It is time to begin a new year of homeschool (unless you homeschool year round, but that’s another post).

Homeschooling moms must juggle teaching with housework, cooking, shopping, mothering, being a good wife.  My best advice is for you to PLAN & PRAY…

Here is a list of planning tips:

1.  Write out goals for the family as a whole and for each child. Make sure that the goals are realistic and not idealistic.  They are to aim for, but not to cause discouragement.  Keep in mind, the beauty of homeschooling is its flexibilility.  These goals will allow you to be focused in your planning.  You will be able to achieve more with goals than without.

2.  Declutter the house. There are excellent books available to help you with this task.  Basically, you need to throw away, give away, or store enough stuff to make your home easier to keep in order and more peaceful to live in.  It is great to have a “clean out” day with the whole family involved.  With some children, though, this is difficult when they don’t want to let any of their possessions go.  If you have room in the attic, let your child pack a box of toys to store there rather than having to give them away or throw them away.  (My daugher-now 18-still remembers and reminds me that I got rid of some of her dearly loved stuffed animals years ago!  I learned my lesson and never again did I make a decision about her things without letting her be involved!!)

3.  Work up a new chore chart, post it, and make sure everyone is doing their part. If the children have gotten rusty on completing chores over the summer, or if moms and dads have been slack on holding them accountable for their work, then it is time to get the chore routines back in gear!  This is essential for me to have time for homeschool.  These days it is so easy to make chore charts on a word processor.  When we started homeschooling, over 20 years ago, I made them with paper, pencil, and ruler.  My children always enjoyed marking off chores and receiving a  sticker to mount on the chart when all their daily chores were completed.

4. Plan for meals;  keep them simple. We mostly have cereal for breakfast.  Sometimes one of the children cooks breakfast.  I always encourage them to take on more responsibility and learn how to do new things. Lunch is usually sandwiches, leftover pizza, soup, and/or fruit.  As soon as the kids are old enough, they make their own lunch.  They really enjoy being able to decide what they want and fix it themselves.  Then occasionally, I make lunch for everybody.  Supper is the meal that needs to be planned for.  You will feel twice as burnt out if you are scurrying around in the late afternoon trying to make a good supper for your family without a plan in place.  I recommend once a month cooking to supply 2-4 meals weekly from the freezer.  Oooo….that takes so much pressure off of your daily schedule.  Cooking one or two meals that take a substantial amount of time is a lot easier than cooking like that every day.  Plan some quick menus to fill in the rest of days a week.  Again, be realistic in your meal planning…but plan you must.

5.  As good as planning is, it falls far short without prayer and seeking wisdom from the Lord.  As I tell my children, reading the Word and prayer ALWAYS has priority over homeschool academics.

Proverbs 16:9 says “The mind of the man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.