The 7 Best Tips to Simplify the Beautiful Chaos of your Homeschool
If any of you are like me, you find it easy to get caught up in the beautiful chaos of homeschooling. Sometimes you even feel that there’s not even enough time to breathe., and the chaos doesn’t seem all that beautiful. The month of December gave my children and I a chance to slow down and enjoy our days. Now, looking at the two winter months upcoming I decided to post some tips on how to simplify your homeschool even in the midst of your chaotic days. I need this reminder as well as we start all of our activities again and time at home becomes rare and precious.
Tips to Simplify the beautiful chaos of your Homeschool
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Cover your hours, days and weeks in prayer
It has only been in the past year that I have learned this secret. I’ve always known that I needed to pray. But it took me a long time to learn how necessary it is. I used to pray and then go about my day leaving my prayers in my living room chair. Once I got out of my prayer closet, my prayers never affected my days. Now even as I get up to do my laundry, make lunch, teach my children, etc. I know that God is still listening to me and guiding me through my days.
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Trust that the Lord will guide you through each day
It used to be that when I got up from my devotions each morning that I would leave God there as well. Oh, I knew that He was always with me in theory, but I had no idea how that played out in real life. I mean, I could say that God was guiding my days, but I was the one who did the dishes, made the lunches, slogged through multiplication tables. God guiding my days was just something nice to say but not realistic. I was the one who had to get up and do my daily duties.
However, it wasn’t until I realized that since I believe that God put me here in this time and place that He has ordained what I do each day. I am here for Him first, and secondly, for my children. They are my top priority. So when I leave my devotions I can get up, do my daily duties, but also know that He will let me know when He wants me to change. Because I know that this is where He wants me to be, then I know that what I do is what He wants me to do. I belong to Him and so I can recognize His still, small voice when He speaks to my spirit. If I am going in the wrong direction, I trust that He will let me know.
Why did I put these two at the top of my list?
I am unashamedly a child of God, bought with the blood of Christ, working out my sanctification with His help. These are my most important tips to simplify my homeschool. I cannot function well without spending time with my Father on a regular basis. If you are not a Christian and do not feel the need to depend on the Lord, then the following will be more applicable to you. I hope that they help.
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Focus on the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic
State laws vary, but in my state I am only required to teach language arts and math. This doesn’t mean that I don’t teach science and history, but it does take the pressure off to make sure that I cover certain areas. Since my children are still in elementary school, everything above and beyond the three basics I consider to be icing on the cake. We learn history, but we learn it by reading good history books. My children learn science from books, videos, and observation in the real world. They are also able to choose a lot of what they learn about. Bear Bear is interested in animals, and Super Stuffy wants to learn about weather and meteorology. I have the freedom to allow them those choices. Since they have choice, they are motivated to learn.
What happens when they get older?
Super Stuffy is now in fifth grade, so that thought is niggling in the back of my mind. Next year he will be in middle school, and the requirements increase from here on out. But homeschooling still allows me to take his interests into consideration as I figure out how he can meet the basic requirements for high school. By the time he reaches that age, he will be mostly independent and I can be his guide to determine what he needs. As his interests change and grow, we can work together to discover what he needs to learn in order to do what he wants to do in his life.
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Throw out the busywork!
As a certified teacher, I have seen a lot of busywork. The math worksheets, those fill in the blank reading papers, finding the subject and verb worksheets. Vocabulary words, answering questions in the back of the chapter (in complete sentences!), sentence diagramming. I could go on and on. Not only is this stuff busywork for your children, it’s busywork for you! If they do the worksheet, then you have to grade it. I remember piles and piles of papers that needed to be graded sitting on my teacher’s desk.
Throw it all out! The only math worksheets I make my kids do are the unit tests in their math book. Otherwise, they do a few problems on our whiteboard that I check immediately. Comprehension papers? Not needed! We talk about the books they read, and I can tell that they understand through our conversations. Vocabulary? I define words for them as they encounter them, and we use adult, grown up words in our conversations. The words that my children use on a daily basis impress me greatly. They use words that are far above what is normal for their age level. I do not need all of the worksheets for grading my children. I know where they are and what they have learned just by interacting with them each day.
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Give your kids more choice
I alluded to this tip above. Homeschooling can be very choice oriented. Even in the three basics, you can open it up to give your kids lots of choice. One of the advantages of being a teacher is that I have an extensive book collection. Our reading consists of all three of us reading together for 30 minutes every day. That’s it. They can choose which books they read, as long as they are reading. I have begun a requirement that they fill in a short journal page to tell about a book after they have finished it. Once they finish that journal for the year, then I will make it into a book and they will have a wonderful keepsake.
In math I can give my children a choice in how they want to figure out their problems. Both of them have chosen to do math on our large whiteboard. Bear Bear has chosen to study Spanish and Art. Super Stuffy has chosen to learn computer coding and cursive handwriting. Giving my kids these choices creates more intrinsic motivation for them to learn, and it saves a lot of arguing time.
Granted, even when the kids are studying things that they want to learn, there are still some complaints about the day to day work. But when I point out to them why they are doing the work, the complaints stop. They remember why they are doing it. By giving your kids choice, you are using your time for the things that matter most, and leaving by the wayside those things that matter less.
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Anything that your kids can do on their own, encourage them and let them do it!
It saves so much time to let them do as much as possible on their own. We spend up to three hours each day on school work. However, during that time I do more guiding and answering questions than actually teaching. Each week they receive a list of the work required for that week. They make the choice of when and how to do their work.
They can work ahead or wait to do something till the next day, just as long as they get it done by the end of the week. I am here to help them with questions that they may have, or to explain something that they don’t understand. I check their work and give them a listening ear so they can tell me what they read or learned. Giving them the opportunity to make these choices now teaches them how to manage their time as they grow up into adulthood.
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Use technology/apps when you can
Technology can be a beast in anyone’s life. We as a society have become so attached to our devices that we spend an inordinate amount of time on them. I determined when my children were babies that I would not let them get sucked into technology. As they started to grow up, I found that my attitude was naive and foolish. I can use the technology for good as well as for evil.
There is a great deal of wonderful information on the internet and apps that can help all of us in our learning. It also gives my children a chance to learn how to budget their time between work and fun. They access their daily worklist on their own tablets. They have learned a great deal of science and history from watching Wild Kratts and the Odd Squad. Their reading has improved from the video games that they play, because they need to read in order to make it through their games.
I know that I need to keep careful watch on the time that they spend on their tablets and computers, but I also know that to stick my head in the sand and not allow them access to technology would be foolish. I have learned how to take advantage of all the learning assets that are available to us.
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Conclusion
Homeschooling causes a sort of beautiful chaos. Your days are busy doing a million and one tasks with barely a chance to slow down and take a breath. As busy as I am, I wouldn’t have it any other way. These are reminders that I use to help myself prune away the things that are not as necessary in order to find what is truly beautiful. I hope that one or more of these tips has encouraged you to simplify the beautiful chaos in your own homeschool. If you have any of your own tips, will you please share them with me by clicking here? I would love to hear from you!
