The One Thing That Revolutionized Our Homeschool

    *Disclaimer: Homeschool laws vary country to country and even state to state in the US. All of my posts on record-keeping and planning are based on homeschool law in the state of Georgia, USA. Please be sure of requirements in your own country/state before implementing any record-keeping system.*

     For years, I struggled in our homeschool with planning our days so we got everything done. I spent most of my time frustrated and riddled with guilt. It would go something like this:

• I would make a plan with every subject for each child neatly laid out.
• I would set timers and remind the children of what they needed to get done.
• I would check things off as we marched through the plan, nervously eyeing the clock as I realized that each item on my schedule was taking twice as long as it should
• I would reset the timer when it went off so we could “just finish this one thing.”
• Despite the timers and the plan, we would only accomplish about half. 
• When life happened (my husband’s car broke down, a kid suddenly got sick, the power went out, etc, etc), I felt frantic and irritable. 
• By the end of the day, my heart would sink as I would look at how much we didn’t get done. Would I have to cram all this in tomorrow? My plans for the whole week were now shot!
•  I felt like a demanding, stressed-out, life-sucking Mama whom my kids probably hated.

    Every time we started a fresh school year, I would try a new schedule. I’d read a new idea on a blog somewhere, hear a great idea at a conference, and I would be so sure that this new plan would work. We would do great with it for maybe a week, and then the above cycle would start all over again. 

    Finally, about two years ago, I had a revelation. What if, instead of planning what we would do, I simply kept a list of what we actually did that day? It seemed almost sacrilegious to this education major and former public school teacher. However, isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results? No matter how I planned our day, we never got everything done. Maybe I needed to change my perspective. 

    I’m telling you, this ONE THING revolutionized our homeschool. I simply printed out a sheet of paper with each kid's name at the top and the days of the week listed beneath. I labeled each sheet with that week's date. As we went through each day, I jotted down what each child did. At the end of each day, I would see a list of things like this:

Ian   Week - 10/15

Monday: Read aloud a chapter of Encyclopedia Brown; did lesson 12 in his phonics book (alk/awk words); practiced multiplication tables 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s; did First Language Lessons lesson 185 (prepositions); helped Mommy make lunch; road bikes

    Seeing all that my child was actually learning was much more productive and helpful than seeing a list of things we didn’t finish. You’ll notice I added “non academic” things (helping make lunch and riding bikes). Look for things in your child’s life that are educational, even if they  aren't part of a set curriculum. Don’t get too crazy (sorry, but playing video games doesn’t count!), but if they’ve learned something from it, list it. 

    This will also help you see what you need to spend more time on the next day. Let’s say Ian didn’t have time to practice his multiplication tables. Since math is so important to do consistently, I know to make that a priority the next day. 

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    Overall, though, the beauty of this is having a record of your child’s progress and accomplishments. That is far more important than a great plan that never actually happens. 
    You may be wondering, “But how do I know what I need to be doing?” I’ll explain a very simple way to keep track of that in my next post, so stay tuned!

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