Dear Friends,

Thank you for your emails and comments about schedules and routines. One thing I have learned in 18 years of homeschooling is that no two school years are alike in regards to scheduling. Sometimes no two days are the same, depending on the ages of your children and how many children you have.

Some of you are in the stage of having young children. Teaching young children at home is a lot of fun, and it is also a lot of work. When you have several young children to teach and a toddler or baby to entertain during school, you will feel like you go from one thing to another over and over.

This stage will not last forever. Combine reading aloud time to include all of your children. When you are teaching phonics or math, have the other children stay close to you while you are teaching. You can occupy them with snacks or crafts or toys.

If you are struggling with teaching several levels of lessons, remember that small children need short lessons. Their attention span is going to be between 5 minutes to 15 minutes at a time. So plan on alternating activities. Pushing through a 45-minute lesson will be taxing on both of you. I know that small children can drag their feet on lessons, so plan on a sitting activity, and then follow up with an activity that gives them some movement.

Use the trickle-down theory on teaching your children. Teach to the oldest and let the younger ones learn what they can. Over the years, you are going to repeat a lot of what you are teaching. Read a short history lesson to all of your children at once, and then ask them to re-enact it. They can make props or dress up. They will learn so much more this way.

Children in kindergarten through second grade need to learn the basics of reading, writing, and math. You do not have to teach them a full science less and full history lesson, too. You can do short and sweet lessons for these subjects and do history three times a week and science twice a week.

You do not have to be supermom homeschool mom! You don’t have to do everything your friends are doing. Teach your children the way that suits their learning styles and your family style.

Your Home Blessing for today is to declutter paper and magazines.

My menu plan for Thursday is Taco Thursday for the guys and veggies for me.