1 | ©2015 New Bee Homeschooler Sidetracked Home Educators ... · 9 | ©2015 New Bee Homeschooler Sidetracked Home Educators—Workshop #2 D. monthly tips 1. are you doing a co-op?

1 | ©2015 New Bee Homeschooler Sidetracked Home Educators—Workshop #2


I. Organization Equals Success

Ecclesiastes 8:6 “For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him.”

A. organization relieves stress --- P L A N

1. organizational tips

a. clutter and no time management causes stress

b. plans have to be as unique as each household

c. a clutter free room is relaxing and soothing

d. an organized person maintains their homeschooling schedule

e. an organized person charts their course by writing down plans

f. our view of what an “organized” person is affects our success


g. you can CHANGE your lifestyle - it is about “heart”

Note: It is true that some of being organized is about will, the strength to “keep on keeping on” so to speak. But more than anything, the heart moves us to want to be the best educator and parents for our family. Our heart’s desire moves us at times when sometimes we don’t feel like being organized. We have to want something different than we have now in terms of being organized. If we are already discouraged then our views of orderliness will not be right.

h. the empowering effects are a huge motivator for the rest of your life

2. where to start?

a. don’t “re-arrange” clutter – GET RID OF IT

b. find out your needs next

c. start with the room that affects you the most

d. make the time to organize

e. include family members


B. realistic goals this first year

1. find an organizational system to work for you

2. don’t create a system that will bring more stress or copy another homeschooler’s schedule

3. our family is worth every bit of effort we put forth to be organized

II. Organizing a School Schedule

A. general tips for any schedule

1. our mantra: do school first in the morning, first in the day, first in the week and first in the year

2. don’t plan back to back writing assignments

3. don’t plan messy science experiments right before you have to fix dinner or on the day that you’re running the children to piano, soccer, art and ballet


B. daily tips

1. get an early start

2. don’t skip breakfast

3. don’t plan lunch when no one is hungry or waiting until everyone is famished


Sample Daily Planning

C. weekly tips

1. options for schedule

Time

7:00

7:30 wakeup/shower/dressed/hair & teeth brushed

8:00 breakfast/Bible study

8:30 chores

9:00

9:30

10:00

10:30

11:00

11:30

12:00

12:30 lunch

1:00

1:30

2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00

4:30

5:00

5:30 dinner

6:00

6:30

7:00

7:30

8:00

8:30

9:00 children to bed

9:30

10:00

10:30

11:00

School

Time

School

Time


a. school four days – off on Friday for field trips

b. off on Monday for a slow start - school the rest of the week

c. do two or three subjects on two days and two or three different subjects on three days

d. Saturday morning might work so that dad can help

2. do you have days that are busier than others?

a. can things move to a different day?

b. why is this important?

because you ACTUALLY need to be at home to school

have balance when lesson planning for three or more children

the more children you have, the less you can stretch yourself with outside activities

look for combining activities on one day or with several of your children at one time

alternate extracurricular activities (one Monday art, the next Monday gymnastics, then back to art)


Sample Weekly Planning


D. monthly tips

1. are you doing a co-op?

a. co-op is a class where families meet together for a specified time to study a topic usually led by another homeschooling parent who might have a certain talent or skill in some area of learning

b. can be a wonderful experience, but does it meet at a time and place that fits your schedule?

2. is there a 4-H/boy scouts project due?

3. look at dad’s schedule – his schedule needs to be included

4. have a balance of both academic and free time

E. yearly tips

1. holidays and vacations you have planned


2. planning for seasons

Example:

study apples in the fall study butterflies in the spring study snowflakes in the winter study birds in the spring

3. track subjects and specific skills that were weak areas – adjust for next year

4. what you didn’t cover this year, make it a priority for next year

III. Lesson Planning and Record Keeping

A. general tips

1. think like a teacher – how? have objectives

a. they are specific, measured steps to reach a goal

b. accomplish by lesson plans


c. basically “what do you want to learn for the day?”

d. don’t rely on memory, set up a tracking system for lesson plans that work for you

some have very neat written lesson planners

some prefer lesson planning with software like Homeschool Tracker

some just write on a big calendar

some make their own forms on computer

some have a huge dry erase board in the school area

2. how many weeks “should” you school?

a. most boxed curriculums provide for anywhere from 120 – 160 lessons

b. focus on what your “child’s needs” are and adjust your curriculum accordingly

3. sometime during the weekend try to collect what you might need for the next week’s science experiment, co-op or field trip


Sample Written Lesson Planner Page


4. how long “should” my day be?

a. unreasonable for a kindergartener to sit from 8:00 to 3:00

b. two hours a day not enough for a highschooler

c. you are the teacher now and your schedule can be changed at any time to stay flexible with your family’s needs

5. the unexpected

a. things will happen

b. sometimes the best lessons in life are unplanned

if you have fallen behind – relax – circumstances normally change

are you behind because you lack motivation?

B. record keeping - do I have to save everything?

1. keep


a. special things that child adores

b. annual book made by child

c. writing sample

d. you decide

2. how to store items

a. get your children to help - daily put away items and store

b. make copies and keep on CD’s

c. some don’t know exactly what they want to keep so use the “box method”

Caveat: This is okay to use starting out, but be sure you develop a system that works for you. If not, years upon years of work will pile up.


IV. Menu Planning, Groceries, Cooking – Oh My!

A. menu planning ahead saves money and precious time

Sample Weekly Family Menu Planning--Simple


1. plan a week at a time - sales ads come out once a week so you can take advantage of them

2. plan for a month at a time

3. no need to plan for meals you don’t need help with, what is your busy or tired time of the day? If it is supper, then just menu plan supper and not all meals.

4. if you need to be budget conscious then plan all your meals, including snacks so that you stay in your budget

5. make your time count

Example: When planning your menu, if you have chicken pot pie on Monday why not cook a few extra chicken breasts so that on Friday when you have chicken tacos your work is already done.

Then by the end of the week you will have cooked less and not sacrificed the health of your family because you planned well.

6. make your grocery list so that all you do is print off each week

family members check off if they are the last one to use item

can even laminate it

make aisle by aisle to save time in store

7. grocery shopping stays in budget because you planned

each week you will have all items you need to cook meals

buy in bulk – be sure to compare equal amounts

use coupons


Sample Family Menu Planning—Expanded

Week Beginning Monday___________________________________

Day Breakfast Lunch Dinner Snacks Notes Mon

am

pm

Tues am

pm

Wed am

pm

Thur am

pm

Fri am

pm

Sat am

pm

Sun am

pm


Sample Menu Planning—Monthly


B. busy day dishes and tips

1. an emergency meal in the freezer (lasagna, chili, spaghetti)

2. crock pot cooking, use double dish compartment crock pot to make more than one meal at a time

3. on grocery day, boil ground meat or chicken then freeze while you put away groceries

4. nothing wrong with two crock pots going at the same time

C. recipes and frugal living tips for Christian home making

http://leslievaleska.com/ Simple Journey Ministries www.hillbillyhousewife.com http://christianhomekeeper.com/ http://kyle854.tripod.com/id4.html www.kraftfoods.com www.menus4moms.com www.redshift.com/~bonajo/lunch.htm http://allrecipes.com/recipes/Main.aspx www.couponmom.com http://faithfulprovisions.com/ http://savingdinner.com/


Post-workshop questions.

⃞ From your homework, can you take your family's rhythm and turn that into a homeschooling

schedule made just for you?

⃞ Has your view of organization been adjusted?

⃞ Do you think it’s possible to slowly organize this year?

⃞ If so, what areas cause you greatest concern? List them and take time now to address them.

Next workshop topic: God’s Gifted Children

All children are gifts from God and are born with the natural desire to learn. But each child is unique in how they take in information. What is your learning style? What is your child’s learning style? Come and find out each learning style in order to better prepare you to make curriculum choices.


Resource List

Homeschooling at the Speed of Life: Balancing Home, School, And Family in the Real World -

Marilyn Rockett

Organized Homeschooler - Vicki Caruana

If I'm Diapering a Watermelon, Then Where'd I Leave the Baby? Help for the Highly Distractible

Mom - Carol Barnier

Children Who Do, Too Little or Women Who Do, Too Much - Patricia Sprinkle

More Hours in My Day: Proven Ways to Organize Your Home, Your Family, and Yourself – Emilie

Barnes & Sheri Torelli

Smart Organizing – Sandra Fetton

http://flylady.net/

http://organizedhome.com/

http://www.shopgetorganized.com/

http://www.filofaxusa.com/

http://www.homeschool.com/articles/TimeManagement/default.asp

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Benefits-Of-Organization-(Part-1)&id=299861

http://ezinearticles.com/?Organizing-Clutter---Top-Seven-Mistakes-to-Avoid&id=1664336

www.flickr.com Flickr allows you to upload and store with ease videos and photos. You can organize your albums and share with family and friends. www.iscrybe.com Scrybe is an online system organizer that combines calendar and to-do lists and features a notepad that lets you drag in photos, links and texts. Users can also invite more users to Scrybe by sharing their personal information.

www.mint.com Mint is an online money management system that automatically pulls together your financial life information. It gives you suggestions and alerts you when you are exceeding the limits of your personal budget or when you need to pay a bill, etc. Mint is also Free!


www.evernote.com

Keep everything in sync. With Evernote, all of your notes, web clips, files and images are

made available on every device and computer you use.

http://www.newbeehomeschooler.com/ New Bee Homeschooler website sharing free curriculum planners, student planners and editable home management binder. Large Family Logistics - Kim Brenneman

Documents

1 | ©2015 New Bee Homeschooler Sidetracked Home Educators ... · 9 | ©2015 New Bee Homeschooler Sidetracked Home Educators—Workshop #2 D. monthly tips 1. are you doing a co-op?