homeschool challenges

100 Best and Easy Ways to Organize Homeschooled Kids

December 8, 2014 | 12 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I’m excited today to share 100 Ways to Organize Kids. When we share learning and living spaces, it’s difficult to say the least to keep the clutter corralled.

Too, it’s easier to train our kids from the time they can toddle to learn to put away their things than it is to wait until they are teens to develop the love of organizing.

Also, we need to provide kids a place to put away all their things.

The dreaded words of go clean your room do not have to be followed by moans and sighs because we have taken time to teach them where all their things do belong.

So, I have divided this page out by the troubled areas in organizing kids’ spaces so that you can grab a few tips that will make our organization efforts count!

100 Best and Easy Ways to Organize Homeschooled Kids

General Tips for Organizing Kids

Frugal Tips for Organizing Kids Room
Organizing the Unorganized Learner
Organizing tips from homeschool Moms
50 Clever DIY Storage Ideas To Organize Kids’ Room
Helping Disorganized Kids Become Organized
5 Ways to Develop Your Child’s Organizational Skills

6 Simple Successful Strategies for Homeschool
49 Clever Storage Solutions For Living With Kids
10 Must Do Ways to Organize Kids Things

Chore Charts

Dry Erase Chore Charts
Task Cards.
Free Printable Chore Charts for Kids
Free Printable Chore Charts
Free printable kid’s morning routine chart

Kid’s Routine Chart and Printables
KIDS’ ROUTINE CHECKLISTS
Free Homeschool Time Management Printables for Kids
FREE PRINTABLE CHORE CHART

Look at these other tips you’ll love:

Hugs and love ya,

This blog hop is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutual beneficial projects.

When Homeschooling is a Mistake

December 5, 2014 | 12 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I thought homeschooling was a mistake when I put Mr. Senior 2013 in public school Kindergarten.

Teaching him his colors and numbers at 3 years old seemed easier at the time than homeschooling him at the beginning of Kindergarten. I chuckle now many years later, but it was not laughable then.

I learned that no matter what grade I was homeschooling, my homeschool conviction can only burn bright if I fueled it.

Running on empty is a common homeschool mistake. I made that mistake too.

I didn’t take time to cement my foundational goals and to ask myself burning questions like: what is it about homeschooling that lights me up or, why is homeschooling the best choice for my family.

You can’t skip ahead and choose curriculum, begin your homeschool journey, continue your journey year after year, or call yourself a homeschooler if you don’t take time to polish up your vision.

It really matters because otherwise, like me, you may react to your feelings of being inadequate and return your children to public school without good reason.

I want to make something clear too because the last thing any of us needs is another homeschool post that rants about homeschooling at all costs.

It’s one thing to not have the circumstances presently to live on one income, have health problems or other significant things that prevent you from homeschooling and quite another to completely abandon the homeschool lifestyle because we didn’t take time to get a dose of reality in the beginning.

New Homeschooler

There really is no magical formula to keep going in homeschooling, it’s just plain hard work.

I learned it just didn’t come together without some effort on my part.

Each year, these 3 points are essential to me embracing another year of homeschooling.

Recommit. What works for me is both a combination of personal prayer and writing down my feelings in plain view for me to reflect on later.

Personal feelings are just that which means a time to reflect on progress. Part of this time for you could be goal setting for things that you want to see fulfilled for the next year.

For me, I tend to keep goal setting separate. When I recommit, it means taking time to pour out my feelings and thought on paper until they overflow. They don’t have to make sense, they just need to be on paper instead of all floating around in my mind.

Sure, it sounds emotional and it is. Homeschooling is a personal attachment to a life-long lifestyle and part of that is reflecting on the positive and awesome part of homeschooling.

The flip side is reflecting on what you are finding hard to cope with and deciding on what you will compromise on.

Compromise. Through that writing and sharing in my personal journal, I basically commit again. But, it does not come without compromising and letting go of how I thought my year would turn out.

For example, this year, I am using an online school for Mr. Awesome for part of his high school courses. This was something that I never even considered with Mr. Senior 2013 in high school.

Wrapping up my personal reflection this year, I have had to compromise to keep homeschooling because my circumstances for homeschooling have changed. The Mr.’s health suffered and so more of my time was required in our business.

New to Homeschool

On the positive side, we wanted to homeschool overseas as a family and experience that adventure. I have come to grips with the fact that each of my son’s homeschooling journey can be different.

A different path for Mr. Awesome is just as enriching because of his unique experiences for learning here in South America unlike Mr. Senior’s journey in the states.

Compromising is an art, but better yet it is a must for staying the homeschooling course.

Recharge & Refuel. After you sort out what you will compromise on to keep homeschooling, then you need to recharge your energy for homeschooling. Simple things motivate me and one of them is reading.

Something about curling up with a book, homeschool magazine or even curriculum catalog that I have not had time to pore over rejuvenates my personal homeschooling spirit.

Other homeschoolers need to do more physical activity and still others may need to step back completely from homeschooling. I find too that a combination of physical activity and a mental break renews my empty spirit.

I have made many mistakes in my homeschooling journey. But, I have also done some things right since pulling Mr. Senior 2013 back out of Kindergarten many years ago.

I returned to homeschooling and I’ll never give up homeschooling so easily again, no matter how painful. It has been worth every tear shed and sleepless night.

By turning inward and recommitting on a personal and emotional level of attachment, learning the art of compromise by giving a little to get a lot, and nurturing or refueling your homeschooling spirit, which may be dwindling, you can keep the forward momentum in homeschooling.

Besides a new year always means do-overs and second chances. What do you do when you feel homeschooling is a mistake?

Other New Homeschooler Tips and Helps:

5 days of Homeschooling Mid-Year and Thriving. Day 4 At Home Homeschooler

November 23, 2014 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, in 5 days of homeschooling mid-year and thriving. Day 4 At Home Homeschooler is about avoiding the “prove it” trap. Don’t succumb to it.

Socialization, curriculum, record keeping, homeschooling high school and preschool preparedness are some of our secret homeschool fears. Trying to only satisfy requirements and produce proof instead of allowing learning to take place naturally at home can be a pitfall.

We live in a world where our culture dictates that we have proof to show anything that we are doing. For example, I think back to the day we got our marriage license. To give any more thought to the marriage license than just to fulfill the legal requirement is ludicrous to even ponder.

At home is where we practiced years on our marriage that I cherish deeply.

Though important, meeting homeschool legal requirements is just a process too, but to homeschool to only meet legal requirements can impede learning.

We don’t intentionally homeschool to only meet legal requirements, but we are victims of our upbringing and the influence of the present educational world.

A fresh start homeschooling mid-year and to thrive at it requires that we first be at home to practice our new cherished relationships.

It does not mean that we barricade the door to our home, but it means we stand ready to open up the door to new opportunities to experience learning. In today’s homeschool world that is called deschooling.

I have heard many definitions of deschooling, but I want to give you mine.

Deschooling means to get off the public school treadmill which encompasses everything about the way the public system views schedules, socialization, discipline, labeling of children, teacher background, record keeping, college readiness, preparation for reading and education in general and determine what education means for your family.

5 days of Homeschooling Mid-Year

Many homeschoolers start with a textbook in hand and with no more forethought to the process of education at home than just to complete worksheets, assign a test and move on.

This definition by Noah Webster that I share in one of my workshops beckons you to define your meaning of education too.

EDUCATION. The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.

Bring your children home, but define your meaning of education also. Step back, breathe and brace yourself up for a lifestyle that will fit your family for a lifetime.
Deschooling also means substituting other activities now in your life that are family centered instead of self-centered on one member of the family.
It can mean taking numerous field trips in one month, taking a family vacation and even getting caught up on much needed rest. It may mean adjusting the eating habits of your family. The definition by Noah Webster broadens our term of educating a family beyond the academics.

The length of the deschooling process is different for everyone, but it should be examined at various points during our homeschool journey.

When a schedule is jammed packed full of outside activities because we fear that our children may not be socialized, then our focus has shifted from the needs of our family to the world’s idea of socialization.

Maybe we forced one child in tears to finish an assignment because the world told us that teaches accountability. Deep down in our heart though our mommy voice may be calling out that our child is suffocating and his self confidence is diminishing.Time is needed to examine and heal those emotions.

At home homeschooling means that we have had enough time at home pondering our definition of education, applying it to our children and celebrating the calming effects on our family.

For some families it has meant several months of being home together so that sibling relationships are nurtured and so that parents become the teen’s greatest friend. Some families find that it takes a whole year before they feel that they have embraced the homeschooling lifestyle.

It does not mean that you do not school but it means that you now determine how the knowledge you are teaching will fit into your definition of education.

Outside intervening pressure to conform to a norm that does not work for our family has now been kept to a minimum. Our culture upbringing still looms close by when fear sets in or when we fail. Pressure to conform to the norm that we left behind will always be here.

At home teaching our children everyday will give us the courage to keep trying when we succumb to pressures. Shedding educational-ese and accepting a new mind-set only happens when we have had sufficient time at home to contemplate all our ideas on education.

No one sets out on their journey to live a double life style.

It happens easily when we try to keep one foot in the public school by keeping pace with the scope and sequence and one foot at home.

Courage is a necessity for all at home homeschoolers so you are not alone.

Detox from public school by deschooling and rediscover how easy learning can take place at home without limits or confinements by embracing your definition of education.

Hugs and you know I love ya,

Did you miss the first three days in 5 days of Homeschooling Mid-Year and Thriving?

5 days of Homeschooling Mid-Year and Thriving. Day 1 Mind-set Matters

5 days of Homeschooling Mid-Year and Thriving. Day 2 Mission Accomplished

5 days of Homeschooling Mid-Year and Thriving. Day 3 Forward Looking–Planning!

Grab some more to read here:

What is NOT Homeschooling

5 Days of the Benefits & Challenges of Teaching Mixed Ages Together

Homeschooling Middle School Doesn’t Always Mean Middle Way

Am I Doing Enough When Homeschooling

A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler Part 1 Early Years

Eliminating 3 Non-Essentials in Homeschooling

November 10, 2014 | 10 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

With our move to South America, I had two suitcases to pack with what was absolutely essential to living in South America. Included in our two suitcase maximum for each person was not just clothes, but homeschooling books.

Non-Essentials In Homeschooling

Eliminating non-essentials was utterly crucial to making a smooth transition. The line between absolutely vital and unimportant became very clear.

Homeschooling is similar because there are just some things that are not required to raising life long learners. Instead of a homeschooling help, some things can become a hindrance.

Look at these Tips to Eliminating 3 Non-Essentials in Homeschooling.

Assigning a Book Report – Non-Essential. I did it too. I assigned my boys books reports in the beginning of my homeschool journey only because that is what I did in public school.

Like most new homeschooling teachers I associated books reports with good readers and writers.

The longer I homeschooled, the more I realized that my strategies like reading aloud, practicing writing each day, acting out stories, creating puppets with the boys when they were preschool age and debating an author’s viewpoint in the high school grades was incredibly more powerful.

It has been my experience that forced book reports do not fuel the love for reading and especially with wiggly boys.

Also, I learned that if I just had to assign one for the language arts teacher inside of me then assign a book my kids don’t like. Who really wants to be forced to use literary analysis on a book they love?

Instilling the pleasure of reading or lingering over vocabulary for the love of words has to be cultivated with other equally pleasurable tasks.

When you are doing copywork with your children, talking orally about the plot or rising action of a book or researching about an author, information in a book is then absorbed and retained.

More important reading is associated with pleasure and not drudgery.

College Degree – Non-Essential. As you homeschool longer, you realize that all that is needed is the ability to learn alongside your children.

Here is a little secret I learned while conducting my homeschooling workshops.

Quite a few of the public school teachers in my workshop didn’t want the other moms in the workshop to know they were teachers.

Of course, I was elated and enthusiastic to have quite a few public school teachers in my workshops because I savored our time together as we shared teaching tips.

However, many (not all) of the public school teachers turned homeschool educator felt that their college education hampered their ability to think outside the box.

Appreciating their candor and vulnerability, I realized we all struggle with things that make us feel inadequate.

A parent’s degree or lack of it has very little bearing on the success of their journey.

Check out the article The Myth of Teacher Qualifications by HSLDA.

Knowing All the Answers – Non-Essential. We may think we need to know all the answers, but when I have been honest with my boys by letting them know that I don’t know all the answers, they appreciate that I am human too.

What I have found is that knowing where to go to find the answers or how to connect with other homeschoolers has been more essential.

Too, a dogged determination, willingness to work hard and an unwavering dedication to your children's education have been the keys to successfully homeschooling.

Eliminating the clutter as I packed and weighed each bag carefully for our move, though stressful at the time, allowed more room for what was really important.

Only so much will fit in a bag and only so much will fit into a homeschool day.

Looking back now, unloading all that clutter and eliminating the non-essentials has allowed me to maximize the time we have together by savoring what we brought with us.

You'll love my other tried and true tips through they 20+ years I've homeschooled.

What about you? Have you overstuffed your day with non-essentials?

Hugs and love ya,

Patience, Confidence, Knowing all the Answers – NOT Required to Homeschool

3 Homeschooling Myths Debunked

Things Homeschoolers Know

Cultivating the Desire to Homeschool

October 28, 2014 | 3 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

You’ve probably come across the type before. Those homeschoolers that knew always that they were going to homeschool and they knew before their first child was conceived.

However, if you are one of those that just fell into homeschooling or came to it kicking and screaming, then cultivating the desire to homeschool has probably been a learned art for you.

Whether you always had the desire to homeschool or hopped on board later, we all need to rekindle and cultivate the desire to homeschool so we can foster our growth.

Let’s just face it too, the world we live in today doesn’t engender finding tranquil moments in our day to ponder our desire to homeschool and fill up our reserve.

On the other hand, each day that we homeschool can empty us of our eagerness to keep on homeschooling.

It’s essential to maintaining the pace of homeschooling to tap into homeschool resources that will stir you to action and to avoid certain mind-sets.

Avoid the Weight of Burdensome Negativity. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies because we have a set standard unreachably high for either us or our children.

For example, do you need to adjust the time that you begin school so that you have time to get more house chores done, or just to soak up more time in the morning to wake up?

Between me and you, I had several days early in my journey where I missed taking a shower and skipped breakfast because my schedule said it was time to start. Why do we do that to ourselves?

I never did get any homeschooling mom of the year trophy award either.

What I did learn was that day in and day out schooling at a grueling pace only sets a homeschooler up for burn out.

The end of the journey is all that matters. Mr. Senior 2013 remembers more about the quiet moments we had at home together doing simple things like reading aloud and playing board games than he did large homeschool projects where we were all stressed out.

Maybe you feel your child is not progressing as fast some other homeschool children that you know.

Could your child be at a learning plateau or is he getting enough rest and exercise? Look at The Dos and Don’ts When You Hit A Learning Plateau in Homeschooling.

Change Your Homeschool Approach. I changed my homeschool approach three times until I found one that suited my children and my teaching style.

When we are fighting a switch to a new homeschool approach, it can have devastating effects on our desire to continue homeschooling.

Look at Stop Switching Your Curriculum, Switch Your Course of Study. I use to think if only I can change my teaching methods at the end of the year that it would be less stressful.

What I finally realized was that like a parched and sun scorched plant that is drying up and shriveling, my children’s love of learning was the same way.

I needed to take quick action to inject a love of learning by changing either my approach, curriculum or schedule.

Just Can’t Avoid it – You Need Other Homeschoolers. Before I formed our co-op and field trip group, I use to think I was too busy to be meeting with other homeschoolers. Ask me now about how I feel and I cringe about my thinking then because homeschooling and meeting with other homeschoolers are inextricably linked to homeschooling staying power.

When you are tired with several small children, it’s hard to see how fellowship with people you barely know will help you. It just seems like one more energy zapping exercise.

And to make matters worse, if your personality is like mine where you are perfectly happy with just your inner circle of friends, it can be hard to overcome the thinking that you are just fine.

But what I have learned is that the homeschooling spirit is contagious when you have a crowd around. Instead of draining your time of one more lack luster thing to do, interacting and sharing tips, techniques, and venting about the the ups and downs of homeschooling with other homeschooling families bolsters our desire to keep on homeschooling.

Not only are we encouraged to keep on homeschooling, but we meet other families who have similar circumstances as our own.

Some of the most significant homeschooling changes that I have had the conviction to do came directly after mingling with experienced homeschool moms.

Stoke the embers of homeschooling by fueling the desire to homeschool through being consistent each day and being quick to take advantage of opportunities to be encouraged by other homeschoolers.

The end will be here before you know it.

Hugs and love ya,

To go from exhausted to exhilarated, look at these posts:

The 3 R’s for Homeschoolers. Part 3

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

Easy Ways to Break Out of a Homeschool Rut

Have You Learned the Secret to Homeschool Joy?

Look at some of these homeschooling books that will stir you to action!

homeschool challenges

100 Best and Easy Ways to Organize Homeschooled Kids

General Tips for Organizing Kids

Chore Charts

DIY Organizing Tips and Projects for Kids

Organizing Kids’ Art & Crafts Supplies

Organizing Kids’ Books

Organizing Kids’ Clothes

Organizing Kids’ Closets

Organizing Kids’ Toys Inside the House and Out

Organizing Kids to Clean

Organizing Kids’ Learning Spaces

Organizing Kids’ Living Spaces

Organizing Kids’ Planners and Notebooks

Organizing Teens

Other: Free Kid’s Printables

When Homeschooling is a Mistake

New Homeschooler

New to Homeschool

Other New Homeschooler Tips and Helps:

5 days of Homeschooling Mid-Year and Thriving. Day 4 At Home Homeschooler

5 days of Homeschooling Mid-Year

Eliminating 3 Non-Essentials in Homeschooling

Non-Essentials In Homeschooling

Look at these Tips to Eliminating 3 Non-Essentials in Homeschooling.

Cultivating the Desire to Homeschool

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homeschool challenges

General Tips for Organizing Kids

Chore Charts

DIY Organizing Tips and Projects for Kids

Organizing Kids’ Art & Crafts Supplies

Organizing Kids’ Books

Organizing Kids’ Clothes

Organizing Kids’ Closets

Organizing Kids’ Toys Inside the House and Out

Organizing Kids to Clean

Organizing Kids’ Learning Spaces

Organizing Kids’ Living Spaces

Organizing Kids’ Planners and Notebooks

Organizing Teens

Other: Free Kid’s Printables

New Homeschooler

New to Homeschool

Other New Homeschooler Tips and Helps:

5 days of Homeschooling Mid-Year

Non-Essentials In Homeschooling

Look at these Tips to Eliminating 3 Non-Essentials in Homeschooling.

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