Managing Your Time as You Get into a Homeschool Groove

Why You Need Time Management Strategies and Tips

Time management is difficult- but you’re not alone! Let’s face it. Managing our time as new home educators can have a steep learning curve. We have plans to make, materials to manage, books to read, activities to try, fun to have, etc., all the while maintaining a home and caring for a family. That’s a lot of balls to juggle.

When I first started wading into the homeschooling pool, I was overwhelmed to say the least. It quickly became clear that unless I could find a way to handle all of my responsibilities without flipping my lid, I wasn’t going to be able to make homeschooling work for our family. For me, homeschooling is supposed to be full of wonder and freedom and possibility. It’s hard to have that amazing experience when you feel like you are drowning in other tasks and responsibilities. I’ve learned a secret: it doesn’t have to feel that way.

Here’s the thing: educating is more a marathon less a sprint, and it requires us to consistently be thoughtful with our time and decision-making, otherwise we’re headed straight for burn out. Let me tell you, my time-strapped friend, efficiency is the name of the game. Time hides in the shadows. It lurks in the corner. You can’t get more hours in the your day, but you can change the things you already do to free up seemingly elusive time. The time is there. You just have to learn how to find it.

If you’re feeling unsure about homeschooling or just feeling overwhelmed in general because it’s challenging finding the time for one. more. thing., this post is going to walk you through some examples of the tried and true time savers you can use in your home and homeschooling rhythm so you can implement the beautiful homeschooling experience of your dreams.

Simplify Your Home

Homeschooling is a unique situation in which we are in our homes daily, and we are in complete control of our time. There isn’t a boss telling us what to do and when. Those decisions must be made by ourselves, for ourselves. It can be a tricky situation with seemingly endless choices of things to do.

What to do with your to do list

Beware the “could”s. We could get started on dinner early, we could get some laundry done, we could finally peel those stickers off the moulding… These tasks can pull you in countless directions, if you let them. Talk about a time suck. Here’s what you can do with those “could” do list: schedule them. We could mop the floor, but that will happen on Friday. We could get some laundry done, yet another load will get washed in the morning. A well-oiled home schedule, moves us from the realm of “coulds” to “shoulds”. Save time and energy otherwise wasted in decision-making because it’s not even a possibility for this moment. When we know when something will get done, we up our efficiency game.

Let me start with the most important change I made over a decade ago that has bought me back what feels like years in time.

Rotating Meal Plan

We all have to eat, and meal plans make it easier and faster procure your groceries each and every week. Period.

Maybe you’re skeptical about meal planning because it feels like it takes time up front. Yes, that’s true- making a meal plan does take time up front. There are two main reasons why this doesn’t matter when you reuse your meal plan:

You get that time back every week when you make a grocery list because it’s as easy as taking a look at the meal plan. Done.
You cut back on decision fatigue and time wasted in deciding what to have for dinner each time. Look at the meal plan. Done.

Are you worried that you’ll have to forgo variety to adhere to a meal plan? Don’t be. Our family uses a monthly seasonal meal plan. So we only repeat our meals every four weeks. Also, you’re not necessarily beholden to meal plan. Want something new or craving an old favorite? Do it. Swap out one recipe and you still have 6 in the bag and you’re moving on with life.

The icing on the proverbial cake is the the Paprika app, which makes it all seamless. You can download recipes and organize those into meal plans. From there, the app generates a grocery list with precise ingredients listed, organized by category, as shown below. As a bonus, my husband also has the app and can add to our weekly meal plan, offloading some of the work for me. We’re nearly out of eggs? Add them to the list, dear.

To add to the simplicity, we opt for quick easy meals that can be done in 30 minutes or less with common ingredients. We’ll save fancier meals and extravagant meal plans for another season of life.

What does a monthly meal plan look like? I’m happy to show you! Here’s a screenshot of our spring meal plan. As I mentioned it’s made with my menstrual cycle in mind, which is a beast of a topic for another time, and you can easily use week 1/2/3/4 in the column title locations.

Schedule and Batch Tasks

Another game-changer coming in hot: batch tasks. Task batching is a productivity technique in which you group similar tasks together. Talk about efficiency!

Cleaning

So, on to the weekly cleaning day deal I’d mentioned earlier. My best friend convinced me of this one, and now I’m here to pay it forward. This looks like carving out time for larger cleaning tasks weekly. I’ve expanded on the concept to include monthly and quarterly batching. There’s SO much freedom in batch cleaning. Leave the stickers on the moulding- that’s Friday’s problem.

Example Cleaning Schedule

Daily	Weekly	Monthly	Quarterly
1 load of laundry	Toilets	Clean refrigerator	Wash cabinets
Vacuum/sweep	Disinfect bathroom surfaces	Wash sheets	Wash walls and moulding
Wash counters	Mop floors	Wash couch cushions	Clean ceiling fans
Clean sink	Wipe commonly used surfaces		Wash windows

Example batch cleaning

Administrative tasks

Task batching administrative tasks are my second favorite way to save time and keep things running smoothly-ish. As we all know there are many behind the scenes administrative responsibilities involved in running a household. This could include anything from paying bills to scheduling appointments, There can be a day for that. For me, Wednesday is admin day. During nap and quiet time, I handle any administrative tasks that have been accumulating throughout the week so long as they could wait. So if something pops up in my mind, I get it on the admin list immediately and move on. I need only open my computer for these tasks once, handle all calls I can in one go. Here’s a list of admin tasks that get handled on Wednesdays around here.

Paying bills
Budgeting
Scheduling appointments
Generating a meal plan in the Paprika app
Managing our calendar
Handling emails
Travel arrangements
Placing orders
Sorting paperwork

Errands

Running errands and handling out of the house responsibilities can take up huge chunks of your time depending on how far away you live from your destinations. The majority of our brick and mortar purchases are handled on the weekends because this is what works for us. By the week’s end, I’ve made a lists for groceries, homeschool materials, home needs, and errands. We usually head to the nearest city for swimming on Saturdays or Sundays, and so we also handle our shopping or pick up orders during that time.

Simplify Your Homeschool

Designate a planning time.

Initially, planning was happening whenever. Scrolling ideas for art projects, reading about curriculums, brushing up on child development, and searching activities related to the kids interest happened any time and what also felt like all the time. The issue with not having an anchored planning time is that interruptions are more likely. I also never felt like planning was cohesive and DONE. Now I know that will get handled on Friday, so I need not worry about it until then.

Friday nights aren’t what they used to be. Several years ago on a Friday night, I’d be going out with friends or on exciting dates. These days you’ll find me sitting on our couch a mug of tea in hand, and my planning materials strewn over our coffee table. And I LOVE IT.

Here’s why I love Friday planning. Firstly, Friday is my weekly cleaning day as you now know, and so I love to be able to sit in a clean(ish) home without cleaning tasks vying for my attention. It’s a beautiful thing, my friends. Having a plan by Friday also means I have the weekend to pick up any necessary materials for the coming week while I’m already out and about.

Work anchors into your daily rhythm

Cultivating key anchors in our day has been a game changer for me. I wrote about this in my post on cultivating a daily rhythm. To summarize, it’s helpful to have some anchors, or core habits, you do daily.

Since January 2023 we anchor our mornings with outdoor time followed by morning time during which we read or do an activity. It’s a nice grounding flow. There’s no need for me to make a decision every day about what we’ll do, because we all know we go outside for some free play and then back inside when the kids are ready for more structured learning and explorations.

From here, it’s easy to build in new habits or activities. If I want to try out a color search nature walk, I know we’re headed outside in the morning and so we do it then. Making decisions ahead of time, including what our schedule looks like, has saved my sanity on more occasions that I can count.

Consume less and produce more.

This last one is a hard pill to swallow. Many of us, myself included, could use a dose of tough love on this idea of consumption versus production. Most people would be horrified to learn how long they spend on their phone.

One day this really clicked for me when my oldest said, “I don’t like it when you are on your phone so much”. That moment was a turning point for me. As my screentime awareness grew, and increasingly I parked my phone somewhere far away, I began to fill in the gaps with producing something. This could look like using that time to whip up a batch of muffins with the kids. Or it could be as simple as engaging in a meaningful conversation with your little one. Gather the materials you need for an activity you’re doing tomorrow so you can jump into it with ease. Consume only what you need to consume, and put the rest of time to producing something.

Bottom Line

So there’s the good news. While you can’t create time, you can make more of the time you do have. Getting a more efficient grip on your home systems and in your homeschooling routines free up the time you need to get it all (well, maybe some of it) done. Do a time audit to uncover where you can create space, focusing on necessities first. You’re still going to be building the plane while you fly it, might as well make sure you have a little more time to do so.