Homeschool Coffee Break: My Back-to-Homeschool Checklist

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Friday, August 15, 2014

My Back To Homeschool Checklist: Get Off to a Great Start

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We go "Back to Homeschool" on Monday! It looks like we're ready - we've got our curriculum, we've got lesson plans, we've got a proposed routine to follow, and we've got strategies for (hopefully) keeping records of what we do. We've even got a Scripture to focus on. Getting back into that school routine may not hold a lot of appeal for the kids on its own though, so I think it's a good idea to do some things to make "Back to Homeschool" a special occasion.

Because the first day of homeschool should look like more fun than this...

Here are some ideas to make the first days back to homeschool more fun and more successful!

First Day Event - Do something different to make the "official" first day of homeschool a special event. We usually have a special treat for breakfast or lunch on the first day each year - donuts or waffles for breakfast, or maybe we go out for lunch. Just something out of the ordinary. Some homeschool families I know make a big event of going to an amusement park or something similar, and plan it for the first day that public schools in their area are back in session. That's especially fun if the first day back to homeschool falls on the same day!
Make Memories - When my kids were younger, I tried to get first day of school pictures each year. They don't cooperate quite as well any more, but I still try to grab some kind of picture. Just because they don't have a bookbag and a school bus to catch doesn't mean that first day shouldn't be memorialized for your scrapbook.

Something New - It's been a number of years since I've actually needed to stock up on any school supplies at the beginning of the school year. Chances are that we've already got what we need, because I'd rather buy the stuff when it's on sale, and my goal is to avoid the "back to school" aisles of the stores when everybody else is there! When the kids were little, it was a big deal to have a brand new box of crayons and new glue-sticks every year. Never mind that we already had a huge stockpile of crayons and glue-sticks in the house - those crayons were blunt and broken, and those glue-sticks were half-used and gummy. Nowadays, there's still something so appealing about having a brand new notebook, or package of pens, or art supplies. For me, too!

new school clothes!

Ease Into It - This is just practical. And maybe it's not for everyone, but it helps us. Instead of going zero-to-sixty on the first day, with everyone getting up early and jumping right into a full schedule with all subjects, we get going in stages. If I've been letting the kids sleep in during the summer, I start enforcing an earlier wake-up time the week before school starts. (That usually means enforcing an earlier bedtime too, but older kids kind of need to figure that out on their own - they don't believe me!) We also prefer to ease into our coursework. Maybe just half days during the first week, or only a few of the subjects, and we'll add and adjust as we go. This transitions us more gradually into our schedule.
Clarify Expectations - Even though this will be my seventeenth year of homeschooling, and Landon and Kennady have grown up doing this, we still need to have some sort of a "back to school" conference to talk through our goals and plans for the year. Some of it happens in the week or two leading up to the first day, as I remind them - "you know you're going to have to be up and moving earlier once school starts, right?" - "remember, there won't be TV or movies until schoolwork is done" - and consult them about what they think will work best - "is first thing in the morning still the best time for you to work on math?". Some of it happens months in advance, when we are choosing curriculum for the next year. But during the first week, preferably on the first day, we still talk through the daily and weekly routine; we review the expectations as to how much time should be devoted to each subject; and we look through the curriculum we're using again to get a refresher in how it's laid out and our plan of attack.

Flexible and Adaptable - If something isn't working the way we'd anticipated, I'd rather make adjustments early in the game. Allow some grace, and some time to settle into a new routine or curriculum, and make sure it's working. If we find out that the reading for science is more challenging than we'd expected, or that the first hour of the day is no longer the best time frame for math, or whatever - let's tweak it or adapt it sooner rather than later.
Look Forward - By the time we start school, we already know what we're looking forward to later in the school year. We usually take a family vacation in the fall, and this year it will be the first week of September. Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks are coming too. Knowing that their first break from school is coming up in just two weeks (like this year) or in just over a month (like last year) is a powerful motivator and reminder to my kids to get off to a good start! After all, they don't want to take their grammar homework along to the beach, or have to try and pick up where they left off in the middle of a big project. When grandparents come for a visit, they'd prefer to spend more time with them and less time with math problems. I try to make the due dates and "pauses" in the coursework make sense with the big events on our family calendar, but the kids need to do their part and work hard when they are supposed to. How do you make the first day "Back to Homeschool" memorable? Leave a comment and let me know! Then be sure to visit the other Crew members that are blogging about "Back to Homeschool" this week! You can see all the participating blogs listed at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog. (August 15, 2014)

Visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog for the Not Back to School First Day Activities Round-up, and see what other Crew members do on their First Day of Homeschool. (July 28, 2018)

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Thursday, August 14, 2014

My Back To Homeschool Checklist: Support System in Place

An important item on every homeschool checklist is a support system of some kind. No matter how committed you are to homeschooling, how much you enjoy doing it, or how long you've been doing it, there will likely be times when you feel discouraged, overwhelmed, and maybe even ready to throw in the towel. That's when an understanding friend or mentor will be so valuable! Homeschooling is growing in popularity, and most people are somewhat familiar with it. In general, it's an education choice that doesn't meet with outright hostility any more, but it's not quite mainstream either. Not all homeschooling families enjoy the full support of their extended families, and many feel somewhat alone in the churches and friendship circles; and need the support and encouragement of a like-minded homeschooling community.
A good support system starts in your home! Mom and Dad - you need to be on the same page with homeschooling! If one parent is all gung-ho about homeschooling and the other one is against it, there will be problems. You need to agree. Even if one of you is a bit skeptical or unsure, it is important that you are in agreement and partnership about homeschooling, just as with any other aspect of parenting. Don't work against each other.

If grandparents and other extended family are supportive of your choice to homeschool - good for you! It seems like often grandparents are okay with the general idea of homeschooling, but worry when it comes to their own grandchildren. Thankfully, it also seems like they are quite willing to be won over as they see that the kids are learning to read and do math, and that they do have friends and are well-adjusted and happy. This is closer to my experience - in fact, I didn't find out that some of our extended family were skeptical of our choice to homeschool until many years into it and they confessed their initial worries and that their fears had been put to rest. I don't have advice from the frontlines for you if your parents/in-laws/siblings are openly critical or opposed to your homeschooling; except to say that it's all the more important that you and your spouse are united in the decision. You may need to set ground rules for the interactions your family has with those family members that are not supportive.
Find a local homeschooling group to participate in. These are the folks that live nearby, deal with the same state laws that you do, and they will understand what it's like. Maybe they even attend your church! Depending on the type of homeschool oversight you have, your oversight group might be a wonderful support group as well. There are homeschool co-operatives and fellowship groups that may not provide oversight, but do provide plenty of opportunities to get together with other homeschool families, pool resources and knowledge, and help each other out. Find a mentor or two in the group, and be willing to be a mentor to someone who is newer to homeschooling than you are. My family is part of two groups - our oversight group and a fellowship group. They actually overlap a lot because most of the families in the oversight are also members of the fellowship group. I have known a lot of the moms since my early years of homeschooling, and our kids have grown up together. Those of us in the oversight group that actually do the job of checking portfolios and providing accountability to other families develop ongoing relationships with the families we supervise and with each other. There are a lot of mentor relationships that form there. The spring co-op classes have provided encouragement and friendships for kids and moms, as well as some extra classes. The fellowship group provides gym classes, field trips, and all kinds of events and activities that get kids and moms together. We even have an evening meeting once a month that is dedicated to the purpose of homeschool moms encouraging one another and sharing information and experience.

Virtual support systems can be valuable too! I've been a part of a couple of message board and email communities focused on homeschooling, and they have been such a blessing! They are not quite the same as having someone sitting in the same room with you, and a real shoulder to cry on, but there is the benefit of being able to read (or vent!) whenever it's convenient for you. I've developed some very good friendships with other homeschool moms through online interactions. Need inspiration, ideas, or sources of information? Homeschool bloggers and online forums are brimming with them, and with amazing variety. You might be one of only a couple of homeschoolers using a certain method or curriculum in your local group, but you can find lots of like-minded homeschoolers through blogs and online communities!
Speaking of homeschool bloggers, be sure to visit the other Crew members that are blogging about "Back to Homeschool" this week! You can see all the participating blogs listed at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog - or you can start by visiting the blogs I've featured below.

Check out these blogs for more Back to Homeschool ideas and encouragement:
Tara @ This Sweet Life
Laura @ My (re)Viewpoint
Alyson @ Family Style School
Kemi @ Homemaking Organized
Karen @ Tots and Me
Anne @ Upstate Ramblings
Julie @ Nurturing Learning Beth @ Acorn Hill Academy Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email!

©2006-2014 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

My Back To Homeschool Checklist: P is for (Lesson) Plans

*this post contains affiliate links*

The most time-consuming item on my back-to-homeschool checklist is the lesson plans. But obviously they are completely necessary! I like to work on lesson planning throughout the summer, so by the time that first day of school rolls around, most of the planning has been done. Last week I double-checked all the plans I'd already entered into my Homeschool Tracker Plus, and worked on editing and fine-tuning those plans a bit. I ordered the last two books we need (I think!), and for the most part, we are ready to rock and roll! There are lots of planning tools and forms to choose from, depending on your style. You can plan on paper or do it all digitally. You can plan out the assignments in great detail, or just have a general plan of needing to cover an average of a certain number of pages per week in a subject area. I use a combination of these, I guess. Especially if I'm combining resources to customize a course, I need to sit down with paper and pencil and jot down the chapters and pages and figure out how it all will fit together. If I'm using only one main textbook or resource, then I'm likely to go straight from that table of contents to my digital resource.

Pulling together two different resources into one course!

For many years I have used the Homeschool Tracker Plus. I absolutely love it! I still have the download version, which is no longer available, but the service that Homeschool Tracker continues to provide is outstanding. The newer version is Homeschool Tracker Online, and has the benefit of being accessible to users anywhere, and because it's secure online, it's safe even if your computer crashes. (Just last week I had to get help from Homeschool Tracker to get my download version up and running again after we had our computer rebuilt. Yes, I could restore everything - I faithfully backed up my files! - but I am seriously considering moving to the Homeschool Tracker Online so I don't have to worry about that ever again!)

Homeschool Tracker is how I keep track of individual assignments and how they are scheduled; and how I track grades, time spent, and resource lists. I enter the assignments in the Lesson Plan and can then move them into the active assignment calendar as needed, or for long stretches of the school year at once. Using the Lesson Plan feature also means that I can reuse the assignment lists - when my oldest student did Notgrass Exploring World History, I put it in the Lesson Plan, so instead of reinventing the wheel three more times, I just tweak the existing plan and submit it when the next student does the same course. It's easy to reschedule the assignments if something changes. As we finish assignments, I enter grades into the Tracker and mark the assignments complete. When I need to produce an assignment list, report cards, transcripts, or lists of books and resources used, those and many other reports can be printed from the Homeschool Tracker. (The screen shots below may be slightly different from the layout on Homeschool Tracker Online. If you would like to purchase a Homeschool Tracker membership, please consider using my affiliate links in this post or in my sidebar - thanks!)

assignments can be easily rescheduled

Using the Lesson Plan feature so I only have to figure it out once and it's good for all four kids!

Homeschool Tracker generates all kinds of reports.

Okay, now for the pen or pencil and paper part of my planning. Once again, there are lots of available tools, or you can just use your own blank paper. I am still using a lot of the planning features in the Schoolhouse Planner from SchoolhouseTeachers.com - last year's version! I still need to download this year's version. If you're not a member of SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you need to check it out. Membership includes the 2014-2015 Schoolhouse Planner along with all the wonderful lesson plans for all ages and subjects, and even a membership to Applecore, which is an online record-keeping system.

These are just some of the pages included in the Schoolhouse Planner to help you plan high school courses and credits.

This year I'm using my Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. (My colleague Tara @ This Sweet Life is giving away a copy of this wonderful planner this week!) This is where I am keeping a hard copy record of our school calendar, as well as other records.

And yes, I even have a plan for beyond this year. It is really helpful to plan ahead in the high school years, to make sure your student will get all the credits and coursework they need for graduation, and to spread it out in a way that makes sense for them. These four-year plan pages and many other resources are available at HSLDA.org, and honestly, I've lost track of how many times I've worked and re-worked them for my students, because things change as we go along. (Check out this Homeschooling Thru High School newsletter for info about to use the four-year plan.)

What's your lesson planning style, or your favorite tool for planning a school year? Leave a comment and let me know! Then be sure to visit the other Crew members that are blogging about "Back to Homeschool" this week! You can see all the participating blogs listed at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog - or you can start by visiting the blogs I've featured below.

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email!

©2006-2014 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

My Back To Homeschool Checklist: Schedules and Routines

This week we are starting to try out some aspects of our school schedules and routines. I am trying to get the kids out of bed earlier in the morning. And reminding them that they need to listen to their own alarm clocks. Apparently this skill has been lost over the summer, and it was sketchy to begin with. We won't start school till next week, but this is just one of the ways we ease into it. When I reviewed the book Flourish by Mary Jo Tate several weeks ago, one thing I noted was the difference between routines and schedules. A routine establishes an order for activities but not a specific time slot, while a schedule designates the time slots for specific activities. We tend much more towards the routine approach, but some things do need to be scheduled. Everybody needs to be up and eating their breakfast by a specific time so we can get started with our day. Lunch needs to be prepared and eaten within a predictable time frame. And when we have outside activities such as music lessons and gym class, we need to plan ahead and get there on time, or it just doesn't work.
When we plan our routine and schedule, we start with the non-negotiable things - the scheduled things that are going to happen on a regular basis. This beautiful blank calendar page won't stay blank for long!

And just like that, the Tuesdays are full.

Tuesdays have turned out to be our "drive all over the county all day long" days. This year, Kennady will have her music lesson on Tuesday mornings. Thankfully, it's only about 5 minutes away from home, so it affects only her morning, not Landon's. Tuesday afternoon is gym class, and Tuesday evening is Civil Air Patrol and choir practice. So for Kennady, there is very little time on a Tuesday for any academics - maybe just the first hour of the day. I have to plan accordingly, so it's rare that I will have a Tuesday due date on any assignment. I made these weekly timetables as a general guideline so we could get an idea of how the school week would look.

I blocked out times for the main subjects, but in reality, the kids will be able to decide for themselves how to manage their time in each subject area. Kennady will be working with me for some of her science and social studies, so she and I will need to agree on a standard time to do that. Probably first thing in the mornings, while Landon is likely to want to work on Algebra, for which he needs the computer. Since we only have one computer that we can use for schoolwork, that's a factor in deciding on our routine as well. Landon can't do Algebra just whenever he feels like it - having a specific time blocked off for him to use the computer for Algebra means that he is "guaranteed" access to the computer, and that the rest of us know that we need to do something else during that time.
Even though I encourage the kids to choose for themselves how they will organize their schooldays and get through their assignments, I do set some parameters. They need to meet the assignment deadlines, and they need to put in a minimum of five hours a day on schoolwork. I expect them to work on Math four days a week. And I require them to keep track of what they're doing and the time they spend. In the 2013-2014 school year, I gave them each a cheap student planner (cheap, as in I spent about a dollar apiece on them!) and told them to write down their start and end times as they worked on each subject, to prove that they were putting in the required time. This year, Kennady will be trying something new to keep track of her assignments and time - My Student Logbook. We'll be reviewing this for the Schoolhouse Review Crew, so check back in a few weeks to see how it's working! My student logbook: freedom

I think it's important to get kids to take responsibility for their own record-keeping as much as possible. By middle school for sure, kids can keep track of how they are spending their time and they can check a list of assignments or tasks as they complete them. They can keep a log of the books they read, and the activities they do that count for school. This is especially important for high school students who will be getting credit based on hours for courses like Phys.Ed. or music study.

Which works better for your family - a routine or a schedule? Leave a comment and let me know! Then be sure to visit the other Crew members that are blogging about "Back to Homeschool" this week! You can see all the participating blogs listed at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog - or you can start by visiting the blogs I've featured below.

Check out these blogs for more Back to Homeschool ideas and encouragement:
Tara @ This Sweet Life
Laura @ My (re)Viewpoint
Alyson @ Family Style School
Kemi @ Homemaking Organized
Karen @ Tots and Me
Anne @ Upstate Ramblings
Julie @ Nurturing Learning Beth @ Acorn Hill Academy
Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email!

©2006-2014 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 11, 2014

My Back to Homeschool Checklist: School Scripture

You know those school supply checklists near the entrance of many stores around this time of year? Well, I got to thinking about what kinds of things would be on my checklist as we gear up to go "Back To Homeschool". Here goes!

I admit this is not the first thing I do to prepare for a new school year, but it is one of the most important. I choose a Scripture to serve as a theme for our school year. At some point during the summer, I think about what aspect of learning and discipleship we might want to focus on during the coming year. Sometimes there's an issue that several of us are struggling with, such as time management. Often the Scripture is something I can pray over all of us. And usually the Scripture I pick is an admonition to seek after knowledge and wisdom that honors God.

The Proverbs are full of good advice about wisdom, and this year I chose Proverbs 2:6-10.

For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy.

I chose this passage because of the simple reminder that God grants us knowledge, understanding, and good sense! If we trust him and are honest, just, and faithful, he helps us to live that way more and more; and helps us understand what is right and just by his standards. We all need wisdom, and I love how this passage ends: "knowledge will fill you with joy." Even though a lot of the things we need to learn in school aren't necessarily super-exciting, I hope that my kids will cultivate a joy in learning.

Here are some of our past School Scriptures. You can read more about our School Scriptures in a couple of posts I've done previously: S is for School Year Scripture and M is for Mission Statement.

It's only in the last couple of years that I have been putting the scripture on a photograph, but I'm glad I did! One year I had a bunch of extra prints made of the pictures, and at my homeschool moms' encouragement meeting, I invited all the moms that attended to take one of the prints with them. I still have to make prints of this year's Scripture, and I plan to give copies to each of the kids and have one for myself (plus probably more extras of all of prints for the moms again!); and I'll encourage the kids to put the picture in the front cover of one of their books or maybe on a bulletin board so they see it often. I plan to do the same with my print.

Do you choose a special Scripture for your homeschool? A new one each year, or do you stick with the same one? Leave a comment and let me know! Then be sure to visit the other Crew members that are blogging about "Back to Homeschool" this week! You can see all the participating blogs listed at the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog - or you can start by visiting the blogs I've featured below.