Does homeschool planning seem like it might suck the life out of you every year? If this time of year is especially grueling for you, trying something new can make things so much easier!

Some of us are planners and some of us – not so much. I know some moms, including myself, who love order. They love to plan out the school year and get it laid all out for goals to tackle and achieve. On the other hand, I have heard some moms calling their planning period the month of dread. I know these moms can use homeschool planning that doesn’t suck the life out of them.

As much as I love order and planning out goals for our homeschool, I have to admit it stresses me out – without fail – every time.

The Reality Of Homeschool Planning

 

Picture a mom plopped down on the couch, stress written all over her face,  paralyzed with the fear of failure. This is me when I try to plan.

I buy supplies, start getting things planned, and then I plop down on the couch.

I start to wonder if all I have set forth for us is even possible. I don’t even know if the first weeks I planned are feasible. I wonder if we are doing too much then I wonder if we are doing too little.

I wonder if my family will go through the same struggles this year as last year and what do I do if I want to give up and…and…

Sound familiar?

 

Homeschool Planning Doesn’t Have To Be Complicated

Then I come to my senses and remember that there are things I do that get me through.  Here are a few things that I keep at the forefront of my homeschool planning to get past it sucking the life out of me:

Remember why you wanted to homeschool in the first place.

I remember how many years I wanted to homeschool and my husband was just NOT on board. I have two degrees, and my husband just couldn’t understand why I would want to homeschool when I could be making money in a “real job.” It was tough when my heart was wanting to be with my children as they grow older. We cannot get back these years, we are doing what we feel is best for our home.

Remain flexible and use your homeschool planning as a framework.

Like I said homeschool planning is good for me because I like order and it keeps me in line for the year. I use Homeschool Planet to plan my entire school year, specialized for my son and daughter. It does take me hours of building the framework then it just takes a few clicks on the Homeschool Planet organizer to build the year.

The Homeschool Planet planner is super flexible, and you can reschedule assignments and due dates easily without losing the bird’s eye view of what needs to be made up and caught up on. There is like a method to the madness that is flexible enough to fit any crazy lifestyle of a homeschool family. We also don’t have school on Fridays which gives all something to look forward to, and it is nice we have the freedom to do that.

Homeschool Planet’s homeschool organizer and planner has truly taken any type of planning stress away and keeps everything in order for us.

Homeschool Planet’s planner online is a quick and easy planning system. My favorite features of Homeschool Planet’s online planner include:

• Being able to create your school calendar in minutes utilizing semesters, terms, or quarters with an automatic and instant calculation of the number of school days per term
• Easily clicking to create classes, assignments, field trips and appointments which are timed or untimed and single or recurring events
• Adding, editing, or deleting weblinks to assignments for one-click access to online curricula and resources
• Uploading PDFs to lesson plans for one-click access for your student
• Creating, saving, and reusing plans with other children in the future
• The automatic assignment generator is a savior and saves you tons of time

Have an established routine in place for your homeschool.

When children automatically know what they need to do, the day flows smoother. There may be some outliers, maybe when grandma slips in some candy to the kids the night before or if someone is cranky that day. However, a routine schedule helps their stability and normalcy even if things get a little crazy throughout the day. We know if something comes up during the week, Friday is or make-up day and everyone is OK with that because they are prepared for it.

When I remember these three things have saved us year after year, I feel better. I know I can do it. I know I can make it one more year. Public school seems less appealing and I am excited for the year to come.

Easy and Effective Homeschool Planning With Homeschool Planet

Check out Homeschool Planet for yourself with a 30-day FREE trial. No credit card information is necessary to give it a try!

At last — an easy, flexible, full-featured online planner that doesn’t require hours to learn. Just launch, click on the calendar, and start adding classes, assignments, and appointments!

Homeschool Planet works directly with curriculum companies to bring you integrated lessons plans. With Homeschool Planet lesson plans, homeschooling has never been easier!