I am not a type A person, I do not stick to schedules well, and I am a very spontaneous person sometimes. I used to think that these qualities worked against my ability to properly plan but the problem was really my perspective of what “proper planning” was.
To get right to it, proper planning is a relative term. It solely depends on the person who is planning as to what is proper. For me, what works best is more of a rhythm of a day, versus a schedule. I do not plan out time slots for specific subjects and I do not have to keep things on a tight schedule. Instead,
I specify what types of subjects I want to have done in the morning, which ones will be done in the afternoon and what ones will be done once a week. On the other hand, I know moms who do need to schedule things down to the half hour of every day. They have therapies to go to, sports practices to attend, and at some point in the day, they need to eat.
Essentially, you do not have to have what all the other home school moms have posted on Instagram. You don’t have to have that perfect schedule, with the prettiest planner, and all the children exactly where they need to be, to have a “proper plan”
Just make a plan that works for you and your family
I personally have had to change plans when the stages of our lives have changed. The plan used to be that all three kids were doing school time with me, from start to finish, and we did all subjects together. When the twins got into upper elementary, this no longer worked for us. The plan had to change.
We moved to the twins doing independent subjects individually in the morning while I taught my youngest one-on-one with certain subjects done all together. More recently, my youngest started 5th grade and the twins started 7th. My youngest is doing his individual subjects for the most part on his own similar to the twins, but now the twins do history and science together, group subjects are done all together in the afternoon, and Friday’s are filled with art, experiments and projects.
Having one specific schedule for all three would not work for us
My friend who requires more planning has a daily schedule for each of her kids. While one kid is doing reading, she is helping another with math. While another kid is listening to history, she is walking one of her kids through phonics practice. For each of her four kids, she has created a schedule with the subject and the time that the child needs to be doing it. This allows for her to still give her kids one-on-one help with certain subjects, allows her kids to learn independently and allows her to keep her sanity while she tries to juggle school with all of the other things she has going on.
It doesn’t matter how you plan, just have a plan
In a basic planner, on a wall chart, posted at each desk, or in a well decorated, thoroughly loved planner, create a your families plan. Start with what you will use for the year. Break it down into what will be accomplished in each quarter. If you need to, start writing out specifically what lessons will be done every day, but please use a pencil.
No matter how, just have a plan, then move forward.
Greetings! My name is Joy and I am currently a stay at home mom who is home schooling her three kids in South Carolina. I love learning and I love sharing the love of learning with others so getting to home school my kids and watch the “ah ha” moments when they understand something is unbelievably rewarding. I have been homeschooling since my twins were preschool age so we are going on 8 years now. I am also a military spouse so we have the added joy of being a military family with some of the complications that come with it. As a family we stay busy with our scouting groups, American Heritage Girls and TrailLife, and we do many camping and hiking trips with them. When I have down time, I am typically reading books I have sitting around the house, on YouTube/websites getting more information on different home school programs or working on plans for homeschool. I look forward to being able to share our experiences with everyone and help encourage all homeschooling families.