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The BIGGEST Mistake New Homeschoolers Make

When I started homeschooling, I wanted to embrace the flexibility homeschooling can bring. I dreamed of late mornings and sipping coffee until we were all ready to begin learning. It definitely worked…for a time.

When my son began first grade and we added more subjects, my relaxed homeschool schedule became more burdensome than relaxing. We began struggling to finish assignments in a day and when we did, it felt like we were schooling…

ALL... DAY... LONG!!!

A relaxed homeschool schedule is possible, but as with all new things, it takes time to master. I see this question a lot in homeschool groups:

"I heard school can be done before lunch. Why are we still working past dinner?"

I get it! You’ve planned your schedule (but nothing too strict). You’re learning to balance your normal work and now you also have to find time to school and something just isn’t clicking. So what is the mistake? You planned a schedule without a clear picture of how your day is actually being spent.

Track Before You Plan

And guess what. I struggled with the same thing! It made me even debate if homeschool was the right choice for us. But, do you want to know the secret that changed everything? Instead of planning the day, I began to track my days.

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Productive? Yea... not so much!

I opened a notebook and laid it open on the island (the heart of our home). I wrote the hours down on the left side of the paper and as I passed the island I would stop to write what we were actually doing. Turns out, we weren’t starting school until after 10:30 and I had to stop to cook lunch at 11:15. Lunch would take at least 30 minutes and then next thing I knew it was nap time and all we’d done was half of a math paper.

Using a Tracker Changes EVERYTHING!

Most of the time when talking to new homeschool moms about their schedule, we end up realizing that while they’re still schooling at dinner time, the reality is they only actually schooled for 3 hours that day.  Having that knowledge will change everything about your schedule and allow you to schedule your day better.

Start tracking your time now so you can create a realistic schedule that actually works with your family!

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Time Tracker

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