What are your priorities? Are you the type to plan ahead? Do you have lists for daily activities, weekly menus, grocery items and coupons . . . or even a list of things for which you need to make a list? Or instead, do you find yourself disorganized and short on teaching time?

I am a Real Mom, not the Martha Stewart of Home Schooling. Planning ahead and staying organized are not my strong suits. I will admit there have been times when I’ve had to run to Wal-mart for underwear when I got too far behind with laundry. And even though I’ve been married to the same wonderful, forbearing man (with a healthy appetite!) for 22 years, there are still days when I’ve simply forgotten to cook dinner.

How does one keep on track with teaching when one is organizationally challenged? I could attempt to inspire you with Biblical principals and great quotes and examples regarding planning ahead. I could set before you lofty goals. I could even try and make you feel guilty for not being better organized. (Although with my own reputation for using a shovel to clear off my desk, who would take me seriously?) But that is not my purpose.

Doing my best in home schooling is important to me and, therefore, I’ve had to develop strategies for successfully completing each year. I hope these ideas will encourage you as well.
 
Before I share, one caveat:  you have to find your own style. Just because I do things a certain way doesn’t mean you should, too. I intend for this list to be suggestions - not the ten commandments of home schooling. If a tip doesn’t work for you, evaluate and adjust it, or toss it.

10 Tips I’ve Learned the Hard Way

1. Plan. Okay, you’re laughing at me. But at some point I realized that if my kids’ educations were really important to me, I’d have to put some time into planning. Realistically, I know I won’t keep up with daily lesson plans. But I found out that I can sit down once a month and write out monthly objectives. What works best for you? A summer planning marathon? Monthly planning times? Weekly updates or nightly reviews of what you got done that day and hope to accomplish the next?

2. Consolidate Teaching Time. How often per week do you teach history or science? Do you and your children function best with a little everyday? A medium amount 2 or 3 times per week? Or a big chunk once a week? For me it works best to teach these two courses twice a week through about fifth grade, moving to a weekly time frame in the upper grades. On the days I’m not specifically teaching, they have reading and other assignments to work on. I find doing history or science in one or two big chunks is more interesting because we can dig deeper into the subject before running out of time.

3. Choose Your Time Wisely. Know your students, yourself, and your household. When would be most productive? Personally, I could care less about Alexander the Great at 8:00 a.m. but find him truly fascinating later in the day!