Homeschooling your children can be great for connection, but it's important to plan for your first week so that you can set the tone for a great year. Here are a few ideas for making a great first week of homeschool.
- Create a fun back to school basket. I put items such as craft supplies (this year was knitting supplies and a whittling kit), a new watercolor notebook, pencils and watercolor paints, and any other items they need replaced. Click here for a few more ideas.
- Start with a meeting. Before you try to get a bunch of subjects done, just have a morning meeting where you show them what they will be working on, give them any needed instructions, and help them understand the schedule for the year. You should already have interviewed them for their input on what to learn or what extra activities to add, but this would be a good time to answer any questions and make sure they understand the expectations for the year.
- Ease into the full subject load. With the Peaceful Press resources we keep things simplified so you have time for interest led studies, but whatever resource you are using, make sure you ease in slowly. We kept up our morning time over the summer, but I"m starting little by little to have my students copy Spanish words, work on watercolor notebooks, read poetry aloud, and review math terms so that they don't get overwhelmed by too much, too fast.
- Stop before tears. If you or your children are getting frustrated, back off and try something else. Maybe that means playing a math game to review facts instead of finishing the math worksheet, or only copying half the copywork page instead of the whole thing, but be aware of how things are going and learn to adjust as needed.
- Keep growing. Maybe your first day won't be perfect, but keep working towards progress little by little and paying attention to the small wins. Pay attention to all that your children are learning through your conversations, through their play, and even through mastery of good habits and chores.
Are you still deciding which resources to use this year?
We have elementary resources that offer learning centered around beautiful stories, and preschool and kindergarten resources that are full of hands on learning fun. We help you create happy memories around learning.