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Top 5 Approaches New Homeschoolers Need to Know

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After deschooling, a new homeschooler’s first step is to get a basic grasp of homeschool approaches. Having a basic grasp of the top 5 approaches new homeschoolers can conquer overwhelm and tame the curriculum beast.

First understand these two basic clarifications to dispel misunderstandings about our lifestyle.

  • Deschooling is a process, not a homeschool approach. It’s the process ALL new homeschoolers or homeschoolers should do initially or from time to time if they struggle. See my link below.
  • Unschooling IS a homeschool approach. While we’re ALL homeschooling were NOT all unschooling. Big difference.
After deschooling, a new homeschooler’s first step is to get a basic grasp of homeschool approaches. Having a basic grasp of the top 5 approaches new homeschoolers can conquer overwhelm and tame the curriculum beast. CLICK HERE to read this SUPER helpful list!

A colossal mistake is to focus first on curriculum instead of a homeschool approach. Taking time to read this article all the way through will put you ahead miles.

Before jumping into homeschool approaches, you need to understand the curative power of how to tap into your teaching style and your child’s learning style. They may not be the same and from the start you may unintentionally cause problems.

What is a Homeschool Approach

Simply put, a homeschool approach or homeschool style is an educational philosophy which is implemented or followed through by using curriculum as a tool. There are no right or wrong, better or worse, or smarter or dumber approaches. I’ve seen success stories and failures with each approach. An approach is a method, goals, and values that are important to you. Part of deciding a homeschool approach is to determine what are your families priorities. That is why there is no right or wrong, just what is best for your family. An approach is how you will implement what you want your children to learn.

For example, on a history topic, a Charlotte Mason homeschooler will look for a living book on the topic while a Classical homeschooler may look for a book from the great minds of the past. That is just one simple example.

Whether you intentionally or unintentionally chose it, EVERYONE has a homeschool approach when they begin.

It’s better to pick it for your family’s needs than to jump in and choose curriculum that is fitted for a homeschool approach that is opposite of your child’s learning style.

Secret Revealed: Homeschool Approaches Essentials

There are a few things for you to know so that you make an informed choice.

Look at my video on YouTube How To Easily Choose and Distinguish between Homeschool Educational Approaches.

Understanding these 6 fundamental points will help you to increase the odds of success.

  • Did you know that just about ALL curriculum falls into one or more of the homeschool approaches? By narrowing down to an approach that fits your family’s values and your children’s needs you have tamed the curriculum hunt. Reduce overwhelm by choosing the method FIRST.
  • It’s NOT necessary to know EVERY approach just like it’s not necessary to understand EVERY ingredient in a homemade dish. The most used ingredients are key to understanding the big picture. Homeschool styles or approaches are similar. You don’t need to know EVERY single one, but only the most popular one. Some styles are not as popular. Not that they are unimportant, but the top 5 homeschool approaches are what a majority of homeschoolers use. As you’re more experienced, you can delve into the others.
  • There is NO need to choose only one. If you see that one or two follow your goals, then pick and choose the teaching points and combine them. It’s called eclectic. Eclectic is not really an approach, but a type of homeschooler.
  • With that being said, DO choose one that fits MOSTLY with your goals because it cuts down on frustration. By having one that is your dominant one, you can find curriculum that fits it first and then delve into curriculum that fits other approaches that comes in second. It REALLY reduces teaching fatigue to have one major approach that you can rely on.
  • You can change on a dime if one is not working. There is no harm done. Maybe you’ve not accomplished what you’ve set out to do because you chose a homeschool approach that doesn’t really embrace how your child learns. He probably has still retained some of the information. Just switch approaches, chalk it up to being inexperienced, and move on.
  • One more HUGE point to remember and that is NOT every homeschool approach has a plethora of planned out curriculum to choose from. There are more choices now than used to be, but remember you’re following an APPROACH and using curriculum as tools. Bottom line: An exceptional teacher will be able to use what she has to tweak to fit her students. Yes, it may take a bit more work, but it can be done. Be sure to see my post at the bottom where I used a textbook to do our unit study.

Here are some of the most popular homeschool styles and I’ve listed a few curriculum suggestions as examples of each.

1. Traditional Textbook Homeschool Approach

Characteristics

  • textboook driven
  • worksheets
  • test driven
  • follows a sequential scope and sequence
  • record keeping/grading services
  • often been called “conveyor-belt” education

Textbooks and workbooks are used. This is what a lot of us used in public school and the approach most of us are familiar with. This is the way most new homeschoolers start out. Ask yourself why you would want to repeat the same approach that is not working in public school.

Many online public school at home providers have popped up in the last 10 years. Even online schools which may not necessarily use printed material may still under this approach because it’s based on textbooks.

A graded textbook guides teaching, and subjects are covered in increments over the course of a school year.  Textbooks may be supplemented with worktexts or books.

A few curriculum providers (both secular and Christian)

  • Abeka
  • Acellus
  • Bob Jones
  • Calvert

2. Unit Studies Homeschool Approach

Characteristics

  • where all subjects are covered by being focused on one topic
  • child-led or parent directed
  • emphasis is on mastery-based learning instead of ages
  • natural real-life approach to learning
  • students can see the whole picture
  • creating self-learning

Unit Studies take a specific theme or topic and delves into it deeply over a period of time. The emphasis is on integrating language arts, social studies, science, history, fine arts, and math together while focused on one unit of study or theme.

The unit study philosophy emphasizes that all knowledge is connected and remembered longer when taught in an integrated fashion.

A few curriculum providers

3. Charlotte Mason Homeschool Approach

Characteristics

  • oral narration
  • written narration
  • copywork
  • nature study
  • journaling
  • use of living books
  • form habits

Charlotte Mason was a turn of the century British educator whose approach was to teach children skills such as reading, writing, and math, and then expose them to the best sources of knowledge for all other subjects.

This means taking nature walks, visiting museums to view art up close, or reading what she called “living books.”  Textbooks are viewed as dry and dull and to be avoided in favor of richer sources of knowledge.

A few curriculum providers

4. Classical Homeschool Approach

Characteristics

  • intensive language arts focused
  • emphasis on Latin, Greek and Hebrew
  • progression through learning based on child’s development
  • reading great books as a way to connect to great minds

In Ancient Greece, emphasis was place on learning the tools of learning.  These tools could then be applied to the study of any subject.  This classical” approach would have students study grammar, the dialectic or logic phase, and finally rhetoric.  These tools were known as the “trivium.”

Following the study of these subjects were arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music – called the “quadrivium.” The approach is to teach learning in “stages” according to the child’s development. The book by Dorothy Sayers’ The Lost Tools of Learning is a reference  for this approach; Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well Trained Mind was the first book of its kind to lay out curriculum suggestions for this approach.

A few curriculum providers

  • Institute for Excellence in Writing
  • Veritas Press
  • Memoria Press

5. Unschooling Homeschool Approach (a.k.a delight-directed)

Characteristics

  • learning is directed almost entirely by the child which is where unschoolers differ from other homeschoolers
  • instead of teaching being at the center, the child is at the center of learning
  • children should not be forced to learn something against their will
  • more access to the real-world
  • creating self-learners
  • to provide an environment with rich resources

John Holt was a twentieth-century American educator who believed that children’s natural curiosity and desire to learn were destroyed by traditional schooling.  He is generally associated with the unschooling approach, which focuses on nonstructural learning that allows children to pursue their own interests and believes that children should be included in a meaning full way in the life of adults.

The approach has the child at the center of learning and subjects revolve around his interests. The child is exposed to a rich environment of resources, including an adult who models a lifestyle of curiosity and learning.  Formal academics are pursued when the need arises or when the child indicates willingness.

A few curriculum providers

  • Because learning is child-led, homeschoolers will have many resources in their homes from living books to games. Also, every day learning experiences are used to teach every day. Many curriculum resources are unschooling friendly.
After deschooling, a new homeschooler’s first step is to get a basic grasp of homeschool approaches. Having a basic grasp of the top 5 approaches new homeschoolers can conquer overwhelm and tame the curriculum beast. CLICK HERE to read this SUPER helpful list!

Look at some of these posts The Big List of Unit Study Hands-on (and Hands-off) Curriculum and Big Ol’ List of All-In-One Homeschool Curriculum (a.k.a Boxed) which will help you with curriculum.

I will be adding questions to help you hone or identify your homeschool method AND how to match curriculum to homeschool approach.

Will these tips give you a starting point?

You’ll want to read these other tips.

Hugs and love ya,

How to Use Summertime to Put a Foot in Homeschooling

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

Summertime homeschooling is the time to add spice to your routine. Because summertime conjures up lazy days at the pool or a trip to the beach, also take advantage of a more relaxed schedule.

Besides, summertime is not only a great time to begin homeschooling, but a way to have a relaxed start to the new year. Kids won’t even realize they’re still learning with these fun summertime schooling ideas below.

Whether you want a break from a more rigid schedule, feel like last year’s curriculum left you feeling less than inspired, or want to use summertime to put a foot in homeschooling, you’ll love these eight tips.

How to Use Summertime to Put a Foot in Homeschooling

8 Ways to Use Summer Time to Kick Start the Homeschool Year

Mix and match these tips or use one to put the spark for learning in your new homeschool year.

ONE/ Target one element of language arts like writing.

Although many new homeschoolers think they have to wait until the fall to begin their year, it’s so much better if you get a feel for teaching by focusing on one subject.

It may be a subject your child is struggling with or a subject which interests him.

When I have summertime with my high school teens, being absorbed on one subject like their writing keeps it from being overwhelming when they have a heavier load at the beginning of the year.

I love the courses by Writing Rockstar.

For example, one year we focused on strengthening writing skills through a course set to my teen’s pace.

Slowing down and lingering on a subject like composition encouraged my son’s love for writing; it allowed him time to pursue his passion of writing without the pace of a hectic schedule.

TWO/ Add a new self-paced class like these fun online Literary Adventures classes.

Also, whether you’re looking for a poetry class, an online fun self-paced course for a high school teen or your younger kids, you’ll love the variety of wonderful literature at Literary Adventures.

THREE/ Dive deep into a subject which gets overlooked like ART or MUSIC

Art is a subject that can easily get overlooked during the year. Have you seen this fun Art History Kids.

Until we started taking online art classes art was a struggle for us. I’m not an artsy person, but we love art.

During the long relaxed days of summer, it gives us a time to indulge our love art.

Then,, music study is a much overlooked study, although it shouldn’t be. You’ll love these courses.

These are high school courses, but Music in our Homeschool has something for just about every age.

20th Century Music Appreciation for High School
Music Appreciation: Middle Ages Thru Classical Era for High School

FOUR/ Teach your kids to cook with Kids Cook Real Food.

Kids love the feeling of doing authentic jobs, and kids these days really need creative work to do with their hands. Your Kids will love their courses.

FIVE/ Add fun subscription boxes.

And subscription boxes nowadays rock our world with fun learning. They keep our homeschool day fun and lively. Try one or two!

SIX/ Watch educational movies.

Educational movies make a great start to school. It’s easy after pulling your kids from school to jump straight into book learning.

You may think that is what homeschooling is about. Beginning your year with educational movies puts the whole family in a relaxed mood.

Pop some corn and grab one of these movies from the list below to begin your learning journey.

Grab my Free and Useful Editable Movie Report For Homeschool to learn with movies.

SEVEN/ Don’t forget refreshment and education for the educator.

The worst thing you can do in the beginning of your school year is to focus solely on the needs or your kids.

Taking time to educate yourself about homeschooling or just grabbing some refreshment will give you the boost you need for the new year.

I love the fact that Fortuigence has a free course for parents about writing. It it a subject lot of us struggle to teach.

EIGHT/ Homeschool unit studies nurture a love for learning. Do one or two.

When children have control of their learning, school can go a lot more smooth. Unit studies have a way of nurturing a love of learning because you can pick topics that pique your children’s interests.

I have volumes of free unit studies here on my site. Here are some of my 26 Free Nature Unit Studies for Multiple Ages.

Living books for multiple ages is also a great tip when your budget is limited. These nature living books I use below are from – NaturExplorers.

Our Journey Westward

Pick one or two and recharge your kids’ love for learning.

How to Use Summertime to Put a Foot in Homeschooling

You’ll also love these other ideas to use summertime as way to put your foot in homeschooling:

Hugs and love ya,

Summer time conjures up lazy days at the pool, a trip to the beach, and more relaxed schedules along with a family vacation or two. Summer time homeschooling is not only a great time to begin, but a way to have a relaxed start to the new year.
Summer time conjures up lazy days at the pool, a trip to the beach, and more relaxed schedules along with a family vacation or two. Summer time homeschooling is not only a great time to begin, but a way to have a relaxed start to the new year.

Is Homeschooling Making the Grade? It’s in and the Grade is ALL Fs!

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

Successfully homeschooling is not easy. Ask a homeschool mom and she’ll admit many days are tougher than she thought in the beginning. Is homeschool worth it? Is homeschooling making the grade?

After 20+ years of homeschooling and having my third homeschool high school graduate this year, I’m here to tell you that the grade is in and it’s all Fs.

Is Homeschooling Making the Grade?

What is there to not love when emphasis is put on Family-style learning? Public school only Feigned an interest in our child.

Children are not Forgotten or left behind. There is no worrying about the no child left behind law because your emphasis is on the individual needs of your children ahead of standards for the masses.

Successfully homeschooling is not easy. Ask a homeschool mom and she'll admit many days are tougher than she thought in the beginning. Is homeschool worth it? Is homeschooling making the grade? After 20+ years of homeschooling and having my third homeschool high school graduate this year, I'm here to tell you the grade is in and it's all Fs.

At first, you don’t appreciate your new Found Freedom or Flexibility.

Trying to follow the public school schedule is normal albeit Foolish. You left the public school because it didn’t Fit your educational philosophy until somebody Finally asks you why would you mimic something that is not working. Is that the meaning of insanity?

Then, you Figure out that there are no homeschool police lurking around the corner. Determined to Face the odds and not overly worry about ruining your child’s Future, you learn to savor precious moments, relax, and take one year at a time.

Homeschooling is about doing what is right and Fine for your family. You have choices to homeschool with an attitude Full of Faith or use Faith-Free curriculum.

It takes a Few years to get past the guilt you have because your Firstborn was your guinea pig. Instead of playing and nurturing a Fidgety child’s need to move you made the Formative years too Formal.

Understanding that you First learn to parent a 2 year old or 3 year old by Focusing on Fun, you have to Forgive yourself for new bee mistakes.

Always worrying if your children are behind is Frightening and Finally you let go of Fear.

Doubters told you that homeschooling wasn’t for the Fainthearted. Embracing a Feisty and Ferocious attitude, you learned to squelch the naysayers, embrace the years when everything went wrong, and to be energized and Fortified when your kids moved ahead two grade levels in a Few months.

After many years of homeschooling you know that you’ve Fueled your kids love for learning although you felt like a Fool. It took a while for the Feelings of Failure to leave, but through homeschool Friendships you gained a new homeschool Family and a renewed Focus.

Reflecting isn’t easy, but you learned to stretch Forward and measure success through every day interaction with your kids. No longer looking to public school as an option for education, you’re absolutely sure that your mommy curriculum you Fussed over year after year Fosters a true love of learning.

Sure, you try to Fuel that same can-do spirit of how to teach in new homeschooling moms, but you realize they only want to talk about choosing curriculum. Finding answers for their family is their job.

From Fanatical to Formidable Homeschooler

Helping to Fortify new homeschool educators is what I can do. Learning is not a small window of time that quickly closes and progress is a journey measuring year to year and not day to day. Through all the Fatigue, Frustration, and Financial strain you wouldn’t change one Fiery moment.

When you Finish the Formal part of your homeschool years, you know how Fulfilled, Fantastic, and Fearsome you truly are now!

Don’t forget to join my FACEBOOK group where we talk about ALL these things and more!

You’ll also Find these articles inspiring:

Hugs and love ya,

Successfully homeschooling is not easy. Ask a homeschool mom and she'll admit many days are tougher than she thought in the beginning. Is homeschool worth it? Is homeschooling making the grade? After 20+ years of homeschooling and having my third homeschool high school graduate this year, I'm here to tell you the grade is in and it's all Fs.

Why Buying Curriculum Won’t Make You a Homeschooler (But What Will)

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

You should have seen it! It was the newest hyper speed printer you’ve ever seen in a homeschool household. I kept it busy night and day printing hefty 3-inch binders full of every subject I could dream of to teach my then preschoolers. At the end of three months when it was time to start my first official day of homeschool, I was already burned out. Buying curriculum and printing everything I could find on the internet didn’t anymore make a homeschooler than buying my son’s first car made him an experienced driver.

You couldn’t have convinced me then that unless I had purchased curriculum, I wasn’t a full member of the national unified happy homeschoolers society. (No, there is no such club.)

So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler, Uh

Instead of focusing on buying curriculum, which is only part of the homeschool puzzle, I should’ve been educating myself on homeschool approaches, my definition of education, and trusting a child’s natural bent to learn.

Why Buying Curriculum Won't Make You a Homeschooler (But What Will)

Curriculum seems to be the hallmark of identifying yourself as a homeschooler. While it’s important to have curriculum, I’v learned that:

  • curriculum doesn’t really teach anything,
  • you need very little to get started,
  • focusing on the three Rs – reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic is the starting point,
  • subjects like history, geography, art, and science can wait for a for while as you focus on the three Rs,
  • understanding what is the homeschool lifestyle is of much more importance, and
  • understanding what is NOT homeschooling is just as important as calling yourself a homeschooler.

How to Instantly Become a Homeschooler

You don’t have to wait long to become a homeschooler. It’s not buying curriculum that advances you; it is about adopting ideas from the homeschool lifestyle.

One common weave of all successful homeschoolers is that they think out of the box. Determined to not follow the same method of teaching that wasn’t working in public school, a true homeschooler takes time to know her children first. Then, she finds curriculum to meet her needs. She doesn’t buy curriculum then make her family adjust to it.

True homeschoolers appreciate quickly that:

  • they’re free to choose when and how they learn,
  • they can set their own deadlines,
  • more emphasis can be given to their child’s interests,
  • lessons can be short and still be rigorous,
  • kids are encouraged to be problem solvers and independent thinkers,
  • the day and lesson plans can be flexible,
  • traveling is part of the homeschool lifestyle and
  • that kids do learn by living.

Although we say it all the time, a true homeschooler takes time to understand how curriculum is a tool. A tool can wield great power and hurt others if the user does not know how to use it well.  Like any dangerous tool in our home, we take time to read the instructions well and take great care when using any tools around our kids.

However. new homeschoolers pick up curriculum and command it with such force and that if their kids have trouble, they question first the child instead of the homeschool approach or curriculum. When completing curriculum is set up as the absolute measure of a child’s progress instead of measuring progress individually, a child could be left feeling worthless.

Unintentionally, the harm at home may become worse than what was going on in public school.

Like any tool, sometimes it needs to be used longer, other times it needs to be put down. It reminds me of baking bread. At times, I need to use my kitchen tools and other times I put it away and use my hands. Using my hands is the only way I can tell how well the dough mixed and the consistency of it.

Teaching is the same. If we never take a hands-on approach to our child’s learning, learn to put down the curriculum and change things in the curriculum fit our child, we will never have a pulse for how our child is advancing. Homeschooling will be a struggle from the start and stay hard period.

Use free online curriculum like Easy Peasy All In One to find a true starting point for buying curriculum. I know some homeschoolers who use Easy Peasy primarily and supplement it. Personally, I prefer to buy curriculum and supplement with free curriculum because I want to hand pick curriculum that is unique to each child’s strength.

Also, true homeschoolers avoid the thinking that all of their kids have to use the same math or language arts program. One sanity saving tip is for your kids to learn together. However, you’ll want to take time to understand which subjects can easily be taught together and which subjects are best learned separately. Look at the tips here on my post Skill Subjects vs. Content Subjects: What’s the Difference.

Besides using free curriculum and free online tests to gauge a starting point, a seasoned homeschooler includes her child’s interest as part of her curriculum. When a child comes from public school they’ve been taught to take a passive approach to learning. In otherwords, the teacher dictated the lesson plans and subjects.


Although a child may have been a good public school student, had excellent grades, and be responsible, he was not a partner in lesson making. This concept may seem offensive to the average public school teacher. To a homeschool mom, the concept of including a child in what interests him and how he learns is the first step to independent learning. We’ve learned that an obedient child doesn’t always equal a child interested in learning lifelong. It just means they learned to do what was necessary to get by or to have good grades.

Intrinsic learning happens by independent learning. By giving choices to our kids, we seem them as a partner to their learning and not a passive bystander.

My bountiful binders full of printing material cost me a fortune to print and cost more in stress. Only doing a handful of the worksheets, I learned quickly that preschoolers learn best by doing and not by all the school-ish things I had got ready. Thankfully, my misguided exuberance didn’t mess my sons up for life.

Why Buying Curriculum Won't Make You a Homeschooler (But What Will). You should have seen it! It was the newest hyper speed printer you've ever seen in a homeschool household. I kept it busy night and day printing hefty 3-inch binders full of every subject I could dream of to teach my then preschoolers. At the end of three months when it was time to start my first official day of homeschool, I was already burned out. Buying curriculum and printing everything I could find on the internet didn't anymore make a homeschooler than buying my son's first car made him an experienced driver. Click here to read how to become a homeschooler!

I had time to change my attitude to appreciate that buying curriculum did not a homeschooler make.Have you made the same mistake?

Look at these other tips you’ll love:

Hugs and love ya,

3 Ways to Instantly Gain More Time in Your Homeschool Day

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

With the growing amount of digital curriculum and multiple devices that most homes have now, you’re supposed to get more time in your homeschool day. But I find the opposite is true.

More than ever homeschoolers are stressed to the max with growing to-do lists.

When I read that some homeschool days are 8 hours or longer, I’m shocked. And all I can think of is how every bit of learning is sucked out of a day. I shudder to think if the homeschooled child will grow up loving to learn.

I started homeschooling where we only used the computer for after school time. I’ve also homeschooled where things have changed to family members having multiple devices each. That doesn’t always equate with more time.

3 Ways to INSTANTLY Gain More Time in Your Homeschool Day. Read the tried and true tips at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I have 3 ways to help you instantly gain more time in your homeschool day.

Minimalist Game is not for Mindless Morons

ONE/ I talk many times how everything we needed for living overseas had to be packed into just two suitcases per person.

One small thing that gave me big time-savings results instantly without overwhelming me in ridding myself of clutter in an almost 4,000 square foot house was to play the minimalist game.

On the first day of the month throw away one thing. It can be anything, a homeschool book or something in your kitchen.

On the second day, chunk two items.

On the third day, pitch three items and so on for every day of the month.

What works best when you’re overwhelmed in the day is to have a solution that is easy and simple to implement.

Solutions that require tons of energy just don’t work because of our homeschooling lifestyle.

The return on the minimalist game is that less to organize and less to clean in your day frees up time in your day for other things like spending time on yourself, on field trips or just resting.

In addition, instead of feeling like you’re paralyzed before you start a project like sorting through all of the books at the end of the year and deciding whether you need it or not, it becomes a doable and easily conquerable project.

TWO/ Set up your children’s learning area where they can manage it, not you.

Another mistake I’ve seen which wastes value time is rounding up the curriculum for the day.

Even preschoolers can be taught to take and return their learning toys to the right places. By training my sons from the time they were young that everything has a place, I’m spared stress in the morning.

For younger kids, use rolling storage. True, you may need to roll it out in your learning area, but they learn to put it away and learn from a young age to not leave things out.

It takes time to set up a learning area, but it’s so worth the effort. I start by measuring every book and every item that each child will need for the year. Then I decide the storage containers.

Some years, we used stack of drawers and other years, I used baskets on bookshelves.

Start slowly, again, by measuring every item so that it fits into a storage container.

Your day should start by your children getting their own supplies while you enjoy some last minute time to yourself. Your day gets off to a much better start and you don’t waste time collecting curriculum.

THREE/ I’m not saying switch your homeschool approach, but I am saying to tighten it up.

I’d like to tell you that there is one homeschool approach that works better, clutter wise, than the other, but there is not.

Each homeschool approach brings its own amount of curriculum clutter. And then add to that enthusiastic teachers and we can over teach. We’re just doing too much for our student.

In addition to your children having their own learning space setup to suit them, you need to see ways that you can slash your teaching.

There simply is no need to do every math problem or to assign homework in homeschool.

Look at these practical ways that have worked for me through the years.

  • Never cover one subject when you can cover two subjects at one time. If you’re going to survive and thrive in homeschooling, you must abandon the thought of keeping subjects separate. For example, if your child loves science, then his reading assignment or literature should be about famous scientists and how-to books. Forget trying to cover the extra reading of literature if you can get a two-pher out of it. The same idea applies for history. Leave the reading of literature that you couldn’t work into your day to your child’s spare reading time or for leisure. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that readers don’t need to be channeled to read literature that you have removed from your formal day. It’s okay to not leave all the choices up to the kids for what to read during leisure time.
  • At a certain stage, my boys always seemed to want to start to fighting when our day began. One remedy was to have one or two of them do their chores while I worked with the other one at the table. This not only worked off a bit of energy, but it kept them from not being around each other constantly. The added bonus was that chores got worked into the day and made my day shorter.
  • If your child is steadily doing math, which should be done every day, cut back some lessons to half.
  • In addition, if you have a strong math guy like I have, then focus on reading a living math book for the day and move on to another subjects that requires attention. Sure, my math lover didn’t mind doing extra lessons and he could from time to time. But also, as the teacher, I needed to guide him to using his time to investigate other subjects and strengthen in skills in them. So if covering a subject orally can be reinforced that day through a book or audio book, do it.
  • Give each kid his own printed schedule. Teaching your kids to stick to a routine helps them to move through their day quicker too. Are you using my teacher and student schedules?

Expect the Unexpected – Roll with It!

THREE/ School like you live life. Plan for the unexpected.

I have a method for cooking each week. I cook a bit more at the beginning of my week. If I cook chicken, I make a bit more in the beginning so that I don’t have to cook at the end of the week. I already have my chicken cooked for my chicken tacos at the end of the week.

Homeschooling is the same. Unless you need to, quit trying to balance the days.

My advice is if you can squeeze more school into the beginning of your week before it gets busy, then it’s less that needs to be done at the end of the week.

Homeschool from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m for three days and then for the last two days quit by noon.

You’ll gain way more time in your schedule by pushing a bit in the beginning and the best part is if that something unexpected comes up, you’re still rocking on fine.

Let go of stressful homeschooling because I’m telling you in the end what matters most is the time spent together. Make room now for more of it.

With the growing amount of digital curriculum and multiple devices that most homes have now, you're suppose to get more time in your homeschool day. But I find the opposite is true. More than ever, homeschoolers are stressed to the max with growing to-do lists. Having started homeschooling where we only used the computer for after school time and homeschooling now where things have changed to family members having multiple devices each, I have 3 ways to help you instantly gain more time in your homeschool day. Click here to read these tried and true tips!

You’ll love these other tips!

Hugs and love ya,

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