A productive summer schedule can help homeschoolers (or anyone) toward desires or goals you have for your summer months. Perhaps those would include doing some homeschooling, accomplishing activities that don’t fit into a homeschool year, or simply relationship building. Whatever the desire, purposefulness in making a schedule should give time to work on various aspects that lead to its achievement. Often moms get to the end of their summer dismayed with their lack of productivity and disappointed that they didn’t accomplish what they had envisioned. Your schedule is a tool that will let you look back on summer with satisfaction rather than regret. If you haven’t scheduled before, summer is a perfect time to learn scheduling because usually summer has a more relaxed pace than the school months do. List and Pray To begin, write your desires for summer accomplishments onto a list. Having these desires in writing means you can visualize the ideas all together. You have a limited amount of time and energy so what you want to accomplish will be mitigated by that. The list and then the schedule is a reality check for what is reasonable to try to do. Before you work on the actual schedule, you want to pray and seek the Lord’s direction for what He would have you and your children accomplish this summer. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). You may grow or shrink the list as you spend praying over it and also evaluating your available time. Then pray about the actual planning and working out of the schedule since you want God’s help through that process. He is the One Who gives you direction and creativity for how to put the pieces of your schedule together. Add a Few Notes Now look at your list of desires for the summer. What needs to be scheduled to accomplish those goals? Start by making notes on your list since a particular goal might mean multiple spots on the schedule. For example, your list says: summer school. But your note would be more specific – keep math and reading going during the summer by doing it daily. Your list could have: relationship building. Your note with it might say: weekly outing with one child rotating every week through the summer, assign a kitchen helper for each meal, have a daily game time.  Assign Times The next step is to put times with what you have on your list. It simplifies the schedule and schedule production if you use the same schedule for summer that you do for the school year when it comes to your normal daily needs. Then you don’t have to relearn that routine for the summer. School time is freed up to assign for your summer accomplishments, but the rest of the schedule remains the same. If, however, you want to change the whole thing up, your schedule can accommodate. Just be sure to write it down. Trying to keep it in your mind is a setup for failure! Then you use your notes to help you put what is on your list into time slots on the schedule. What is on it that you will do every day? Plug those into your schedule first. That allows you to evaluate the time blocks you have available for activities that don’t happen every day. If you want to have larger chunks of time for outings, try to group your daily activities together, so that you have several hours that can be scheduled for outings and the activities that don’t happen every day. Finally what is on the list that you can do a couple of times a week or once a week? Put those into the blocks that are still open after the daily pieces have been entered into the schedule. Make the Summer Schedule a Reality Sometimes putting together a schedule seems daunting. That’s usually the case when it is all floating around in your head. Committing the details to paper or the computer, generally flows nicely once you take that first step to begin. The productive summer schedule for homeschoolers will help you end your summer with a smile as you look back over all that you achieved through those months.  If you need more scheduling help, I recommend our book called Managers of Their Homes. That book is full of scheduling information plus it walks you step by step through putting a schedule together utilizing the included scheduling kit.  Here are some other articles on summer scheduling. The Well Planned, Well-Executed Homeschooler’s Summer The No-Regrets Summer Five Tips to Make a Homeschool Mom’s Summer More Productive A Summer Schedule Time for Summer Schedule Planning Summer Schedules Teri Maxwell

Soon summer is once again upon us. Are you prepared to make it a fruitful, productive time for you and your family? To do so, I suggest you pray for the Lord’s direction for summer goals and priorities. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). Then implement a schedule that sets aside time for what you want to accomplish through the summer. “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6). We recently received a sweet story regarding some of our products that might motivate and give you ideas to pray about concerning summer goals and routines. We were reading the 5th book in the Moody’s serie, and we got to the ChorePacks. I told Olivia (7) that we have the same book about chores and even the packs and everything. This was bedtime.  The next day Olivia copied all the chores she found in the book. I showed her the real chores book, and we added some more. We printed the cards on regular paper and cut them out. Both kids were involved, but Olivia was super excited. We put them in order, and I told them I would print them again, with the numbers on top and on better paper. With only two children and one of them reading, I didn’t think adding the name was needed. But then I thought that they would be happy to see their names on the cards. So I added their names too.  Bedtime came again, and I told my daughter I would work on it that night. She really wanted to start the following morning. The next morning Olivia told me she could barely sleep because of the excitement of having the ChorePacks and starting the routines. The first day went great. I am very encouraged, too, as I have been having a super hard time keeping myself consistent and having routines. The Lord truly is working through our children (among others) to sanctify us.  What about working on consistency and routines? This mom says that’s a struggle for her. Over the summer she can work on those for herself and also can teach Olivia how to do her chores. They can find places for chores in the schedule and be accountable for doing them. Maybe you don’t have time for reading during the school year. That is a great part of a summer schedule. It can be mom read alouds or children reading on their own. Make sure to evaluate the reading material, though. The Moody books drew this mom’s little girl to – wanting to work – a positive appetite. You can inadvertently introduce bad appetites as well if you aren’t watchful. I remember the time I read a book to our children where one child called a sibling, “Stupid.” That was not a word we had used in our home to describe a child. Sure enough, though, after I read that, our children began using “Stupid” in that derogatory nature of each other. Perhaps the Lord would lead you to Scripture memory with your children through the summer. We have a couple of great series on that on our website: Scripture Memory Bible and Copying Part 1 Scripture Memory Bible and Copying Part 2 Scripture Memory Bible and Copying Part 3 Scripture Memory Bible and Copying Part 4 And: Scripture Memory with Little Children Part 1 Scripture Memory with Little Children Part 2 Scripture Memory with Little Children Part 3 Scripture Memory with Little Children Part 4 Is He calling you to grow in your walk with Him? That probably means time spent with Him, focused on Him. I wonder if Sweet Journey could facilitate that? It helps with ideas on what profitably to do when you spend time with the Lord.Maybe this summer you want to develop your children’s conversational skills – and your own in the process. We have something for that – Making Great Conversationalists.I didn’t start this Mom’s Corner to be a promotional for our books, but as I thought about your summers and what you might want to accomplish, I got excited about what we have that could enable you. This is the time to get tools for whatever your priorities and goals might be so that you are ready to utilize your summer productively! Blessings, Teri Maxwell

As Christian women, I believe we know the value of prayer, and most, if not all of us,  pray. Through the years walking with Christ, learning to pray, and putting prayer into practice, I discovered some holes in my prayer life. Thankfully the Lord has given me tweaks and tools to fill those holes and make my prayer life more effective.

Hit and miss praying, sometimes called flare prayers, makes it too easy to miss rather than hit or to only hit a couple of targets. Critical to my prayer life was, and still is, a scheduled time completely dedicated to praying – no more missing, just hit, hit, hit. For me, scheduled prayer time is attached to my morning Bible reading time. It happens at a specific time each morning and for a specific length of time. Then through out the day, I can pray, but I know those aspects that are my prayer priorities have been addressed. I don’t go to bed at night remembering all I didn’t pray about and wishing I had been more faithful in prayer.

Perhaps one of my biggest prayer holes was consistency in praying for things that were important to me. Sporadically as they surfaced in importance, I prayed about them. Often I got in ruts of who and what I prayed for, totally forgetting ones that I still desired to invest in praying for. With the utilization of a prayer list, however, all of that changed. Now prayer priorities were on the list and prayer attention given to them. I started out with a prayer notebook, but then moved to a prayer app.

With my prayer list that I could organize, I also left behind the overwhelmed feelings I had of not having time to pray for everything I wanted to pray about. With my prayer list, I assigned some items for everyday, others for several times a week, and still others for once a week. With a prayer app, I could record answers to prayer, and if it was a short term prayer, mark it as completed. If it was a specific request for someone I continually prayed for, I could write each answer in the notes associated with that person. It keeps my list concise, and I am not flipping all over in a prayer notebook like I was before.

With a prioritized and scheduled prayer time and a list of prayer targets, I did not miss praying for those important things. That also spared me the embarrassing moments when someone thanked me for praying about their need while I realized I hadn’t thought of their request again after it was made. I certainly hadn’t prayed for it. Now I get those requests on my prayer list and also, if they are for a specific day and time, I put them on my calendar with a reminder set. I want to be a faithful friend by praying when asked. When it is put on the prayer list, it is prayed for. 

The final tool to share with you is praying Scripture. Look at this passage, for example: 

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Col 1:9-12

What powerful, specific things to pray for someone. If and when we are stuck in the routine of what we always pray for, Scripture gives us new words and ideas. Paul’s prayers are wonderful examples, but there are many more throughout our Bible. Note them as you are reading and make lists of them. Memorize them to have them even easily available when you pray.

May I encourage you to evaluate your prayer life to see if it could use revitalization? Might you be helped by scheduling a prayer time, by using a prayer list, or even prayer Scripture?

After becoming successful with chores in our home when we had our eight children and before writing a resource on that topic, we did a survey of a large number of Christian, homeschooling moms. One statistic we garnered from that survey was that about 75% of those women did not feel prepared for their roles as wives, mothers, and homemakers while the other 25% were prepared. Those women said that the presence or absence of chore responsibility growing up made the difference. 

You are preparing your children to become mature, responsible adults so I want to encourage you to invest heavily in a chore system in your home and teaching your children how to do those chores. You can’t tell a child to do something and then expect that he will know what and how to do it. They need to have you demonstrate the chore, talking through it as you go and then letting them try it while you are watching. 

I wonder if practice is one of the major missing pieces that cause many to fail at their chore system. Recently we heard a reading specialist mention in a talk that dyslexic children can learn to read, but it takes repetition and practice and more repetition and practice – not just for a week, but for months and years.

We want to teach our children their chores and then think they will be off and running with them. That formula leads to disappointment and frustration for Mom, and that was certainly part of my failure with chores and my children in the beginning. How much better it is when we teach the chore, put it on the schedule, and practice the chore with the child for several days, until it is clear the child knows what to do and how to do it.

The next major stumbling block with a chore system is expecting that the chores will be done and done the way we want them done. I once heard someone say: “Don’t expect what you don’t inspect.” It takes time to daily inspect chores that are assigned to children. That means not only do the children have chores in their schedules but mom needs a time in her schedule to inspect them. This puts accountability in the chore system. 

If a child isn’t doing his chores or isn’t doing them well, Mom will decide if she needs to go back to teaching the job. Remember the dyslexic reader – repetition. Perhaps more practice with Mom is what will turn it around. On the other hand, it might be that we have moved into a character issue that must be addressed. It could be distractibility, lack of self-discipline, laziness, not paying attention to detail, hurrying, or many others. These are important to work through with your child too. Remember, we are headed for mature, responsible adults – step by step. 

Here’s an encouraging story a teenager’s mom shared with me.

“One of my children, who wishes to remain nameless, just said this – I promise, it is an exact quote . . . ‘I’m glad I have to do chores!’

So there you go. It only took 10 years of reinforcement, toil, sweat, tears etc. (on my part, I mean. 🙂 For those of you just starting in the trenches – don’t give up!  It pays major dividends!  Definitely not easy – what an understatement – but totally worth it!” Sandra

May I encourage you to work on chore system, not just setting it up but teaching, practicing, and inspecting the chores? “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth” (Lamentations 3:17). While it may seem daunting, it is worth it, and it is never to late to start. 

If you need any help with a chore system, I suggest you get Managers of Their Chores. It has facilitated so many families in a successful chore system in their home and the positive outcomes that are desired from it.