Time Saving Tips to Use During the Busy Christmas Season
Christmas season is a wonderful time of the year! We celebrate our Savior’s birth and spend time with loved ones sharing gifts, making memories, and baking Christmas goodies. However, all of this takes extra time! While it certainly works to plan to take a break from homeschooling, I find we are still short on time on the days we do homeschool. Homeschooling does still need to be a priority for some of the month of December and the start of January. Otherwise, we don’t finish our guides on time. If you find yourself short on time in your Heart of Dakota homeschool day during Christmas, here are some time saving tips you can try!
Time Saving Tip #1 – Record Oral Narrations
If I am short on time, I have my children record their oral narrations. I find this works especially well if I have an appointment that is just for me. After they record their oral narrations, they text them to me. Then, I can listen to them as I am driving. Sometimes, I think they try even harder when recording themselves. They hear how they sound and want to do their best! However, oral narrations usually are meant to have a (live) audience. So, I don’t make a habit of this, but if I’m short on time, it works great!
Time Saving Tip #2 – Do Grammar Orally
I love R & S English for its thorough and solid treatment of grammar! Really, I have seen the results, and it is so worth the time. However, when I am short on time, I do grammar orally instead. For diagramming, I quickly sketch the diagrams on a markerboard. To diagram orally, I have my kiddos just point to where they’d diagram each word as they say it. At one point, I was teaching three different grammar lessons a day. So, this was a real time saver if I was short on time!
Time Saving Tip #3 – Have Older Children Help
Each child has gifts from the Lord. If I am short on time, I call upon my older children’s gifts and talents! For example, my oldest son loves math. So, if I am short on time, I have him pop in and teach a lesson to one of my two other sons. He’s good at it, the children love it, and it saves me time! Likewise, if I am short on time, I have my middle son pop in to oversee a science experiment or to read aloud for Storytime. He enjoys helping in both of these ways, and he is good at it. I figure this is good training should they have their own homeschooled children someday. I think their wives might appreciate the help now and then!
Time Saving Tip #4 – Move Dictation or DITHOR
Dictation is planned three of the four days of the week. If I am short on time and it is a day dictation is planned, I move it to the day it’s not planned. This way, we are still doing dictation 3 days a week, but it’s on a day I have more time. Drawn into the Heart of Reading (DITHOR) is also planned just three of the four days of the week (other than in Beyond and Bigger). So, DITHOR is another thing that can be moved to the day it’s not planned. Of course, the day I move it to will be longer then! However, I find that it is worth it to help on a day I’m truly short on time.
Time Saving Tip #5 – Make a Pile and Correct Work Later
I like to correct work that is completed right away if possible. This immediate feedback is good for kiddos, so I have what I call ‘margin‘ in our schedule for correcting. ‘Margin’ is just really extra time planned for each block of teaching/meeting time. If I am short on time and in a hurry, I drop the ‘margin’ time from our schedule. Instead, I have the kiddos make a pile on the kitchen counter of what needs to be corrected. I ask them to have the work open to the page that needs correcting, along with the guide on top. Each child creates his own pile. So, when I get home, I can quickly correct each pile.
Time Saving Tip #6 – Use a Markerboard
I love the questions that are planned in the guides. One of my favorite ways to assess how my kiddos are doing is simply to enjoy the discussion questions that are planned. However, if I am short on time, I have my kiddos answer the questions by jotting short phrases on a markerboard. Then, I either quickly ask them the questions, having them refer to their markerboards as they answer, or I just have them leave their markerboards out for me to skim their answers later.
Time Saving Tip #7 – Have a Go-To Meal Kiddos Can Fix
Many times I can get my teaching done, but I have to after lunch. Teaching my kiddos to fix at least one meal on their own really helps! My go-to meal when the kiddos were little was simply cereal with milk and toast. As they got older, my go-to meal was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with applesauce cups. Now that they are much older, they can fix many meals. However, my go-to meal is frozen pizza in our toaster oven. The oven shuts off on its own, so I don’t have to worry about them accidentally leaving it on.
Hopefully, these time saving tips will help on the days you homeschool while getting ready for Christmas and New Year’s Eve! May you have a very Merry Christmas celebrating Jesus’ birth!
In Christ,
Julie
