Advice for New Homeschoolers on How to Stay Organised
Homeschooling is an excellent option for many families. There are multiple benefits to teaching kids at home, including flexibility, individual attention, and the ability to cater to your child’s special interests.
One of the biggest challenges is staying organised, particularly if you don’t have a dedicated homeschooling area. It’s important to clearly demarcate between school time and family time as you don’t want your home to feel like a classroom.
Organisation is the key to staying on top of homeschooling, ensuring that everyone enjoys the experience.
These tips will help new homeschoolers get organised and stay that way.
Create a Calendar
A major benefit of homeschooling is that you get to create your own academic calendar. You can organise daily lessons and holidays around your work schedule and family needs.
We recommend using a detailed calendar which allows you to easily record lessons, activities, events and holidays. This calendar will help you map out your curriculum and plan lessons. It will also make it easy to coordinate any online coursework.
There are many homeschooling calendar templates available online. It’s also a good idea to encourage your child to use a student planner to keep track of assignments. This will help them become independent learners.
Organise Your Workspace
When you’re just starting out, you’ll need to carefully plan the areas where different activities will take place. This allows you to store learning materials in different parts of your home so they’re easily accessible when you need them.
If reading takes place in the living room, you might prefer to keep books there on a bookshelf or in a basket. Tools for outdoor learning activities can be kept in a storage container in a garden shed or garage.
If you use your dining room table for lessons, it’s best to store textbooks and stationery nearby. Hutches and armoires are perfect for storing supplies discretely.
Use Creative Storage Solutions
Space can be a real issue for homeschoolers with small homes. Fortunately, there are many creative storage solutions to help you solve this problem. One of the best options is to install floating shelves on free wall space. Not only are they functional, but they look great too.
A caddy on wheels is another option that allows you to easily transport books, devices and learning materials to different areas in your home. Caddy’s can be stored in a cupboard when not in use.
If you’re really pressed for space, consider investing in furniture with hidden storage, such as ottomans. You can also buy lounges with storage under the chaise. Plastic tubs are a cheap and simple option, and they can be easily tucked out of the way.
Establish a Routine
Routine is essential to ensuring a smooth-running home classroom. Make sure your child is familiar with your teaching schedule so they know what learning materials they will need for each lesson.
Having a schedule allows kids to be proactive and prepared. At the end of each lesson, your child should pack up themselves. Having a set place for everything makes this process easier for everyone.
In addition to having a clearly defined place for learning materials, you might want to consider colour coding folders and workbooks for different subjects. This will make locating things even easier.
A tutor can help homschoolers and students with organisation and lessons.