The most common question this time of year seems to be, “Are ya ready for school yet?”
If you homeschool you’ve been checking out your favorite curriculum’s requirements and buying everything on the list, stocking up on miscellaneous supplies from notebooks to blue light glasses, and organizing your desk or getting new clothes for weeks now but this mama is busy doing not-so-normal school prep that ironically boosts me, actually the WHOLE family, into the new school year even more so than any of that.
Curious about what I’m doing to hit the ground running? 💃🏼Check it out….
🧹 🧼 Cleaning the house especially inside the oven/fridge from the spills, mess and disorganization of this past summer. While I’m at it laying glad stick wrap on the shelves of my fridge and tin foil down on the oven floor for quick clean up to hold this clean as long as I can. Putting quick grab, clear plastic snack bins, labeled, in the fridge so family members know what they can grab instead of accidentally grabbing crucial ingredients to the nights dinner recipe.
Speaking of dinner, giving each kid a night to cook has been one of my best homeschool year hacks . KIDS CAN COOK TOO! Meal planning and having it all ready for them, putting their recipe in a page protector on the fridge and all the ingredients in a bin (idea inspired by Hello Fresh and Blue Apron) so they know where all their ingredients are is time well spent in order to bank as many nights off from cooking as I have kids available to cook. It is SUCH a learning experience for the kids as well. I like to highlight words in the recipe such as SEAR, SAUTÉ, MINCE VS DICE OR CHOP and make them look it up first. Some of my best memories are of having weekly awards for best meal. My husband felt honored in being the judge of it too. My littles have definitely needed some assistance when they up for their night to cook if they can’t read, but they are never too young to start. If they are in school-they can cook in my book; or my kitchen that is 😎
Stocking easy healthy quick grab groceries.
I like to keep baby carrots, mini cucumbers, salami/cheese/crackers, pretzels and tatziki dip, frozen fruit, granola and yogurt for parfaits and a smoothie bar for the school year. There is never time to make lunch and we need fresh brain food available all day.
Strategically place reading material around my living room or other get cozy spots that I want my kids or myself reading this school so that when I typically cozy down with my iPhone or the tv I can be reminded to grab a book instead and stay on track of our history/literature or magazines for weekly planning ideas, whatever helps me and the fam stay on track instead of distracted.
Double it!
Every time I cook a meal over the first few weeks before school starts I double the recipe and freeze one. Gallon zip lock bags of things like chili, pulled pork, stew or anything that can be just dumped into a crock pot or insta pot are my favorites but also casseroles skillet meals too. Many of these can be dumped into an aluminum tin and froze m, ready for one of the many times I let the day get away from me and didn’t have time to plan a meal. That’s like EVERY sports day? Prob the most usable prep on this list.
A mom from my homeschool group once hosted a Freezer Meal Night. This was AMAZING! Each mom shared a recipe and included ingredients for her recipe times the number of people attending, generally 10 people. We got together at this moms large, fabulous kitchen and we had prep stations, bag/tin stations where we loaded the meals into freezer safe containers, we had stove station, sink station, everyone was working chatting, having pot luck dinner themselves and left with 10 completely different meals to stock their fridge with. Love. That. Woman!
Detail the car.
My car reeks the benefit of a jam packed summer. Sand embedded in the carpet, left over beach or car trip supplies, sticky cup holders, and needs a major revamp also. It’s also scheduled to hit the service shop at the dealer to get the tune-up, 100,000mile check and all-weather tires, just because once we start rolling I’m not likely to pay attention or remember the car above the weekly clean.
Restock Car
While I’m on the car. I love to pack new literature into the back-seat pockets or door compartments. Stuff that revolves around this years theme of study, for us it’s modern, Cold War, revolution etc so I’m packing stuff like that. I love to stash car games too like Shot Gun or Spot It, anything I think will help keep my kids off tech. Audio books are a family favorite and so is classical music to have uploaded to my iPhone to play on my Bluetooth. Keeps my family quiet in the car and from bickering which in turn limits the amount of times I need to threaten the rear-view mirror 🤬
I am endeavoring to being a traditional catholic mama so I love adding new prayer routines to the car rides as we are just in it SO DANG MUCH. The past years I’ve used these beautiful Latin rosary cards from catholic.com so that we could all learn the rosary in Latin. This year in addition to that I’m using memory gem cards like poems and seasonal song. I LOVE to sing and I’m just so over the pop culture. Folk songs like “Don’t Go for the One” by Gaelic Storm are just so hysterical and so much more fun.
Again on the car. Can you tell the car is my space. Not by choice mama’s, not by choice.
This year, because I’m a water snob, I’m keeping a water in the trunk. Whether be gallons of Poland spring, a portable Berkeley or just a Gatorade plastic water cooler with spigot, there will always be water in my trunk and a way for us to refill our water bottles throughout the day on the go. Bottled water can be expensive, so when it tastes as good as my well water does, I want it with me every where I go for the fabulous price of free. I love the beautiful glass water bottles from IKEA for myself and the babies bottles, instead of other plastic or metal bottles. I just feel fancy and refreshed especially when I put a lemon wheel or slice of fruit in it also.
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/korken-bottle-with-stopper-clear-glass-40227983/Last but not least, this year like every one in the past, I have to do something to give me a mojo-shot in the arm. For me it’s usually attending a Hack My Homeschool event night where homeschool moms get together for wine and hors’ d oeuvres and each share 3 tips that make their homeschool experience. Sometimes it’s also just a quick email to my role model matriarchs dumping my concerns, obstacles and worries out for them so that I can eat up their counsel, and assurance.
We don’t plan to fail just sometimes fail to plan and based off of past years I’ve learned that setting my LIFE up for a successful homeschool year is just as important as setting up our curriculum and academic calendar.
But hey! I’d equally love it if you could dump YOUR best not-so-normal school prep ideas so I can add yours to my list.
Her House 