Our family's relationships with the Lord and each other are our most important priorities.  This is what Christian home schooling is all about—so don't miss it or push it to a back burner for anything else!

 •  Pray for wisdom and strength to love and train your children for His glory.

 •  Pray for your child's early, but clearly understood and meaningful, salvation.

 •  Pray that each one in your family will commit his whole life to the Lord.

Our highest priority is to teach our children God's Word through regular and thoughtful Bible reading and memorization.

We can protect our families from error, and counteract the worldly influences around us, in no better way than by immersing our families in God’s truth through systematic reading and study of God’s Word.

In only five minutes per day you can read the entire New Testament through in a year, or you can read the entire Bible in only 15 minutes per day.  See various Bible reading plans in Newsletter #265.

Help your family grow spiritually in love and dedication to the Lord by:

 •  Loving dedication and obedience to God.

 •  Knowing God and speaking to Him in prayer.

 •  Christian fellowship.

 •  Ministry to others.

 •  Right relationships with the Lord and others.  This includes honoring and obeying parents, and being loving, kind, and forgiving to all family members.

Consider your academic goals and how best to meet them.  If you are on course, great!  If you need help, try these ideas.

 •  Make the three basic skills of reading, writing, and math your first priority until the end of your school year.

 •  Add history, science, and other subjects whenever your basics are on schedule.

 •  Use the scope and sequence charts provided online by A Beka Books, Bob Jones University Press, your state's testing preview site to view what material is suggested to be known by each grade level.

 •  Order What Your (Kindergartner, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th Grader) Needs to Know from Birch Court Books.

Keeping in mind the relative importance of various parts of the vast amount of knowledge you have to teach will help you prioritize your focus and schedule.

Remember that most information and skills will be reviewed in future years, and decide what level of competence is necessary now.

 •  Acquaintance
Your children need only a casual acquaintance with many details presented in their curriculum. Some of your study books can be used for a family read-aloud time.

 •  Understanding
Other parts of your curriculum, such as overall timelines of history and major concepts of science and math, need to be understood more thoroughly.  A timeline or chart would help visualize this.

 •  Mastery
Some detailed information needs to be mastered.  This includes the essentials of any discipline, such as instant recall of math facts and operations, and the rules of phonics, spelling, and grammar.

For this mastery level, drill and memorization is needed.  Try the following:

 •  Good computerized drill programs (in a game format or straight facts) are useful for memory aids.  Softbasics offers free math facts and concepts software.

 •  Create or buy study aids for learning and reviewing key facts and information that needs to be memorized such as flashcards (print 3-way math cards online or buy them from Birch Court Books), checklists, outlines, and summaries.

 •  Check out the audio resources carried by Sing 'n Learn that help your children memorize and review basic information.

Review is a powerful part of learning.  Reviews can be accomplished in a series of short periods.

 •  Flashcards (bought or home made) are helpful for reviewing factual information.  Write the word or information to be learned on one side and the definition or explanation on the other.

 •  Laminated quick review guides (bought or home made), and posters also provide review aids.

 •  Rhodes College offers study skill tips online.

If you choose to concentrate on basic skills at this time, you may want to postpone other subjects to finish during the summer.  For instance, you might:

 •  Take one or more days a week during June to read and discuss history in a leisurely fashion.  Do the same during July for science, and August for music and art.

 •  You might find that your family greatly enjoys the more relaxed schedule, more time to devote to the subject and related interests, and the focus of concentrating on just one subject at a time.

 •  Summer would also be a good time to add unit studies, field trips, supplemental reading, and software to enhance your studies or for a child to pursue a personal interest.

Arrange your classes for the highest efficiency and conserve time and effort with these time-tested methods:

 •  Teach several of your children together in one class, e.g., history, science, Bible, literature, and electives.  Present the lessons with explanations that enable all your children to understand.

 •  Instead of teaching all of your subjects every day, simplify your preparation and gain from your students' focus by teaching fewer, but longer, classes each day, e.g., each week teach language arts on two days and math on the other three days.

It might be best for you to rewrite your simplified lesson plans for the balance of the school year.

 •  Check off each item as your complete it.

Make your home run smoothly with the least amount of time and effort by eliminating nonessentials and organizing your time, space, and housework.

 •  Keep a monthly calendar updated with all your family activities—in fact, you might make a master calendar for the 6 weeks (or so) that will take you through to the end of your school year.

 •  Don't schedule all your time—allow for unexpected interruptions, down time, and catch-up time.

 •  Eliminate any out-of-home activities that you can.  Freeing up even one or two evenings each week can really lower the stress level in your home.

 •  Establish the habit of using your master calendar and lesson plans to plan your weekly schedule the weekend before the week begins, and your daily schedule the night before.  This will give you a running start, identify overbooking, and help you to be prepared—making things go smoothly and giving you a chance to accomplish your highest goals.

The more “stuff” you eliminate, the easier it will be to arrange your belongings in an orderly way.  This also creates a more peaceful atmosphere in your home.

 •  Keep boxes or large garbage bags labeled “put away,” “give away,” “sell,” and “toss.”  Try to put some items in these each day and dispose of them appropriately once a week.

 •  Maintain daily chores (with the help of the whole family!) of laundry, dishes, and pick up.

 •  Read “The 3-Step Cleaning Solution for Busy Moms” online.  It suggests two daily cleaning bursts of 5-20 minutes each, a daily focus on one room for 10-15 minutes, and one weekly “clean-for-all.”

 •  Keep meals simple, healthy, and on time.  See slow-cooker recipes.

Enjoy the Lord and your family!  God's goal for us is to have a home filled with love, joy, and peace, where each member of the family relates to the others as He intends.

 •  Work together; chores are easier and more fun that way!

 •  Read aloud together.

 •  Set aside a “family night” each week. Play board games, do puzzles, arts and crafts, or bake together.

 •  Take a walk together and talk along the way—enjoy springtime out in nature!

 •  Sing or play musical instruments together.

 •  Spend some one-on-one time with each family member each day.