Action4Canada - Organizing the Homeschool Life

00:00:00.000 Hello, good morning. Nice to see you here. My name is Doris Livingstone. I'm the homeschool

00:00:10.340 lead at Action for Canada. And I thought it'd be kind of fun today if you could write in

00:00:16.680 the chat how long you've been homeschooling. And if you're a grandparent and you're listening

00:00:26.560 in, maybe write down who you know in your life, that is how long they've been homeschooling.

00:00:33.620 And it's just fun to see that. You can even write down where you're from. It's always fun

00:00:38.440 to know where you're from, what part of Canada. Okay. Welcome again, everybody. And we now

00:00:47.440 have a guest here, Grace Peters. She's going to help us organize the homeschool life. And 0.92

00:00:55.480 many of you have started already. And you're trying to figure out how do I fit everything

00:01:00.340 in? There's a lot going on. And sometimes it's just a matter of getting food on the table for

00:01:07.200 supper. I remember having that five o'clock panic attack. And I would go in my deep freeze

00:01:12.460 and I pull out this big roast that was frozen. I went too late. So I would take it out for

00:01:20.640 the next day. And there's just little things like that, that kind of overwhelm us. And so

00:01:26.160 Grace is going to help us. And she's from Rhythms of Grace Homeschool Life. She's put together

00:01:31.640 a home management resource called the Simplified Homeschool Life Bundle, an organizational toolkit

00:01:38.040 that will help you along the way so you can enjoy the homeschooling weeks and years ahead.

00:01:42.840 We're going to cover school routines, daily and weekly meal plans, daily habits, cleaning lists,

00:01:50.560 printables for moms and for kids. And maybe if we have time, some morning baskets, which are always

00:01:56.720 fun to hear about. So Grace will also share her homeschooling experience. And we want to welcome

00:02:03.740 you, Grace Peters. Tell us how you got started in homeschooling. Why and how long you've been doing

00:02:09.440 that for? Sure. Thank you, Doris. Yeah. So my name is Grace Peters and I am a wife and homeschool mom to

00:02:17.180 four. Although I only have three homeschooling now, our oldest, she graduated in 2023. And so now I have

00:02:25.660 a 12th grader, a 10th grader and a sixth grader. And homeschooling was never our intention. I had grown

00:02:34.580 up homeschooling and I really loved it, but it was never something that we planned to do. And so the

00:02:42.140 night that we were going to enroll our oldest in kindergarten, we had to line up super early to be

00:02:49.000 able to get her into that school. I think it was like February or something that my husband was going

00:02:53.360 to go sign her up. And that night I had no peace. I couldn't sleep. Um, I just, I couldn't get

00:03:04.200 comfortable with the idea of putting her in school. And yet that's what everybody was doing. So I felt

00:03:09.840 like something was wrong with me, but really it was something God was putting on my heart and he was

00:03:15.500 encouraging us to homeschool. And so I tossed and turned with the idea for quite a while. Um, probably

00:03:22.180 about three in the morning. I finally said, okay, Lord, if this is what you're calling us to do,

00:03:26.780 I will look into it. And so I woke my husband up and I said, Hey, I think we should homeschool.

00:03:33.400 Um, I can't sleep. God's been putting this on my heart. What do you think? And he said, sure,

00:03:38.280 you know, let's look into it. And so after that I was able to sleep and, um, yeah, we're going on year

00:03:45.500 15 this year and, um, yeah, it's been the best decision we've ever made and it's been hard,

00:03:53.800 definitely hard. Um, there's been times that, um, I wanted to give up. I wanted to pack the kids

00:04:00.020 onto the school bus. Uh, sometimes I wanted to send certain kids to military school because I was

00:04:06.400 having enough. Um, but, um, yeah, God has carried us through and it's been something we've done since

00:04:13.860 the beginning and it's been so, so worth it. Wow. That's awesome. So tell us how you started to

00:04:23.140 think about creating this program and then maybe just go ahead and start, uh, just sharing everything

00:04:29.120 with us. Yeah. Okay. Um, so when I first started our journey, um, I was very overwhelmed. I was very

00:04:37.540 discouraged. I was frustrated. Um, I wanted to be a great wife and a great mom. I wanted to take care

00:04:43.840 of her home. Um, I wanted to do a really good job of homeschooling, but instead I just felt like I was

00:04:49.800 failing. Um, there was some really hard days. Um, but I knew that it was, I had a strong conviction

00:04:57.760 that it was what God called us to. And so I had to either keep going with the way things were or

00:05:05.600 figure out how to make it better, how to, um, not just go through the motions and be, um, frustrated

00:05:15.560 and discouraged and even resentful, but to actually go through the homeschool journey with joy, uh, with

00:05:22.340 grace and with intention. And so, um, I had to, I had to figure out kind of like why I was discouraged,

00:05:32.560 why I was frustrated, why I was overwhelmed. Um, and it was, it was two things. Um, it was my attitude

00:05:39.300 and my mindset. Um, I hadn't fully, um, I guess embraced that this was my life, that homeschooling

00:05:48.860 was my life. I always wanted to be a wife and a mom, but homeschooling was definitely something that,

00:05:53.900 um, took a while for me to make peace with and, um, start enjoying. Um, but it really started

00:06:02.520 with my mindset and my attitude. Um, the next thing I needed to do was figure out like rhythms,

00:06:08.740 routines, habits, plans, um, things that would support our day and support me in my role as a

00:06:17.880 homeschool mom and a homemaker. And, um, yeah, so that's how I got started with creating different

00:06:24.980 products for myself, um, finding tools that worked to help me stay organized in the day to day,

00:06:31.840 whether it was like meals, cleaning, organizing, uh, the school work, like all of it. So I just

00:06:38.260 started creating tools for myself, started sharing them with friends, um, other homeschool moms who

00:06:44.640 really love them. And yeah, so it's just been a process, um, figuring out what works and organizing

00:06:53.280 and planning and coming up with systems and routines and things. So, yeah, so today. Yeah,

00:07:02.940 go ahead and show us all the goods. So in, in talking about, um, like organizing the homeschool life,

00:07:08.820 there is so many things that we can organize for homeschooling. So supplies, curriculum,

00:07:16.120 um, different resources, but we're not actually talking about those things today because it's really

00:07:21.040 hard to have an organized homeschool if the rest of our life is in chaos. And so today we're going to

00:07:27.300 talk a bit about morning routines, school day routines, daily habits, um, simplifying home

00:07:32.220 management and simplifying meals. Now this is just, these are just my opinions. These are just things

00:07:38.400 that have worked for me. Every family is different. Everybody's situation is different. Um, and things

00:07:44.260 have changed for myself with the seasons, depending on like whether I had a newborn or whether,

00:07:49.940 um, you know, my kids were teenagers or, so there's, there's no set, um, system or routine that works for

00:07:58.800 everybody. So as amazing of a journey as homeschooling can be, it can also be very overwhelming,

00:08:07.460 confusing, frustrating. Um, and life as a mom is busy already, even without adding the homeschooling to it.

00:08:15.080 Um, so trying to balance it all is it's a lot. Um, but I have found the, the best way to stay

00:08:23.520 organized in my homeschool life is with good habits. Um, the things that we do daily, the things

00:08:30.500 that we do weekly, um, in our home, in our homeschool personally, like those will affect our life. Um,

00:08:39.080 and so they either, our habits will either move us towards our goals or away from them. So starting

00:08:46.160 with morning routines, um, morning routines are a set of activities that you are going to do every day

00:08:54.060 with the purpose of setting your day up for success. It's like setting the foundation of a home.

00:08:59.700 Um, so tell me if this sounds familiar to anybody, um, especially when your kids are little, um,

00:09:09.100 you know, you wake up, say, you know, 536, whatever time they wake up, your brain is already going with

00:09:14.460 all the things you have to do for the day. Um, kids need to be fed. Baby needs to be fed. Uh, diapers

00:09:21.400 need to be changed, you know, and then before you know it, it's like two in the afternoon and you're

00:09:26.560 still in your pajamas. You're trying to decide, like, do I do the dishes that have been in the

00:09:31.200 sink all day? Do I have a nap? Do I have a shower? Like, what do you choose? Um, I know that was,

00:09:38.820 that was what things were like for me at the beginning. And I did not like personally being

00:09:43.820 in my pajamas till two o'clock in the afternoon. Like, I felt like I hadn't gotten anything done.

00:09:49.540 I felt like I wasn't ready for the day. And, um, so I didn't want to just

00:09:55.460 be surviving each day. I wanted to thrive. I wanted to get through all the things that needed

00:10:01.720 to be done and even have time for myself if possible. And so I got to a point where

00:10:07.180 I didn't want to keep going. I wanted, um, I wanted more, I wanted things to be, to be better.

00:10:16.160 And so, excuse me, I wanted to be, uh, proactive instead of reactive. And so I decided to start

00:10:23.640 creating a morning routine for myself. Sorry, excuse me a second.

00:10:29.800 So I started setting up habits and the habits were, um, it was so that I could be focused,

00:10:38.640 productive, and also operate from a place of peace. Um, I wanted to use my time and energy in a way that

00:10:46.560 would allow me to achieve my goals, um, for myself, for homeschooling, for the home. And so

00:10:53.520 it was, sometimes it was things that had to get done, but it was also things that I wanted to get

00:10:59.860 done. Um, I was able to, with a morning routine, I was able to, um, prior to prioritize a bit of

00:11:07.520 self-care for myself. Um, it provided some structure for our homeschool day, as well as help me to get

00:11:14.720 things done throughout, um, around the house. So, um, I would break my morning routine down into

00:11:22.460 different areas. So for myself, it's, um, like personal. So, um, spiritually and physically,

00:11:27.900 I like having a quiet time in the morning, um, getting some exercise, being able to shower and

00:11:32.900 get ready for the day. Like those are important to me. Um, some people that might not be their morning

00:11:38.300 routine. Maybe they shower in the evening, maybe they exercise with their, their kids in the afternoon,

00:11:42.360 right? Like it's going to look different for everybody. Um, and then as far as, um,

00:11:49.900 for home management, um, having the dishes done so that they weren't piling up all day. So making

00:11:56.820 sure like the dishwasher was unloaded so that dishes could go straight into the dishwasher.

00:12:02.840 Um, and then that also meant having the dishes done at night, making sure they were done in the

00:12:06.980 evening. Um, and then for our school morning routine, um, I, so I hope it's okay if I talk

00:12:15.760 about morning basket here, Doris. Um, so for the morning routine, um, I was finding that there were

00:12:24.360 certain things I wanted to get done with the kids that if I left them to the afternoon, like if

00:12:30.420 everybody went off and did their own individual work, it was really hard to collect everybody and

00:12:35.640 have them all come back. And so originally I thought a morning basket was just like another

00:12:40.740 thing to add to the to-do list. And I already felt like we had enough to do, but when I realized I

00:12:46.380 could use it to take care of those things that I wanted to do as a family, first thing in the

00:12:51.680 morning, it actually really set our, our day up. Well, I felt like it set it up for success because

00:12:56.980 those things were already done and then everybody could go back and do what they needed to do.

00:13:01.860 Um, so our morning basket, very simple. Um, it is, we read the Bible, we do a devotional together.

00:13:09.520 Um, the kids and I all, like they all do history together. So we'll do it at that time and then a

00:13:15.600 read aloud and that's it. Some people will add poetry and different things. Um, something called

00:13:20.840 the morning menu. Um, that's usually for when kids are littler. Um, but that has been helpful in

00:13:28.860 getting our day going. So the kids know like, okay, morning basket, everybody's had breakfast.

00:13:33.160 We do our morning basket and then they go on to their individual work and that way we get those

00:13:39.220 things done. Um, let's see what else. Yeah. So that's a little bit about, um, like our morning

00:13:51.020 routine and how, um, it's good for me. It's good for the kids. It's good for the home. Like it,

00:13:57.320 it kind of covers all those things. Um, yeah. Do you have any questions or anything about that

00:14:03.040 before I move on?

00:14:04.200 Um, I was just thinking, so, um, as the kids change and grow and develop into another, you

00:14:15.780 know, age of maturity and understanding, um, do you assess what you put in that morning

00:14:22.480 basket like monthly or like per year or like a semester? Cause some, like I was just thinking

00:14:31.360 when they're little, um, like I didn't do morning baskets. That wasn't a thing when my

00:14:37.740 kids were little. I think it's an amazing thing actually. And I would highly recommend

00:14:41.480 it because it gives you that time in the morning to do, um, well, like you said, prepares you

00:14:47.580 and then mom can maybe do the other things that also need to get done at the same time. 1.00

00:14:51.520 Um, yeah. So how did you develop that part and change and adapt it?

00:14:59.040 Well, I actually didn't do it when the kids were younger. Like I said, I felt like it was

00:15:05.460 adding another thing. And so I put it off for a really long time. Um, it was just in the last

00:15:11.820 couple of years when we started doing history together. Um, like we were already doing like

00:15:18.340 a devotional and we would read the Bible, but, um, it was when we started doing history together

00:15:23.320 and a read aloud, um, more often that I, I started doing a morning basket. Um, yeah. And I've kept it

00:15:31.680 pretty much the same thing, um, throughout, like at one point I had tried to add poetry and other

00:15:38.440 things. And it just felt like we were just going through the motions because somebody had said we

00:15:42.680 had to. And, um, I mean, there's so many things you could add to it and it's wonderful for that.

00:15:50.720 But I, for me personally, it was just what I felt like we was important to me for us to get done

00:15:55.760 together each day. Um, so yeah, I haven't really had a lot of experience doing it when they were,

00:16:02.240 when they were younger, um, and changing things up. So that's just what's working.

00:16:07.720 And that's a really good point you made because you have to do what works for you and your family.

00:16:12.020 And sometimes you get bombarded, especially when you're learning how to homeschool, you get

00:16:15.720 bombarded by how other people are doing things and that you should too. And maybe it's not even

00:16:21.240 relevant to what you're doing, but you think you have to because that's what others are doing.

00:16:25.700 And so that comes with this time and learning and yeah, everybody figures out how, what the rhythm

00:16:32.060 will be for their family. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

00:16:36.700 So now talking about, um, school day routines. Um, so this is going to look different for everyone

00:16:45.860 as well. And it changes from year to year, depending on the age of your kids. It depends on

00:16:51.600 how many kids you have. Um, but I have found that having a school day routine or not even a routine

00:16:58.940 because that seems to be more set, but kind of a rhythm, it helps everybody to know what to expect

00:17:04.780 for the day and for the week. Um, so when I first started homeschooling, um, I actually,

00:17:13.020 I actually didn't make it a priority. I had, I kind of, it was one of those things that I would

00:17:18.980 get to when everything else was done, but everything else was never done. There was always something to

00:17:25.720 do. So I would put it off and put it off. Um, and I realized that I needed to plan for it. I needed

00:17:31.160 to make it a priority and I needed to do it early in the day so that it would actually get done. Um,

00:17:38.300 so, um, once I finally got into a routine with her, each kid that we added, um, to the school,

00:17:48.120 uh, routine, um, that would, we would have to kind of change the rhythm and how things would do,

00:17:55.560 how things would go because I would have to work with the younger kids the most. So, um,

00:18:01.820 I had tried setting up like an hour by hour schedule, but it didn't go well at all. Um,

00:18:08.660 I would have, I would say, okay, we're going to do math today, you know, give us an hour or so,

00:18:12.900 um, to do math. And one kid would be done their work in like 20 minutes. And then another would take

00:18:21.060 hours because they were not focused and just all over the place. And so I realized for us that an

00:18:26.660 hour by hour schedule, a school day routine would not work. Um, and it was really frustrating. So

00:18:33.380 instead for our school routine, I would have like a general start time. Um, like even now it's like,

00:18:40.500 okay, we'll start anywhere from like nine to nine 30. So the kids know, like be ready for nine.

00:18:46.680 Sometimes, you know, we're still finishing up dishes or whatever. So it'll be a little later,

00:18:50.440 but we have a general start time. We have a kind of a general order to the day. Um, so we do a

00:18:58.060 morning basket and then everybody goes on to their individual work and they're allowed to pick

00:19:02.160 kind of whatever they want to start with. Um, so they do their schoolwork and then there's chores

00:19:09.720 and other activities. There's free time throughout the day. So, um, yeah, so that's kind of our,

00:19:17.400 our routine. And so the kids know, um, kind of what's expected of them. Like they don't even have

00:19:24.560 to come to me anymore after school and be like, okay, now what do I do? They know, okay, it's time

00:19:29.720 for chores. Like if I want to go play or go do something, um, I have to get my chores done first.

00:19:36.020 Um, yeah, so that's how kind of our school routine, everybody's going to look different. I know

00:19:42.300 some people like to start later in the day. Um, so it's going to look different for everybody,

00:19:47.700 but having kind of a rhythm, an idea of how the day goes is helpful for everybody to know

00:19:53.880 kind of the expectation and what the day looks like. So, yeah. Any questions or comments about that?

00:20:02.500 Um, not yet. Um, have you got visuals, uh, for the morning routine?

00:20:12.540 Yeah, so I do. Um, you want me to pop that up now?

00:20:19.040 Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. Um, yeah, so these are some of the resources. Okay, let's see.

00:20:26.220 Some of the resources I've created, um, for, um, creating a morning routine. And so this is for mom,

00:20:41.080 for moms. Um, and I've included in here kind of like a rundown about morning routines and what that

00:20:49.160 looks like and how to plan them and, you know, what works for you and what would be helpful for you.

00:20:54.340 Because for some moms, maybe their morning routine, what they really want is just to have 0.99

00:20:58.840 a cup of coffee by themselves for 15 minutes before the day starts, you know, um, for other

00:21:04.020 people, maybe they want to exercise and have a quiet time and get ready for the day. Like everybody's

00:21:08.920 going to be different. So this is just kind of some ideas and suggestions. Um, and then, sorry,

00:21:15.400 scrolling quickly here, there's, um, uh, kind of a work worksheet for creating your morning routine

00:21:21.980 to find out like what's important to you. What are your non-negotiables? Um, yeah. And what helps

00:21:28.800 you feel like, you know, you're being proactive instead of reactive to the day and what's to come.

00:21:36.740 Um, so morning routine and schedule. And then there's also, um, self-care checklist, um,

00:21:45.820 daily habits and routines for planning and just keeping track of, and then there's also one for

00:21:52.020 kids. Um, so routine checklist for them to help them stay on track. So that is for the morning routine.

00:22:04.200 And is that, um, printable or how do they find that if they want to, um, either order it or get it from

00:22:20.740 you so they can go through it themselves? Yeah. So that is, um, an ebook with printable pages. Um,

00:22:27.860 it is on, um, it's in my Instagram shop. Um, now that morning bundle is also included in the whole,

00:22:40.160 the simplified home life homes, or sorry, homeschool life bundle as well. So it's individual or

00:22:45.980 included in the bundle. Um, and I can put a link.

00:22:51.940 Um, it's, um, I have it here. Rhythms of grace homeschool life.

00:23:01.080 Yeah. Okay. We'll get that in the, in the chat there. Thank you. And I think that's also your

00:23:06.380 Facebook link, right? Pardon me? Rhythms of grace is also your Facebook site. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

00:23:14.740 Yeah. Now in the bundle, what else is included? Uh, okay. So in the bundle, there is, um, the

00:23:24.320 simplified home management kit toolkit. And so that is like cleaning, organizing, decluttering

00:23:30.120 checklists and lists, um, different printables for managing the home meal planning, shopping lists.

00:23:38.200 And then there's the morning routine bundle, which we just look through. There is also, um, a planner for mom.

00:23:44.740 And that includes like your calendars and your two page weekly spread. And on there, it's got lots of

00:23:52.120 space, whether you want to plan school for the kids in your planner or their own planner. There's also

00:23:58.500 student planners, um, with different cover options and different layout options. Cause I know different

00:24:04.120 people like different layouts for how they plan their lessons. Um, yeah, so that's all included in the

00:24:12.180 bundle. Um, could you show us what the cleaning and, uh, meal plan bundle or part of the bundle looks

00:24:20.900 like? Sure. That'd be great. Then we can see how that works and how you use it. Maybe. Oops.

00:24:30.560 That's a pretty house. Okay. Yeah. We wish right. All of us. Yeah. Um, okay. So that's showing. Okay.

00:24:50.220 Yes. Okay. So the home management toolkit. Um, so this is going to have, sorry, I got to

00:24:57.160 roll through quickly here to get to the pages. Um, okay. So there's a declutter challenge,

00:25:03.460 uh, master declutter checklist, like for every room, there's a weekly planner for organizing,

00:25:11.840 cleaning. You could use it for your day to day, depending on how you want to use it. Uh, living room,

00:25:17.740 dining room, dining room, like all the rooms in the house, a cleaning checklist, um, and then

00:25:23.280 cleaning schedule. So daily, daily tasks, and then a place for you to plan kind of what you're going to

00:25:29.780 do for the week. Can you scroll back and just show us your list of what you had on your, just above

00:25:36.180 that? Okay. So these are, these are the things, um, for home management. These are the things I

00:25:41.500 recommend doing daily just to kind of keep on top of the house, the house work. Um, and then,

00:25:49.420 so that's the daily. And then below is, uh, Monday to Friday, and then the weekend, just different

00:25:56.540 cleaning tasks that you want to do things that you would do weekly, monthly, um, just to plan for

00:26:02.300 them. And then, um, so there's, there's different versions of that. This cleaning schedule is also

00:26:08.780 another, um, version. Like people like to look at them differently. Some people like things

00:26:14.580 vertically, some horizontally, like it just depends. Um, this one is broken down by room. Um,

00:26:21.820 so Mondays it would be bedroom and you can write in what you need to do. Um,

00:26:27.020 and then this one is blank and you can pick what room you do, which day, and then these cards. So I've

00:26:34.500 actually cut these out and laminated them and I give them to my kids so that they know what to

00:26:40.260 clean. So whoever's on bathrooms, they'll take this little, little, uh, printable with them and then

00:26:47.140 they can go through and, um, clean. And then there's a family chore chart or scheduling and delegating.

00:26:57.300 And then there's the weekly meal plan. Uh, let's go back to the chores. So with chores, um,

00:27:08.020 and so when my kids were younger, that grew from like the youngest doing like the dishwasher to,

00:27:13.940 and they were a little older than they were the ones that actually washed the dishes, et cetera.

00:27:18.580 But as they also got older, then we started adding like so-and-so's turn to cut the lawn.

00:27:23.780 Yeah. Um, so-and-so's day to help mommy with weeding. Yeah. Um, is that something that is that

00:27:33.460 shows up? Like we can use your chart that way. Oh yeah. Yeah. Other external chore charts besides

00:27:40.900 cleaning. Yeah. Oh yeah. So yeah. Family chore chart, just add whatever it is that the kids have

00:27:47.380 to do. Um, yeah. Like my boys will take turns with, um, doing the, the yard, the weeding as well. Um,

00:27:55.060 lawn mower, uh, mowing the lawn. So yeah, anything can be added, excuse me, feeding the animals. Um,

00:28:03.620 and then there's a weekly meal plan and then meals with shopping lists. So, I mean,

00:28:10.580 I like to have my meal plan personally in different places. Um, I will use this one on my fridge and

00:28:17.700 then I will write my shopping list and I will take this with me shopping because I like to see when

00:28:23.060 I'm shopping, what meals I'm actually doing that week. Um, and then another shopping list if somebody

00:28:29.780 just wants something simple. So that is the home management, um, home management toolkit.

00:28:38.260 And then this is, uh, so this is part of the, the main planner. This is what I call the mom planner.

00:28:47.860 So everything is undated so it can be used anytime. Um, so this is, this will be the calendar, um,

00:28:55.940 your monthly goals and your notes, and then the days. I'm just trying to find it here. Okay. And so this is

00:29:03.540 what the days look like. So you have a space for weekly goals. Again, the daily habits on the side.

00:29:08.500 Um, I like to have everything in my planner as well as, um, the other pages printed and

00:29:15.700 put up around the house for the kids to see, to know what they're to do. Um, and then weekly

00:29:21.140 cleaning place for meals. Um, some people will use this like for appointments, work stuff, um,

00:29:29.620 schooling, and then, um, at the bottom, like, um, whatever kind of notes you want to put up.

00:29:38.340 Sorry. My screen is lagging here. There we go. And place for meals. So that is, um,

00:29:45.300 the bulk of the home life planner. And then there's also, uh, I don't know if I've pulled up.

00:29:53.300 Are there printables like you could, if you want to print them,

00:29:57.220 hole punch them. If you want to put them in a binder and have it open on your desk or somewhere.

00:30:04.100 Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So you can put them like you can, some people have put them in binders. Uh,

00:30:09.780 some people will coil bind them. Um, just depends. Um, and then there's also,

00:30:16.660 forgot to open that up. There's also, um, student planner,

00:30:20.500 different student planners that come with the bundle. Um,

00:30:25.620 see here.

00:30:29.540 Sorry. Uh, so there's different cover options

00:30:33.140 for, um, um, the student planners.

00:30:39.540 This is one of the covers and

00:30:45.220 so, yeah, like with the bundle, it's nice. If you have multiple kids, they don't all have to have

00:30:49.620 the same planner. They can all have a different planner. Um, and also there's different layout

00:30:56.980 options for how to plan, plan the week, plan the lessons.

00:31:06.980 It's not showing straight. There it is. Okay.

00:31:09.620 Okay. So this is another planner cover and there's, I think I have, oh goodness. I think

00:31:18.980 I want to say four or five different options for the layout. So the student planners, it can be for

00:31:24.340 one student. It can be for multiple students. Um, you can plan vertically, horizontally, like really

00:31:30.740 there's a lot of options there. And then there's different pages in there. Um, so it is undated,

00:31:36.900 but I have included, um, the year at a glance for 24 and 25. Um, yearly plan schedule, blank calendars

00:31:47.220 for the students. Um, there is like unit study printables. There's a weekly study.

00:31:54.260 Schedule. Like there's a, there's a lot, a lot.

00:31:57.060 When you have the, um, boxes there for the students, uh, do you feel what your expectation

00:32:03.940 expectations are for them or can they, as they get older, start creating their own?

00:32:09.140 Yes. Uh, both. So when the kids were younger, I would, so I'll just show you one of the,

00:32:15.300 because I know I remember, I was just thinking back, it's bringing back a lot of memories.

00:32:19.300 It was very helpful to my young children at the time to see on a piece of paper or something.

00:32:26.900 They're going, Oh, I need to do math and I need to finish reading three chapters of this book.

00:32:32.900 And mom wants me to do the dishes today or something. Um, and then later on, I remember

00:32:39.700 working with them saying, these are my long-term goals for you together. Let's break it down.

00:32:45.460 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then they're self-directed at that point.

00:32:50.580 Oh yeah. Yeah. Which is the goal of them working independently. So yeah, for younger,

00:32:57.860 I would write out their, their lesson plans. So like in the side here, I'd say math,

00:33:03.220 these are the pages you're doing or, you know, flashcards or whatever, um, social studies. And so

00:33:08.820 I would write it out for them. Now they know kind of what the requirements are. And so they will write

00:33:13.140 it out themselves. Um, so this is just one option of the academic planner. So some of them are blank

00:33:21.140 across the top. They have boxes. Um, so that if you want to do like kids across the top and subjects on

00:33:27.940 the side or whatever. Um, so there's lots of different options for how to plan, how to plan.

00:33:36.500 The question in the chat is where can we access these templates? Is it on your Instagram page?

00:33:41.380 Yes. Yeah. Um, do you want me to drop the link or I'm typing it in right now so you can keep talking

00:33:49.220 here? Yeah. Rhythms of grace, homeschool life. Yeah. Okay. So it should be in my link, uh, my bio

00:34:03.060 up at the top of the page on Instagram. It will bring it, bring them to, um, where they can find them.

00:34:08.820 Um, okay. Yeah. Um, now I, I know for some people they're, they love, they're highly organized and

00:34:21.140 they're going, Oh, this is great. This is exactly what I've been looking for. Some, for some other

00:34:25.780 people they're, they're not highly organized. Um, but they're looking at this as, wow, what a phenomenal

00:34:33.060 tool. Um, and they can piecemeal what, what they need to add into their life. Right. Oh, absolutely.

00:34:40.100 It's not like you have to follow this for smart kids and your day is going to be amazing.

00:34:46.020 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Led me to actually creating all of this was, um, I was looking for resources for

00:34:55.860 myself to help myself, excuse me, stay organized. I was trying to find a planner. All the planners

00:35:03.940 were, they were very academic focused, which was fine, but I needed to see like the lesson plans

00:35:11.700 and my mom life and everything. Like I wanted every to be able to see it all kind of in one place

00:35:18.660 or at least amongst a couple planners. Um, but everything else was very much, um, lesson plan

00:35:24.820 heavy and I needed something that worked for my whole homeschool mom life. And so that's why I created

00:35:32.180 the planner and then creating the tools. And I tried following other people's, um, like cleaning

00:35:39.860 schedules and routines and they didn't work for me. Um, like they would say, you know, you got to clean

00:35:46.500 bathrooms on Monday. Well, Monday, we weren't home all day. I needed to clean bathrooms on Friday.

00:35:51.220 Right. So I needed something that was flexible, um, and would work with our life. And so in creating

00:35:57.540 the tools there, the whole purpose of having like these tools and resources is to be a help,

00:36:05.220 but if they're not helpful, if they stress somebody out, or if they're like, you know what,

00:36:09.060 I don't actually have to fill out a cleaning plan. I already know what we're doing. Great.

00:36:13.940 Then don't use it. Right. Um, but for somebody who actually wants to plan it and wants to see it,

00:36:20.020 it's really good to have a place to write it down and plan it. And, um, and it's fun. Like

00:36:27.620 I'm one of those people who will write something down after I've done it, just so I can check it off.

00:36:31.380 And, um, so, um, it's nice to have like the checklist and kind of the, uh, the focus,

00:36:41.300 it helps you focus and, um, yeah. Does that answer your question?

00:36:46.420 Yeah. And I was just thinking about that really good feeling of checking something off for me,

00:36:52.020 it's putting a line through it. And, um, for some people might be in check Mark, but, uh,

00:36:57.540 one piece of advice I was, I heard very early on, and it was very helpful for me is I may have this

00:37:05.140 big list of my own. It's usually chores, but it can be actually the child's, um, schedule, school

00:37:13.060 schedule. And so let's, let's just talk about chores. If I didn't get it done, I just roll it

00:37:21.140 into the next day or the next best opportunity day to do it. And by the end of the week, it usually

00:37:28.260 got done. And so it wasn't like I was stressing myself out. Like I didn't get it done on Tuesday

00:37:34.260 and my Wednesdays, there's no, you know, like you just go, no, just roll it over. And eventually you

00:37:39.540 get to write, put that line through. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and same with, um,

00:37:46.180 the kids when they're learning and if they're stuck on a math problem and they cannot grasp the concept

00:37:53.140 and they need another week, then you, you just gotta like relax. And because comprehension

00:38:04.180 and understanding is far better than like, oh, good. They finished page 23 and I feel good about that,

00:38:14.020 but they didn't remember a thing and you knew that they were struggling and it's so much more

00:38:19.220 important to slow down. And if they don't get to unit two till next month, then you take unit one

00:38:28.580 out of the calendar and you focus on unit one until they've mastered. And then you start again in unit

00:38:36.500 two. And that's kind of the joy of homeschooling is they're learning at their own pace.

00:38:40.580 Yeah. And, um, you know, they don't have to

00:38:45.060 like get her done this week or get it done this month because there's pressure from around us that,

00:38:51.460 you know, they need to finish mastery is so much more important and it all comes in its own time.

00:38:57.540 And, um, so the tools you've given us are very, very, very helpful in, uh, organizing

00:39:05.060 all the parts of the day. Yeah. Laurie, did you have any insight into any of this or comments you

00:39:14.180 wanted to add? I've just been putting them in the chat here. There's been a few things that, uh,

00:39:20.420 that worked for me and, and what, what you've described as morning baskets and with younger

00:39:25.220 kids, it's sometimes fun to have them, uh, do a craft or something or work with blocks or something

00:39:31.380 while you're reading just to keep their attention. And, uh, and honestly, some of my older kids even

00:39:37.300 have, have done that they would sketch or, or do some kind of a craft so they could have a longer

00:39:42.100 attention span and, uh, and just with history, trying to make it as hands-on as possible. And,

00:39:47.860 and those kinds of things that was probably my, that was my favorite part of homeschooling,

00:39:52.340 honestly, was, was our morning time together. And it, I would, I agree. It really helps solidify

00:39:58.340 our whole day when we could start at a certain time with our routine. So yeah, these are great

00:40:04.580 ideas and I love the, the organization and, uh, and helpful tips. That's great, Grace. Thank you.

00:40:12.660 Uh, Grace, let's talk a little bit about evening routines. Um, yeah. And do you have a printable for

00:40:19.220 that or is it just a concept of helping us along here? So I don't have a printable for that, but it is

00:40:25.860 kind of part of the, um, like the, the daily checklist. So, um, on there I have, uh, like

00:40:34.180 getting the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up. I like to call it bringing it back down to ground

00:40:38.500 zero. Like it's, it's ready for the next day. Um, yeah. And just like a general house, tidy up,

00:40:45.380 pick up. That's, that's kind of the morning, uh, the evening routine. Um, which if that's done well,

00:40:53.380 it helps the morning routine, right? If the dishes are done the night before and the kitchen's clean.

00:40:57.940 And even if we, you know, if we can get the dishwasher done, then it's ready to go the next

00:41:01.860 morning. So that's, that's kind of our, our evening routine. Okay. Um, let's go back to

00:41:12.020 talking about meals. Cause that's, that was an area of weakness for me. Um, probably because I don't

00:41:18.660 really enjoy cooking. I did it out of necessity. I enjoyed baking. Yeah. So I always made time to

00:41:24.340 bake with the kids, but the cooking was very stressful. Um, and for others, it'll be something

00:41:29.540 else. But, uh, from your experience, do you find, um, that having something written for the week is more

00:41:40.980 helpful or, or have an idea for the week and then kind of mix and match it and like going, well,

00:41:49.220 I think I'm going to swap Tuesday and Thursday because the day has changed and it's hard.

00:41:55.060 Although the meat might still be frozen. Right.

00:41:59.620 Yeah. Yeah. I love having a meal plan because it does help me know what to shop for and know that

00:42:06.900 I need to pull the roast out or I need to pull something out, uh, to thaw. And, um,

00:42:13.780 but with my meal plan, like I've been doing it so long that I have the flexibility. Like I know how

00:42:19.300 to like, I'll look at the fridge and go, Oh, I plan this for Thursday, but those ingredients don't have

00:42:25.700 much time left and it's Monday. So I'm going to use, I'm going to do that meal Thursday's meal

00:42:30.580 on Monday instead. So, um, yeah, like I, this has been a bit of a process for me because when,

00:42:38.260 when I first started meal planning, I made it so complicated. It took me forever to plan.

00:42:43.060 And I thought I had to have a fancy new meal every night. I don't know why I thought that,

00:42:48.500 but I thought that was meal planning. And over the years I have simplified it so much.

00:42:53.540 And so I meal plan every week so that I know what to grocery shop for. But as far as like

00:42:59.700 our breakfast and our lunches, I have seven to 10 ideas that I just rotate. So we eat a lot of the

00:43:05.620 same thing, but it's, it's simple. Um, and I have the ingredients. Like if it's oatmeal, I tend to have

00:43:13.700 a lot of oatmeal on hand because we buy bulk. Um, so I don't have to shop for it every week. Um, so I do

00:43:20.580 that with, um, breakfast and lunch. And the nice thing is too, like there's variety. So if we have,

00:43:26.580 if we know we're having sandwiches every week, once a week, twice a week, I mean, we could have,

00:43:31.700 um, I don't know, we could have like a turkey sandwich or we could have, you know, a grilled

00:43:36.100 cheese or whatever, like there's variety there. So the kids don't get bored of it and they learned

00:43:40.420 early on, they eat what they're given. Um, and, um, yeah, so for me, I'm planning for breakfast

00:43:47.460 lunch. I'll write out, um, seven to 10 ideas and then just rotate through, through them each week,

00:43:53.140 through the month. And then I do the same with dinner, but with a bit more variety. So like 25

00:44:00.100 to 30 meals, um, rotating those through and, um, yeah, so that helps with the meal planning. Um,

00:44:10.180 sometimes I'll even take those meal plans and I'll, because I write it out, I'll just save it

00:44:14.420 for another week. And then if I don't want to plan anything, I'll just pull that out and go,

00:44:18.260 I guess we're doing these meals again. Um, I like to do freezer meals. That's super helpful

00:44:26.020 for, um, the days that are just crazy busy. Um, or I just don't want to cook. It's nice to have free

00:44:32.980 freezer meals on hand. Um, and then as well for meals, um, to simplify things throughout the week,

00:44:39.620 I like to prep things say like Sunday or Monday, we'll make, uh, we'll do like a bunch of hard

00:44:45.620 boiled eggs and we'll chop up a bunch of veggies, like, um, uh, like for a veggie tray so that we can

00:44:51.860 just add those to our lunches or dinners, or just chop them up smaller for salad, but they're already

00:44:57.220 prepped. Um, things like energy bites or granola bars or muffins, like pre-making those. And then

00:45:04.740 pre-making, um, I'll pre-cook like some ground beef or, um, some chicken and just pull it apart

00:45:11.140 and freeze it. Cause it's really quick to just add to a soup or to quesadillas or something. Like

00:45:16.420 I like to make meals as simple as possible. I don't, I like feeding my family well, but I don't

00:45:22.820 want to spend the whole day in the kitchen. So those are some of the things that I do.

00:45:26.580 And how often do you incorporate, how often do you incorporate your, your, one of your kids

00:45:31.060 to work with you and learn? Almost. Do you do that every day? Somebody's on board with you or,

00:45:36.900 or, or you're down for lunch today or something like that? Yeah. They all take turns with lunch

00:45:42.660 and then with dinner. Um, sometimes it'll be a couple of them helping me. Sometimes it'll be one,

00:45:48.100 sometimes all four, like it just depends. Sometimes I don't make dinner and they do. It just depends.

00:45:53.460 So, yeah, I think I recall with the kids as they get older, I want to say from maybe ages,

00:46:02.580 you know, and maybe eight to 15 or so or older, but I would give them like two or three lunch ideas

00:46:10.900 because I'd be tied up helping one of the other kids with their schoolwork. And I'd say, Hey,

00:46:16.260 to the other one, can you get lunch started? This is what's down for today. And they would have had

00:46:21.380 experience learning how already to do it with me prior and now they're on their own. And, um,

00:46:29.460 so it's one of the other tips I recommend is always, um, showing your children how to work,

00:46:37.300 how to do a certain chore or food prep. So that frees mom up to do the more important things or more 0.99

00:46:46.020 adult things with the child or whatever is required from the parent and the child can start

00:46:52.340 taking on some of the responsibility of, of, you know, just the basic duties in the home.

00:46:58.020 Yeah. Yeah. Life skills. It's good. Yeah. Life skills. I know it's good. It's forever. Um,

00:47:06.740 and the thing with laundry, so some of you do laundry every day and I started that way. Um,

00:47:14.260 and I got to a point where I went, I feel like I'm doing laundry every day and it was actually driving

00:47:20.580 me crazy. So my Fridays were typically, um, a half day by Friday morning. I, I, we piled,

00:47:28.340 unless there was an emergency laundry load I had to do, but, um, we actually sorted all our,

00:47:36.180 we combined all our laundry Friday mornings and all the darks here and all the lights here and

00:47:41.380 cold water, hot water, whatever. And I taught them how to sort accordingly. And then I would just run

00:47:47.620 the machine all day kind of thing. And, uh, it was not a, my favorite Friday night to be folding,

00:47:53.540 but, um, so we did a half day and then got the laundry started in the morning, finished up whatever

00:48:01.860 was required to get done from the school week. And then by lunch we were wrapped up and then the

00:48:10.100 afternoon they were free to do whatever on their Friday afternoons. And, uh, sometimes we had co-ops

00:48:17.540 on Fridays and when that happened. Um, so let's say we were doing, uh, a six or eight week gymnastics

00:48:25.220 co-op slash we rented the ice rink in the afternoon, um, for the same amount of time. Cause we lived in

00:48:34.100 a small town. We had to commute and drive into this town. Um, and we spent the whole Friday doing a co-op,

00:48:41.780 which was amazing, but here's my laundry. What do I do with my laundry? And then Saturday was like

00:48:46.820 soccer community leagues and all that little league and all that. I went, when am I going to do this

00:48:52.260 laundry? But somehow between Friday and Saturday, I got all the laundry done. And again, so I just

00:49:01.300 want to say, put it out there. Everybody's got their own rhythm on how they handle things. For

00:49:05.620 some, they want to do laundry every day. And for some, you may not want to, and you may want to do it

00:49:10.820 on Tuesdays or whatever your day is. So yeah. Um, let's go back, Grace. So just going to wrap up here

00:49:19.060 shortly, but you have some resources also that people can purchase and can you tell us what they are

00:49:26.900 and how they can get those? Yeah. So what we, what I showed, those are resources, um, that are for sale.

00:49:37.380 So that is, um, the simplified homeschool life bundle. So with that, it's all the resources I showed.

00:49:46.340 Um, so you've got your planners, mom planner, student planners, the home management, the, um,

00:49:54.500 Izzy mom's guide to a morning routine, and there's other things in there. Um,

00:49:59.780 lots of stuff in there. So that's the bundle. And then, um, the home management kit that is separate.

00:50:08.820 You can purchase that separately. You can also purchase the morning routine

00:50:12.900 ebook and printables separate as well. Um, and then I do have, um, I do have planners

00:50:21.940 separate as well. Those are not on Instagram. Those are actually in an Etsy shop, but the best,

00:50:28.420 the best deal is the bundle with all, all the things. So, yeah.

00:50:35.140 Okay. Now if they want to look at your Etsy stuff, is that information available on your,

00:50:40.660 your two other links? You know what? I don't know if I've ever linked them

00:50:46.500 and it's actually a different shop name. So I, I can drop that in the,

00:50:53.220 I can drop that in the, um, chat. Okay.

00:50:56.180 Okay. And if they follow you on your Instagram and Facebook's,

00:51:02.820 there's a way to communicate with you directly as well. Like,

00:51:05.940 Oh yeah. If anybody has questions or wants to chat. Yeah.

00:51:09.780 Okay. That's awesome.

00:51:15.540 Yeah. Fantastic. I love that you don't have to invent the wheel all over again. You can, uh,

00:51:20.260 take part of these resources and make them your own. Yeah. A lot of flexibility on the resources.

00:51:28.260 Okay. So Grace has pop the Etsy.com in the chat there. If you guys want to

00:51:33.700 jot that down or copy and paste. All right. So any closing comments, Grace, anybody have questions

00:51:40.500 they want to put in, you can pop it in the chat or you can just unmute yourself if you want to

00:51:44.980 throw in a question. There's a lot of information. I highly encourage you to go and check out her site

00:51:51.780 sites. Um, it looks like ordering is only on Instagram, but you can also join the Facebook

00:51:57.380 community, correct? Yeah. Okay. Good. And it's basically the same as Instagram. I kind of cross

00:52:06.340 post between the two. So, right. And you have newsletters as well, I guess. Right. Yeah.

00:52:12.660 Yeah. Wonderful. That's great resource. Okay. So no further questions. Um, yeah. Thank you. Do

00:52:21.620 you have any closing comments, Grace? Yeah, definitely that. Um, I think

00:52:27.620 sometimes people will see resources like this and get overwhelmed. And so I just want to say,

00:52:32.740 like, they're tools that are meant to help you. And if they're not helpful, you don't don't feel like

00:52:37.940 you have to use them, right? Like they're there, um, to support you in your, your goals and your

00:52:44.980 journey. Um, I know, like, personally, I had looked at different principles and planners. I'm like,

00:52:51.300 okay, it's more work for me to actually use that. That's not actually going to help me,

00:52:55.540 but I felt like I had to use it because somebody said that's how I would organize my life. No. Um,

00:53:01.860 do, do what works for you. Um, and yeah. Yeah. My, um, sister-in-law has seven kids and she's done 0.99

00:53:11.620 homeschooling. They're all adults now and she would use different colors for each child. So it was,

00:53:19.940 it would stick out. So if you're using Grace's planner and if you, you know, I mean, two kids is

00:53:26.820 easy to figure out, but if there's multiple children involved and delegate a, a colored pen

00:53:33.060 for them, that's just another thing to throw in there. That helps at all. I know it helped her a

00:53:38.180 lot. Yeah. All right. Well, we're going to wrap it up. We appreciate everybody signing in. We're going

00:53:45.300 to be back again, September 24th. We are, um, doing live webinars, the second and fourth Tuesday mornings

00:53:53.220 of the month, 10 AM PST. And, uh, if you ever miss a session, you can go to our website under

00:54:01.940 homeschooling revolution and look for the word webinars and you will find all the previous

00:54:08.340 webinars. They're on our website and they're also posted onto rumble. And so they're shareable.

00:54:15.380 They're easy to listen to in the car. If you're doing a bit of a drive, um, yeah,

00:54:21.300 we just want to make them as, as available to everybody as possible.

00:54:26.420 Thank you, everyone. We're going to say goodbye.

Action4Canada - September 12, 2024

Organizing the Homeschool Life

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