It seems like one homeschool year ends and a new homeschool year rolls right in. Whether you homeschool year round or take a summer break, you still need to wrap up the previous year and make preparations for the new one.
Here are five steps to help you prepare for the new homeschool year.
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1. Clean Out and Make Room
I’m always amazed at how disorganized my school area becomes toward the end of the school year. Somehow books end up on the wrong shelf, supplies go missing, papers and projects are scattered around, and odds and ends find their way onto our school bookshelves.
The first thing to do before thinking about the new school year is to clean out the old supplies and school work to make room for the new stuff.
If this is your first year homeschooling, then you won’t have old school supplies and papers to sort through but you probably need to clear out a space in your home for homeschooling. Determine where you will store all your homeschool supplies and where your kids will do their school work. Then, clean out those areas to make room for all the new homeschool books and supplies you will be getting.
2. Pray
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to pray for the new homeschool year. This task of homeschooling your kids is huge and you will need God’s guidance and wisdom as you prepare for the year ahead. Take some time to pray for you, your marriage, your kids, the curriculum you plan on purchasing, the activities you are hoping to participate in and your homeschool days.
3. Curriculum and Supplies
Now it’s time to start researching curriculum and making purchases. It can be a bit overwhelming trying to decide what the best curriculum choice is for your family. Check out my Homeschool Curriculum page for information on choosing curriculum along with curriculum reviews.
I like to use my Homeschool Curriculum Planner sheet when I’m choosing curriculum for the new homeschool year. Grab yours for free!
4. Plan
Start planning for the new homeschool year. Decide when your first day of school will be and schedule in holidays and vacations. Make sure to leave some wiggle room for sick days and unexpected events.
Write down a general overview for the school year with what curriculum you will be using, field trips you want to take and topics you want to cover.
It’s also helpful to create a plan for how you will keep track of grades, create lesson plans, store your students work and structure your days and weeks. Think about whether you want to do school four or five days a week. Will you follow a daily routine or schedule?
When you fail to plan, you plan to fail but a little planning upfront can be a life saver once the new homeschool year starts!
5. Organize
The last step in preparing for the new year is to get organized. You’ll want to get your homeschool area or classroom set up for the coming year. You will also want to have a good storage system in place for your homeschool records.
Next, you need to find a way to keep your lesson plans organized. There are a lot of free lesson planners available for homeschool moms and even some for the kids as well.
I have my older kids use this planner to stay on track while my younger ones use a workbox. The crate system is another great way to organize the years assignments ahead of time.
If you need more help with homeschool organization, you might find this blog post and podcast episode helpful.
Be Willing to Make Changes
No matter how well you plan and how organized you are, you will probably need to make changes along the way. There is no perfect curriculum or system for homeschooling. And, life can often through you a few curve balls throughout the year. Be flexible and open to changing things along the way.
Praying you have a wonderful homeschool year!
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