activities to divide and conquer the many activities your children are clamoring to do.

What about you?

Have you figured out other ways to meet your children’s needs without sacrificing your time away from home?

Hugs and love ya,

Grab some more go juice below!

3 Easy Fixes to Recharge Your Homeschool Routine

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The Sticking Power of a Homeschool Schedule

 

Planning Homeschool When Drowning in a Sea of Ideas

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Sitting in my living room and deciding what we wanted to do for school next, I realized that planning homeschool when drowning in a sea of ideas can be daunting and energy zapping.

Like you though, ideas, projects, and lists are all made because we want to problem solve or craft ideas into projects.

However, my to-do list and ideas for everything from homeschool to personal goals to my blog was growing more detailed by the moment.
Impatient person that I am to meet some of these goals, I realized it can make you feel defeated before you even start planning.

Do you find that you just pull back and don’t do anything because you can’t find a starting point? Organized or not, this can happen to anybody and it has happened to me more times than I care to admit.

One top of that, a problem with most people who love organization is that we have our noses so buried in the details of homeschool planning we can’t see the big picture.

I focused on things that inspire me to find a starting point. Don’t let your brilliant or creative flashes harness you.

Look at these 4 steps for a starting point as you plan your new homeschool year.

STEP 1. Clearly Identify

Start by just writing all that you want to do, but don’t worry about organizing your ideas just yet.

I want to finish a book on homeschooling that I have started, get my youngest son caught up with where I want him to be, help my next highschooler finish and graduate this next year, lose more weight, blog more passionately, help new homeschoolers with more detailed articles, create more unit studies, spend more time with the Mr. now that we live in beautiful South America and . . .  and . . .

Pen your ideas and identify them as clearly as you can, but don’t separate them into categories just yet because that will stifle what is on your mind for now.

STEP 2. Slice And Dice

After you have mounds of ideas and things that you want to do, take your list and prioritize what is most important to you.

What I have found in this step of the thought process is that some ideas are not worthy of my time after I weigh them against other things I have on my list.

You need to either shelf or shave ideas that you can’t get to this next year.

I have been ask, but how do you know how many to delete or shave off and how many to keep? I have found that a simple way to accomplish more is to use the 12 calendar months or physical year as a strainer.

In my mental process, I limit myself to 12 ideas or things that I want to get done for a new year.  Some ideas or things will only take a few days or few weeks and other ideas may take longer.  Too, some things like my goal of spending time with the Mr. can be grouped with another goal.

I find that a base of 12 ideas is a good starting point because it allows one idea or project per month.

It’s a natural way to plan, but most of the time we over plan with no filter in place. The physical year is my filter.

Don’t give up any of the ideas you have if you see in looking over your list that there are more worthwhile projects to pursue right now.

Just put them back for now and save your list because you never know during the year when you have time to reach into your treasure trove of thoughts and get one more project done.

At this point too, I can see a clear picture of how many are homeschool related, personal related, and business related and I group them together now.

STEP 3. Arrange In Importance to YOU

We both know that clearly our homeschool planning takes a prominent place.  But so should your health and spiritual welfare.

If you have been homeschooling at all costs and sacrificing either your physical or spiritual health, your homeschooling journey may not survive.

Some years, I have added in workbooks for the kids or hired a tutor because I needed the break.  Balance has always been hard for strong-willed homeschooling mamas.  I’m right there with you too.

The homeschooling survivors are ones that are willing to change when something needs to be done instead of heading straight to burnout.

Too, sometimes you have to decide what is a want versus a need.  For example, I am so over the top giddy on wanting to finish my homeschooling book, but I won’t do it at the expense of sacrificing Tiny along the way.

Will there still be homeschoolers the next year or the next?  For sure. But my son’s homeschool years are fleeting so it maintains priority for me.

Priority is uniquely different to each of us and we need to not only dig deep to determine them, but be honest on what is something we need to do versus something that we desire to do.

Now the challenge – number each one from the most important to the least.

Can you see the plan emerging? Remember, you should have only 12 numbered.

You can have more on your list, but only 12 numbered. Remember, this is about getting them done, not dreaming about them.

Too, some things which are long term projects, like my homeschool book, can be worked on throughout the year as I accomplish my 12 tasks.

So leave one or two long-term projects on your list that can simmer on the backburner while you meet your other goals.

STEP 4. Make A Visible Plan of Action

The fourth step is the most critical and it is to write it all down.  Did you know this is where a lot of people stumble or just give up?

After going through the grueling process of planning, they fail to make it cement or concrete.

Get it off your mind and onto something that you can see and physically check off.  Put the plan into action by writing it down.

See the big picture by assigning it to a calendar month. If you shriek at paper planning (can’t imagine, just saying) then put it down in your digital planner.

It is not a plan – well until it is.

Sounds easy enough, but a major reason we feel trapped before we start is that if it is not put down in some action form, our ideas might stay as pie in the sky goals.

In an upcoming post, l will show you how I finally solved my problem and got my nose out of those details that I love to wallow in.

Keeping this process of how I arrived at homeschool planning for the year does me no good to keep it in my head and so I hope this 4 step process simplifies the planning process for you.

Follow the four easy steps of homeschool planning which are clearly identifying all that you want to do for the year, organize ideas by category and slim your ideas down to just 12 with a few extra long-term projects, arrange them in importance by using the cruel (you cannot start them all at once, I tried that one time. Stay sane, don’t try it) number system because you have to have a Number 1 starting point and then avoid using invisible ink by writing it ALL down.

I guarantee you will have success in planning for a new year if you try faithfully to follow those four easy peazy steps.

What about you? Do you see a new plan of action or are you using one that works for you?

You’ll love these other tips!:

Over Scheduling + Over Planning = Over Load

3 Easy Fixes to Recharge Your Homeschool Routine

How To Create a Homeschool Schedule That You Can Stick To    

Hugs and love ya,