5 Lists That Will Make Your Homeschool Day Better
A homeschool mom needs a personal assistant. I’m still waiting for mine to show up. But until then I’m relying on lists for homeschool and home to make my days go smoother.
Sure, there’s book lists and project lists and gift lists–but the following five lists may very well be the key to keeping a better hold on things.
Here’s five lists that I sketch out every single day:
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Lists for Homeschool That Will Make Your Days Smoother
1. The Daily Assignment List
My motto for basically everything is to “keep it simple.” Each of my kids has a simple spiral notebook, nothing fancy. Every night before I go to bed, I’ll write them a quick list of what they need to accomplish for school the next day.
View this post on InstagramGet the 6 Secrets to a Simpler Mom Life
A lot of days it’s the same thing over and over again: math lesson XYZ, LA lessons XYZ, etc. But even though it is repetitive, my kids all really like the direction they get with the assignment list.
They can grab the list when we’re done with group work and knock out their list without my help. (I also put group work on their list because who doesn’t love the satisfaction of crossing things off!?)
2. The Family Grocery List
Wanna know how to start a family quarrel in our house in a hot second??
Use the last of the almond milk (or half and half, or crackers, or God forbid…the coffee!!!) and forget to write it on the family grocery list!
This list is just a whiteboard on the fridge. There’s a cup with an eraser and markers…I make it SO easy for them!!
When someone uses the last of something, they know to grab a marker and add it to the list. Super simple and very effective!
3. The Daily Docket
This is a list just for me. I usually write this out before bed. The calendar shows me what’s up for the following day and in my notebook, I’ll create a rough outline of what we’re doing for the next day.
Since our days are so busy with “regular” busyness, I try to only put a few items in the “to do” section.
Taking care of myself on busy homeschool days is also really important, so I make sure I add something like “drinking water” or “workout” to my list.
Another good idea when making your daily list is to write down just a few “musts.” Things you want to get done for sure. Knock those off the list first, and you’ll feel super accomplished!
4. The Kid Chore List
Getting kids involved with tasks around the house is crucial for homeschooling families. If all the jobs are heaped on Mom, she will surely melt into a pile of goo in no time.
Avoid the goo pile by giving your kids a chore every single day. The kids in our house have chores that never change from day to day:
- Make beds
- Self care
- “Morning Chores”
- Meal chores
- and keeping their personal items tidy
Post-It notes are great to stick on the counter or fridge in the morning. Or, even simpler, just add their daily chore to their assignment notebook in the morning–they’ll know exactly what they have to do after school fore chores.
5. The Daily “We Did This” List
Raise your hand if you’ve finished a school day and wondered what on earth you even accomplished that day.
Yup. Me too.
A few years ago, at the end of the day, during my evening routine, I would grab my lesson planner. The planner was stocked with plenty of lined paper so I could jot down a list of every single thing we’d accomplished that day. The big things down to the tiny things.
Did we play a game of Yahtzee? Go to a play? Make play-dough? Read aloud? All of it and everything in-between went on the list. This made it SO much more fulfilling to look back on my days. The pieces of paper grew into a pile of memories that made me feel so accomplished about our school days!
Want to see how I set up my homeschool lesson planner?
Writing out these lists each day won’t fix everything in your homeschool, but I guarantee, they’ll make your days go a whole lot more smoothly!
Looking for curriculum? Here’s our awesome list of homeschool curriculum we’ve used over the last 12 years.
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Take a look at our day in the life where we use these lists.
What lists for homeschool would you add to this post? Share in the comments!
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