Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau

Educator, Coach, Life Strategist

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Apr 01 2012

Organization doesn’t always come naturally

Organization comes naturally to many people.  Just look at all of the web sites and television programs devoted to organization and the many products available just for this purpose.

To others, on the other hand, being organized just isn’t in their make-up.  Ask someone like this to neaten up his desk or figure out a better way to stock her pantry and it’s like asking them to do the most foreign or ridiculous thing they have ever heard of!

Because the behavior is so instinctive, organized people may find it hard to understand people who aren’t.  Even to those who are only semi-organized, it’s can be very difficult to see the flip side of the coin.

Have you ever heard yourself saying things like this to your kids?

Why don’t you ever pick up your shoes?

It’s no wonder you can never find your science book…you never leave it in the same place!

Your room is a mess! 

Understanding that organization doesn’t come naturally to many children is something homeschool parents must realize.  Just because parents are organized doesn’t mean the trait has been inherited by the children.  And just modeling organized behavior — though it helps a lot – doesn’t guarantee that children will adopt these skills on their own.

In reality, organization must be taught.  Even children with a tendency towards organization can learn a thing or two from parents who live an organized life.  Teaching children to stay organized may seem excessive, but it isn’t any different than teaching good nutrition or proper hygiene.  It must be taught at first and reminded over time, until eventually it becomes a practice — even a habit – that kids do on their own.

Teaching organization to kids doesn’t have to be done as a class or even delivered in a lesson format.  It all about modeling organized practices and then showing kids how to apply the same techniques in their own lives.  Examples include showing kids how to pick up their rooms each day, where to store school materials every afternoon, or how to place a check-mark on a calendar each time they finish practicing piano.  It can also mean helping kids sort through unwanted items (e.g., clothing that doesn’t fit), figuring out efficient or attractive ways to store things (like cars, stuffed animals or hair clips) and the proper way to pack a bag or a toilet kit for excursions to the gym or overnight events.

Like learning anything new, many children will not be very good at staying organized at first, or even for a long time.  But over time, with practice and reminders from you, it will eventually become a part of their lives.

For children particularly resistant to organization, lighten up at first, and try to examine why.  Could you be asking too much?  Has the child reached an age where he can be expected to accomplish what you have asked?  Can you make the task more meaningful, so that she can see the benefit, and want to do it just a little bit more?  Select just a few of the ways that you feel the child should be organized and start there (for instance, keeping school-related materials together or clothing put away).  And don’t add too much else too soon.

Realizing that many children actually need to be taught how to organize is an eye-opener for some people.   But organization goes hand-in-hand with productivity, achievement, and ultimately — success.  When homeschool parents teach organization as a routine part of the day, they give their children a gift that serves them during the school years, but also in the future, too.

Nobody ever wishes they were less organized.  Whether started when children are very young, or even later as students are ready to head off to college, it is never too late.  No matter when it happens, teaching this essential life skill to homeschoolers will always produce positive results.

Image: Flickr

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: chores, household, lesson planning, organization, storage

Mar 06 2012

Block scheduling

How many times have you wished there were more hours in the day? More time for homeschooling?  More time to spend with individual children? More time for household projects? Time for fitness and exercise? Time to work on hobbies?  More time with your spouse?

With block scheduling, you can actually get your wish!

Okay, the schedules don’t actually make the day any longer.  But, using them really does make it seem like they do!

Busy parents have long known the benefits of the block schedule.  These may seem intimidating at first, but once established, they literally run themselves.

Do schedules work all the time?  Of course not.  But for seasons of life when schedules make sense, block schedules set the gold standard for getting stuff done!

In a nutshell, here’s how block scheduling works:

  1. First, you imagine the perfect day, and identify what every member of the family should be doing at every point throughout the day.
  2. Then, you figure out the number of hours in the day that are available in for scheduling (from rising until bedtime).
  3. Next, you choose the length of time for every “block” (15-60 minute blocks are common)
  4. Finally, you draw up a chart, so that every family knows where he or she needs to be, when, throughout the day.

Sound daunting?  Actually, it isn’t.

If you start out small, and schedule the first few hours of every day, you’ll have a great beginning.   Once you get the hang of things, you can expand your schedule even more. Or not.  It’s up to you.

Look at this portion of a block schedule for a mom and 2 children:

Sarah James Mom
8:00-9:00 Breakfast, reading Breakfast, reading Chores, get math   ready
9:00-10:00 Spanish Math with mom Math with James
10:00-11:00 Math with mom History Math with Sara
11:00-12:00 Science with James Science with Sarah Chores, Calls, Emails
12:00-1:00 Lunch and rest Lunch and rest Lunch and cleanup
1:00-2:00 History with mom Outside time, hobbies History with Sarah
2:00-3:00 Outside time, hobbies English Gardening or sewing
3:00-4:00 English Music practice English with Sarah
4:00-5:00 Chore time Chore time Laundry, dinner prep

 

Imagine now this schedule organized into 30 minute blocks instead of 60 minutes.  Then, imagine the schedule starts at 7:00 a.m. and runs all the way until bedtime.  Finally, imagine adding more kids and blocks to the schedule, until everything is accounted for!

Turns out, block scheduling is one of my most requested talks.  That’s because they really, really work!

Think block schedules are too restrictive?  I have found a way to make them work for everyone.  Even you!

Ask me how.

Are you using block scheduling already?  SHARE your results! (Linky is now closed.)

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You might also like:

Block Scheduling Overview

Block Scheduling Tutorial (video) Part 1

Block Scheduling Tutorial (video) Part 2

Sample Block Schedule

Marie-Claire Moreau, Quick Start Homeschool

SHARE this valuable tip with friends:

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: chores, household, large families, laundry, leadership, lesson planning, scheduling, time management, work-at-home, working moms

Mar 01 2012

Clean enough

One of the things homeschool families often discuss is how to keep the house clean.  This is a natural concern.  What with school going on all the time and families being home during much of it, the homeschooling household takes much more of a beating than those in which families head out and don’t return again until dinner.  Fact is, homeschooling can be messy, children like to spread out, plus projects multiply very quickly.  Over time, just about every corner of the house seems to be impacted in some way or another.

While this may be frustrating at first, particularly for families that have never homeschooled before, rest assured, it is a shared concern among countless families nationwide.  In reality, your home is no different from anybody else’s.

You can, however, handle the chaos a bit differently than other families consumed by maintaining a picture-perfect home.  Knowing the secret that other homeschooling moms and dads have discovered may help you, too.

Silly as it may sound, the answer lies in changing ones view of clean.  I am not trying to play a sneaky trick on you — this is the real deal.  The secret to functioning well in your home, and enjoying it too, is changing your perception of clean (or tidy, or uncluttered, or your design standpoint) during the homeschooling years.  Really!

Think of it this way.  Because homeschooling is an all-encompassing activity — a ‘lifestyle choice’ if you will – the status of your home is likely to change for a while — maybe even a really long time.  When there is so much activity swirling around your home each and every day, no amount of wishing the house clean will make it so .  So, changing your definition of clean is the only way to handle the differences between the clean home you had prior to homeschooling, and the clean home you have now. Is your home still the same as it looked before you had children?  It’s the same exact thing.

I have talked over and over about streamlining household operations using binder systems, chore systems, and other organizational tools that make the home a more pleasant and productive place to be.  I highly recommend that every family put these kinds of systems in place because they really do help.  But the reality is, even using the most sophisticated organizational tools money can buy, kids are still kids and homes are still lived in.  Changing your perception of what your home should look like is the only thing that you can do!

If you like a clean house, accepting a slightly-less-than-perfect job from a child assigned to clean a kitchen or allowing the laundry to pile up a little bit higher than you’re comfortable with may not be easy to do.  But, over time, it will become easier to accept that your home is “clean enough”.

Remember, too, that the days of homeschooling will be over before you know it.  Learning to enjoy your home the way it is will allow the entire family to make the most of these wonderful years while they last.  And what could be more important than a joyous family and a happy home anyway?

[Image: Free Digital]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: chores, cleaning, household, laundry

Dec 29 2011

15-minute organization now saves time and sanity later

If you’re like many homeschooling families, the beginning of every new year marks the half-way point between the beginning of your school year and making it to the finish line sometime between May and August.  And while the half-way point means 4-6 months of hard work for your kids and homeschooling satisfaction already under your belt, it can also mean that time has taken a toll on the organizational systems in your home, too:

Source: Free Digital Photography

No matter when your school year begins and ends, it’s never a bad idea to spend a few minutes get things re-organized for the next round.  Taking just 15 minutes now to eliminate piles of papers, tidy school areas, or update household charts keeps things running smoothly for the rest of the year.  Better yet, periodically cleaning up your act insures that your time will be spent on the things that are important to you — rather than wasted wading through messes instead.

Here is a list of just some of the things that homeschooling families can accomplish in 15 minutes.  Choose any of the following (or any you come up with on your own) and promise yourself you’ll get it done today.  Do the same thing every day for a week and you’ll really set yourself up for success!  That’s because the rewards of these 15-minute checkups extend beyond today — yes, you’ll feel great about getting something done now,  but the payoff continues every single day that you don’t have to deal with that particular problem in the future!

Get your homeschool in order in 15 minutes by…

1. Dealing with a paper pile — either on your desk or your student’s desk.   Grade exams, file homework, discard doodles and scratch paper (a major problem in my home), sort mail, or whatever you need to do to remove unwanted paper from somewhere in your home.  As an added bonus, find a way to deal with these papers in the future by setting up boxes, file folders, or a nearby trash receptacle to hande papers as they come in from now on.  I recently used baskets to hold my most used discs and files and am very happy with the result:

I also couldn’t believe the change I experienced simply by placing a trash can under my desk — it fills so much faster than it ever did being on the other side of the room!

2. Checking supply levels and restock anywhere in your home that needs it.  This could be a student desk in need of pencils and crayons, an artist area in need of frequently-used paint colors, a pantry in need of restocking from bulk items stored in the garage, a closet or dresser in need of a seasonal clothing swap, or anything else that could use refilling.  I solved our problem recently by creating 2 well-stocked common areas where our children could grab supplies whenever they were needed (one upstairs, one downstairs):

Identify an area in your home that needs attention, then do whatever works for you.

3. Creating or revising homeschool forms, household or charts or any other standard item you use all year long. In my home, I recently implemented a 3-week rotating chore system that is working very well for us so far. But other activities in this category would include creating a form for an activity your child performs every day (reading, practicing karate or piano), revising a form that hasn’t been working well for you (a weekly or monthly planning sheet) or making photocopies of forms you use on a daily or weekly basis (to-do lists, solution sheets for mathematics, grocery lists, or pages of an entire household notebook).  Also don’t forget to make sure that calendars are hung all around the home where they are visible, pages are refilled in personal planners, and electronic devices are either standardized or sync-ed in some way so that all family members are communicating and scheduling well together.

4. Starting a new system — one that you have been wanting to try for a long time.  Turning over a responsibility to another member of the family, such as laundry or menu-planning, may be something you have been wanting to try for a while.  Or having children check their own answers on homework papers or do their own laundry could be the new system you are putting in place this year.  A word of advice — keep an eye on things at first, even operating both the old and new systems for a little while in case the family takes longer than anticipated to adjust (or the plan backfires altogether).  In our home, I am presently converting from my gigantic day-planner to an electronic calendar application on my wireless device.  And even though I’ll be duplicating my efforts for a little while, I plan to keep the planner going until I am confident that I know exactly what I am doing under the new system.

5. Cleaning something that needs it — like mom’s or dad’s desk, the corner of the kitchen counter where everything seems to accumulate during the day, or an area of the mud room where items always seem to land when kids enter from the back door.  In my home, little helpers in the kitchen often contribute to a messy pantry storage area — one area that I feel as though I am constantly trying to conquer:

Choose an area in your home that you have been neglecting and get it ready for the next day.  Even better, see if you can think of a way to keep that area a lot cleaner in the future (and if you come up with clever pantry ideas, please share them here, as well!).

6. Decluttering an area — particularly one that has been making you crazy all year.  Although you might not be able to eliminate everything in the area, rehome (or discard) whatever you can, and simplify and organize the rest.  If it’s the spot in the garage where children leave their shoes and toys, tackle that one.  Or the place where all of your girls do hair and makeup in the bathroom is the area that creates the most problems in your home.  Wherever it may be, declutter an area that seems to attract messes or cause the most hold-ups for you and the other members of your household.

7. Finding a better place for something (usually one that has no home).  In my home, this includes small appliances that take up valuable space on kitchen countertops because they don’t have a place in the cupboards.  It also includes children’s laundry cubes that don’t have a home at the moment because I finally renovated our laundry room. (I’ll tackle these myself this week!)  In your home, it could be anything you continually find on the floors, the stairs, the workspace in the garage, or anywhere else it really doesn’t belong.

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You can help visitors learn even more about the things you read on Quick Start Homeschool.  Please add to the conversation by leaving your COMMENT, below!

 

 

 

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: chores, household, laundry, organization, relaxed, scheduling, storage

Nov 19 2011

House rules

When homeschooling, not all of the learning happens at home.  But a lot of it does. That means homeschoolers overall tend to spend more time at home than other families.  Which is a good thing.  Usually.

With so much togetherness comes more opportunities for learning, true.  But it can also mean more time for children to make mistakes, as well.  Having a good set of house rules provides a framework for addressing  behavioral matters at home.  House rules don’t just make family time more enjoyable, but they are useful for communicating expectations and reinforcing what you value overall.

Families each handle house rules a little differently.  Some parents write them down on paper and hang them in a prominent location for all to see.  Others adopt a set of rules and issue verbal reminders whenever rules need to be invoked.  Still others list not just the rules, but the consequences for breaking, and the rewards for meeting them as well.  Rules may look like lists, charts, detailed explanations, or anything at all — whatever works.

For obvious reasons, customized house rules are best.  However, consumers may also purchase rules that have been published specifically for this purpose, and tweak them just a little bit to make them fit.

Whatever the method, house rules should be explained in advance, discussed as a group, and reviewed often as a family.  Never assume that any child — no matter how old or how intelligent that child may be – understands what is meant by each particular rule.   Using examples and demonstrating house rules through role-playing are two very effective ways to communicate house rules, but use whatever means are needed to fully explain the rules so that nothing is left to doubt when a particular behavior occurs and needs to be addressed.

Finally, revisit and revise house rules every so often.  As children grow and learn, though old behaviors may be put to rest, new ones may unexpectedly appear.  Many a parent has begun with a short list of rules, only to realize the list seems to grow longer and longer each year as first children grow and additional children are added to the family.  While there are benefits to keeping the list short, covering all of the bases is important, too.

For useful tips about house rules, visit the following articles to help get started, being sure to locate plenty of additional resources if these do not match your lifestyle or personal philosophy.  These links have been selected solely to provide examples and a variety of perspectives for those just beginning to develop house rules:

Parent Leadership

Essential Baby

Raising Children Network

Crisis Counseling

Gregg Harris

CNN

[Photo: Free Digital]

 

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: chores, leadership, organization

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