3 Homeschool Planning Mistakes You Might be Making
Mistakes help us grow, but they are also pointless if you don’t learn from them. I’m hoping that you can learn from my mistakes, so that you aren’t sitting in your closet floor with a pint of chocolate peanut butter ice cream and wine a few days into the school year. Just a hypothetical ?
What am I talking about? Planning and all of the time and energy that can be drained by it. These are only my top 3 planning mistakes (there are many more). These are the traps you should avoid. At several points along the way, I threw up my arms in frustration and declared, “I give up!”. You don’t have to repeat my mistakes and experience. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Please see my full disclosure here.
Top 3 Planning Mistakes
- Planning too much
- Not planning enough
- Planning daily
Planning Too Much
You might be like me. I had visions of reading and science projects and an immersive environment that Harry Potter would have been proud of. Just like what I thought parenting would be like vs. reality, the reality of homeschooling did not meet the high standards set in literature.
When I first started homeschooling, I planned for a full day of school with way too much brain work. Not knowing much about little kid education (I am certified in 7-12 and have taught at the college level for over a decade), I required too much concentration and focus for too long of a period.
Once we weren’t able to keep up that pace, I was flustered and pushy trying to “get caught up“. This was the disaster you can imagine it being. I was also trying to homeschool in the fringe hours which wasn’t ideal for my kiddo or myself. The natural response is to go the other direction.
Not Planning Enough
I decided that none of the curriculum was working (and most of it wasn’t) and we would unschool instead. I loved the idea of a lifestyle of interest-led learning. It DID NOT fit our family.
A big reason was our busy schedule. I love the hmmmschooling mom’s post on The Hidden Harm in Following Your Interests. My kids’ interest are also not super academic and it became apparent that they would need intensive reading and math instruction so we scrapped unschooling.
Planning Daily
Just when you thought I would learn to chill out, that isn’t what happened. I started planning daily. That was a catastrophe. I finally got in a rhythm where I was planning about the right amount, but there was no room for field trips or little learning rabbit trails.
Every day was planned, so if something came up, the entire plan (and all the time it took to create it) were just out the window. Then we were back to trying to figure out where we were, what we needed to be doing, and how we “got so far behind”. The stress of constantly needing to catch up was a joy killer and I don’t want you and your kids to go through that.
How I Plan Differently Now
I start with the big picture. I look at everything for the next school year in terms of travel plans, birthdays, and holidays. Then I add in breaks from our tutorial. This gives me a dose of realism.
You can grab my editable planning templates by entering your name and email below and I will send them to your inbox.
The next big change that is my biggest recommendation for you is planning weekly using a system with built-in FLEXIBILITY. I would plan our reading and math for 6 weeks at a time and then re-evaluate. These were our areas of focus, so that worked at the time.
Unfortunately, because I was just going to use the class syllabus to “help guide” our other subjects, they were often rushed or totally forgotten. This year things are different. The first difference is that everyone is a proficient reader. That is a big one. This will be the first year that I can feel confident giving some independent work. The second is that I am using a crate
Lack of Flexibility has been a long-term issue
After homeschooling 5 years over a 7 year period, I have been searching blogs and Pinterest homeschool hacks for a long time. I had seen weekly crate systems before and had even tried to do one, but I did it ALL WRONG. I labeled everything by week, which means that I took away all the flexibility of the system. The folders were labeled, the work was labeled, even the books had little sticky flags with weeks labeled on them. I bought a label maker, in order to help make labeling easier.
So what happened if something came up during a week, we were behind again and ALL the work needed to be relabeled and moved. I would start running my fingers through my hair and taking deep (not so cleansing breaths) as my frustration would mount. I was often just overwhelmed by all of the lost time, but my kiddos have a great ability to avoid doing work. That is one of their superpowers. That would just cause more tension and again joy killing.
My struggling learners couldn’t get caught up, they would be understandably upset with my pushing. Everyone was in tears. It became a mess, everything with scribbles all over it and total chaos. This year I have the entire first semester planned for two kiddos and work ready for tot school for the 2-year-old in the house, but anything we don’t get done – just gets moved to the next week.
Changes that helped me get organized and planned.
What is the difference? There are a few things that have happened. One is my own mindset. I have really tried to protect my kids because of their learning differences, but last year in tutorial class they both blossomed and found their niche. Realizing that I was holding them back by assumptions from previous years, was eye-opening.
This year my expectations are higher (with accommodations and modifications available) and I’ll begin to encourage more independent learning. They’ve developed and grown. My kids are older and love the independence (most of the time). I also realize that we aren’t in a season to sit down and read and color all day (that also doesn’t fit my boys well) so I have changed my way of thinking. They need structure and routine.
The other difference is that I decided to invest in learning more about organizing. I’m not naturally organized (I know I keep mentioning it, but if you are with me you understand), so I finally accepted that I needed help.
I tried workboxes, folders, sticky notes, expensive Ikea systems, and wine without success (chocolate did seem to help a little). Realizing I needed help, I decided to take a course. You can read a more detailed review by clicking here.
The result is that I feel organized and ready to start the school year with a plan for the entire first semester! After hundreds of dollars (or maybe even thousands), I took the Ultimate Homeschool Organization Course and it has been worth every penny.
My New System
I love the Clover Crate’s flexibility. This system provided the right mix of structure and flexibility for our family. I am a type A creative so I need a little more flexibility. The reason it is so flexible is NOTHING is labeled. If we don’t get to something we can just move it to next week’s folder (or move the whole folder)- easy peasy.
This means that our homeschool can’t “get behind”. We just extend the year. We are always exactly where we need to be for the year. No more frustration or pushing to get it done, no more we need to “catch up”. Just move a folder. I have 18 weeks in our first semester, but I have planned for 14 weeks. I tend to overplan a little, so this gives me 4 weeks of flexibility. That allows time for field trips and stomach bugs.
I just felt my shoulders relax typing that. I want you to let go of the tension and the feeling of “gotta get it done” and just breath and repeat whatever your reason was for homeschooling. Ours was flexibility and when I started planning around that it’s made a huge difference.
What I have in my crate:
- social studies
- geography
- grammar
- writing
- handwriting
- science
- read alouds for tutorial (using index cards to note which books)
What I don’t have in my crate:
- Reading
- Math
- Spelling
This system has changed my outlook on the school year. Now I just need to work on a whine reducing mechanism for the kids. I hope you have found this post helpful and that you can avoid some of the planning mistakes that have plagued our homeschool. If you are interested in the organization course, that I mentioned, check it out here.
