How we do School During Highly Busy Months

Some months of the year are just too busy for ‘normal school’.  With just kids activities/ outside classes, doctors appointments etc etc, I find myself on the road with the kids for upto close to 180 miles a week some seasons!!! One time I was actually on the road for over 500 miles that week! But that was an exception. It was for a soccer camp located 50 miles away, by the Real Madrid Foundation, for which my oldest son got selected to participate in a 1 week training session at their facility in Madrid, Spain 🙂 My husband and son had a great time there, so I guess those efforts paid off. 

This December is one of such months, where to top it off, there’s all the holiday baking, and traditions.(You can read about our Christmas traditions here). We also have an active ministry life with prayer gatherings at our house and else, and preparations for such gatherings. 

Our oldest 2, (14 and 13 years) are dual enrolled at the local community college for which they have to go to the campus to take classes. I usually drop, come back, go, pick up, which is about 50 miles a day there itself! And that’s just one of the numerous things we do (on top of archery, scouts, art class, piano, soccer, Jujitsu, homeschool teens groups, etc etc. I think I need to go back and read my own post on choosing extracurricular activities 😅😬). Some years I go all out with activities, whereas other years, I tend to be highly selective at choosing; as I strongly believe that time for formation at home is very important.

While some days I just wished we could be at home more, other days I am all pumped up and ready to roll. The downside of all this busyness is that ‘home’schooling could be at stake. 

While most days, we don’t have the whole day at home to our disposal, there are ways to do school effectively and actually almost as efficiently with some simple changes. We do school differently during such months. That is one beauty of homeschooling, where we don’t have to feel obligated to do school in a traditional way, but rather how it works with your season of life. I hope to give an idea of different ways one can do school during busy months: 

1) Sometimes, we choose to focus on just the core basics for a short period of time– mostly reading, writing and math; in other words, the ‘non- negotiables’. I have them do math, choose some history/ science readers from our extensive collection of books, and do their language arts curriculum. This way, they still get to cover the basics. Most of these are subjects that I don’t need to give extensive input, except corrections. Thus most of the schooling is run on auto-pilot.

For example, I tend to have them just do the core basics for half weeks, such as after a long trip and a need to recuperate, or weeks such as Thanksgiving week, or weeks where we will be out most of the weekday mornings.

2) If the season will extend longer (like an unexpected emergency, or huge project working on, childbirth, or whatever other reason, in addition to the core subjects, I add in some subjects that are not necessarily that important to do, on a rotating basis. Some people call this a ‘loop/rotation schedule’. So basically they will be doing a set of selected core subjects daily and 1-2 extra subjects on a rotating basis, depending on how much time is available.

With this approach, we actually resumed homeschooling in 3 days after our 6th baby came, as our homeschool was run on autopilot 😁🤫.  

3 ) Carschooling- More recently, I have them pack up their schoolwork and supplies in backpacks, so that they are ready anytime, anywhere. This December, we choose to do school this way, as most days or every other day, we are out. I also pack up a backpack for myself for school, with any teachers manual, solutions manual, DVDs, read-alouds or other things I will need. I also add in some activities for the smaller kids, with clipboards, pencils and sharpeners. (If I have the smaller kids keep those in their backpack, they may not end up having it when they need them!).  In December, I try to add in any Christmas themed activities which they can easily do in the van, without making too much mess.  So whenever we need to get out of the house during a regular school hour, especially, we grab our school backpacks and head out. With the backpack system, we have the option to stop by a park or picnic area and do school there. 

In case we were in a rush that we forgot our backpacks, I have a crate full of reading books (mix of different age groups), permanently stocked in our 12 seater. I also have a Bible and spiritual reading book in the van. 

I also have educational songs and memory work stored in an SD card which we put on while driving, although they have started preferring Christian music over these. Our kids are not great fans of audiobooks. But that is an option for those who like them. There are lots of free downloads of audiobooks at Librivox.

4) Sometimes we choose to do an ‘intensive’ that week. Since we don’t get to do nature study year round, in Spring we sometimes do a ‘nature week intensive’. I take them on field trips to botanical gardens, parks or other nature abundant areas, sometimes in our own backyard! I remember one year we spotted some black bellied whistling ducks in the downtown Japanese Tea Garden, and then spotted a migratory flock in our own backyard after 2 days! That was an enriching experience. We also spotted an invasive species of apple snail in a local alligator reserve. Sure was a fruitful week! Also, a nice break from routine academics.

Other subjects we have done intensives in the past are either regular school subjects to catch up or get ahead on, like math, writing, science, science experiments, foreign language, geography (before a geo bee competition), or subjects that we tend to do as an elective, such as First Aid, or Drawing, or other interested subjects. Sometimes I have them do some math everyday, followed by the intensive. The good thing about intensives, are that they get quite a lot covered during that time, and can totally immerse themselves in that subject that week, by using different resources and inputs. I also sometimes end up doing an intensive for subjects I have listed in their curriculum, but find it cumbersome to do on a daily basis. This method also frees up time for me, which I use to do small projects around the house.

5) We use online instruction, but I am not a huge fan of complete online instruction, although it is a good option for schooling during busy months where moms need to be freed up a bit. There are numerous free options. Some paid subscriptions we use are Homeschool Connections and Schoolhouse Teachers. 

6) Sometimes I do some subjects for some kids after school hours, if I feel we are regularly missing out as daytime gets busy. Though this is not the most favorite thing to do for the kids(or for me), I tend to find that it works better with our oldest and youngest kids. The middle crew, though they would read books after school hours, tend to find more happiness in playing. With the youngest kids, I usually end up doing phonics after hours. I also have them do mandatory reading time, any electives, or other ‘delight directed learning’ during this time. I also occasionally do  read-alouds after hours. For DVDs that I want  most of the kids to watch, or that I want to also attend with them, we tend to do in the evenings; with our oldest 2 on the high school track, it is hard to gather everyone together in the daytime.

These are some of the ways we keep the school spirit during a period of busyness. There is no need to give up, just need to improvise and find out what fits you that season of your life. After all, homeschooling is actually a misnomer in that schooling happens not only at home. Learning can happen any time, anywhere, any way!

If there’s any other ideas anyone wants to add, please feel free to post in the comments section!