Homeschooling is a great way to provide your children with an educational experience that’s tailored to their individual needs. However, it can be daunting to begin this type of education on your own. Here are some homeschool planning tips to help you get started.
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Homeschool Planning Tips
It is important to remember that every family is different and what works for one family may not work for another. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to homeschooling, but the following a few simple tips can help make the process easier and more manageable.
One of the most important things to do is to create a plan. Here are some tips on how to create a homeschool planning guide that will help you succeed:
Determine what your goals for homeschooling are.
Are you looking for more individualized instruction? A creative curriculum? Or somewhere in between? You’ll need to figure out what type of homeschooling works best for your family and children. Take the time to see how your kids learn naturally.
Create a routine.
Instead of a hard and fast block that says you will start math at 8:00 and then do reading at 8:45 and spelling at 9:10, shoot for beginning your first work block sometime between 8 and 8:30 and then have one thing follow another until you are done.
Follow your natural inclinations.
If your kids’ sleep in more often than not to 8 don’t plan on doing lessons at 8:30. You don’t have to wake your kids are 7 to be up and doing school at 8. Instead, let them sleep, and plan for a 9am start, or what works for your kids.
Enjoy the flexibility of homeschooling and work at your times of peak productivity.
Got one early riser? Schedule his or her independent work first. Let the others get up right before group time and then do their independent work after.
Or maybe you decide that mornings just aren’t going to cut it, and you need to turn to homeschool in the afternoon when everyone is awake and has gotten some energy out.
Decide on Your Source for Resources
These can be books, the internet, local groups, or the library. Know where you are going to get a copy of the next book for your read-aloud, or worksheets to give your child a boost in math.
The library is a great resource to utilize at all times in your homeschool.
Amazon Kindle and Audible are amazing resources for your read-alouds. I love the library but you are working on someone else’s timeline and might not be able to get the books you want when you want them at times. Amazon Kindle has kept us on track many times.
How to Establish Attainable Goals
When initially planning your homeschool year, consider making goals for your family and with your children individually.
Keep the goals few and simple, as too many complicated goals can be ineffective. Try to break yearly goals into monthly goals, and monthly goals into weekly goals. There is nothing worse than reaching summer weather and realizing you still have a month or more left of a curriculum.
Sometimes it helps to live with your plan a while before finalizing it. Get it good enough, live with it a week or two when you begin, and then finally make adjustments as needed. It might be that you need to start from scratch again.
You may have to change your plan and schedule at multiple points of the school year. You never know what might happen that changes things up. It can be more stressful to forcible stick to a schedule and plan than it would be to scrap and start over.
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