If you’ve been thrown into schooling at home all of a sudden, it can feel like a brand new adventure, or a nightmare. I’ve been homeschooling our kids for about four years. I have four kids, ages seven, five, three and one, and my husband and I run a wedding photography business from home. These five tips have helped our family tremendously, and I hope they help you feel calm and organized too.
What you’ll get from this post
- Why a consistent school time matters, and how long school really takes
- How to set up a school zone without a schoolroom
- The backpack and bin trick for keeping your table clean
- How I prep lesson plans over the weekend
- Why grace is the most important tip
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1. Set a school time
It’s wonderful that the kids don’t have to get up early and go to school. Let them sleep in a little, and let yourself sleep in a little too. That’s a silver lining.
But keep some sort of routine. Everyone thrives on it. It doesn’t have to be rigid, but kids should know what to expect: “By this time we’re starting school, so these things need to be done before then.”
You’ll probably be surprised how much less time school takes at home. With a second grader, kindergartner and preschooler, it takes us about two to two and a half hours a day, four days a week. We’re not skipping things. Our kids are good readers and strong at math. Without a classroom full of kids, you just get through material a lot quicker. So if it doesn’t take all day, don’t feel like you’re doing something wrong.
2. Set a school zone
Have a designated area for school. You probably don’t have a separate room, and that’s okay. Before we had one, we used our kitchen table. A dining room table works too.
When kids know “this is the school zone and we stay here during school time,” you’re not constantly hollering to bring everyone back and refocus.
3. Keep the stuff organized
If school at the kitchen table sounds like it’ll drive you crazy, here are two solutions.
Use their backpacks
Have the kids use their backpacks just like they’re going to school. Every day they bring them to the table and set up their area. Before they leave the table, it’s their job to put everything back in the backpack and clean up. It’s good for them to take ownership and not leave things wrecked.
Use a bin
Before we had our schoolroom, we used a wicker basket. A plastic storage bin works too, as long as it fits their books or a binder. Put everything in it, including a little caddy for markers, crayons, glue sticks and scissors. Then you’re not running to another room for supplies. When school’s over, put the bin in a closet or the laundry room, out of sight, and your table is ready for dinner.
4. Prepare ahead of time
This brings so much calm and makes the day so much more efficient. I take a little time over the weekend, Friday, Saturday or Sunday night after the kids are in bed, when I can focus. I figure out what we’re doing all week and put it in a Google Sheet. Here’s a copy of my lesson plan Google Sheet and daily schedule you can grab and use.
With multiple kids, plan the flow
With one child, you can take their lesson plans and run. With more than one, look through the plans and organize the flow:
- Teach one child.
- Set them up with an independent worksheet.
- Move on to teach the next child.
- Set that child up with independent work, and keep switching back and forth.
There’s nothing worse than reading the directions for the first time in front of your kids. You lose their attention, they get loud and disruptive, and you have to holler to refocus them. When I’ve already prepped, we’re rocking and rolling.
Prepping also helps me feel calm and organized, which gives me more patience. And it’s a chance to check your materials. If there’s a craft or experiment and you don’t have the supplies, you have time to get them, or you can quietly skip it if you have that flexibility.
5. Give yourself grace
This is a brand new challenge and a brand new journey for your family, and everything going on around us is stressful. Try to leave all that behind when you start school and focus on your children.
Be patient with yourself while you figure out what works for your kids’ personalities and yours. You’ll find a rhythm and a groove that isn’t so stressful anymore, and you’ll think, “Okay, we’ve got this.”
Key takeaways
- Keep a consistent, flexible start time for school.
- Expect school at home to take far less time than a public school day.
- A kitchen table can be your school zone.
- Backpacks or a bin keep supplies together and off the table after school.
- Prep lessons ahead, especially when teaching more than one child.
- Give yourself grace while you find your rhythm.
What viewers say
Love the backpack idea
@LifeintheMundane on YouTube
These tips help so much. I have been so swamped with getting organized. I LOVE the backpack idea! I found your channel through the hooked on phonics review. Love your channel so far!
@Briham on YouTube
Things we mentioned
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FAQ
How long should homeschool take each day?
For our second grader, kindergartner and preschooler, about two to two and a half hours a day, four days a week.
How do you homeschool at the kitchen table without a mess?
Have kids use their backpacks, or keep everything in one bin with a supply caddy, then put it away after school.
How do you teach multiple kids at once?
Teach one child, set them up with independent work, then teach the next, switching back and forth.
More from our crew
- Homeschool with Me!: Teaching Multiple Kids
- How to Ease Back Into Homeschool After Christmas Break: Getting Back Into the Homeschool Routine
- 3 Ways to Organize Your Homeschool Books & Supplies
Full transcript
Hi everyone my name is Sarah and I've been homeschooling our kids for about four years now I have four kids seven five three and one and my husband and I run a wedding photography business and we can do that from home so I know that tons of you have been thrown into homeschooling just all of a sudden and this is a brand new adventure and mister you're going it's a nightmare so I wanted to take some of our experience and give you guys some tips that have helped our family tremendously
So that you can feel calm and organized and your schooling so number one to set a school time so it is wonderful that they're not having to get up and go to school and you can allow them to sleep in a little allow yourself to sleep in a little and that is a silver lining of all this right but we definitely still want to keep to some sort of routine everyone thrives off of that not that it has to be super rigid but that they know what to expect
Okay by this time we're going to be starting school so you need to have all of these things done before that time gets here right to set up a consistent time and you're really going to be hopefully surprised that it's gonna take a lot less time to do school than how long they're in school so for us I've got a second-grader kindergartner and preschooler it takes us probably two to two-and-a-half hours a day and only four days a week to get things done and and they're they're plenty smart we're not like skipping things missing things that they know a lot smart kids good readers bit math all of that
So but if you don't have a classroom full of kids you can get through the material a lot quicker so you're going to notice that hopefully that that'll shrink for you so don't feel like you're not doing something right if it's taking that whole amount of time hopefully it won't and you can be efficient and knock it out quickly and that'll be a silver lining to this right so get it done quickly the second tip is to set a school zone so you want to have a designated area that's for school you probably don't have a separate room to have as a school
And that's okay before we did we used our kitchen table and that works or a dining room table so you can easily do that and then it's nice to for them to know that this is the school zone we're going to stay in this area during school time so you're not having to constantly holler to bring people back in and refocus right so you've got your zone the third tip is to keep stuff organized so if you're hearing use my kitchen table are you crazy like that's gonna drive me crazy to have a mess on our table don't worry we have a solution for that
So have them use their backpacks just like they're going to school every day they bring them out to the table they get their little area set up every day and then their responsibility is to take all of their stuff back into their backpack and clean up before they leave the table for the day good for them to take ownership of that to know that they can't just leave things are wrecked and to put their things back where they belong another thing you could do is to the backpacks before we had our schoolroom we just used a wicker basket it could use a plastic storage bin just something that's gonna fit their books or you know a binder size in it
But this works great put everything in it even have a little caddy in here for their markers and crowns and you know other little craft supplies like glue sticks and scissors so we have all that on hand I'm not going to run to a different room or area to grab these things everything that we need for that school day I'm going to go ahead and have in this thin so that we're ready and then when school is over we just get rid of the second put it in the closet or the laundry room somewhere it's out of sight
So I'm not having this mess of school stuff that's gonna drive me crazy on my table time prayer so taking care of that okay and then my fourth tip for you is to prepare ahead of time this is going to bring you so much calm it's gonna help the day go by so much more efficiently you're gonna be so glad that you took the time to do it so I don't know how early your teachers are sending you their lesson plans for the week their materials
And things so this might differ for each of you but what what I do is I take a little bit of time over the weekend like maybe Friday or Saturday or Sunday night after they've gone to bed and they're they're not running around around me and I can be focused and I figure out what we're gonna do all week and I use a Google sheet I love to be organized in that way that's not you that's fine I'm gonna link the Google sheet below like a duplicate of it that you can you can grab
And and use now if you have one kid easily you can just take their lesson plans and run with them but if you have multiple kids you might actually look through their lesson plans and decide to organize the flow of them a little bit differently depending on what they're having to do you know what's gonna fit better so for instance if you've got some time that you need to actually instruct them I'll be teaching them you can be doing that with one child get them set up with a worksheet that they could do independently
And then you can move on to teaching this child you know and struck them get them set up with a worksheet they can do independently and then you know so you're just switching back and forth and so it gives you a chance to know what's coming up right for them and know how you want that flow to go what you think is going to work best for the different kids that you have there's nothing worse than sitting down and then you're you're having to read reread
And look through it now you've lost their attention and they're getting up and they're being loud and they're being disruptive and you've lost their attention and you had a holler and bring them back to to focus again so what helps me tremendously in preparing ahead of time is that we can be super efficient when it is school time we are rocking and rolling right we are getting through the material not gonna like very very stressful away but an efficient way so I love having that already in my head ahead of time I'm not sitting there reading the directions right in front of them for the first time I've taken what really didn't take me very long the time to prep prepare ahead of time
And that way I feel calm and organized which helps me have more patience as I'm dealing with them during school right we all need more that I'll be sure that you have all your materials ready to rock if they're supposed to do some kind of craft or experiment or something and you don't have that on hand it gives you a chance to go get it or in this type of climate where we're just not going to the store or at least not very often you don't even have to bring that up like
Okay we're just we're not able to do that this week we're not going to do it if you have that flexibility with your school and so I love having those things prepared ahead of time okay and the last tip number five is just to give yourself some grace this is a brand new challenge of brand new space for you a brand new journey for your family and everything that's going on around us is pretty stressful so try to enter your school time leaving all of that behind forgetting about it focusing on your children
And just just give yourself that patience with your own self learning this figuring out what works best for your kids personalities and your personality and I think that you will you will find a rhythm and a groove that works well that's not so stressful anymore that you feel like okay okay we got this we can do this sure couple more weeks or however long it has to be so definitely if you have more questions drop them in the comments below I'm going to continue making videos about things that I think will just be helpful
So let me know if you have a question or something you'd like to see about how we do things or what we use I would be more than happy to share that so have a great day