Here I’m sharing some of my hopefully helpful tips to help the disorganized homeschool mom in each of us. I have been there. So disorganized that it hurts, you can’t find anything you are looking for. Your kids are standing there waiting for their homeschool lessons and you have no idea where they went.
Helpful Tips for the Disorganized Homeschool Mom
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I still have times when I can’t find everything that I am looking for but things have gotten so much better. That disorganized feeling can really tire you out, and make you feel like a failure. I don’t want that for myself, and I don’t want that for.
Find a planner for the Disorganized Homeschool Mom
The first thing you must do is set out what you need or think you need in a planner. How many sections do you need? Grab a sticky note and write what areas of your life you want to be more organized in. Such as:
- housework
- meal planning
- homeschool lessons
- homeschool planning
- work
Those are the areas I struggle with and find help to write out what needs to be done and when to do it.
I love using The Happy Planner because there are many different sizes and layouts to fit all needs. Maybe you want a planner for everything and get the big Ideas Happy Planner. The vertical layout gives you three blocks a day which I have always found perfect for my needs. You can also get these half sheets add-ins to help you get more organized with meal planning, budgeting, etc, which have been great for me.
Create a Homeschool Routine
Creating a routine is more than just scheduling things you need to do. That’s not a routine unless you are just getting started and want to keep track of what you want to become your routine.
A daily routine means that you know that after breakfast, you’ll do X, Y, and Z before lunch. The key is finding a routine that works for your family and sticking to it as much as possible. You can read about my homeschool and morning routine here to get an idea of how I do it, and what it looks like.
Create a weekly routine. For example, after supper Sunday night while my kids and husband are Skyping with his parents I do two things: look at what I want to do through the week – for myself, the house, homeschool, and plan for those things including printing anything we’ll need and fining books for the week, and I take time for myself. Self-care is important.
You’ll find yourself moving from thing to thing in your routine after a while. You won’t have to think about it because it will feel natural. Like grabbing that first cup of coffee in the morning.
Have a Homeschool Hub
Super simple: have all your homeschool things in one spot. Find your bookshelf, or hutch that is in the space where you do most of your lessons and make it your homeschool hub. Have your books, papers, pencils, whatever else that you or they will need through the week in there.
Each child here has a binder full of their worksheets and lined paper that they may need through the week. The books we will need are in there as well as anything else we might need. Like more pencils, or counting blocks.
Library Book Space
I started this one year ago! We all have our own space for the books or items we get from the library. This has saved us late fine fees, and my sanity on more than one occasion when getting ready to return books.
Our library sends out email reminders two days before books are due and I can easily take my phone and that reminder to Austin’s bookshelf and grab her books, or Brookland’s, or Gauge’s, or mine. That’s right, even I have a designated library book space. Time saver!
Organized Homeschool Lesson Planning