Homeschooling: Time Management

For some reason I feel God’s calling to talk about time management. Maybe God wants me to evaluate my own inadequacies.

Currently I am homeschooling my two oldest. We often run errands in the morning, and do schooling in the afternoon. This has worked well for us because the two youngest often have quiet time during the afternoon. But then sometimes we have appointments in the afternoon and the whole plan goes down the tubes. My tip is to have a general pattern to your day and try your best to stay afloat. In order to keep school a priority, don’t feel bad if you turn the ringer off the phone for a couple of hours. Because you homeschool, you have the opportunity to bless others with your time in all the other hours.

I would suggest starting your homeschool time in prayer and starting your Bible class first. If you are so concentrated on at least getting the 3 R’s in, those still are secondary to the discipleship that is an even higher priority.

The area of growth I am working on is to begin with not only the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag, but also the Pledge of Allegiance to the Christian Flag and the Christian Bible.

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Christian Flag is as follows:

I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe.

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Bible is as follows:

I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s Holy Word. I will make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God.

I know school is very important in our order of family priorities, but it is often moved later in the day due to medical or dental appointments. Those are important too! A great benefit to homeschooling your children is that you can be more fluid. Some days we do 2-3 days worth of school in one. We have Fridays off entirely because all of the children are in co-op classes, then my oldest daughter has archery class after that. My tip is to leave the paradigm of private/public school alone. It is a blessing to keep things fun and interesting. Sometimes our daughter does a week of history in one afternoon. If she is excited about it and wants more, why stop?

Sometimes the kids are still working on schoolwork after supper. It is really funny! It can be hard to stop. I remind myself that learning happens everywhere. We have great talks in the car. We watch God’s amazing handiwork while we clear out our gardens. Sometimes they are just loving school so much that they don’t want to stop. And that’s one of our top priorities while the children are in elementary school—the love of learning. Keep your priorities in mind, and ignore the rest.

So, do I need to be more organized? Or am I flexing to the needs of the family? Probably both.