With the arrival of our son, our homeschool room became a nursery and my totes, shelves, storage bins and huge table all had to condense down to a dining room cabinet that measures approximately 4 1/2 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. My love of having all potentially necessary supplies within arm’s reach clashed with my desire to keep my dining room as much like a dining room as possible. This may sound easy to some, but it took a great deal of energy to streamline our routine and thus, our needs list.
Streamlining Supplies
The day finally came that I had the physical and mental energy to purge. I began by giving each child a spot and stacking the necessary textbooks for their core subjects. I scanned through the introductions of the books I wasn’t familiar with to see what they would need on a daily or weekly basis for those subjects. These items made it into the piles too. I kept reminding myself that was an exercise in necessity, not extras. I forced my own needs list into a smaller pile too. Everything that didn’t make the cut was either donated or put into the rear of a deep closet upstairs.
Streamlining Schedule
When it came time to set our routine for the year, I needed to take our weekly schedules into account. For us, co-op is on Thursday afternoons, swim practice on Monday afternoons and I have set aside three hours on Tuesdays to write. School needs to be completed before 11:30 on all of these days, so we start early enough in the morning to get it all – or mostly all – done.
Streamlining Assignments
This year, we have a 10-12 minute morning meeting, then head straight for math because it our hardest and most time consuming subject. Spelling and grammar each take 15-20 minutes, then we have a history or science lesson that requires 30-40 minutes. The kids are left with independent reading or time to complete anything else that they haven’t finished while I fix a quick lunch, start a load of laundry and dishes, and wrangle the toddler.
Some families found it easy to make each child a daily planner of sorts (many free printable ones are available online!). As my kids get better about working independently, I will add this to our routine, too. I like the ideas of them seeing what they have to accomplish each day. In addition to their school subjects, I will include piano practice time, their daily chore and reminders about our family routine so they become accustomed to paying attention to others’ time as well.
Streamlining the Pace
At the moment, their biggest hurdle is learning how to work efficiently. I want my kids to work at the pace that’s best for them, but I also need them to learn how to not get so distracted and waste time. Part of the beauty of homeschooling is that we can finish our academics early and get on with other fun things, so I want to be able to enjoy this.
Also, as their courses toughen, they need to be able to focus for longer lengths of time. With time and a little more maturity, I think we will all get better at this.
Streamlining Our Perspective
School has to fit our schedule and space, not the other way around. When fitting within those boundaries, school is enjoyable and efficient. There are days that a school activity overflows into another room or later into our afternoon that usual, but it then gets cleaned up and put away. Not allowing ourselves to be distracted by every beautiful book, themed unit, extra crafts or all of the twaddle helps to streamline our day.
What do you do to keep up with your pace during the school year?
How do you streamline your routine to make it easier to get things done?
