Tomorrow is Always Fresh

by Rebecca Keliher

Planning the Perfect Homeschool Day

I’ll start Monday. Yes, Monday is a good day to start things anew. It is the best time to start a new diet or a new routine for exercise, better eating or early morning devotions. Best of all, Monday is the day I will, once again, dive into my planner and set a course for the “perfect” homeschool day. My children will delightfully acknowledge and properly respond to my wishes, yes, on Monday that is. For today it is Tuesday, and so I will start next Monday.

Have you ever had that conversation with yourself? Best intentions in mind, you start out on Monday and by the very next day things have already fallen out of sorts and you are justifying why you should wait until the following Monday to start anew?

As a young mother of three little girls, our home would not be complete without all three VHS videos of Anne of Green Gables. Tea party table set up, delicate cookies to snack on, and dressed up like princesses, the girls and I would spend the afternoon on Prince Edward Island.

I’ll never forget the moment I heard the statement from Ms. Stacy, “Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it . . . well with no mistakes in it yet.”

The thought had not occurred to me before. Tomorrow is always the best time to start anew, try it again, and give it another go.  So why do we put off the tomorrow for the next Monday?

One of my favorite authors, Martin Lloyd Jones, a minister of the early twentieth century stated it best:

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.  Now this man’s treatment [the Psalmist in Psalm 42] was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul has been depressing him, crushing him.  So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.’  Do you know what I mean?  If you do not, you have had but little experience. 

Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart, and even with the best intentions our schedules and routines can end up in the ditch. What to do? Tell yourself to start again tomorrow. Yes, it’s as simple as that.

Not sure how to start? Here’s an easy yet effective tool that I have used as I have planned, failed, evaluated, and then planned again.

Get out a pencil and a piece of paper. On the vertical jot down the times of the day, from the moment your feet hit the floor until it’s night-night time, in increments of thirtyyyyy minutes. On the horizontal, begin outlining the most important part of the day: meals! You gotta feed the kiddos if you expect to have any type of order. Next, jot down any commitments outside the home like piano, soccer, baseball, drama, co-op, etc.

You are almost ready to schedule in the homeschooling but first, stop for a moment and just stare. Stare hard and let it sink in, asking yourself this important question: Am I over-scheduling myself before adding our schooling to the schedule?

As homeschooling has become mainstream, it has also become more convoluted with a plethora of available activities. Socialization, exercise, and outings are important and have their place, but the primary purpose of education is . . . drum roll please, you don’t want to miss it . . . education. That’s right, if you are homeschooling, it’s pretty important to actually school the kids.

Okay, I am now stepping off my soapbox and back to that pencil and paper.  Getting back to the horizontal, begin assigning the most difficult and time consuming subjects first, then proceed to the remaining subjects. Remember to leave room for breaks and cuddling time over a good book on the couch.

The next morning, your tomorrow, post the schedule on the frig and give it a try. As you go, you will see where adjustments can and should be made. It’s not a big deal, your investment at this point is a piece of paper and a pencil.

In the evening, get a fresh piece of paper, and try again, including your adjustments. Try again and in a few days, if needed, make a few more adjustments. Days turn into weeks, and weeks into months.

Children grow, schedules change, and life throws you a curve ball every so often, but in the end, planning a successful day (okay, we’ll try for a decent day) of homeschooling is as simple as a piece of paper, a pencil, and a tomorrow.

Rebecca Keliher is a homeschool mom just like you. She put her love of scrapbooking to work and turned a homeschool newsletter into the beautiful Home Educating Family Magazine. Also known as the Well Planned Gal, Rebecca used her eye for design and knack for organization to create the original homeschool planner, Well Planned Day. As you peruse HEDUA.com, Rebecca hopes you'll be encouraged, inspired, and equipped for your homeschool journey.

Reprinted with permission. This article originally appeard in Family Magazine 2015, issue 4 and at http://hedua.com/blog/tomorrow-always-fresh/.