We've Been Homeschooling for Over a Decade: Here's What Has Helped The Most
- Veronica
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
We’ve been homeschooling for over a decade, but with the bumpiness of these past two years, we had a lot of shifts and changes to work through. We lived in 7 houses in those two years, so there were a lot of moves and doctor appointments and everything that comes with recovering from toxic mold exposure and trying to keep our lives and homeschool afloat.
It wasn’t always pretty, and it looked really different along the way, but we learned a lot in those two years and grew so much as a result of it all.
Now that we are settling into our new home and spaces, we’re recreating the rhythms and systems that have been such an integral part of our homeschool every step of the way.
Here are the five things that have kept our homeschool moving forward, through crisis and beyond.
Having a set start time.
Schedules can be flexible, but having a set start time helps everyone transition from morning routines and free time to school time. It guards those hours for formal studies and helps everyone know what to expect.
When the start time shifts from day to day, someone is always thrown off—especially children who require more consistency; but when the expectations are clear, everyone can step into them more easily.
Creating a breakfast meal plan.
We don’t do fancy breakfasts, but I do have a weekly breakfast rotation that has really helped keep things simple.
On Mondays, we have scrambled eggs with a breakfast meat, Tuesdays are hard-boiled eggs with toast, Wednesdays are for oatmeal with fruit and nuts, Thursdays are egg tacos or migas, and on Fridays, the kids make their own breakfast—with my help if needed. Sometimes they prepare omelets with veggies and on other days, they go for a quick-and-easy smoothie. We save pancakes and waffles or yogurt and granola for the weekends, keeping things a bit simpler on Sundays now.
Knowing what I will prepare each morning eliminates the mental clutter of trying to figure it out each day, and having a plan means that I know what to buy at the grocery store as well. The weekly breakfast rotation also eliminates surprises, which keeps everyone on the same page, while also allowing for a bit of creativity on Fridays.
Guarding our homeschool hours.
When the children were little, I could be a lot more flexible with our schedule. We greatly enjoyed many of the homeschool extracurricular classes in our area, so it often meant that we settled on a 4-day homeschool week or altered our schedules on some days.
When we were living in survival mode, we had to be even more flexible, often working in the evenings or on weekends to get it all done.
That's life, and it’s not always feasible to stick to a schedule. Whenever it is possible, however, it can really make a big difference.
Now that we are in our home and the children are older, we have found it so helpful to guard our homeschool hours, from 9:00-3:00. Those six hours include our group studies, independent studies, a lunch hour, breaks, creative screens, and often chores. We may not be “schooling” for that entire time, but I want to keep that time as interruption-free as possible. That means no appointments or extra-curricular classes until after 3:00 or when everything is completed.
Guarding our homeschool hours helps cultivate a habit of attention and productivity and has been so much less stressful on us all. We have ample time to get everything done without constant disruptions and chaos, and that has led to much more peaceful homeschool days.
Limiting screens.
Screens can be helpful in a homeschool, but they can also be extremely distracting and addicting. We do very little of our homeschool on screens, but when we do, we limit them to timed events that take place at the kitchen table.
When the children were younger, they could earn up to one hour of a show on Pureflix in the evenings, and the rest of the time was spent outdoors, playing, or crafting and creating.
Now that they are older, they engage in a variety of online tasks. We call these "creative screens," and they include talking/texting a friend, learning a new skill or craft, ProCreate, video editing, music recording, playing online chess with a friend, etc. We do not allow social media until 17, so the goal of the creative screens is productivity and growth.
Creative screens can be enjoyed for a short time during the lunch hour if they have been on task during the morning sessions. Otherwise, they must wait until all schoolwork and chores are completed. This really helps reinforce a productive learning environment while still utilizing the best parts of technology.
Creating chore charts.
Our children have always done chores, and we are strong believers in teaching them responsibility and stewardship through those chores. The key is in consistency and collaboration. When the children were little, we’d clean a room altogether. I’d pull out a card with all of the chores for the room and assign a task to each child, based on their age and ability.
Being together meant that I could also monitor them and work alongside them to model how to bring order and cleanliness to a space. (I have an entire video on what that system looked like, along with a free printable in Member Freebies.)
Now that the children are older, our charts have changed, but the expectations have stayed the same. We work hard to play hard, which means no screens or friends or play time until our chores are done.
At this stage, the chores are grouped by activity and divided by zones, which means that each of us is responsible for a set number of rooms. Each day, we target a specific task for all of our zones. For example, on floors day, we all vacuum and mop our spaces within our zone. This keeps me from having to take out different supplies each day and gives the children (and myself!) a sense of continuity.
We each have a laundry day, a dusting day, a reset day, a bathroom day, and a deep clean day, along with a day off. Knowing what’s coming makes it easy to keep our home in order without adding extra overwhelm to our days.
More Helps and Tips
A few other systems that have helped along the way, include having a turn-in and pick-up tray, along with a set time for me to work with each child. We’ve also found it helpful to play calming music, light a candle, or simply make a cup of tea from time to time.
Creating a nurturing environment is key, and putting systems like this in place help make it all happen.
What have you found to be most helpful in your homeschool?
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