Time Management
19
Aug

Time Management and Homeschool

We are homeschooling and this is adding in an extra level of stress trying to figure out my day.

I still have clients that I need to schedule, a house to manage, elderly parents that need my help and now figuring out homeschool I have to say that I am a little overwhelmed right now.

It is only 3 days into homeschooling but I am feeling better about everything already.

5 Tips to Avoid Overwhelm when Homeschooling

  1. Realize that I can’t do this wrong! I chose to homeschool because I wanted the flexibility of making my/her own schedule. So stop beating myself up because everything wasn’t “perfect” yet.
  2. Take one subject at a time and look at the material. Get a basic understanding of what each Lesson is about. (And don’t look weeks ahead to find a way to become more stressed).
  3. Use a calendar. We are using the Order out of Chaos calendar that is on our website. We love it because it allows us enough room to write in her schedule and includes the ability to put in her activities that happen in the evening.
  4. Every night we talk! We have done this for a while since my schedule is always changing with clients. Faith asks me what the schedule is for the next day so that she is prepared and what classes she will be working on the next day.
  5. We have fun! The whole idea of homeschooling is to be flexible, spend more time together and teach her the things that she won’t learn in school, i.e. handwriting, going on field trips, real life lessons, etc.

5 Reasons how Homeschooling gives us the gift of Time

With the 5 steps in place to avoid overwhelm we have more time together and are able for the whole family (all 3 of us) to learn how to manage our time better. Faith knows what she has to do every day – and some days she has more to do than others.

  • She is able to make her own schedule which will help her learn to time block things out.
  • We are already looking at scheduling a vacation that is not dictated by the school schedule
  • My husband can still continue to babysit 4 of our other grandchildren and help with their homeschool – something that is super valuable to my daughter.
  • Faith is able to do community service hours during the work week vs. having to figure out how to get them in on the weekends – which gives us more weekend time together
  • We have a community of people and organizations to reach out to if we need help with no judgments.

Homeschooling is a Gift

As older parents (59 and 66) making the decision to homeschool was easy. We want to stay active. We want to experience life in “retirement” and now we can do that and give Faith experiences that most 12 year olds will never get. (She has already been to 44 of the 50 states!)

We aren’t stuck to a 9-5 schedule and we can do what we want, when we want.

If you are considering homeschooling your children and would like to talk just let me know. I’m happy to help however I am able as we travel these new waters together!