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How to Fail at Homeschooling….

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Homeschooling your children is a monumental task. If you ask, most homeschool moms would tell you that their biggest fear is failing! Everyone wants to get it right and do the best for their children. However, sometimes trying hard not to fail at homeschooling is the surest way to fail! Here are seven ways to fail at homeschooling and what to do instead.

Making Homeschool Your Number #1 Priority

This would seem like a positive move. Making homeschooling your top priority will make you work harder and focus on success which will guarantee you do not fail, right? Wrong! Your homeschool is important but it cannot come before all the truly important people in your life. Your husband, your children, and God should always be your primary focus. When homeschooling ranks above everyone and everything else, you will be missing out on the special opportunities to enjoy your family and will quickly burn out. You need clear priorities that place homeschool in its proper place, as something you do not your sole reason for being.

Tips for Success:

Homeschooling is important and can become consuming. However, it should never take the place of your focus on your family and faith. After all, those are probably the reasons you started homeschooling in the first place. You will have more success if homeschooling is a family priority that does not get in the way of living your life.

Great Expectations

You start your homeschool journey or the new year with high hopes. You are going to make this the best homeschool ever. Your children will love every activity and excel in every subject. You will show the world how superior the homeschool model is! Failure is not an option. With homeschooling, you children will be perfect. They will enter college at 15 and earn full scholarships to the most elite programs. Your homeschool room with be the envy of every social media maven and you will still cook nutritious, three course dinners every night before spending hours in front of the fire while Suzy plays Schubert on the piano and Johnny recites Plato from memory. Ah, you will not only not fail, you will be perfect! Nothing is perfect though, and hoisting high expectations for perfection on your children will squash their desire to learn, as well as their creativity.

Tips for Success:

Goals and standards are good, but they need to remain in check. Perfection doesn’t equal success. If you don’t want to fail, accept that learning requires failure sometimes. Your children will not do everything perfectly. That is part of learning. Instead, be realistic. Kids will be kids. Let them explore and make messes. Give your children room to grow at their own pace. Enjoy the journey instead of rushing for the goal. Failing sometimes is actually the best way to succeed!

Too Many Extracurricular Activities

What about socialization? Homeschool kids need socialization. If they spend too much time at home they will be social failures. They need time with other children and rigorous activities. So, signing up for every extracurricular under the sun makes sense. You don’t want to raise socially awkward children. However, running to all the activities causes homeschool failure. Parents and children get tired and worn out. Family life suffers. Getting school work done gets stressful because of time constraints. Instead of giving kids a happy social experience, you create misery.

Tips for Success:

Extracurricular activities are good. They just need balance. Socialization happens everywhere. Homeschool children do not need to be at activities every day. Focus on a few activities that your child really want to do. Pick ones that fit your schedule, budget, and family values.

Not Addressing Learning Needs

Taking a one size fits all approach is a sure way to fail. You choose the top rated curriculum. You know, the one “everyone” at co-op is raving about! This is what will make your homeschool successful. Your child struggles with the work. It isn’t working for him, and you don’t understand why. You keep at it. He just needs to try harder. Failure is not an option. But instead of progress, you both get more frustrated.

Tips for Success:

The beauty of homeschooling is that it is personal and individual education. Trying to force a square peg into a round hole will never work. Every child has learning needs and a unique learning style. If a program isn’t working, the problem is probably the program. When you find resources that fit your child’s learning needs, your homeschool will thrive.

Self Defeating Attitude

There are two sure fire ways to fail at homeschooling. The first is to believe that you will fail. The second is comparing yourself to others. Comparison is the thief of joy. There is no one right way to homeschool. When you set yourself up as not being good enough, you set yourself up to fail. It’s easy to think that someone else, especially someone you only know through social media or blogs, is doing a better job that you. Everyone has struggles and everyone experiences homeschooling failures sometimes.

Tips for Success:

Instead of feeling like you don’t measure up, look at what is going well. Work on building the homeschool that works best for your family. No one has it all together, all the time. You can do this, believe in yourself!

Expecting School at Home

Most homeschool parents went to traditional brick and mortar schools. They know how school works, so they model homeschooling on their experience at traditional school. However, homeschooling is not school at home. Schools are designed like a factory, they are setup for production and testable results. There are rigid standards and strict schedules. Alternatively, homeschooling is an education model, with more flexibility. If you are trying to replicate school at home, it will increase your chances of failure.

Tips for Success:

Homeschooling should be about education at home. It is a lifestyle, not a school choice. Develop a love of learning in your home. Focus on the experience, not checking off boxes to keep up with public schools. You chose to homeschool because you wanted to escape public school education. Dare to be different and educate your children as a family, not a school. There is a fine balance between pushing for childhood development, hitting suggested milestones, and the standards of educational growth while allowing self-led learning, engagement, and natural discovery. Finding that balance for your own homeschool will lead to a successful outcome.

Free Homeschool Student Portfolio

Simple homeschool planning resources you will actually use!  These resources will help you meet state homeschooling requirements as well as add a little organization to your homeschool goals for the year. Inside you’ll find the following resources:

  • Colorful Cover Sheet
  • Student Profile Sheet
  • Monthly Tracking Log
  • Weekly Tracking Log
  • Daily Attendance Sheet
  • Quiz & Test Scores
  • Field Trips Log
  • Physical Education Log
  • Volunteer Hours Log

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Can You Afford to Homeschool?

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Homeschooling, like anything with kids, can be very expensive! You may be hyperventilating when you search for curriculum options. This can lead many prospective homeschoolers to quit before they begin. They feel like they could never afford homeschooling. Homeschooling does not have to be expensive!With a little planning, it is very doable. Before diving into purchasing curriculum, learn how to budget like a ninja for homeschooling. Here’s a four step plan for you to make an annual plan that works.

Take an Inventory of Income and Expenses

The key to making anything affordable is knowing how much you have to spend. Knowing how much you have coming in and going out is vital. If you already keep a budget, great! Look over it and decide how much you can allocate to homeschooling.

If you don’t have a written budget, or your budget is tight, dig a little deeper. Take some time to look over your expenses. What other expenses need to be covered? Is there anything that can be cut or modified to make more room for homeschool resources? You may want to get a budget tracking app, such as MINT, to help with tracking expenses. After a few months, you will have a better idea of where your money is going.

Decide What You Can Afford

Now that you have analyzed your expenses, it’s time to build your budget. How much can you afford to spend? How much money and how much time. Time probably wasn’t what you were thinking. Saving money takes time! Yes, there are ways to homeschool for almost nothing but, everything has a cost. If you are choosing to create everything yourself to save money, you need to find a way to budget more time. There’s no such thing as completely free. Buying a boxed curriculum is expensive, but you will not have to create lesson plans, activities, etc.

On the other hand, you can save hundreds of dollars by building your own curriculum. You will need to budget time to gather all the materials, write out lesson plans, make up tests, and so on. Homeschooling can be affordable, just be realistic when budgeting your time and money.

Create Goals for Each Student

Homeschooling can also get expensive when you don’t have a goal. It is easy to get swept up in the amazing curriculum options. It is important to know what you need and truly want your children to learn. What subjects are required? Is there anything else that you want to add? Be careful not to add too much. One or two additional subjects is plenty. Remember this is about budgeting time and money. If you buy more curriculum than you can use, you are wasting money.

Try our FREE Homeschool Goals Worksheet!

Look at your goals and make a list of exactly what you need for each child. Are there any special tools you will need( such as a microscope or laptop?) See how many resources you already have or can borrow. Now it’s time to divide your overall budget between your children according to their needs.

Do Your Homework

Research is an important part of being prepared. Know what you want and research the options BEFORE attending any type of curriculum sale or homeschool conference. This will help you stay focused and make an informed decision. Look into how the curriculum works and what learning styles it serves. Read over reviews for potential curriculum choices. Know how much the curriculum choices cost and what they go for used. Having a short list of ideas will keep you from getting overwhelmed with the options. Also, an informed consumer makes better decisions. Your research will keep you on budget and help you avoid buying something you don’t really want. Remember sales representatives can be very convincing. Of course, they all sell the “best” resources around.

Try our Free Simple Homeschool Planning Pack

4 Easy and Frugal Homeschool Art Projects

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I don’t know about you, but the homeschool day goes really fast! And, it can be hard fitting in the time-consuming, clean up-consuming subject of art. To help my fellow homeschool moms, I’ve come up with a simple, yet SUPER engaging list of easy and frugal homeschool art projects.

Kids LOVE art — getting messy is fun! And, any creations they concoct can be proudly displayed or shown lovingly to their Grandma on FaceTime.

However, for Moms — crafts can be exhausting! The time suckers and messy materials can be somewhat daunting for our busy days! Yet, we also know our children’s joy and creativity soars with art. It’s an important subject NOT to skip.

That’s why these fast, simple, and frugal art activities are perfect to use as boredom busters for any preschoolers, kindergartners, and elementary school aged kids.

Are you looking for simple items you can purchase to keep your Homeschool Art Supply Closet full?  We’ve compiled our favorite, frugal products and brands to make it easy for you to keep your art cabinet stocked.   All of these products are tried and tested in our own homeschool classroom, and are well loved by the kiddos.  We’ve picked these specific items because of the price and the quality, this is a list you don’t want to miss!  Click Here

On a budget? No problem! Most craft materials can be found at the Dollar tree or on Amazon at a great price (and shipped right to your door!). These art crafts are also wonderful time fillers and distractors for after school, on weekends, playdates, and gift giving!

Popsicle Stick Crafts

The possibilities are endless with popsicle stick crafts but when you’re in a hurry, here are some exciting ideas. Remember, kids have vivid imaginations and giving them materials only will get their creative juices flowing! Grab some glue sticks, washable markers or paint and ask the kids to get creative.

Here are some ideas to use for Popsicle Stick crafts:

  • Build Tic Tac Toe Grids, glue together, and cut out 9 pieces of paper to fit inside boxes. Write ‘X’ and ‘O’s using markers on pieces of paper with different colors.
  • Make a star using 2 triangle shapes. One will be upside down on top of the other. The kids can paint or color them with markers.
  • Create a frame with sticks shaped as a square. The kids can write “family” or any words they wish or paint with favorite colors.

Beads

Beads are wonderful materials to make gorgeous designs, bracelets, necklaces, and much more! These innovative ideas may require a purchase of a bead kit for a low price. Using beads strengthen hand eye coordination, focus, creativity and fine motor skills!

Please note: We wouldn’t recommend attempting beads until your child is about 5 years old or any child who puts things in their mouths.

Pipe Cleaners

Pipe cleaners are one of the most versatile and simple craft materials you can use for tons of kid activity! They come in a variety of colors, they’re inexpensive, and easy to manipulate into any shape!

Here are some ideas to get you started with your creative kid:

  • Make a flower arrangement: draw and color a flower, cut it out, and pull stem through. Put it in a pretty vase or cup and pass it onto a neighbor!
  • Bend and twist 2 favorite colors to make a bracelet or necklace.
  • Cut pipe cleaner in half, add a wonderful array of colorful beads, and twist the end.

Playdough

Playdough is SO easy to make! Here is a step-by-step recipe and tutorial.  Just combine 2 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of oil, ½ cup salt, and 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar. Then, start adding 1 to 1 ½ cups of boiling water in increments to determine best consistency. Food coloring is also an option for a variety of colors.

Give each child a ball of dough, and the sky’s the limit! If you see some inactivity, throw some cookie cutters on the table for a little help. You’ll be amazed at what your child can create with his/her imagination!

Now, if you just don’t have the time or prefer commercial play dough, check out this colorful Play dough package.

Finding ways to give your kids creativity time fosters mental growth, stimulates new ideas, and encourages new pathways of thinking and problem-solving! Take time today to give your children these wonderful opportunities to grow and learn exponentially!

Looking for more easy and frugal ideas on homeschool art projects? Check out these crafts, activities, and printables here!

10 Places to SELL Your Used Homeschooling Curriculum

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What do you do with your used homeschooling curriculum after the semester is done? Each time you need to purchase new homeschooling curriculum, you also have old curriculum you need to get rid of. One of the best things you can do is to sell your used homeschooling curriculum, helping fund the next set you need to buy.

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Dollar Bin Homeschool Deals… Are They Really Worth It?

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These days, homeschooling on a budget means you look for every deal or discount you can. If something is free – you grab it. If something is a great deal – you stock up. So what about those dollar bin homeschool deals? You know – the little school supplies, notepads, and other trinkets you often find at the front of large megastores? Are they really worth it?…

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Homeschool Hacks: Money Saving Tips to Stretch Your Budget

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Homeschooling can be costly.  Couple that with the fact most homeschool families are single income, it can really be cause to tighten the purse strings.

Here are the best money saving hacks to slash your homeschool expenses while not sacrificing on education or fun.

Saving Money On Craft Projects

  • Have a place to store craft supplies. If you have a central place you can keep your craft supplies, then they are more likely to get used and not lost.
  • When you’re looking for a new project, google the project based on the supplies you have on hand. Pinterest has so many ideas, limiting yourself to the great ones that you can make without spending additional money is always a plus.
  • The dollar store can be your best friend or worst enemy. There are a ton of great craft supplies in there, but I highly recommend going in with a list and sticking to it.

Saving Money On Books and Media

  • Use the library.
  • Return everything on time.
  • Keep a lookout at thrift stores and garage sales. You can’t beat 10 cents for a book.
  • Search regularly for free Kindle books for kids.
  • Make use of the Gutenberg project for free classical literature.
  • Look for free educational apps periodically as well.
  • Take care of the books you own, clear packing tape has saved a ton of beloved books in our house.

Saving Money On Curriculum

  • Choose the right curriculum the first time. Check out Kathy Duffy’s Homeschool review from the library months before you need to make a decision.  Try to make the most informed decision possible so you don’t wind up with something that doesn’t work and can’t be returned.
  • Buy new, if the curriculum has an excellent return policy. In some ways, this can save money.  I am stuck with more used curriculum that “I got on a good deal on,” than I care to admit.  It’s not a good deal if you never use it.
  • Combine grades when you can. Sonlight and Bookshark, for example, are both great for this.  Both are expensive curriculums but if you can use them for two grade levels, or multiple times then they become worth it.
  • Join Facebook, swap and used curriculum groups. Obviously, research, research, research first.
  • Enroll your kids in a homeschool charter school program. Depending on your state and the program these are free and some are fantastic.  With that said sometimes these charter school programs can also be schools of last resort that aren’t all that stellar.  Absolutely do your research. (Are you sensing a theme)

Saving Money On Household Expenses

(I include this because when you’re homeschooling it can cut into time that could be spent couponing or shopping sales.)

  • Only go to one grocery store. Unless you have excellent willpower and ability to stick to a list.  For me needing to go to a different grocery store just to pick up “one thing” ALWAYS busts my grocery budget.
  • Use curbside grocery if it saves your family money. If the store you normally shop at has a curbside program, being able to see your total on the computer at home before you check out can really help cut down on expenses even after the curbside convenience fee.
  • Shop your cupboard. Before you do your regular shopping trip always look in your cupboards for food that you can incorporate into your weekly meals.

Taking Advantage of Homeschool Freebies  (Sign up for our Newsletter Here)

  • Have a dedicated homeschool e-mail account you can use for newsletters.
  • Save your pdfs in a dedicated file, flash drive, or external hard drive.
  • Organize your computer files by grade and subject. (Trust me)
  • Invest in a printer that gets great mileage on ink.
  • Print in black and white.

PLAN to Shop Homeschool Sales

  • Contact your favorite curriculum publishers BEFORE you order.  Ask them if they have any coupon codes or upcoming sales.  Often, store owners will share discount codes to make the sale.
  • Take note of the dates when prospective programs go on sale.  Many publishers will have yearly sales right around the same time of year.  Make yourself a small mental note when you see these sales pop-up or mark them on your curriculum planner for next year.

Have a Homeschool Budget Tip to share? What else would you add? Tell us in the comments below:

 

 

 

 

Back to Homeschool Curriculum Discounts

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Discounts

If you’re like me you like to stretch every single penny with your homeschool curriculum.

Sometimes I’ll wait ALL year for a curriculum to go on sale just to save $2.50.  No Joke.

I even pass up the 16 cent spiral notebooks during the Back to School Sales, because I know we’ve got 65% of our pages left from last year. Our binders are tattered and worn, but if they still work they still work.

When I do buy school supplies I try to focus more on quality than quantity, and I look for resources I know will last through different seasons of our homeschool.

Almost half of my Curriculum is digital. I purchase many eBooks for their re-usability factor, and many online subscriptions that can be used with multiple children.

Investing in a Home Binding Machine was one of my smartest purchases for my classroom.  It takes me less that five minutes to print, punch and assemble a curriculum for my children, and provides me with options to switch things up as needed.

I also create many of my own resources and share them with our newsletter readers.

If you don’t already, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.  It’s free and it’s a great way to stay updated with our newest freebies and eBooks added to our curriculum store.

We also feature many exclusive offers from Top Homeschool Curriculum publishers.

Currently, our newsletter is featuring  50+ Deals on some of your favorite publishers at up to 89% off. 

There are products in Math, Language Arts, Science, Special Needs, Technology, Phonics, History, Geopgraphy, Art & Music and even All in One Curriculums.

You don’t want to miss these deals or the ones we have planned for our future newsletters.






New Graphic

Free Homeschool Planning Printables

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HomeschoolPlanningPin

Well, I’ve done it again.

I’ve waited until the last two weeks before really coming up with a solid Homeschool Plan.

Sure I’ve been collecting various eBooks and curriculum resources over the Summer, but it’s been more like a Homeschool Curriculum feeding frenzy instead of an organized and thoughful process.

It’s time to load everything on the table and see what I’m working with here folks

Classroom.

That is not even this years photo.

I’m so far behind, I haven’t even made the obligatory mess of dining room table yet.

It’s going to be a busy week folks.

So to keep myself invested in this process I decided to update our Independent Weekly Homeschool Calendar, as well as our Goals and Planing sheets.  You can still print the older versions here and here if you like them, but this year I needed a little Color Pop to get my act in gear.  If you’re struggling to wrap your head around how to schedule your curriculum, try this simple tip for each subject.  How to make a list of Goals, Resources, and Action Plan

SimplePlanner

Download the updated Homeschool Planning Printables Here

I’ll be using these with my younger children this year for sure!  My older children are going to try Lesson Trek, mostly because I thought Middle School would be a great time to learn how to keep an online calendar as well.  We’re always looking for real life scenarios to add in that Technology requirement!

If you’re still curriculum shopping like me be sure to check out our Curriculum Reviews and our Homeschool eBooks!

ACNBooksTransparentSmall

I’ve just finished our Letter of the Week Preschool Curriulum, and it’s very low-prep, so grab that if you need a quick fix for your kiddo too.

Homeschool Curriculum Planning

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CurricuulumPlan

When it comes to curriculum planning I like to keep things organized.
But sometimes I get bogged down by the actual organization process.

This is pretty much how it goes every year:

I print up my planner.
I sharpen my pencil.
I heat up my tea.
I clean my desk.
I organize the drawers.
I check my email.
I look at all the curriculum I’ve flagged
I spend HOURS pouring over detailed reviews.
I hunt down the best prices for each title.
I load my carts
But before I EVER purchase anything,
I step back and make a list.

I list out ALL of the curriculum titles that I’m 90% sure that I will use.
Then I take the lists with me to each every homeschool book sale, and convention
in hopes that I’ll find each specific curriculum at a bargain price.

This also helps me deter away from impulse buys.

I usually write out this list by hand,
but this year I decided to make a printable Curriculum Planning List

CurriculumPlanPi2

Download: Homeschool Curriculum Planning Sheet

Isn’t it cute?
It’s not rocket science,
but it sure makes my lists look a whole lot more organized.

Plus you can print one up for each child,
staple them together and take them with you to your Summer sales

When you’ve got a zillion kids it tow,
it’s nice to have something that fits in your back pocket and frees up your hands.

I think it goes perfectly with the simple Homeschool Budget sheet I posted last year.
Be sure you read all the rules suggestions for implementing this budget sheet.

HomeschoolBudget2nig

So there you go, 6 years of homeschooling and I’ve managed two planning sheets.
At this rate, I should have a full printable planner by the time my children graduate :)

Siggy

The Homeschool Budget

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Do you have a homeschool budget?

Do you know what’s going out and what’s coming in?

Yeah.

Me neither.

And between all the Back-to-school supplies, Used-Curriculum sales and crazed Online ordering,
I am at a loss for what I actually spent on our Homeschool this year.

So in an effort to regain my sanity,
and in classic, “I should have done this FIRST” mode,
I have created a simple (and pretty) homeschool budget tracker.

Homeschool Budget Tracker

Nothing fancy.

Just a few places to keep track of what I spent for the year,
to help me plan for the following years.

It may look extra simple,
but over the past few years I’ve found that simple is good.

I even gave myself some simple rules for using this budget sheet.


Dear Self:

Rule #1: Don’t write down each and every individual item. Seriously, you have other things to do. You don’t want to give yourself a case of Budget Burnout like last year.

Rule #2: Don’t even separate things by subject, or child. Just keep your receipt and write down the dollar amount. Go for a general budget idea. Trust me, I know you.

Rule #3: Be proactive, write out a best guess at what you’ll spend beforehand. Come back and see how close to target you were. Give yourself a little incentive……Extra Homeschool dollars can be spent on coffee.

Rule #4 Tell the Truth. You know the difference between homeschool NEEDS and WANTS. You’ve got ZILLIONS of half used pencils. Reuse last years notebooks. Seriously. Get real girl and remember….coffee.

Rule #5: When you’re all done, look up the price of Private Education and pat yourself on the back. Job well done Momma!

What about you?
What Budget methods work for you?