Getting back into routine
Time to start practicing for school! Yep, that means getting the whole family back into gear from sleeping schedules to shortening free time. Getting ready for back-to-school means it’s time to start getting those kids to bed on time so they get a good night’s sleep but also that they don’t wake up too late the next morning. You want to make sure that you’re ready to tackle each day because you’ve got full days ahead. Save sleeping in for the weekends.
Start booking in time for simple educational times to mimic your school day schedule. Fill it with things like reading and worksheets for reviewing last year's subjects. Try to work on establishing a routine every day so that the official back-to-school schedule will be easy to do when September comes.
Planning and Organizing for the Year
- Gather your curriculum and plan out your year. Make schedules for yourself and get the older kids to make their own schedules as part of their education time. Planning and organizational skills are important ones to learn!
Download a custom schedule builder for one week or nine weeks.
- If you’ve got the time, get activities, crafts, and games that go with your curriculum prepped and ready so when you get to them you’re not scrambling to cut things out and get things going.
- Throw out anything old that you know you will not be using in the coming year. Unless you’ve decided to keep books for the next sibling, consider donating or re-selling your old books to make room for the current ones.
- Clean your workspace. It will definitely make the atmosphere more inviting when everyone has a clean workspace to start off with.
- Get your kids involved with organizing the workspace. Maybe last year they were okay with working on the couch, but this year they might prefer working at the table.
- Get stocked up on school supplies - because everyone knows pencils magically disappear every year! Make sure you have lots of paper, notebooks, pencils/pens, and craft supplies. With your pre-planned schedule, you should be able to make a shopping list quite easily.
Pray
Lastly, but most importantly, pray together as a family for a good learning year. Ask God to open the minds and hearts of everyone to receive wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Ask for patience for the hard things and above all to have fun learning as a family. Thank God for the privilege to do school at home and that He blesses the work that you do.
Preparation is key to starting off right in any task you set out to do. Remember that there will be times when you need to be flexible and change some things on your schedule, because life happens. So while you make your schedules, keep in mind that things might change and allow you and your family the option of changing the schedule if needed.
Have a happy homeschooling year!
This article has been written by homeschooling staff writers of The Canadian Schoolhouse (TCS). Enjoy more of our content from TCS contributors and staff writers by visiting our Front Door page that has content on our monthly theme and links to all our content sections.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).