4 Things to Do for a Good Start to Your Homeschool Year | Homeschool Planning Tips

Planning the homeschool year can be a time-consuming and stressful challenge. How is homeschooling sustainable if it is stressful? If you don’t want to start your homeschool year stressed out, tired, or unorganized, follow these 4 simple tips to help you have a good start to your homeschool year! (FREE Planning Pages included!)

There I was with my face in my hands wondering how in the world the summer had gone by so fast. I felt like we just finished the school year, and we actually finished early! And here I was, staring at blank pages of my planner, about to start homeschool planning for another year.

You would think going into my 10th year of homeschooling that it would be such a breeze by now. And it’s not that it’s difficult, but it is a time-consuming process. I, personally, do a lot of re-examining before each school year. I re-examine our family values, goals, new passions and interests, curriculum and resources, learning styles, and sometimes I have another child joining the homeschool table. And because most of these things don’t change from year to year, my planning goes smoothly and enjoyably.

But this year in particular, adding our 5th child to our homeschool table and starting reading with our 6th, I was beginning to feel more stressed than most years. I realized that what I was feeling was due to pressures and stresses that were completely unnecessary. Then, my heart hurt as I realized so many other mamas in preparation mode were feeling the same stresses and pressures.

We believe in creating everything, from products to our homeschool, to be simple, delightful, and sustainable. Because if we don’t make things simple and delightful, then those things are almost impossible to make sustainable. We believe slow living and sustainability can be applied to almost all areas of our lives. So we have come up with 4 simple and delightful things to do for a good start to your homeschool year to make homeschooling more sustainable.

4 Things to Do for a Good Start to Your Homeschool Year

1. Take your time picking your homeschool start date.

The very first thing I realized was pressuring me was the calendar. Yes, that thing. That thing with the days, numbers, and months that just hangs on the wall or sits empty in planners waiting for its white spaces to be filled. That thing that said August at the top was intimidating me. But here’s the kicker. Just because public and private schools start in August, doesn’t mean that our homeschools must start in August. And I feel like schools start earlier every year! The public school calendar does not have to determine when you start your homeschool year.

That realization, that I subconsciously already knew, helped me take a breath which was followed by so much relief. I know it’s August, but we don’t have to follow the public school calendar year at all. Maybe that works for you, but you don’t HAVE to. In my past 9 years of homeschooling, I never really followed the public school year calendar. In Indiana, when most of my kids were young, we used to homeschool all year round for only about 2-3 hours in the morning. We did not take lengthy breaks like schools do. Last year, here in Georgia, was the first time we even loosely choose our start date near public school dates. Because of Georgia requirements, we got into more of a 9 month school year flow.

We believe that “so much of life is living, active, education ALL around us ALL of the time”! This is not just part of our homeschool belief, this is a mentality and lifestyle that we pursue. We try not to allow ourselves to wonder if our children are learning “enough”. Creating an atmosphere and space for exploration, discovery, passion, and creativity in our home supports our children’s learning and education. But this year, even with our belief on education being a lifestyle, I found myself still feeling pressured to start by a certain date. I still had to remind myself, we don’t have to start when public school starts!

2. Take your time planning your homeschool year.

Okay, so now we know, with great relief, that we don’t have to start when public school starts. Therefore, we don’t have to feel overwhelmed or pressured to hurry through our planning and prep just because we think we have to start by a certain date. We don’t. We can still pick our date ahead of time and start planning way in advance. This, of course, allows us to take our time. But, if your summer happened to slip away from you as quick as mine did, there is no judgment and there is no rush.

Maybe you have other reasons that you need some extra time to plan and start your homeschool year. Maybe you’ve had a new baby, a job change, a kid to take to college, a loss, or a move. Whatever it is, let me encourage you not to let the pressures of schools starting, or your current circumstances, cause you to hurry through your planning. This is your family’s homeschool year, so you have the blessed opportunity to adjust it to your family’s needs. Let’s take a deep breath together, friend, and take our time planning a homeschool year full of wonder and delight.

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3. Declutter and start with a clean, organized space.

One major stressor that I had on my To-Do List for months was decluttering and organizing our homeschool closet. I kept procrastinating the task because I just kept getting closer to a new homeschool year. I knew that I always go through and declutter and organize the closets before we start our homeschool year, so I figured I’d just wait til then. But, truth be told, I had to declutter it once or twice during the school year itself just to keep it from bursting at the seams with papers and books.

So as a part of my homeschool planning week, I made it a priority to tackle the closet and other spaces that we used for storing anything homeschool. And I did it with no excuses. Not even a prior thought. I knew if I thought about it, I would likely think of an excuse not to do it. This time, I asked my oldest two children to help with the process. I asked them to simply take everything out. They didn’t have to clean or go through anything. Just having them help me get started saved me time, and gave me no way out. And I didn’t need a way out because I knew that having this space clean and organized would help everyone know where everything was. This would mean that trips to the homeschool closet would be easy and peaceful.

Many of our homeschool materials, including supplemental work and other grades not in use, in my personal walk-in closet. We don’t have much space in the dining room where we homeschool, but I had plenty of extra space in my oversized closet. So, that’s where the items landed. Plus, I prefer to keep our dining room clutter free for easy transitions from school to dinner, and back again.

Some people have beautiful homeschool rooms and spaces with libraries and fully stocked shelves. We just don’t have that kind of space, so I make sure everything gets put away and out of sight. We do not keep anything in the dining room except our table and what’s on. This helps my kids maneuver around the table easily, have all the space they need, and transition easily for the table’s multiple purposes. Decluttering and starting with a clean, organized space will help your family have a good start to your homeschool year.

4. Start your homeschool year refreshed.

A wonderful way to get off to a good start in your homeschool year is to start when you all have taken a break and are refreshed. Not straight out of a week of intense planning and prep, or exhausting vacations or events, and not when the kids are still struggling with staying up late and sleeping in. Rest is essential for everyone to cultivate peace in starting the homeschool year. You can gradually get the kids up earlier, get their energy out during the day, and get them to bed earlier. I have to do this in and out of the seasons.

Once everyone is in a good sleep and wake routine that will support a peaceful homeschool atmosphere, it will be an easier start. So, whenever you are done setting your date, planning, decluttering, and organizing, the very next thing to do is rest. Once you and your children are rested, you will be able to start your homeschool year refreshed!

Conclusion

The planning it takes to prepare for the homeschool year, and get back into routine is challenging enough. And we don’t want to add stress or overwhelm to the start of our homeschool years. So, there are a few simple things that we can do for a good start to our homeschool year. We can help make our homeschool years simple, delightful, and sustainable.

Before you start your homeschool year:

• Take your time picking your homeschool start date.
• Take your time planning your homeschool year.
• Declutter and start with a clean, organized space.
• Start your homeschool year refreshed.

We hope that this was encouraging and helps you to live more abundantly in your homeschool. If you enjoyed this, please share. Leave us a comment about how this encouraged or helped you; we’d love to hear from you! And we hope that you sign up below for even more FREEBIES from us to help you on your adventure.

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Live abundantly!