When Chaos Invades Your Homeschool Days

Nobody plans to be disorganized. Nobody invites chaos to come into their lives. On the contrary, most of us are quite the opposite, in that we try to get organized and keep some semblance of order to our days. However, even the best laid plans can be upset in the blink of an eye, whether it be the result of a pleasant turn of events, such as a new baby, or from an unfortunate circumstance, such as the loss of a job. It’s times like these, when chaos invades your homeschool days, that it’s most important to have a solid foundation already set.

For my family, the first few years of homeschooling were a struggle in the area of organization. I had done a lot of preparation before we began, such as getting a school room put together with blackboards and desks and posters on the wall. But I soon found out that the demands of schooling different aged kids in different grades all at the same time required much more than just a room that resembled a schoolhouse. After many days, weeks, months of fumbling around, trying to get my head on straight, it became very evident that without a very basic plan to fall back on, nothing would ever run smoothly.

This school year, we have experienced a fair amount of chaos already, and we’re only eight weeks into our semester. For starters, we have a for sale sign in our front yard, which means keeping the house ready to show at all times. We have had a few mornings when a phone call interrupted our schooling, telling us to be ready for a realtor to show our home in an hour. You should see the paper and pencils flying when that happens! (And sometimes it’s that phone call that gets us out of bed in the first place, and then it’s Katy bar the door, ‘cause there’s trouble ahead!)

Other frequent interruptions include things like dentist appointments, doctor visits, grocery shopping, library runs, co-op classes, and ball practice. Earlier this month, my husband and I organized a dinner for 30 people (who had lost a loved one) with one day’s notice. We pulled it off (with lots of help!), but we didn’t get any school work done that day. (Although, I think that it’s safe to say that the kids learned a valuable lesson that day without even cracking a book.)

And it is inevitable, when you combine everyday life and all of its responsibilities with the ever-time-consuming challenge of homeschooling, you will run into some speed bumps, potholes, and smack-you-in-the-face roadblocks along the way! It simply comes with the territory. So, you absolutely must have a dependable plan in place so that when (not if) chaos strikes, you can punch the “auto-pilot” button and let your schooling coast for awhile until things settle down.

By now you’re saying, “Okay, that’s great advice and all, but HOW?” Well, there’s no pat answer for this one, I’m afraid. It really varies from family to family. For us, the solution was purchasing a curriculum with lesson plans already in place where a day-by-day schedule is set from the beginning. To simplify, I write out the plans for each subject for a week at a time on a large white board that can be carried from room to room. My older two children can simply look at the schedule and see what they need to do, and complete the things that they can do on their own. As they finish, they place a checkmark on the white board, showing me their progress. Most days, I am right there with them, working with them, answering questions, explaining things that are still a little foggy. But, there have been days that I’ve been sick or have had to be gone, and the children were able to continue with their lessons in spite of my absence. And since they can see it all of the required assignments for the week written out in front of them and they are checking them off as they go, they can easily see how much they have to finish so that they can have their Saturday free (which is a big deal!). This method works well for us because it only takes a half an hour on Sunday evening for me to write out the week’s assignments, and then the course of the week is set, and we all have a “map” to navigate by through the week.

So when it comes to chaos, the key is to be prepared.  Remember that if you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always get what you always got. Start getting into the habit now of planning your week ahead of time and making sure that your children know what is expected of them each day.  Then hopefully, when chaos pleasantly surprises you (or unpleasantly, as is too often the case), you can flip the switch and breathe a little easier, knowing that it is under control.

So, this is what works for us. What works for you?