h o m e s c h o o l 1 0 1

You want to homeschool your littles, but you have no clue where to start?  That was me just one short month ago.  Life has a way of throwing curve balls at us...and homeschool was my curve ball!

 I managed to get curriculum, set up class and plan out my year in less than two weeks.  What would normally be a very overwhelming change, turned out to be seemless and quite enjoyable.  Here's how I did it!

c u r r i c u l u m.
This is probably the most intimidating part of the whole choosing to homeschool fiasco but it doesn't have to be. I can't tell you what curriculum will work best for your child but what I will recommend is to do your research.  What sort of class, learning style and approach do you want to take? For myself, I wanted a simple, minimalistic, straight forward approach.
I spent perhaps 3 days looking through curriculum and chose the one that resonated best my chore values.

t h e  c l a s s.
Setting up my HS class was one of my favorite parts of the entire process.  But only because I am a D I Y, redecorate, organization junkie by nature.  You don't have to have a specific classroom so to speak.  I originally started with two bins and my kitchen table.  Once I knew we were serious about HS, I took a good look around my home to see where I could set up shop.
I shopped my home for bins, furniture I could repurpose and supplies I just had hanging around.  Before I go out and spend money I always look and see what I have at home first.

m i n d s e t.
Spending 24/7 with your child can and will be difficult at times. Before you HS take some time to prepare your mind.  Set some goals and get out of jail free card mantras for yourself.  I tell myself 'it won't be perfect' ' we may not always finish the days lesson's ' 'there is no rush'. These affirmations soothe my mind and calm my nerves.  When things start to get overwhelming I am quick to take a break or change course.

s c h e d u l e .
Once you have ironed out your curriculum, class room and mindset it's time to schedule your day.  By nature I wanted to jam pack a week of subjects, activities and lessons.  However my more rational side, said 'keep it simple and build a schedule'.  Start with your basics, reading writing and math. Develop a routine for that and then begin building. Especially if you have never done HS or worked with children, it's easy to want to do it all and right away. But you can end up burning yourself

and children out.

Start small and build from there!

Hope these tips are helpful to any momma like me who is just starting this journey of
 h o m e s c h o o l i n g.