Maridel Willer

Homeschool Organization Tip #5 - Delegate Responsibilities

Now that you have developed a workable routine, it is important to delegate the appropriate responsibilities on this list to your family.  One of the best things about homeschooling is having the time to train your children in practical life skills.  Teaching them to complete their tasks willingly will help build character and a good work ethic.

Train younger children by having them be your helpers at first.  This may make your chores take longer than doing them by yourself at first, but it will pay off in the long run as they gain experience. 

Once they learn each job, you can have them do it alone while you or an older child supervises them.  When they can perform the task thoroughly, graduate them to working alone and then inspect their work at completion until you are confident that they can do the work to the standard you require.

A list of suggested chores for different ages will be included in my book, “Create a Family Routine that WORKS for YOU”.  Subscribe to the Home Centered Life newsletter to get updates on this book by going to the signup form on the home page of this site.

Homeschool Organization Tip #4 - Establish and Follow a Routine

When I came home from the highly structured environment of the corporate world, the last thing that I wanted to do was follow a rigid schedule.  I was enjoying the new spontaneous lifestyle that did not require me to live by the clock.

As my babies became toddlers and preschoolers, I realized the value of having a routine to better organize how we spent our time each day. 

First of all, a routine is not a schedule.  A schedule is rigid and has assigned times that must be adhered to.  A routine is more of a general order of how your day will flow and includes a list of activities that should be completed by the end of the day.  A routine is flexible.  Some of the activities can be done in a different order or even eliminated as necessary each day.

The benefits of having a daily routine include: (more…)

Homeschool Organization Tip#3  - Build in Margin

Do you have margin in your life? 

Are you able to complete all of the tasks you have planned for the day and have some time left over for spontaneous opportunities to fellowship with or serve others?  Do you even have a plan for each day, or are you controlled by the schedule of events that take you away from home each day?

Are you trying to do more activities outside the home or more schoolwork inside the home than God is calling you to do for this season of your life?  Are there pressing issues or tasks that are screaming for your attention that you have not be able to get to because of lack of margin?

Building margin in our lives is critical.  It keeps us from growing weary in well doing.  It prevents us from pushing our bodies beyond their God designed limit and it can protect our physical and emotional health. (more…)

Have you been getting motivated to clean out the clutter and get your home fresh and clean for spring?

Have you ever gotten discouraged by the rule for organizing that says you should have a home for everything?  Do you need to re-think your current storage?

If you are plagued by homeless items or inconvenient storage that keeps you from putting everything in its place, try these these tips for designing a workable storage plan.

A good storage plan considers three elements:  category, location, and routine. (more…)

We were helping some good friends load a large shipping container to move their worldly possessions to Hawai, when I heard loud screaming and crying and then saw my husband walk into the house carrying my 8 year old daughter with blood all over her face and his shirt.

She had run into an immovable object. 

While playing tag at full speed in the dark, she ducked under the shipping container and her forehead had made direct contact with the trailer hitch hanging below it.   As I began praying and simultaneously wiped the blood off her forehead, I realized it wasn’t as bad as it looked, but it was definitely going to require stitches, so off we went for our first trip to the emergency room.

I breathed a prayer of thanks that my husband was with us as he sped down the road and I attempted to comfort the injured child and her now crying little brother.  My daughter was screaming at the top of her lungs “I’m NOT going… I’m NOT going… I AM NOT GOING!

I launched into maximum mom mode with comforting tone yet firm in my counsel, explaining how it was important that we have the cut checked to make sure she was going to be fine and that they would probably only put some liquid bandage on the cut to protect it and we would be right there with her and I didn’t think it would hurt at all.  All the while I was thinking, “Lord, I really don’t want to walk into the hospital carrying a hysterical child.” (more…)

Homeschool Organizing Tip#2 - Set Goals and Priorities

With pen and paper in hand, take the time to sit down with your spouse to prayerfully determine what priorities and goals you want to focus on in this season for your family.  Some of the priorities you might include are:

     Learning to love God

     Learning to love and serve others

     Developing a love of learning

     Achieving competency in basic skills

     Cultivating specific gifts in each of your children

Examples of some goals you might make include:

     Memorizing a defined amount of scripture as a family

     Taking a trip to a place you have been learning about

     Lessons for a musical instrument or other interest for a child

     Reading aloud from a classic book each evening

     Training children in basic housekeeping tasks

     Completing a course or curriculum

     Performing an in-depth study of a particular topic

Taking time to communicate and document what is most important to you will be invaluable in helping you make decisions on how to spend your family’s time, money and energy in the coming year.

Stay tuned for additional posts on the “Ten Steps to an Organized Homeschool”.

Homeschool Organizing Tip #1 -  Cultivate Family Relationships.

Healthy family relationships are critical to gaining the cooperation of your family on the journey to becoming organized.  Do a relationship checkup - are there some bad attitudes that need adjusting (including mom’s)?  Is someone feeling neglected?  Does bitterness exist between siblings?  Focus on healing relationships before incorporating changes in other areas.

After assessing problems areas, take steps to move in the right direction.  Often are relationship problems stem from poor communication habits that cause others to feel unloved or not respected.  Disobedience and lack of respect for authority may also be a problem that will hinder your future organizational attempts.  Pray for the Lord to help you make the necessary changes and set a joyful tone for your family.

Stay tuned for additional posts on the “Ten Steps to an Organized Homeschool”.

Are you looking for greater peace and productivity in your homeschool?  Getting organized can make a huge difference in your ability to get everything done with joy.  Here are my top ten tips to an organized homeschool.

1.  Cultivate Relationships

2.  Set Goals and Priorities

3.  Build in Margin

4.  Establish and Follow a Routine

5.  Delegate Responsibilities

6.  Communicate Expectations

 7.  Clear out the Clutter

8.  Organize Books and Supplies

9.  Simplify your Record Keeping

10.  Let your Plans be your Slave, not your Master

 I will expand on each of these topics in subsequent posts.

Children love to pretend to do the things they see their parents doing.  Every day we are modelling how to be a grownup to them.  What values are you modelling to your children?

A couple of weeks ago, my children were deeply involved in a business that they had set up in my 6 year old son’s bedroom.  When I took at peek at what they were up to, I found that they had turned large plastic containers on their sides to make computer monitors and had taped drawings of keyboards to the table.  They had mades piles of books around the room and were busy with their work.

Then I saw what they had taped to the screen of their pretend monitors.  My 8 year old daughter had made an accurate reproduction of an ebay screen, complete with book listings.  They were busy taking photos and pretending to write their auction descriptions.

Now, while I am thrilled that they have caught my love of great books, I realized that perhaps I had spent a little too much time searching for book treasures lately!  Maybe they thought that they could capture more of my attention by entering into one of my passion areas? 

I responded by grabbing a book off the shelf to read to them as they played, and I turned off the computer for the rest of the day.  The book hunting could wait until they were asleep.    

Spending time in the woods is a wonderful way to teach your children about the wonders of God’s creation.  A camping trip to a beautiful location is perfect for getting away from the bustle and distraction of everyday life and finding spontaneous teachable moments to enjoy with your children.

A great way to prepare for a trip is to check out nature guides and other books about the flora and fauna of the location you will be traveling to.  Put these out a week or so before your trip for everyone to browse through and ask questions about.  Take binoculars, a field guide and notebooks or sketchbooks to spot, identify and document the discoveries that you make.

On a recent trip to Lake Kissimee State Park, we spotted deer grazing near an empty campsite and quietly followed them through the feild, watching them for some time before they bounded away into the woods.

As we turned to go back into the campground, we notice the flicker of that familiar artificial blue light coming from the RV closest to where the deer were grazing.  The folks inside that RV were spending their afternoon watching sports on their built in large screen TV.  How sad that so many of us miss the rare and beautiful things because we are focused on the world’s artificial entertainment.

 Go camping or hiking with your family.  And leave the laptop, TV and cell phones at home!