This back to homeschool articles is for all of us who have had a long summer break and have to adjust certain things, plan for others and get ourselves ready for the new school year. They are a series of thoughts that I have had each time we head back to homeschool after our long December holidays.

By sharing them with you, precious moms, who choose to be with your children, I hope you will be encouraged and strengthened in your roles this year. This is not a “1, 2, 3” list to follow, just a collection of ideas and thoughts to encourage you all.

ADMIT your failings. Admit them to yourself and to our Father. Those areas that you know you did not cover with your children, those areas that you did not take care of with your spouse, the areas in your home where you need help. Admit them, set them at the foot of the cross and ask Him to lead you on.

BEGIN to plan, in your head or on paper. Think through what you would like your year to be like. More peace in your home? More time for you? More time to play with your little ones? More time out with your husband? What stationary do you need to buy? Make a list of the art supplies, notebooks and other materials you need to get. Visit: Organize your homeschool

CONVEY your ideas to your husband. Chat about these things. Talk about the things that concern you about your children. Ask him for his input. Then chat with your children casually as you are about your days work. Tell them of your hopes and dreams for them. Encourage them in their homeschooling walk. When you have your plans firmed up, share with them your vision. Visit: Homeschool Vision

DECIDE on what your focus for the year will be. Is it to increase your children’s health and fitness or to help them in their difficult area of reading or maths? Maybe you want to focus on missionaries this year or inventors. Look at your children’s interests and decide how you can validate and grow those.

ELIMINATE all those things that cause confusion in your home and heart. Get rid of the unused books and workbooks that gather dust and make you feel guilty for not using them. Stop listening to all the voices in your head that bind you. God’s Holy Spirit is more than able to lead you in truth as you set your hearts on Him. He can help you to hold onto the good that the “experts” offer and chuck the twaddle.

FACE your fears. We all have them. They lurk in the recesses of your brain. The what if’s...What if my child doesn’t like being homeschooled? What if my child rebels as a young adult? What if my husband gets sick? Confess these fears to God and ask Him for an unwavering faith and open ears and a moldable heart.

GEAR UP and anticipate the busyness around little tots, preschoolers, older children, activities, church commitments, extra murals. Get the systems in place to make this smoother. Knowing what you are about to face is a good thing as you can then think through the difficulties associated with the situations and fill the potholes.

HOPE and trust in Him who is more than enough for you. Hope for the best in your children. Hope for the good changes in your relationships with your husband, children and friends.

INITIATE the plans that you have laid down. Maths does not get acquired by osmosis. Well trained children are not achieved without work.

JOKE and keep your sense of humor. Make sure you have time for the lighter side of life with your husband and children. Take the time...PLAN the time to play. Sign up for my FREE monthly E-zine: A Living Education for lots of inspiration like family and sibling play ideas as well as romantic ideas for you and your husband.

KICK the bad habits. The ones in you and in your children. Yelling, unkindness, laziness, apathy, disorganization…address them one by one. Replace the habits in little steps with a good attribute.

LESSON PLANS need to be set out. Just because you have a plan or a timetable (however loose it needs to be) does not mean that you are cramping yours or your children’s style. It is good to know what you desire to cover in your day, week, term and year. It’s like a route map on a journey. It shows where you are starting from and where you hope to end up. Remember to keep good records of your children’s work for their portfolios if they are doing assessments at the end of the year. Don’t forget to photograph their large projects. Visit: Free Homeschool Printables

MEALS for hungry growing children need to be thought through. It’s a bad situation to be in at the end of the school morning with no lunch for children or to come home late after an extramural and have no dinner planned or prepared. Visit: Menu Planning

NUTURE your relationship with your husband and children. Even as a homeschooling mom when you spend time with your children there can be the essence of mothering missing if you are too busy with other things. Find ways to grow your relationship with your husband. One day when the children are grown you want a relationship with the man you married. You want to have well established joint interests. Visit: Romantic Ideas for Married Couples

ORDER your space to reflect the interest of your family. Whether or not you have large amounts of space available for a school room set up or just a dining room table is not the issue. Take the space that you have and creatively use it to ensure that your older children have a peaceful place for learning disciplines and areas where they can put their own flare. Find space for messy play for younger children. Pray and ask God to help you order your space.

PURCHASE the things you need for your school year. Most have already ordered their curriculum by the end of the year but take advantage of the back to school offers at all major stores and stock up on the things you need like exercise books, packs of pencils and erasers. It is always good to have more than one pencil per child. Let them have one and keep the other in a safe place for the inevitable “Mom, I can’t find my pencil!”

QUIET TIME with God will become the anchor in your day that helps you settle your heart before you run head long into your activities. Some like the early morning, others late a t night. Whichever time suits you, make sure you have it. Read the Bible, use your concordance for a specific word study, pray and journal. Grow in your identity as a Christian which is what you are first before wife and mother. Visit: Caring for your spirit

RECLAIM the reasons that you decided to homeschool. This can become blurred when you have been walking the walk for a long time. It can become fuzzy when you read too many different philosophies and your vision can become confused when you spend time listening and comparing yourself to other homeschooling families. Write these reasons down in your journal and read them through.

STRATEGIZE for your family. Set them up to win by becoming the person God wants you to become. Take their small interests and help develop them. Keep your eyes open for opportunities that can help further your purposes for your family. Find ways or create ways where their strengths can be honed to highly developed skills. Get other “weaker” areas to be built up to an acceptable level for proper functioning in the 21st century.

TRAIN your children to seek first after God and His purposes in their lives. Train them to help you in the home. Train them on how to behave with their siblings and with peers. Train yourself in the areas that you are lacking, so that you are above reproach when dealing with their indiscretions.

UNDERSTAND your children’s childish sorrows and excitements. Understand your homeschooling peers differences in approaches, try and not sway them to your way of doing things. Understand your husband’s needs and cater for them. And understand your own motives for everything that you do. Measure them up to God’s holy standard and deal with them accordingly.

VISION is imperative for the homeschooling mom as she will tend to get bogged down with the academic side of schooling. With a clear vision you will keep going even in the foggy times. Write it down in your journal and ear mark the page for the slumps that may come in this next year. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

X-out the unnecessary. Blot out the mistakes from last year and do not repeat them. Forgive yourself if necessary and ask God’s forgiveness and walk forth in freedom.

YIELD yourself to the work of His hand. Do not be found struggling as He comes to you in His love to draw you to Himself and woo you with His love. Let go of the falsities of worldly life and feminist thinking and let Him give you a new wineskin to fill with His wine.

ZESTFULLY look forward to this new school year and anticipate good things for your family as you allow God to have His way in your heart, family and homes.

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