Simple Homeschool Tips for a Smoother Week

Calling all homeschool moms that start their week out feeling unprepared and constantly find themselves struggling to get through the days that follow! These simple homeschool tips can help you get your homeschool week back on track in 3 easy steps!

3 Homeschool Tips

Tip #1 – Look Over All Lessons For the Week

This is key you guys! Especially if you are homeschooling multiple children. If you take a few moments over the weekend to sit down and glance through your child’s upcoming lessons, you will save yourself so much stress and anxiety in the coming days!

Don’t over think it though. Simply sit down with a delicious cup of coffee in hand and give a quick glance over your upcoming week, writing notes as you go along. Jot down supplies you may need to pick up, or lessons you might need extra prep time for.

These moments should be stress free and simple, yet productive!

Tip #2- Practice Advanced Prepping

Over the summer I typically spend about 2 weeks prepping for our upcoming school year. I make sure all curriculum is ordered early, then spend lots of quality time looking through it thoroughly!

If you are interested in a more in depth look at how I prep for an upcoming homeschool year over the summer months, I highly encourage you to check out 5 Ways to Prep Your Homeschool Year Successfully.

I start out our homeschool year with the first 6 weeks thoroughly planned. Supply lists created, supplies bought, things cut out and prepared. Literally everything prepped for a guaranteed easier start! Then, every Saturday (or Sunday if we’ve had a crazy week) I simply look over and thoroughly plan out 1 week at a time. Sound confusing? Stay with me!

The 2-6-1 rule

2 solid weeks of planning, prepping and getting yourself familiarized with your children’s curriculum, as well as how involved you will need to be. Spend this time walking through lessons, reading over rules, and familiarizing yourself with each aspect of every course.

I always do this over the summer. However, if you are revamping your homeschool or switching curriculum mid year, a 2 week “layover” or Christmas break would work great for this prep time as well!

6 weeks thoroughly planned before school even starts! This means 6 weeks of supplies purchased, prepped, and ready to go! Why 6 weeks? Simple. The first 6 weeks of your homeschool year are always the hardest. They are filled with high expectations, many frustrations, and lots of bumps in the road. Then, once you get about 6 weeks into the homeschool year, routine will finally be settling in which allows for planning and prepping with ease!

1 week prepped as a weekly goal. This is simply a continuation from the previous rule! Setting a goal for yourself to continue to prep 1 week worth of lessons every weekend provides a safety net for your sanity! If you start your year out with 6 weeks prepped and continue adding 1 prepped week consistently, you will always be prepared for what’s coming up over the next 6 weeks!

Sounds lovely in theory, I know. However, as homeschool moms we no it isn’t always the reality we live.

This safety net is in place in our homeschool because I know there is bound to be a busy week, crazy week, hard week, or downright sucky week! A weekend where I just don’t feel like planning, prepping, cutting, or to put it frankly – leave my couch! When those weeks or weekends do arise, skipping a week of prep means I still have the next 5 weeks planned! Win-win!

Just be careful not to make it a habit. Skipping multiple weeks in a row can make it extremely hard to get back in the routine of planning the following week!

*Bonus Tip – Always start out each quarter, semester, season, and/or school year prepped for the first 6 weeks!

Tip #3 – Write Out a List of Supplies Needed

This homeschool tip is the perfect partner for the 2-6-1 rule! In my book, proper planning always involves lists!

Creating a supplies needed list for your homeschool will help cut down on unexpected surprises throughout your week, which I consider a huge necessity in our home. Going through individual lesson plans, checking out the parental involvement and figuring out what extra things I need to purchase or gather a head of time is the ultimate homeschool tip for creating a smooth week.

Seriously though you guys, having a supply list saves my sanity! I have homeschooled with this method and without. This totally works!

Not sure how to create a supply list that will work for your family? No worries! If you sign up for my newsletter below, you will get free access to our printable library, which also includes the supply list we use in our homeschool!