Tag Archives: school

Four Ways to Make Your First Day of Homeschool A Breeze

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Y’all, I’m excited. It’s back to school time! I loved those days when we were gearing up for a brand-new year.

Here are some things that could help you streamline your first day of back to homeschool. These come from watching my mom, a veteran homeschooler who experienced 30 first-days! But she would be the first to tell you they weren’t all dreamy. Through trial and error, she discovered some best practices to help her achieve peaceful days.

1. Purchase school surprises for your kiddos.

A huge highlight to me on our first day was school surprises. Simply put, Mom bought new school supplies plus some fun extras. Here are things you could purchase (and hint: it’s the weekend, so run out to the store, as I know many of you are starting next week!).

  • Notebook / binder (the more colorful and cuter for girls the better, and manly ones work well for the boys!)
  • Sticky colored tabs (we used these to mark where we were in textbooks)
  • Pencils in fun colors or mechanical pencils
  • Erasers (not the ordinary pink ones but funky colors!)
  • Rulers (those bendable, really slick ones!)
  • Coloring books for young children
  • Fun crayons (they seem to come in all shapes, sizes, and scents!) or markers for young children
  • Browse the back-to-school aisles: they are full of ideas!
  • Puzzles
  • A reading book (hint: a Moody book!)
  • Candy (yep, I really said that! what child doesn’t like candy?!)
This was Mary YEARS ago with a school surprise!
Nathan, me, Joseph, and Christopher many years ago!

2. Ask for your children’s input on their schedules, the flexible areas.

My mom was awesome with this. There were certain time slots that needed to be held to, but other times that I could plan, and I loved working on my schedule.

3. Plan a pre-first-day-of-homeschool.

School doesn’t just happen. So plan a non-actual-school day, but make it a super fun day. Make an awesome breakfast (hint: Chocolate Chip Muffins), give school surprises to the kids, go over their schedules, and play some games! To top it off, plan a special dinner so Dad can feel included to. Or, better yet, order in pizza. Now doesn’t that sound incredible?

The year 2000 school group.
The year 2000 school group.

4. Be excited yourself.

If Mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy! Put that smile on your face, and enjoy your time too. New beginnings are always fun, when they are planned for correctly and with proper expectations.

My mom is Queen of practical advice, so I encourage you to check out some of her wisdom:

Three Crucial Steps to Fruitfully Start the Homeschool Year

First Day of School

School Year Preparations

First Day of School Disaster or Success? 

Back to School

All 8 Maxwell Young People

Y’all! This is fruit! All eight of us Maxwell young people on Mary’s graduation evening.

Happy making your first day the best ever!

Love,
Sarah

“So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom,
and apply thine heart to understanding.”
Proverbs 2:2

7 Reasons Why I Plan to Homeschool My Children

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If the Lord brings a wife for me at some point and then gives us children, I would love for us to homeschool them. Here’s why:

  1. The Bible tells us to “teach [God’s commandments] diligently unto thy children”. Homeschooling allows us to carry out everything in this verse as best as we can. Deuteronomy 6:7, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
  2. We could provide quality academics. For one example, I would like my children not to be part of the significant percentage of high school graduates who don’t know how to read.

    Bullying Stops Here
    A sign that we noticed “guarding” an AZ school.
  3. We could use Christian-based, educational materials that do not teach evolution and other godless ideologies that usually permeate secular textbooks and instruction. I have a friend who attends public school (in another part of the country) and has told me some of the unbiblical and ungodly things that are being taught in his school.
  4. The home is a sheltered environment that affords protection from worldly influences such as coarse language and potentially undesirable behavior among classmates.
  5. I would have no concerns about my children being bullied as is prevalent on school campuses.
  6. They would be physically safe in our home from mentally deranged individuals preying on groups of defenseless children.
  7. We could guide their behavior. From my observation of child-training, immediate and consistent direction is far better than when it is delayed and inconsistent.
Jesse Maxwell standing in arch
Jesse Maxwell standing in an arch

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;”

Deuteronomy 4:9