Getting ready… one help at a time!

So, it’s the middle of July… which means it’s time for all the homeschool mommas to panic prepare for the next school year. If they haven’t already.

I’ve piecemealed our 1st grade year and am SUPER excited about the line-up! I’m going to share what we’ve decided to brave learn this year in a future post in the next couple of weeks, but I’m waiting for the books to come in the mail and want to share those in the post, too. I don’t know about my kids, but MAN… I get excited about “unboxing day!” We haven’t had too many around here really, because we are just getting started in our homeschooling journey with our oldest in 1st grade. But I already know I’m going to be a curriculum junkie. Pair that with our eclectic homeschool style, and that means #allthebooks.

We definitely know that our daily routine is going to include an enrichment basket, language arts, math and science and social studies loop. (Don’t know what a loop is? Read more about what it is and its perks here.)

I also read The Brave Learner a few months ago– going to re-read it again whenever I get in a “slump” I think– and definitely want to incorporate the Brave Writer/Learner lifestyle in our homeschool journey. The Brave Learner talks about some amazing “big picture” ideas, like enchantment, the superpowers of brave learning, the capacities for learning, the ports of entry for learning, etc. But Julie Bogart, the author of The Brave Learner, lists several practices that can weave the “atmosphere of education” (a phrase borrowed by Charlotte Mason) in the home.

I found that I do well when I can see things all in one space, versus flipping through and remembering through our school planner. So, I made this easy tool for me. I could spend a lot more time and, oh, actually use fancy fonts and a printer, but I decided to use markers instead. Ha!

Here’s what I did!

I wrote down the Brave Learning practices, and put it in a dry erase sleeve (all praise to the dollar section at Target with school stuff right now!) on one side…

and our schedule on the other side. You can see that our Enrichment Basket actually will have a loop component as well with composer and art(ist) study, habit training, growth mindset learning, handiwork/lifeskill, and nature study.

Theoretically, by the end of the week, the Brave Learning side should be completely checked off by MOST of the stuff we do during the week through school and life. If not, I’ll have an idea by the weekend what we need to make sure we incorporate over the weekend. I can see (non-academic) 1 on 1 time being something that doesn’t happen too much during the week that the weekend can offer us.

The Daily/Loop side will help me keep track of the loop easier than glances through the daily/weekly parts of the assignment book. Besides, there is something nice about crossing something off, versus just writing it down. Or is that just me?

I tapped a small picture nail in the side of our Billy book case, rigged a whiteboard marker, and made a little wall station for our list.

Just this little task-turned-tool being complete makes me feel more ready for the year ahead.

How about you? What little tools have you created to make your homeschooling journey a bit easier?