Videos Archives - Kara S. Anderson

Meet my favorite new homeschool planners!

I have spent years beating my head against the wall over homeschool planning.

Part of me always wants to be chiller than I actually am. We’re interest-led learners here.

RELAX, I scream (quietly) to myself at 4 a.m.

But I just can’t. It’s not who I am, and so over the years I have tried several different approaches to planning.

I’ve tried “reverse,” planning, or writing down what we do after the fact. This is comforting to me when I get caught up in a cycle of worrying that we aren’t doing enough.

It’s also comforting when I buy my kids a new video game, and they only want to play that game, and I need written proof that they are doing other things and that I’m not just raising those children who grow up to become adults who scream their gameplay on YouTube, but let’s face it, are also millionaires.

More structure

But, there have been other times when one or more of us has craved more structure.

That’s when I implement my 6-weeks at a time planning approach, which I talk about in my book and share more about here.

The truth is, some level of planning helps me. It helps me focus on what’s most important, it helps me stay focused and it helps me know what’s coming, which means a lot for my anxious mama soul.

Even if I go willy-nilly, or skip a week – it helps me to have things written down and out of my brain.

My new favorite planner

Recently I was on my friend Jessica’s site – The Waldock Way – grabbing one of her amazing Who Was unit Studies when I stumbled across her planners.

I asked her for a peek inside and friends – you need to take a look.

Jessica’s planners are some of the most complete homeschool planners I’ve seen, including both everything you need for planning, but also specific pages for record keeping.

Maybe best of all – she has 4 options.

OK. That’s actually not the best of all. Jessica and I have a shared love of Harry Potter – we often suggest people bundle her Waldock Wizards and Wands with my Herbology Unit Study to create Hogwarts in Your Homeschool – so of course she has an amazing Harry Potter inspired planner!

But just in case HP isn’t your thing, her other homeschool planners include a bold colors option, a pastel option and a … flamingo option.

Planner Features!

All of Jessica’s beautifully constructed planners include:

weekly and monthly planning
a records section
resources for unit study planning
and a weekly meal planning page! (seriously! Bonus Jonas!)
morning basket planning pages (and bedtime basket planning!)
a game log
a book log
and a page for passwords because I can not be the only one tired of trying to remember everything plus a capital letter, plus a symbol ohmahgoodness.

What I love most!

But maybe what I love most (besides the amazing design of the Harry Potter Planner) is that Jessica gives you options:

you can choose a Sunday or Monday start
you receive an editable version if you are techy and fancy!
the planners include the whole year if you homeschool year-round or don’t follow the traditional school schedule
there are options for 4-day and 5-day school weeks

Honestly, these planners are so thoughtfully designed, and are such a bargain.

Plus, I got mine printed at Office Depot, and it’s gorgeous. 😍 P.S. They do binding there too!

So if you are looking for a do-it-all homeschool planner this year, head over to Jessica’s shop, and while you’re there, check out her other amazing products.

Happy planning!!

Planner Walk-Through!!

P.S. Speaking of Jessica’s amazing products, I have one more for you to check out!

Her new Waldock Way Guide to Homeschooling a simple, open and go guide to homeschooling, perfect for those just starting out, those looking for a simple guide this planning season and those who would love some reassurance and new ideas.

And the bargain price, you guys – it’s just $5.

But it’s PACKED with awesomeness including …

Tips for:

– creating a routine

– turning around a bad day and

– making learning fun

Plus:

– Checklists for pre-school through 8th grade!

– Tips for homeschooling high school

– Advice from experts (I even have a little blurb in there!)

– Helpful links

– Planning printables and more

Be sure to check it out here.

This post is brought to you in partnership with The Waldock Way and contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

The most important thing when you are homeschooling

by Kara S. Anderson 1 Comment

Have you ever thought about the most important part of your homeschool?

Is it quality read-alouds?

A strong understanding of math?

A rigorous and challenging curriculum and automatic recalls of all state and country capitals?

Nope.

I don’t think it’s any of those.

I think that the very most important part of homeschooling is relationships.

Because here’s the thing: You can fix a lot of shortcomings in your child’s education. It’s not even that hard. There are tutors and books and classes.

There is always a way to help your child learn a new concept in a different way.

But if your child feels frustrated or angry, or if their self-esteem is suffering, or if they feel disconnected from you or misunderstood, that is a REALLY big deal.

We have to remember in our days with our kids our end goal – my BIG goal is happy, confident, strong people who love learning and feel like they can do the things they need to do to get where they want to go.

Sure – we all want our kids to be successful people, but if all we’re thinking about is ACT scores and college admissions and future careers that we can brag about the other retirees on the bus trip – we’re not doing it right.

So in this video, I share some ideas about the last chapter of my ebook, 7 Secrets the Happiest Homeschool Moms Know.

This book is no longer free, but is available for purchase here.

And be sure to follow me on Instagram for more videos!

Posts I mention in this video:

I’m just so glad he didn’t sit on the line

The thing we forget about sending our kids to school

How to get a real break when you’re homeschooling

by Kara S. Anderson Leave a Comment

Here’s some Self Care 101 for you:

Breaks are important.

But you knew that already, of course.

Pick up any women’s magazine, listen to any self-improvement podcast, talk to your gal-pals, and everyone is telling you to take breaks.

But here’s the thing: most of the time, no one is telling you how.

And when you homeschool your kids? There’s an extra layer of responsibility there.

If I need to leave my kids during a homeschool day, no one takes over as substitute teacher.

So this week on Instagram, we brainstormed some ways to get a break when you’re homeschooling.

And we talked about REAL breaks. (#nofakebreaks)

Because sometimes, as Uber-responsible super-women, instead of taking real breaks, we take fake breaks – breaks where we’re still reading a parenting book instead of watching Community, for instance. Or maybe we’re making phone calls instead of listening to a podcast about The Office.

The point is, we don’t want to take fake breaks, because fake breaks don’t really restore us.

Of course then the next problem is that often, we’ve been going for so long that we have forgotten what actually fills up our empty cups again.

Don’t worry, we brainstormed a community list of ideas over on Instagram (look for the pinned story called “Recharge.”)

Because Self-Care 101 or not, breaks are SO important.

Watch last week’s Instagram Live here:

https://youtu.be/_KGqde-Ajsg

This post contains affiliate links.

Invisible balls (we’re all making trade-offs)

by Kara S. Anderson 3 Comments

The world is littered with invisible balls.

We don’t see them; we’re too busy trying to keep our own balls in the air anyway – you know all the balls:

parenting
homeschooling
marriage
food
home
pets
work
extended family
exercise
special occasion planning
appointments
bills
vehicles
and on and on …

Not all of us are juggling the same balls, but all of us are trying to keep multiple things going at any given moment.

Until, we drop one.

An invisible ball rolls away, like the meatball from “On Top of Spaghetti” – it careens off toward an adventure, while we stay where we are, trying to keep the other balls up, unable to give chase to the one that ran away.

Can you imagine if we could see all the balls?

Maybe it would help.

Because what we so often forget is that ALL of us – every one of us – is forced to make trade-offs all the time.

We either drop the balls or we put them down:

Maybe we work, so we trade-off growing a garden.

Maybe we need to exercise, so we trade-off laundry.

Maybe we’re caring for an aging parent, so we trade off home-cooked meals.

Sometimes, the trade-offs change by the month or week or day.

They have to.

I repeat: They HAVE TO.

But what I warn mamas about is that there are a few things that we don’t want to trade-off. Those things are sleep, sanity and relationships.

That’s what this week’s video was all about, plus wonderful advice from a friend, plus why we need to stop comparing.

To hear about some of the things that Cait and I trade off on the regular, tune in to this week’s episode of The Homeschool Sisters Podcast.