Time Management

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the old US of A, officially kicking off the holiday season. This is a season rife with expectations. There are expectations regarding traditions, gatherings, parties, lights, decorations, smells, meals, treats and don’t forget the gifts! There are expectations that we be more thankful, more generous, more loving, more joyful, more hopeful and more peaceful. 

If you’re anything like me, then the season also comes with more work, more travel, more budgeting, more planning and a lot more stress. Nobody knows better than a mom that the magic of Christmas doesn’t happen by… well, magic. 

One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and your family this Christmas is the gift of simplification. The Ron Paul Curriculum is great for our family in that it can be as involved or as simple as we make it to be. There are times when we are doing all kinds of extra assignments, field trips, crafts and activities and there are other times when we are just doing the basics.

I may not be a seasoned pro myself, but I know a lot of families who have homeschooled their children. One thing you’ll find in every successful homeschool is consistency. This doesn’t mean that they never take a break, it doesn’t mean that they are perfect and it doesn’t mean that their children sit at a desk from 8:30am-1pm every day. What it does mean is that they have a plan and they stick to it. 

I know exactly what day we started our curriculum this year and I know exactly what day we will finish the 180th day of school. There is some flexibility, and I know things don’t always go according to plan so there is some wiggle-room. Last year my oldest and I went through the entire Reading 1 and Math 1 courses as an experiment. I wasn’t confident that I had the self-discipline to stay on track, but we did it!

One of the things we do to stay on track is double up on lessons if we have a day coming up that we want to take off. Today we watched two math videos and two reading videos instead of one of each. We did this so that tomorrow we can enjoy our Thanksgiving and not think about school at all. This way we’ll still finish the week on a Friday.

This is just one way that we use the Ron Paul Curriculum to meet the goals and needs of our family. There are countless ways to customize it for your own family. There is enough to worry about at this time of year. Don’t make it harder than it has to be with a complicated curriculum or an overwhelming school schedule.