Whether you are a veteran or brand new to homeschooling, everyone has to start their school year. Here are some things that I have found helpful when beginning.

Notify your school district

This year you have to complete the Home Education Notification Form and the new notification form since it will be replacing the current notification form in October.

If you have homeschooled for the 2022-2023, you will also need to have done some type of assessment for your student. This can be a nationally normed test or an assessment by an Ohio licensed teacher such as myself. You will need to submit either the composite score of the test or the written narrative from the assessor. The deadline for you to turn in paperwork is the first week of your child’s school. If you are unsure of when it begins check your school district’s calendar.

Have a plan

• What will your school look like? Will it be unschooling, traditional, unit study based, or something else?
• What curriculum will you be using? Not sure? Here are some resources to investigate: Rainbow Resource, Cathy Duffy Reviews, Timberdoodle, ChristianBook, and BookShark.
• What date will you begin? Will you need to plan breaks this year for a new baby, holidays, etc?
• Where will you teach? A separate room, the kitchen table? Wherever it is, have a dedicated spot so your child knows this is where school will be each day.
• What hours will you be in school? A word to the wise: let everyone know your school hours and be disciplined enough to not take calls. ( I’ve had first hand experience!)

Organize

• Whether you are super or loosely organized , you will want somewhere to keep supplies. I have used all kinds of things to organize our school. Some have worked well, and others not so much. This is likely to evolve over the course of the year for what works best in your school.
• Organize yourself- Do you work well with a lesson plan or do you just need to look over things before you teach? Being organized sets your mind at ease and makes things more peaceful, I think. I will confess that I have always had some amount of clutter when I teach. I can’t help it! I get out supplies, books, maps, teacher’s guides, etc. I just didn’t want to leave you with the impression that I (and every homeschool mom) is a super tidy person. lol
• Organize your children’s things. One of the best things I found to work for us was each child had a certain color. Everything they had was that particular color: green binder, notebooks, pencil case, etc. And… there was a dedicated area for school books to go each day. Otherwise, things get scattered and lost.

Be Okay with Mess

With your child(ren) being home all day with you, your house will be messier than if they went to school. Let.It.Go. You and your child(ren) can clean up when you finish the lesson or at the end of the school day. You will need to determine what level is okay for you to feel that the clutter is manageable. Remember, you are creating an atmosphere of learning and that can be noisy, messy, but also fun and educational.

Well, I think I have given you enough to ponder and process. If you have questions, please leave a comment. I’ll be glad to help.

Have a great week! ~Lisa~

There are certain times when it can be difficult to fit in homeschooling along with the other situations you may find in your life, whether that is a new baby, a sick relative, or a busier than usual time of the year. While it is important to see to the educational needs of your child, you can also take a break from your regular work or routine if needed. School can still be done, just perhaps in a different way than you thought. You can return to your curriculum and/or school schedule once things settle down. Here are some ideas to help you.

Audiobooks– Don’t have time to read aloud to your child? Find a book that your child will find interesting. If you have a library card, your system may have Hoopla or Libby, both are free to use. Your child can either write or narrate a summary of each chapter or the book. Everyone can tell you the main characters and the plot of the story. You can go into depth with your older child by discussing the themes of the story (Language Arts, other subjects depending upon what you or your child has chosen.).

Educational Videos- You can find documentaries, places to travel, science experiments, and other interesting topics. You only need to do a Google search and a great big list of videos to watch will appear! You may need to preview the video to make sure it is appropriate for your child (age level, content, etc). For older students, this is a great way to incorporate Language Arts. Your student can take notes and summarize the video. Have them give it a thumbs up/down and support their answer.

Project- This can be done in a manner of ways. You can assign an activity that can enhance the audiobook or video. Your child can draw a picture, create a PowerPoint, make a poster, create a photo collage, act out their favorite scene or create an additional one, and so on. They might find additional videos and make a list to share with you and others.

Do your children like to craft and can do some things on their own? Great! Let them create something (Art). They can make cards (Language Arts), organize their toys (Math- logic, counting, spatial intelligence), make a model (Science, Art, History), read to a younger sibling (Language Arts), bake cookies and take to a neighbor or friend (Math, Health).

Shopping- If you celebrate a holiday event, making a list of things to purchase (this can be drawn or written) can be counted for Language Arts as well as for Math (order items according to price, like rating system 1- I would like to have 5-I don’t want anything else!).

Games- Do you have games the children can play? Many of these are actually math and logic games. You can also play games in the car. Have math races- call out a multiplication problem and see how fast they can solve it. Do you have a little one who is just beginning to learn their alphabet, colors, numbers? Find examples of these as you travel in your vehicle. You can also listen to an audiobook in the car.

This is just a list to stir up your own creative juices. Feel free to add more of your own ideas. Of course, if things are extremely hectic and you can’t get school done, take some time off! Scheduling a school break is fine; it just might have been an unexpected one and that’s okay. You will have time to make up the time missed within the rest of your school year.

Blessings to you! Have a great week! ~ Lisa ~

One of the questions that I have seen frequently asked on homeschool Facebook groups is how to keep your younger students occupied while you teach your school age children. I have created a sheet of activities that I believe will give you some ideas. One of the key things to remember is to limit these activities (as much as possible) to when you are in school. Here is the pdf of this list for you.