planning – The Sensible Homeschool

Top 10 Time-Saving Tips for Homeschoolers

December 13, 2019January 17, 2020

Homeschoolers have gained back a lot of time with their kids by keeping them home. But it still seems like it’s never enough! So, in the spirit of not wasting any more of this precious commodity, let’s get right to the tips!

The list below includes the top ten ways I’ve learned to save time in our homeschool. It’s organized from very general to very specific – hopefully there’s an idea for everyone!

The Most Important Question to Answer Before Homeschooling

July 26, 2019January 17, 2020

If you homeschool or are considering it, there’s one question that’s critical you answer.

It’s NOT “What curriculum should we use for math?”

It’s NOT “How will we make friends?”

And it’s definitely NOT “How can I recreate public school at home?”

The super-dee-duper, most-important, must-answer question is…

(drum roll, please)

Strategies for Buying Homeschool Curriculum: A Grocery Store Analogy

July 19, 2019January 17, 2020

Strategies for Buying Homeschool Curriculum title on grocery aisle background

Is it just me or has our society overcomplicated things that should be fairly straightforward?

Take food, for example. The overall process seems like it should be pretty simple. Grow or buy food. Cook food. Eat food. Done.

But when you get to the grocery store and spend the first 15 minutes just trying to pick a breakfast cereal from the 129 choices available, you quickly realize this might be harder than you thought.

Homeschool Planning with a Master Course of Study

July 12, 2019January 17, 2020

I’m a list person. I love lists. If there’s a problem for me to solve, the solution will probably involve a list. And, if it’s a list in the form of a spreadsheet, all the better!

Now, even if you’re not on the same page as me about lists being the answer to life’s most pressing problems, please hear me out.

There’s one list – and, yes, it’s a spreadsheet *giddy squeals* – that has helped me plan out our homeschool years more than any other resource I’ve made or bought. The best part is, it’s *EASY* and *FREE* to make and highly customizable.

Ways We Customize The Story of the World Curriculum in our Homeschool

July 5, 2019January 17, 2020

We love The Story of the World history curriculum.

(And, given that I loathed history when I was a kid, it’s no small potatoes for me to say that I love a history curriculum!)

After using Tapestry of Grace Primer for my oldest son’s first and second grade years, we started Volume 1 of The Story of the World and haven’t looked back.

Our Homeschool Summer Break – Year 5

May 17, 2019January 17, 2020

I’d like to start this post with an apology for any neck injuries you may have sustained by following this series of posts. It’s been like watching a tennis match!

Back and forth I’ve gone, trying to find the sweet spot for our summers. More academic? More relaxed? Over-scheduled? Lazy days? Seems like we’ve tried it all.

We’ve finally caught up to real time in this series – we’ll be heading into our 5th official homeschool summer in less than a month!

Our Homeschool Summer Break – Year 3

May 3, 2019January 17, 2020

In the last post, I promised you a summer on the other side of the continuum, so here it is! The summer of our mega home renovation! When all bets were off, plans were non-existent and I was living way, way outside my Type-A, Planner-Person comfort zone.

You can see more about the renovation, including before and after pictures, in this post.

I didn’t try to plan a more relaxed summer. I didn’t decide that we needed less formal school-ish work. By the time I had my head far enough above water to think about our summer homeschool plans, it was already August.

Our Homeschool Summer Break – Year 1

April 19, 2019January 17, 2020

I never know what to do with summer break.

Wait. Let me rephrase that.

I never know what to do for our homeschool during summer break.

If I ever had the luxury of my own summer break, I’d know exactly what to do with it (i.e. unlimited ice cream, a beach and a stack of books)!

But I digress.

When it comes to planning out what to do for my kids’ education over summer break, I perpetually bounce back and forth between two extremes.

How to Homeschool Successfully During a Home Renovation

March 29, 2019January 17, 2020

Anyone who has homeschooled for more than one hour knows that interruptions are part of the job description.

On my good days, I try and embrace the interruptions – the many opportunities for real life training and modeling grace and patience. I totally agree with the writer of this post who said, “Interruptions are not obstacles to our plan; they are opportunities for us to embrace God’s plan.” So true.

But some seasons bring so many interruptions – so much chaos – it just seems impossible to maintain any semblance of order or sanity, much less get any meaningful homeschooling done.

Over the past four years, we’ve renovated nearly our entire home, room by room. Home renovations are definitely one of those chaos-inflicting seasons – but there ARE things you can do to make it through.