Great tips! I'd like to add : Get up a little earlier then your family. And get dressed! It helps get you going. Also instead of trying to clean everything pick several rooms that you do a 5-10 min clean up before school and at the end of the day.
thank you so much for sharing this! this can sometimes be difficult when we are energy depleted! but you are so right. the days it happens, it is for sure a game changer!
I LOVE these tips! Thank you. I really struggle as I am a night owl. Have been since I was a young kid. My mom and my grandma are the same way. So I stay up late and struggle to wake up and then I’m just blah. It’s going to take real effort on my part to wake earlier than the kids.
Really like what you said about homeschooling being considered a job. I think those around me often see what I do as "optional" i.e. I have free time to run errands for them or watch their children etc. *sigh* Great video!
Agree, it has taken 3 years of homeschooling for others in my life to realize i have a full time job! Not just playing with my kids and eating bon bons all day :)
Great advice. I'd been treating homeschool more as a back burner with the household chores coming first. now I'm going to try to change my priorities. Thanks.
When i started homeschooling, the charter school provided a sheet with "tips"... The first one was - Accept that your house will be messy. This has helped me calm down and focus on the true priority: our children :)
Great reminder to treat homeschooling as a full-time job and to get a chore system together for the kids to help out. I think rewarding them is a great motivation for them to do their chores without complaining it’s a win-win for you and them
Awesome tips. Our homeschool day runs a bit differently than yours and that's ok of course. What works for one doesn't work for another and vice versa. We do have assigned chores for our girls' who are 4 and 7.5 and they help a LOT!
I LOVE your videos!! I don't have time to sit and read a blog post right now but I can listen as I do other things. Thanks for the continued encouragement!
this is the best advice i have gotten i am a mom to a 3rd grader and a pre k student this is the 2nd year of homeschooling and i have been so stressed about the house being clean and all that as well. If the house isn't clean i cant concentrate and theirs no way my kids could thanks for this video.
Very helpful! Although, I don't have ANY family close by that would help us. You are very blessed. My mother doesn't even watch my kids for a couple of hours without complaining. Granted, we have 6, but still. I hope to be the kind of mother you described your mother to be. Such a servant heart. Anyway, we have learned that we are pretty much on our own and our family has to be a team and get it done. I just pray that it makes us a stronger family in the long run. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Erica for this terrific video! I love the tip about making it a full time job and also getting help. I have a mother's helper/nanny 10 hrs a week while also homeschooling. I constantly feel guilty for that but I also truly need the help. It is nice to know others have help too. I agree that us moms really can't do it all on our own. We also have four kids and the youngest is 2. It's SO much!
such a great video!!! i have been going back and forth on getting more "help" and was feeling really guilty for considering it. sharing your experience in details has really helped me not feel so bad for asking for a tad more help. my father in law has recently been coming over on mondays to help take the kids out, wash clothes, run errands and it has been a MAJOR help but each time i felt such guilt that i wasn't doing my "job". nice to know that i am not the only one experiencing this.
This was SO helpful! I appreciate your willingness to be humble about not doing it all. We mothers often carry guilt about that but hearing from other moms it helps to know we are not alone. 💞
Brand new HS mom here! Will be starting our first year this fall and your videos have been so encouraging. LOVE the chore chart! Thanks for all the info you share ❤
I love watching your videos! I really do appreciate hearing the real aspects of being a homeschooling parent, it's nice to hear that you need help as well! What an amazing perspective to think of homeschool as a full time job.
thats great you have a mom that would do that. we dont have any close family around and im homeschooling 2 out of my 4 kids. so what i do to help is, i do laundry every night while the kids are asleep. i also get my school stuff ready for the whole week on sunday night again while the kids are sleeping. and sunday is also my cleaning day do during the week day i dont worry about dusting or cleaning the bathroom. my oldest kids that are in homeschool are 6 and almost 5 and they help me out a ton with the two little ones we have. so true what you said, we are a team and a family and we all have to help and do our part. love your tips! thanks!!
Thank you sooooo much! My son, 6th grade, will start homeschooling by 7th grade and I'm overwhelmed with my family's decision . So many things that I have to consider and learn. Thank you for the structured picture of where I can start with all tasks that I have as a stay-at-home mom. I'm inspired.
Ericka, thank you so much for this video! I was just talking to my husband tonight about how this fall I really want to focus on homeschooling being my job from 8-3pm. I feel like it’s so important, and most of my friends are so flexible with their schedules, but for me it’s not working. And perhaps after a few years we can be in a rhythm enough to be a little more flexible. But I feel this is so important to give my children a great education and I can’t do that when I’m distracted. Thank you for your amazing videos!
Thank you so much for this. Realizing i need to lean on my mother and my husband's mother more in our life to help with the load. It takes a village right!?
Thank you for making this video. I tend to try to try to do it all. Most of the time I don’t have a choice so when I am offered help it is difficult for me to take it. I love the simple idea of treating of homeschooling like a job and not trying to get laundry and house cleaning etc done bc it really does go down hill after trying to get everything done at the same time. I also like the idea of rewarding kids with allowance bc I although they should be contributing to the running of the home, they should also be rewarded for doing a good job, and why give allowance for nothing?! Lol it’s kind of like their first taste of a job.
No mum or any extended realitives, can't afford cleaner! Some people don't have the help. But I have set up kids chores even though need supervision as young
Great tips! Resisting the urge to multitask is so hard. I like to make myself available as well. When my son does his homeschooling I often work on my blog or do housework. But I have found myself needing to mentally "adjust" between tasks.
Thanks for the tips! I homeschool my 5 year old, this is my first year homeschooling. Just started a channel and I talked about our homeschooling routine on my recent video!
I would love to hear more about balancing work and homeschooling. I started a work at home job this summer and trying to make a plan for the best way to prioritize homeschooling in the fall. Thank you!
This is such great advice bc I am definitely the mom that is wanting to clean the house and homeschool gets second priority. But my question is, how did you handle baby/toddler distractions?
Hi! It takes a little bit of commitment, but you just have to get used to putting school FIRST and doing household things after school. I have a video on toddlers here and I have a toddler activity pack in my store as well! th-cam.com/video/P6KQhJxVGPQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=oIEex8zZAVNz8VcH
Idk if you've already talked about it or not but i'm curious as to what you do when bumps come up and your homeschool day or week doesn't go as planned. Also, I have a toddler running around while trying to homeschool. I try to HS when she's napping but sometimes that doesn't go as planned. She likes to get into all the HS stuff, if you could do a video of what you did when lady bug was a toddler
I don't think I've done an post or video on when our day doesn't go as planned, but that's a great suggestion. I'll add it to my list! Thanks :) I do have a bunch of posts on homeschooling with toddlers and babies here that also might help: www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2014/05/homeschooling-101-babies-toddlers.html
Help! In my first year of homeschooling my two daughters while caring for my baby and keeping the house. I hardly even find time to correct workbooks or exercise, let alone have focused hours of teaching. The baby is keeps me distracted and he doesn't have a consistent nap schedule so there is no time in the day when I can guarantee focus. I can't do it all but I can't afford to hire help either.
It's definitely harder in the early years for sure! We used to do school during nap time if we needed quiet focus time, then we would do the fun things during baby awake hours. I wouldn't stress out about the house, just get done what you can and leave the rest!
Hi Misty, sometimes I do have to run it daily. But we also cheat during the week. So sometimes we'll eat sandwiches for lunch and I'll just put them on a paper towel instead of dirtying up a dish. I've also been known to purchase the super cheap paper plates and use them for lunches as well. But with a family of 6 we do run the dishwasher often :)
Hi. I love your tips. I'm thinking of starting homeschooling my 3 yr. old this year. But I have a 4 month old baby. I'm not sure how's that possible. I would love to hear your tip on that and also a day in the life kind of video. Thanks and please keep on doing what you're doing. God bless you
Hi! I have a post and will be doing a video on it as well, but here are a few tips for homeschooling with babies and toddlers :) www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2014/05/homeschooling-101-babies-toddlers.html
Hi Erica! I love your Tip Tuesday videos. You are awesome! Wanted to ask if you have a cleaning schedule for the cleaning you do on the weekends that you mentioned?
+Ang ValLuv We usually do laundry and dishwasher almost daily depending. Then on the weekends I don't have a schedule at this point. I just assign out tasks to people so everyone has at least one chore to do.If they get something that is easier they get two chores. We just do the basics: vaccuum, dust, mop, wipe down kitchen counters and appliances, toilets, mirrors/counters/sinks, did I forget anything? :)
Yes, sorry I took this week off because I have a huge 40% off sale in my store with giveaways all week! But I'll be back with them next week hopefully!
I just put out a new cookbook with monthly meal plans, shopping lists, and recipes that I use to help keep all of that under control :) amzn.to/2aMF8pr
What curriculum do you use? I know there is no magic one, but as a mom of 8, I'm trying to find what works best with the least amount of effort. I feel our homeschooling is often dull, but I don't have time for more!
+frugalmomofmany You can see what we used this year here: www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2015/07/our-curriculum-2015-2016.html and I'm also putting up top curriculum picks by grade level every Monday right now. Just check my blog :)
+Erica Arndt Thank you so much! I love all your tips and videos! I'm going to start treating motherhood in general like a job, and give us all some breaks too. By that I mean I need a set start time, end time, and no distractions. I can't do everything like you do because of differences in family dynamics, but so often I'm encouraged by you and tweak things to work for us. I think I bought my lesson plans from you too. :)
I have a question my mom home schools me but she also watches kids during the day I feel like I am not getting help how do you handle that and do you have a home job or something
I use Abeka for phonics and reading mostly. I also like it for history and science because there isn't a lot of teacher prep work i have to do for them. We can just read and discuss. That said, there aren't a ton of hands-on activities with Abeka so I usually add in a few of my own, and for history I like to add in the Evan-Moor history pockets that correlate with whatever we're studying in Abeka. That makes it a little more fun and engaging. But it's a great open and go curriculum, not too flashy. I do like that they offer colored worksheets, and my kids seemed to like that when they were younger also. I tried the entire Abeka curriculum for Kindergarten back when we first started, and didn't love some aspects. So I don't do ALL Abeka, but I do think its a nice staple to use for certain subjects.
Great tips! I'd like to add : Get up a little earlier then your family. And get dressed! It helps get you going. Also instead of trying to clean everything pick several rooms that you do a 5-10 min clean up before school and at the end of the day.
thank you so much for sharing this! this can sometimes be difficult when we are energy depleted! but you are so right. the days it happens, it is for sure a game changer!
+mrs ivt my pleasure. We all struggle! ❤️
I LOVE these tips! Thank you. I really struggle as I am a night owl. Have been since I was a young kid. My mom and my grandma are the same way. So I stay up late and struggle to wake up and then I’m just blah. It’s going to take real effort on my part to wake earlier than the kids.
Getting up before the rest of the family is a game-changer for sure. Great advice.
Really like what you said about homeschooling being considered a job. I think those around me often see what I do as "optional" i.e. I have free time to run errands for them or watch their children etc. *sigh* Great video!
😢 same here. trying to establish this kindly with others can be quite challenging!
😢 same here. trying to establish this kindly with others can be quite challenging!
Agree, it has taken 3 years of homeschooling for others in my life to realize i have a full time job! Not just playing with my kids and eating bon bons all day :)
Great advice. I'd been treating homeschool more as a back burner with the household chores coming first. now I'm going to try to change my priorities. Thanks.
When i started homeschooling, the charter school provided a sheet with "tips"...
The first one was - Accept that your house will be messy.
This has helped me calm down and focus on the true priority: our children :)
Great reminder to treat homeschooling as a full-time job and to get a chore system together for the kids to help out. I think rewarding them is a great motivation for them to do their chores without complaining it’s a win-win for you and them
Awesome tips. Our homeschool day runs a bit differently than yours and that's ok of course. What works for one doesn't work for another and vice versa. We do have assigned chores for our girls' who are 4 and 7.5 and they help a LOT!
I LOVE your videos!! I don't have time to sit and read a blog post right now but I can listen as I do other things. Thanks for the continued encouragement!
+Natalie Haber That's good to know, I've been feeling like TH-cam is easier for people these days!
+Erica Arndt yes it is much easier 😁
I totally agree! Sooo many blogs sooo little time but being able to cook and listen to these great tips is just what I needed. New sub!
+Erica Arndt I'm subbing to the blog too!
this is the best advice i have gotten i am a mom to a 3rd grader and a pre k student this is the 2nd year of homeschooling and i have been so stressed about the house being clean and all that as well. If the house isn't clean i cant concentrate and theirs no way my kids could thanks for this video.
Very helpful! Although, I don't have ANY family close by that would help us. You are very blessed. My mother doesn't even watch my kids for a couple of hours without complaining. Granted, we have 6, but still. I hope to be the kind of mother you described your mother to be. Such a servant heart. Anyway, we have learned that we are pretty much on our own and our family has to be a team and get it done. I just pray that it makes us a stronger family in the long run. Thanks for sharing!
+Abundantly Blessed Mama I feel your pain! I also want to be the kind of mother that Erica described her mom to be.
My mother in law does the same thing each week! Such a huge blessing and stress relief for me!
Thank you Erica for this terrific video! I love the tip about making it a full time job and also getting help. I have a mother's helper/nanny 10 hrs a week while also homeschooling. I constantly feel guilty for that but I also truly need the help. It is nice to know others have help too. I agree that us moms really can't do it all on our own. We also have four kids and the youngest is 2. It's SO much!
such a great video!!! i have been going back and forth on getting more "help" and was feeling really guilty for considering it. sharing your experience in details has really helped me not feel so bad for asking for a tad more help. my father in law has recently been coming over on mondays to help take the kids out, wash clothes, run errands and it has been a MAJOR help but each time i felt such guilt that i wasn't doing my "job". nice to know that i am not the only one experiencing this.
This was SO helpful! I appreciate your willingness to be humble about not doing it all. We mothers often carry guilt about that but hearing from other moms it helps to know we are not alone. 💞
Your mom sounds like a life saver!!! Such a difference to have that support...
Erica!! Thanks for these wonderful tips! I know for myself, "time management" is my biggest struggle as a Homeschooling Dad.
Brand new HS mom here! Will be starting our first year this fall and your videos have been so encouraging. LOVE the chore chart! Thanks for all the info you share ❤
I love watching your videos! I really do appreciate hearing the real aspects of being a homeschooling parent, it's nice to hear that you need help as well! What an amazing perspective to think of homeschool as a full time job.
This is key!!!!!! I have such a hard time being distracted and not answering calls or texts!!
Christy Balcita same here!
thats great you have a mom that would do that. we dont have any close family around and im homeschooling 2 out of my 4 kids. so what i do to help is, i do laundry every night while the kids are asleep. i also get my school stuff ready for the whole week on sunday night again while the kids are sleeping. and sunday is also my cleaning day do during the week day i dont worry about dusting or cleaning the bathroom. my oldest kids that are in homeschool are 6 and almost 5 and they help me out a ton with the two little ones we have. so true what you said, we are a team and a family and we all have to help and do our part. love your tips! thanks!!
+Daytona Richardson I do laundry at night while they're sleeping too haha! Great minds think alike!
This is so so encouraging & inspiring even 2.5 years later :) Thank you so much!!
Thank you sooooo much! My son, 6th grade, will start homeschooling by 7th grade and I'm overwhelmed with my family's decision . So many things that I have to consider and learn. Thank you for the structured picture of where I can start with all tasks that I have as a stay-at-home mom. I'm inspired.
your mom is such a blessing! i wish my parents lived close by!
Yes she is!
Ericka, thank you so much for this video! I was just talking to my husband tonight about how this fall I really want to focus on homeschooling being my job from 8-3pm. I feel like it’s so important, and most of my friends are so flexible with their schedules, but for me it’s not working. And perhaps after a few years we can be in a rhythm enough to be a little more flexible. But I feel this is so important to give my children a great education and I can’t do that when I’m distracted. Thank you for your amazing videos!
Thank you so much for this. Realizing i need to lean on my mother and my husband's mother more in our life to help with the load. It takes a village right!?
Wow, after Number 1, you had a new subscriber. Why have I not approached it like this????
I would love to hear a video on working and homeschooling :)
Me too! I work full time and homeschool.
It's on my list!
Your mom sounds like an angel!! 😍
She is!
Wow! Needed this 4 years ago! Glad I found it now. Thank you :)
Thank you for making this video. I tend to try to try to do it all. Most of the time I don’t have a choice so when I am offered help it is difficult for me to take it. I love the simple idea of treating of homeschooling like a job and not trying to get laundry and house cleaning etc done bc it really does go down hill after trying to get everything done at the same time. I also like the idea of rewarding kids with allowance bc I although they should be contributing to the running of the home, they should also be rewarded for doing a good job, and why give allowance for nothing?! Lol it’s kind of like their first taste of a job.
No mum or any extended realitives, can't afford cleaner! Some people don't have the help. But I have set up kids chores even though need supervision as young
Great tips! Resisting the urge to multitask is so hard. I like to make myself available as well. When my son does his homeschooling I often work on my blog or do housework. But I have found myself needing to mentally "adjust" between tasks.
Thanks for the tips! I homeschool my 5 year old, this is my first year homeschooling. Just started a channel and I talked about our homeschooling routine on my recent video!
I would love to hear more about balancing work and homeschooling. I started a work at home job this summer and trying to make a plan for the best way to prioritize homeschooling in the fall. Thank you!
Thanks, it's on my to-film list :)
help . i'm overwhelmed with homeschool work , can't keep up even with kindergarten with my daughter. so much work .
Really great advice! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Great video ... Look forward to the working/homeschooling Mom. Thanks.
Thankyou for your honesty
This is a brilliant video and exactly what I needed to hear today ❤️ thank you so much. X
This is such great advice bc I am definitely the mom that is wanting to clean the house and homeschool gets second priority. But my question is, how did you handle baby/toddler distractions?
Hi! It takes a little bit of commitment, but you just have to get used to putting school FIRST and doing household things after school. I have a video on toddlers here and I have a toddler activity pack in my store as well! th-cam.com/video/P6KQhJxVGPQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=oIEex8zZAVNz8VcH
Idk if you've already talked about it or not but i'm curious as to what you do when bumps come up and your homeschool day or week doesn't go as planned.
Also, I have a toddler running around while trying to homeschool. I try to HS when she's napping but sometimes that doesn't go as planned. She likes to get into all the HS stuff, if you could do a video of what you did when lady bug was a toddler
I don't think I've done an post or video on when our day doesn't go as planned, but that's a great suggestion. I'll add it to my list! Thanks :) I do have a bunch of posts on homeschooling with toddlers and babies here that also might help:
www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2014/05/homeschooling-101-babies-toddlers.html
I'm so glad to have found this video!!! I'm considering starting homeschool preschool so this was really helpful!
P.S. I LOVE your hair!!!!
Thank you for this video. I've gotten so much stress that I must be a supermom during past few years😩
Thank you so much!!
like, my number one homeschooler you tuber! thanks!!!!
This was such an interesting and comprehensive video. I could relate to all them points you made. Subscribing to get more tips like these!
Help! In my first year of homeschooling my two daughters while caring for my baby and keeping the house. I hardly even find time to correct workbooks or exercise, let alone have focused hours of teaching. The baby is keeps me distracted and he doesn't have a consistent nap schedule so there is no time in the day when I can guarantee focus. I can't do it all but I can't afford to hire help either.
It's definitely harder in the early years for sure! We used to do school during nap time if we needed quiet focus time, then we would do the fun things during baby awake hours. I wouldn't stress out about the house, just get done what you can and leave the rest!
Great tips! How lucky to have family nearby. Wish I did! How do you get away with not needing to run your dishwasher everyday? Please share that tip!
Hi Misty, sometimes I do have to run it daily. But we also cheat during the week. So sometimes we'll eat sandwiches for lunch and I'll just put them on a paper towel instead of dirtying up a dish. I've also been known to purchase the super cheap paper plates and use them for lunches as well. But with a family of 6 we do run the dishwasher often :)
Awesome video! I'm a fan of homeschooling so thanks for the qdvice
Hi. I love your tips. I'm thinking of starting homeschooling my 3 yr. old this year. But I have a 4 month old baby. I'm not sure how's that possible. I would love to hear your tip on that and also a day in the life kind of video. Thanks and please keep on doing what you're doing. God bless you
Hi! I have a post and will be doing a video on it as well, but here are a few tips for homeschooling with babies and toddlers :)
www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2014/05/homeschooling-101-babies-toddlers.html
This was very encouraging!!!
Hi Erica! I love your Tip Tuesday videos. You are awesome! Wanted to ask if you have a cleaning schedule for the cleaning you do on the weekends that you mentioned?
+Ang ValLuv We usually do laundry and dishwasher almost daily depending. Then on the weekends I don't have a schedule at this point. I just assign out tasks to people so everyone has at least one chore to do.If they get something that is easier they get two chores. We just do the basics: vaccuum, dust, mop, wipe down kitchen counters and appliances, toilets, mirrors/counters/sinks, did I forget anything? :)
I really enjoyed watching your video!
hi erica, I noticed there was no tip tuesday this week. Hope all is well with you qnd we'll see another video soon. 😞
Yes, sorry I took this week off because I have a huge 40% off sale in my store with giveaways all week! But I'll be back with them next week hopefully!
+Erica Arndt ok. hope so fingers crossed. 😊 thank u, love your videos!
thank you for posting this video
thank you for this!
thank you! I really needed to hear this!
great tip! thanx for sharing!
I needed this video. Thank you
Very helpful!! Thank you!!!
great tips!
Love.this.video. Great tips!
How I wish I had a dish washer!! :)
just wondering how you handle grocery shopping because that is a really tough one for us.
I just put out a new cookbook with monthly meal plans, shopping lists, and recipes that I use to help keep all of that under control :)
amzn.to/2aMF8pr
great video!
What curriculum do you use? I know there is no magic one, but as a mom of 8, I'm trying to find what works best with the least amount of effort. I feel our homeschooling is often dull, but I don't have time for more!
+frugalmomofmany You can see what we used this year here: www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2015/07/our-curriculum-2015-2016.html and I'm also putting up top curriculum picks by grade level every Monday right now. Just check my blog :)
+Erica Arndt Thank you so much! I love all your tips and videos! I'm going to start treating motherhood in general like a job, and give us all some breaks too. By that I mean I need a set start time, end time, and no distractions. I can't do everything like you do because of differences in family dynamics, but so often I'm encouraged by you and tweak things to work for us. I think I bought my lesson plans from you too. :)
What was the book you held up?
It's my Homeschooling 101 book: store.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=94
I have a question my mom home schools me but she also watches kids during the day I feel like I am not getting help how do you handle that and do you have a home job or something
What are your thoughts on A Beka curriculum?
I use Abeka for phonics and reading mostly. I also like it for history and science because there isn't a lot of teacher prep work i have to do for them. We can just read and discuss. That said, there aren't a ton of hands-on activities with Abeka so I usually add in a few of my own, and for history I like to add in the Evan-Moor history pockets that correlate with whatever we're studying in Abeka. That makes it a little more fun and engaging. But it's a great open and go curriculum, not too flashy. I do like that they offer colored worksheets, and my kids seemed to like that when they were younger also. I tried the entire Abeka curriculum for Kindergarten back when we first started, and didn't love some aspects. So I don't do ALL Abeka, but I do think its a nice staple to use for certain subjects.
New subscriber :)
Yay, thanks!
So helpful!!! Thank you!!!