When Homeschooling Gets Messy
Is your house or apartment messy? Are papers everywhere and books in disarray?
Not sure of your goals or schedule? Life flying by and you are trying to potty train or spouse is away at work for a long trip or someone sick? Messy doesn’t always mean physical mess either. It could be a crazy schedule or a messy bookshelf. A child who doesn’t want to focus or a day you are interrupted a thousand times.
We’ve all been there. Seasons come and go. But a steady homeschool environment is the best opportunity for you child in so many ways.
Here’s how you can manage when homeschooling gets MESSY!
Pick your battles
- Remember that no family is perfect and everyone has problems.
- Decide what battles are worth it – arguing over a few math problems or a few dishes?
- Decide if the child needs to finish the lesson or unit immediately or if the mess can be fixed tomorrow.
- Decide what the main fight is and reassess how to complete the task in the mess.
- Find your minimum requirements and then go from there.
Refocus Your Goals and/or Priorities
- Did your child get their lesson done but not the spelling? It’s okay.
- Big and little goals can be adapted and reassessed – from testing day to how much work is done.
- Is the curriculum too much right now while you are potty training or getting the house ready for guests?
- Is the holiday interrupting your lesson plans? Redo how you assess and test to get it done but with less force and stress.
- Read the book together.
- Work on some practice math problems together.
- Have your children help each other reviewing the words or book materials.
Check in with Children
- Sometimes simply asking your child what has them stressed can be a huge help (older kids are better at this though)
- Work through a worksheet or lesson with the child to figure out what is wrong.
- Observe your child working on a lesson – are they needing more space, more quiet or a better organizational system?
- Have physical check-in’s to make sure each subject is done by them showing you the work.
- Ask your child what they did for school and what they need to do.
Take to Informal Teaching
- We do informal assessment a lot of days. Especially for our ADHD children.
- Verbal assessment questions – what did you read? What did you like? What was your favorite part?
- Oral spelling test – read and then recite back the sound of the word and spell it out for mastery
- Research a topic for fun and have the child tell you about it (great for older kids)
- Do experiments and activities (great for science and world history content)
- Ride a bike, go for a nature walk or cook a meal together (they are learning!)
Spend some days doing reorganizing/”spring cleaning”
- Gather materials and review your completed work for grading and assessment.
- Organize with buckets and baskets.
- Get things labeled by subject, year and child name
- Find cubbies or book shelves for curriculum
- Find a safe and good storage space for teacher manuals
- Create binders and “hard copies” of the frequently copied/used materials and place in one spot
- Give each child a basket and to-do folder
- Find a good area to put checklists and completed work (a folder, a shelf or a tray)
Be Patient and Forgive (Yourself and Your Kids!)
The truth is, life can be messy a lot of days. Whether you are a few years old learning how to use the potty and a regular sippy cup to adults and learning a new job. We all have messy seasons. Your children will learn and grow from this. Allow yourself and your children some forgiveness, patience and grace. It’s okay to mess up and it’s okay for the house to be a mess sometimes.
The goal is to decide how much mess you can handle before it’s too much. Find a happy spot where you can be organized, reassess and learn within the mess. Whether you are teaching young children or have highschoolers or anyone in between. Messy happens. Try some changes and see what happens. Be patient and forgive yourself if the day doesn’t go as planned. Just keep trying and your kids will appreciate it.