Homeschooling Tips
- Must Have Homeschool Supplies
- Homeschooling in only 15 Hours a Week
- FREE Homeschooling Forms to help you get organized
- How to Choose a Homeschool Curriculum
- 12 Must Read Books for Homeschooling Moms
- Keeping Homeschool Kids Excited about Learning
- 9 Things to Start your Homeschool Year Right
- Create Your Peaceful Homeschool
- Homeschooling when Mom is Sick
- 3 Tips for Easing back into Homeschooling
- Homeschool Room Makeover
- 5 Things We Changed in our Homeschool
Homeschool Organization Ideas
Evaluate Your Homeschool
By this point in the year you should have a good idea of areas are progressing smoothly and what areas need improvement. Often you don't need to chuck a curriculum which is struggling, but it probably needs tweaking.
Reread the teacher's manual over the break. After all while I read the teacher's manual in the summer, rereading it after several months of working with the curriculum brings new insights.
Use Christmas break to evaluate your homeschool. A few small tweaks can make a huge difference in the New Year.
Books
Do you have all the books you need? I check out most of my homeschool books from the library, and to my dismay I've also discovered books go missing from the library during the school year. Just because it was there during the summer doesn't mean it's still on the shelf.
Christmas break is perfect for double checking what books will be needed for the remainder of the year and ensuring you have them on your shelf or they're available at the library.
Check Supplies
Some science supplies are hard to keep in stock. For instance balloons and straw are constantly used by my kids science programs and the preschoolers ask for a balloon or straw every time they see the science box. We run through them quickly.
Use Christmas break to check your science supplies. Do you have balloons, straws, and cotton balls on hand? Head to the store and restock your science supplies. You'll thank yourself in January.
Print Pages
After going through the trouble of herding children to the table, only to discover I'm not prepared is aggravating. The next thing I know the kids have disappeared while I'm frantically printing the pages we need. They've taken the opportunity to read, play a game, or disappear.
The solution is to print the pages you'll need now, during Christmas break. This way you'll be prepared after you've herded the children to the table.
Schedule
After evaluating your homeschool, you may have realized your schedule or routine needs changing. Use the holiday break is ideal for making necessary adjustments to your homeschool.
The time of day you attack a subject makes a huge difference. Math is often best done when minds are fresh, first thing in the morning. However sometimes the optimal time is at the end of the day. Knowing they're almost finished can inspire a child to diligently do their math.
January will flow much smoother with a working schedule.
Having a long break just before the New Year is an excellent chance to evaluate your homeschool and make the necessary tweaks. Your homeschool will be organized for the New Year.
Sara Dennis is a homeschooling mother of 6 children ages 4 through 18. After much research into homeschooling in 2000, she and her husband fell in love with classical education and used it as the foundation for their homeschool. Sara blogs at Classically Homeschooling, and you can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+.
