Be Just Organized Enough for a Well-Run Homeschool

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Have you ever thought that organization is worshiped in our society? Our spices should be neatly labeled in matching containers and alphabetized in our cupboard. Dinner should be cooked in high heels in an immaculate kitchen with nary a dirty pan. Our homeschools should run like a well-planned play.

We should be perfectly organized at all times.

Be just organized enough for a well-run homeschool.

Don’t get me wrong, a well-run homeschool depends upon being organized.

It’s impossible to homeschool if we can’t find the books we need. Science experiments rely upon having the appropriate supplies. However, it’s possible to fall into the trap of trying to organize your homeschool just for the sake of organization, not because you need to fix a problem.

When the homeschool collapses on Monday morning because you don’t have the needed worksheets printed, you have a problem. The organization will help.

However, when you postpone homeschooling because you need to find a prettier container for the pencils, the organization isn’t the problem. Just grab a few mason jars, stick the pencils in them, and get to work homeschooling your kids.

Later you can go back and paint the jars. It’s a fantastic art project for a rainy afternoon.

Having a well-run homeschool doesn’t depend upon being perfectly organized. You have kids in the house. As long as they’re there, you’ll have a mess in the house.

Books will be tossed haphazardly on the shelf. Papers will litter the crates. Countless drawings will compete for attention on the fridge.

It doesn’t matter. A well-run homeschool will function despite the books being tossed carelessly on the shelf or papers littering the crate.

The goal isn’t to have all your books alphabetized at all times. It’s to be able to find your books when you need them without desperately searching the house.

Kids are going to toss papers carelessly into notebooks, crates, and books. That doesn’t make your homeschool a disaster. You probably need to teach the kids to place their papers neatly into the binder or give them spiral notebooks, but that’s life.

And to be honest, if your kids are like my kids, it will take months and years of gentle nagging to teach them to put their papers neatly away.

There are times we’re not going to have all the science supplies we need despite our best efforts. Sometimes it’s because we can’t find the item at the store, or a blizzard blew up and we’re stuck at home. A skipped science experiment or two isn’t a problem; skipping most of the science experiments is a problem.

I invested in purchasing the needed science kits for the curriculum we were using. It was the best decision I made. Science tools have been purchased and kept over the years. However, if you think they’re neatly arranged on a shelf, you’re sadly mistaken.

They’re dumped in a box for the kids and me to search through. There are bouncy balls, timers, magnifying glasses, cotton balls, balloons, straws, aluminum foil, clear plastic containers with lids, paper cups, clear plastic cups, measuring tape, string, among countless other items gathered through the years.

Not the chemistry set though. My expensive glass beakers, test tubes, and Bunsen burner are safely stored in a separate box for the high school kids alone.

The point I’m trying to make is that organization can become a goal in and of itself. If you spend hours every single day trying to obtain a perfectly organized homeschooling, you miss the point of a well-run homeschool.

A well-run homeschool isn’t perfectly organized. It’s organized just enough to enable you to homeschool your children easily while maintaining a warm and loving home for your family.

Read more in the 31 Days to a Well-Run Homeschool series!


5 Comments

  1. Agree! But it’s always so hard to find the balance between the two extremes of meticulous and slob. LOL As the clutter creeps in and the organization falters, then we have to have a big “cleaning party” to get it back to square one.

    1. I do the same thing every summer, Stefani. A good organization and cleaning party goes a long way to getting the house and homeschool back in order!

  2. May I ask where you purchased your science kits and supplies? Did you buy them in one go in a set, or separately as needed? This is my biggest struggle with science. There’s ALWAYS some random item I don’t have or can’t find locally.

  3. Thank you so much for taking the time to share honestly how perfection is not the goal. In a world full of Pinterest ideals, it can be tough to feel like we measure up as moms, and especially as homeschool moms. Thanks again.

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