How to start your home school on time seems to be one of the million dollar questions among the homeschool community.
I must admit, we tend to struggle in this area as the school year progresses. In other words, we get out of routine and our homeschool seems to get out of control. I do feel it’s necessary to have a set school time because it teaches real life skills. As adults, we have appointments and deadlines to meet. Starting our homeschool on time teaches time management skills to my children.
Of course, there are days when unexpected things and activities come up, but that’s just reality. Our homeschool world isn’t going to come to a halt if we have one day off schedule, but the key is to get back in a routine the next day.
How to Start Home School on Time DAILY
- Have a set time that you start school each day.
- Plan breakfast the night before.
- Diligently have a set bedtime for the children.
- Bathe children in the evenings.
- Set the children’s clothes out in the evening for the next day.
- Require each child to have (2) sharpened pencils before the school day is over for the next school day.
- Require a 10 minute clean up before everyone goes to bed to avoid clutter.
- Post all children’s chores in a visible location, so everyone knows what is expected before school starts.
- Plan lesson plans a week in advance.
- Make sure your all school subjects and supplies are well-organized.
- Set a bedtime for yourself, so you can rise when the alarm goes off.
- Make sure you have a consequence if your children are not promptly ready to start school at the scheduled time.
- Wake up before the children so you can spend time with the Lord before your busy day begins.
No homeschool is perfect, just set goals and move forward. Don’t let Satan take the joy out of your homeschool journey.
Be sure to read How to Homeschool – 10 Steps if you are new to homeschooling.
I encourage you to leave a comment in regards to How to Home School on Time DAILY! We would love to hear what works for you.
Thanks for this simple list. I need to print it out and post it somewhere visible. LOL. We have homeschooled 8 years and still struggle with this.
Rosanna
I started setting an alarm that goes off when it is time to start school. When it goes off it everyone comes to the kitchen table and then we begin. If for some reason I’m not quite ready to lead school, I give each child something they can work on by themselves. Then I’ll call everyone to a meeting place when it is time to work together.
I have homeschooled 3 years now, soon starting our fourth. I began walking last year for health reasons, before the kids got up. That turned out to be a great time to spend with my spouse or if he didn’t get to walk with me it was a great time to spend with the Lord. Then I was awake and ready to begin school early. I no longer felt behind all day. It really helped my health, marriage, spiritual life, and homeschool.
Great idea! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This sounds like a great idea. I will do this too!
What consequences do you use for your kids to start school on time and finish in a reasonable time?
They go to bed early if they wake up late. And as far as not finishing their school on time, I stop teaching at 3pm, They have to go to bed at 7pm and wake up at 6a the next morning to work on school if they are not finished by 4p.
Yes, I know I am mean, but this seems to work the best. I only have to use this consequence with my 12 year old. All other children have caught on to the system. HTH
Yep, some of us either learn with a different part of the anatomy, 1st, or learn better by restructured time like getting up earlier after getting to bed much earlier than others- with very involved activity required at first- to get energy flowing freely. Been there, done that.
I admit- I’ve really been slacking in this area over the past two years and The Lord has been dealing with my hear about forming daily habits of discipline for school. This post is timely for me right now, so thanks for the reminder!
I admit- I’ve really been slacking in this area over the past two years and The Lord has been dealing with my hear about forming daily habits of discipline for school. This post is timely for me right now, so thanks for the reminder!
Thanks for all the good information this will be my first year hopefully many more to come.
if this was coming from my homeschool, I would have to put number one as being, make sure On my way! Is up in time to start….
That was supposed to say, before auto correct…. Make sure Mom is up!
I really appreciate this post, and I feel that the Lord is in you writing this, and the timely reading of it for me today! There is a peace and simplicity that I get when reading it, and it encourages me to do these small things diligently.
Thank you and may God continue to bless you, your family, your homeschool, and this ministry of yours!
I also wanted to say that I love how, with your picture up the top for this post, that you have your website name in it, because when I save it to pinterest, it helps me to remember it is from here, and I like that 🙂 Thanks and well done on your website!
Thank you so much for the list. I have copied and put it in my son’s class schedule book. He is 14 and wants to be more independent in his studies this year. He also has Asperger so teaching is a little difficult. Do you have any rules or help for parents who teach special needs children? Our schedule gets off very easily, he wants to see, daily, what is expected of him. I wish I had known about you 4 years ago. Again thanks.
You are very welcome, Myra!
I don’t have special needs children, so I don’t typically write about that topic. However, I found that it’s not so much a time schedule, but an order schedule that works for my gang. HTH.
Jill
Great list! Number 10 is where I fail, missing supplies or even books!
The comment just above says books or supplies missing. That is one problem here. Another is the mess there is in the morning. Another is it takes mama FOREVER to get ready for the day. I breastfeed, so the baby keeps wnting mama and the kids keep needing mama. At 11, mom is finally ready for the day. Then it is about time to make lunch. Sigh.
I like the kids bathe night before, but likely mama should shower the night before. That would do it.
Setting clothes out and having pencils sharpened and rooms we school in cleaned night before would rock!
Thank you!! We are still struggling with this after two months of homeschooling. Sheesh!!
I love how you point out to spend time with the Lord before you spend time with your kids. I really think it is an essential to starting the day off on the right foot. Thanks again!