5 Last Minute Methods to be Ready for Homeschool this year

Are you ready for homeschool?

If you’re anything like me, summer lasted about five minutes and all of a sudden, it was back to school. And I was not ready.

Wasn’t it just last week I had such grand plans for all I would accomplish this summer? I’ve barely started my summer projects, but tomorrow we head back to the classroom or our dining room (depending on the time of day).

It’s the night before back to (home)school. What can you do NOW to be ready for homeschool this year?

First, begin with God.

Pray for your home and family as you transition back to essentially an unpaid, full-time job. Pray for your children to have open, teachable hearts that are excited about learning. Lastly, pray for yourself to have realistic expectations and a teachable heart which seeks to walk beside, rather than domineer and control.

A large reason we homeschool is to honor God in everything we do, so I begin by dedicating the year to Him and asking for His guidance. Especially when I feel under-prepared or anxious, asking God to help me stay calm and prioritize is crucial.

Decide how you will incorporate God’s word and a Christian worldview into your homeschool. You are doing more than teaching school, you are discipling. Be prepared to contend for your children’s faith with resources that can equip your children to live in a world hostile to Christians.

For our daily routine, we like to start with a prayer and the pledge of Allegiance each morning. Because switching mentally from home to school can be tough, having a short beginning routine helps delineate our school time.

While rest of the day gets a lot more fluid, our routine helps us both start with the right focus. Beginning my planning helps me keep the right focus too.

Secondly, choose a theme verse for your homeschool year.

Proverbs 1:8-9 ESV / Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.

We will probably have additional theme verses as we go along.

Third, you still have time to get physically ready for homeschool!

You can do a deeper clean as you go through the week, but quickly organize your school area. Having a clean space feels like a fresh start. If you have them, new pencils and notebooks add to the feeling of a fresh start which was always my favorite part of the new school year.

Go through all of the books and folders from last year and decide what no longer needs to be kept. If you’re on the fence about keeping something, keep it for tonight. In fact, hang onto some of the lesson plans from the end of last year to use as review for the first week.

Fourth, have a plan!

Make sure that you have a idea of what your first day will look like. I tend to be the type of teacher who has an over arching framework, but doesn’t plan every single minute. We will probably start with some reading and devotion, so we start focusing on God. He has been so faithful in our lives this summer.

Each week, I am planning on having Voice of the Martyrs Monday. We will study the front-line missionaries and evangelists around the world. Starting each week by shifting our focus onto others in prayer and study seems like a good way to stay selfless and humble. Also, we can study the countries and regions of the people for whom we’re praying.

Then we will break up our main subjects over the course of the day, sprinkling in some recess, art, and foreign language. Math is her least favorite subject right now, so we will break up her math into short, manageable chunks so she doesn’t get frustrated or distracted.

Earlier, we laid out her work for tomorrow so she could have a sneak peek and build some excitement.

Plan the family meals for tomorrow or the whole week. Cooking tends to take more of my day than I ever intend, so planning ahead reduces my stress during an already difficult adjustment. Five minutes of prep tonight will save so me so much anxiety tomorrow.

I like to plan dinners and breakfasts for the week. Cooking an elaborate breakfast daily is not my favorite, but I love giving my daughter healthy meals every morning, so I cook in larger batches things like breakfast casseroles or Kodiak Cakes Blueberry Muffins. Cooking once or twice for the week for breakfasts makes mornings run a little easier.

While one benefit of homeschooling is homemade meals, if the first day is stressful, it’s okay to “pack” a lunch. It could even be fun to do together. In general, cooking can be a great way to learn about measuring, following directions, as well as proper nutrition. It’s a great way to combine learning with everyday household responsibilities.

Even lay out clothes for tomorrow. First days are tough transitions, and mornings aren’t our strong suit. Laying out clothes might take me five minutes now, but will save me at least 15 tomorrow when she is tired and grouchy and doesn’t want to go back to school. I even saved a new shirt for her first day!

Fifth, make sure you’re LEGALLY ready for homeschool this year.

Now is the time to make sure you have the fulfilled the requirements of your state for homeschooling and renewed your HSLDA membership.

Why join the Home School Legal Defense Association? They provide a wealth of useful information about homeschooling and offer so many resources for our students. They even offer classes!

Also, if you ever find yourself in trouble due to homeschooling, they will provide legal assistance. Most of us never will, but there are many scary stories about the state asserting their authority over our children that makes it worth it for our family to be protected.

What if you procrastinated and don’t have curriculum yet?

Don’t panic! You can do a lot without any set curriculum.

First, the most important subject for early educational success is reading because everything else hinges on it. You can use any book to practice reading. Reading aloud is good to test fluency and pronunciation. Use the text to work on spelling and vocabulary. Study the author online or the setting for a historical or biographical book.

Secondly, SHOP today – ChristianBook.com often has a homeschool sale going on! We use Alpha Omega Lifepac and really like how it incorporates scriptures and a Christian worldview into every subject.

One free online option is MobyMax.com for basic lessons. To get started, create a free homeschool account. They do have paid options as well. Another option is Easy Peasy all in one homeschool, which is a free online program. A paid program that is also very good is IXL. For the older grades, IXL can almost be your curriculum.

I also like to print out a copy of my state’s grade standards to be ready for homeschool. I go through them throughout the year and make sure we’ve covered and practiced all the skills our state requires even if our choices in how were different.

Lastly, plan your first day pictures and make a cute ‘Back to School’ board!

And get a good night’s sleep. Everything can be an opportunity to learn together. Even an imperfect day can be fertile teaching ground, so relax knowing in all the ways that matter you’re already ready for homeschool.