As the transition from summer vacation to the start of school quickly approaches, we would like to share some tips that we hope will aid homeschooling parents in preparing for the new academic year. Homeschooling can be a daunting task, and we find the late Sherry Foster’s “School Year Start-up Check List” helpful in alleviating some of the pressure. It serves as an excellent guide for planning a fruitful year and setting an environment conducive to learning. We believe that veteran homeschooling parents have developed a checklist of this sort over time, but for those new to home education, we are providing the whole excerpt, taken from chapter 10 of The Catholic Home School: A Practical Guide:
- Attend Mass, if possible, or pray the Mass readings and the Rosary the first day of school for your school year intentions, and don’t forget to celebrate in a special way the first school day’s saint!
- Clean, decorate and organize the school area together as a family. Move things around, decorate a shrine area for statues and saint’s cards (assign someone each month to keep track of saints’ days and change the shrine accordingly), perhaps make new curtains and hang wall maps and timelines or posters relating to subjects being covered during the year, organize bookshelves, etc.
- Hold a parent review meeting to plan the current school year, especially the Mother’s schedule (to make sure she is not overloaded), and especially to develop a system for handling discipline problems.
- Organize all lesson plans and school materials into binders or files.
- Assign a work area, and perhaps part of a bookshelf, as well as pencils, books, and other supplies for each child.
- Meet with each child to go over their curriculum, discuss what’s expected of them and ask for their thoughts and goals for the year.
- Make ‘School in Session—Come Back Later’ sign for the front door (if there are little children coming to the door add a picture of books or a schoolhouse to the sign) and record a fresh message for the answering machine.
- Post a large wall calendar with school days, holy days, future parent review meetings, show and tell nights, chore duties and of course the pizza or game nights on it—and encourage everyone to use it.
Expect the first week to go well, but be well prepared for difficulties in advance.
The author elaborates on these points in another chapter of the book. If you are interested, check out “The End of the School Year Blues,” found on page 21 of The Catholic Home School: A Practical Guide, published by Remnant Press.
Besides the calendar and tips for an organized setting mentioned above, it is also advantageous for mothers of large families to carry a mother’s daily planner. This can serve as a useful tool for keeping track of extracurricular activities, such as sports events, music lessons, etc., as well as co-op classes. The Homeschooling Lesson Planner: A Catholic Mother’s Guide to Scheduling Her Week is available on our website and is a good choice for such purpose. It is a beautiful and well-organized planner, which includes daily entries, feast days, and inspirational passages for Catholic mothers.
Moreover, we cannot stress enough the significance of holding a meeting with your spouse and older children to plan the current school year. To prevent conflict, confusion, misunderstanding, and burnouts, it is beneficial to have a game plan and discuss both goals and expectations clearly. The following are some evaluation questions which families can ask themselves during the planning session. “What concepts are we supposed to learn this year?”; “how many important tests are there?”; “what are our priorities?”; “when are our deadlines?”; “how can we tackle and understand this difficult subject?”; “is our schedule overwhelming/lacking?”; or “are there necessary changes that we must make in our family rules, systems, schedules, habits, and lifestyle for a more successful school year?” Discussing discipline with your spouse or workload with the older children can be tedious at times. However, the rewards in the end are bountiful and fulfilling.
Sherry Foster also advises parents “to plan ahead for at least the foreseeable schooling challenges (like an expected baby).” Of course, one cannot possibly plan for every possibility, particularly unexpected ones. However, being prepared for surprises as much as possible, one can at least survive them without drastic consequences.
The takeoff is usually hard and sometimes very steep, but you will eventually reach a smooth cruising altitude, hopefully with no turbulence along the way. Through the sacrifices you make for the Catholic education of your children, may God bless you in this journey of homeschooling!