Top 5 Tips for Homeschool Planning

Written By: The Good and the Beautiful Published On:

Summer is the perfect time to plan ahead! In this blog post and short video, Jenny Phillips shares her top five tips for simple yet effective planning for the next school year.

Top 5 Tips for Homeschool Planning During the Summer

  1. Don’t Procrastinate
  2. Prep Curriculum
  3. Gather Books to Read
  4. Intentionally Plan
  5. Declutter and Organize

Top 5 Tips for Homeschool Planning over the Summer

Some families homeschool all year round, and others take a lighter load during the summer (like I do), while some take summer completely off. But regardless of how you homeschool, summer homeschooling almost always tends to be more laid-back and is such a wonderful time to do a little planning and organization for the next school year. 

I want to share my top five tips to help your summer be a time of simple but effective planning for the next school year!

Writing in planner | The Good and The Beautiful

1. Don’t Procrastinate

My first tip is to not procrastinate planning and organizing. Summer has a way of suddenly being over. It can cause stress when we have to rush to get things in place for homeschool to start. It can also cause stress to have in the back of your mind all summer the need to order curriculum and plan and organize. In addition, planning ahead allows you to get all of your curriculum and not risk any forgotten items arriving after you need to get started.

2. Prep Curriculum

Buy printed curriculum or print it all out during the summer. Trying to print out sections at a time during the school year creates extra work, continual preparation, and forethought during the school year. 

Often, we forget to have things printed and ready, and it’s hard then to rein our kids back in once we’ve gotten everything printed. When everything is printed and ready before school starts, it can make things smoother and easier.

stack of books | The Good and The Beautiful

3. Gather Books to Read

Gather as many reading books as you can. Keeping kids occupied with quality books to read during the school year makes it much more likely that a lot of good reading will actually happen. Summer is a great time to stock up on books. 

Check out The Good and Beautiful Book List where we continually add new, clean reviewed books to a searchable list. You can purchase books new or used on websites such as abebooks.com or Amazon. And/or you can find out what books your library has and make a list to use during the school year.

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4. Intentionally Plan

Make some time to sit in a nice cozy place and pray and ponder over your school year, and plan for next year. Writing out an intentional plan, and then being flexible with it when needed, can really help things go smoothly and will help you be more consistent. 

There are many different ways to create a schedule. For videos on organizing schedules, see our playlist here.

For helpful videos and blog posts on homeschool planning, scheduling, and more, visit our How to Start Homeschooling page.

  • How to Start Homeschooling | The Good and The Beautiful
Start Homeschooling
Organized Bookshelf | The Good and The Beautiful

5. Declutter and Organize

Use the summer to declutter and organize your homeschool shelves and bins. If you are overwhelmed, make easy goals, such as doing one bin or shelf each day.

Bonus Tip!

If you have a desire to improve your teaching and parenting skills, you could do some teacher training over the summer, when you have more free time, by watching videos on The Good and the Beautiful main YouTube channel or other homeschool channels that you trust. 

See our Homeschool Help playlist. These videos can arm you with knowledge and encouragement that we hope will help your next school year be the best one yet!

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How to plan for the upcoming homeschool year:

  • Don’t procrastinate
  • Become familiar with and prepare your curriculum
  • Gather needed materials
  • Plan with purpose
  • Freshen up your learning space
  • Find more ideas on our Homeschool Help playlist
A woman sitting outside on a bench with her feet crossed as she smiles and writes in a journal | The Good and the Beautiful

Frequently Asked Questions About Prepping for Homeschool

What should I do during the summer to prep for the homeschool year?

To prepare for your homeschool year, take the time to do these things during the summer months:

  • Buy or print your curriculum.
  • If printing curriculum, print out all necessary components to avoid hassle during the school year.
  • Gather wholesome books your children will enjoy learning from throughout the year.
  • Intentionally plan out your goals for your upcoming homeschool year.
  • Declutter and organize your materials in a handy location.
  • Get more tips and ideas from the Homeschool Help playlist.

Should I print out all my curriculum at once?

We recommend printing out all your curriculum during the summer, before your homeschool year starts. This makes your mornings open-and-go once school begins! Printing curriculum during the school year causes extra work and continual preparation. 

You may also like . . .

  • Graphic titled "Sample Homeschool Schedules" featuring a purple circular wreath design on a planner background with an orange pen.
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28 comments

Natasha H

These are all great tips! Decluttering is always the first thing I do when summer hits. It feels so good to have a fresh space to begin planning for the next school year. I always take some time in the summer to reflect with my children about what worked, what didn’t, and what they would like to learn in the upcoming school year. After that, I take some time to pray before kicking off the planning, my favorite part!

Jennifer Frye

I’m interested in homeschooling my children but don’t know where to start. Also, I must present positive feedback to my husband before he will agree.
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The Good and the Beautiful replied:
Hi Jennifer! We’re so happy you found us! Each state has different rules and regulations for what is required for homeschooling. We would highly suggest looking into the requirements for your state. You can learn more about how to get started and what is available on our website, here: https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/pages/switch-to-homeschool

Maria T

Thanks for the tips!

Renee Alam

Very helpful tips. I feel like every school year I need a reminder of these things.

Cara Thomas

Declutterring is such an important tip to me. I cannot function with school time if the space is a mess!

But even more important is setting time to pray. Sometimes we can forget to ask God and allow him to lead us in our decisions for the school year. Loved this tip!

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