organization

6 Tips for Homeschool Success as a Single Parent: You Can Do This!

February 9, 2021 by Guest Writer

Hi, everyone! I am a single working parent and a homeschool mom. That’s right! I work full-time as a registered nurse in an oncology ICU. I am also a mother to the sweetest 4th grader in the world, and I homeschool him. Last year if someone told me I was going to be a homeschool mom, I would’ve told them they had the wrong person. Well, here we are, 2021, and homeschooling is happening in my home!

During my homeschool research, I didn’t come across any articles or blogs about homeschooling as a single parent. I am sure there are many single parents who are a part of the homeschool community. However, I just didn’t find resources. Now I have been homeschooling for about 7 months, and I have to be honest—it’s going pretty well! Here are some tips that have helped me manage parent-led homeschool along with working and raising a 9-year-old.

6 Time Management Tips for Your Homeschool

November 3, 2020 by Arianna

As a homeschool parent you juggle teaching, housework, cooking, shopping, loving your family, and working from home daily! Perhaps you want to be better at time management, but you don’t know where to start. Time management is not as far out of reach as you might think. Here are a few tips you can implement into your routine to help you manage your schedule better.

Learn how to be a time management pro…

Tips and Tricks for a Successful Homeschool

October 9, 2020 by Jenna

One of the most common questions homeschool families have is, how do you stay organized? Homeschooling involves so much, and you can’t store all of it in a bin at the end of the day. Finding a method of staying organized can be key in reducing stresses you don’t need. But figuring out how to get yourself organized can be a lot like choosing a curriculum and homeschooling style. What works for one family may not work for you. We’d like to offer both experienced and new homeschool families a collection of tips, tricks, and techniques to help you be successful and stay organized in your homeschool.

See tips and tricks…

Homeschool Checklist to Know You’re Ready

March 19, 2019 by Jenna

So you’ve been thinking about this homeschooling thing for a while now. In fact, you’ve probably been doing a lot more than thinking. You’ve prayed, done the reading, had family conversations, and set some goals. You’ve even looked at curriculum. But are you ready? How do you know if you are? This homeschool checklist will help you decide whether you’re ready to take the plunge.

Have you checked your state’s regulations for homeschooling?

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) explains which regulations apply to your state. Some states merely require parents to give notice that they intend to homeschool their children. Others may require homeschoolers to perform annual standardized testing to make sure that children are learning normally. You’ll want to know these requirements ahead of time.

Have you laid out your reasons for homeschooling?

Remember, it’s easier to commit to something when you know why you’re doing it. Consider writing out your reasons and displaying them—if nothing else, that will help you explain to a concerned friend or relative why you’re doing this.

Where will you turn for homeschool support?

Your homeschool support system can help you stay on your feet even on the hardest of days. Whether it’s just a chat with a friend or an expert to address your darkest fears, you’re going to need someone to turn to.

How much time will you devote daily to homeschooling?

Many homeschool families have their children do work between four and five hours a day. That’s both lesson time and homework. But what about you? How many hours do you have to devote to homeschooling your children? If you don’t have much time to devote to it, you may need to choose a curriculum that includes video lesson options or that can be self-taught. Or you can devise a schedule that lets you spread out your work. You could homeschool year-round or choose a six-day homeschool schedule, so you can spend less time each day on homeschooling.

What are your children interested in?

Many new homeschoolers are really excited about getting to tailor their children’s education to their interests. Now’s the time to really figure out what those interests are so you can be ready to do that.

What best describes the curriculum that you believe will work for your family?

Are you homeschooling on a tight budget? Do you have the budget but not the time to teach? Assuming you believe a strong biblical worldview is vital, should you use a curriculum built on that perspective or will a secular publisher do just as well? Do you prefer to do the teaching yourself, or would you rather use video lessons? These are all questions that will help you narrow down your curriculum choices.

How will you keep yourself organized?

It’s a challenge to manage all the stuff. If you have three kids, all in elementary grades, then they each have up to eight subjects. Each subject has two textbooks—usually a textbook and an activity book. That’s forty-eight textbooks—not counting any teacher editions, notebooks, binders, and whatever else they need. And it’s not only a question of space. What about organizing your time? The plan you have now doesn’t have to be permanent, but you need a workable schedule to at least get you started.

Have you laid out some short-term goals for your first few weeks of homeschooling?

Goals are pretty important, especially at the beginning. If you set a few easily reachable goals to start with, you can get off on the right foot and put yourself in a goal-oriented mindset for the future. Your goals don’t even have to be really serious. You could set a goal to finish one lesson a day, or to walk around the house like a duck once a day. That’s silly, but it’s good exercise too.

Use this printable checklist to work through some of the questions above.

Hopefully, you’re feeling confident and ready to get started on your homeschooling journey. Your first few years are going to be wild and crazy (plus moments that you wouldn’t trade for the world). But if at the end of it all, your children have a strong relationship with God and are using the abilities He’s given them for His glory, won’t it be worth it all?

Tips for Your Homeschool Space

July 26, 2018 by Jenna

The summer marches on, and we’re one step closer to starting the school year back up again. Have you begun thinking about your homeschool space setup? Whether you have a dedicated schoolroom, a homeschooling corner, or just freestyle it wherever the books fall, here are some ideas to consider.

Keeping homeschool supplies condensed

Janelle Knutson shares a tour of her homeschool room, where she keeps most of her supplies condensed on three bookshelves. This way, she can have her homeschool space wherever those shelves are. The majority of her materials for four of her children, plus some toddler toys, fit on these three shelves.

Giving the kids their own homeschool space

Erica’s dedicated homeschool room at Confessions of a Homeschooler could be an inspiration to homeschool moms everywhere. Her children have their own desks, and although the furniture is identical, the children’s personalities show up in how they decorate their desks. Even though this setup is intended for a dedicated homeschool room, you could make this work without a room. Those desks really could go anywhere in your home.

Cutting down on distractions

Lara at Everyday Graces found a need for eliminating distractions when one of her boys was diagnosed with ADHD. She even simplified how she decorated her walls! You may love filling your kids’ bedrooms with fun colors and cute decorations, but that may not be the best option for wherever you homeschool, even without ADHD. In the end, Lara wound up with a much calmer, simpler room that made learning easier.

How have you set up your homeschool space? We’d love to see it!