I hope the two tips we’ve covered so far have encouraged you to prepare for a successful homeschool year: plan for variety and shop with purpose. Today I want to remind you of one more quick tip: flex with life.

Flex with Life

Get it in your head right from the start: life happens. You may have a pretty new planner filled with neat little assignments that fit so perfectly and look so nice. But keep your eraser nearby; you’re going to need it.

And that’s okay. In fact, that’s good.

You have the freedom to make adjustments along the way. Flexibility is a huge benefit to homeschooling. Be ready to flex in these three ways (at least).

Adjust the pace of the curriculum to accommodate your child. Adjust the content as needed too. Just because the book says to spend four lessons on learning the +5s, doesn’t mean you will. Some children will already know them; move on. Some children (like my special needs daughter) will need months to learn them. Stay flexible. Teach the child, not the curriculum.
Adjust your schedule to accommodate changing circumstances. Life happens. Families move; parents need care; work hours shift; plumbing backs up; health needs arise. Don’t be afraid to flex your schedule to reflect what will work best in those changes. In other words, don’t keep trying to use a square-peg schedule when the circumstance-hole has changed to an octagon. Flex with life.
Embrace life lessons. You can’t force growth to happen on your timetable. Yes, it’s good to have a plan. But don’t hold so tightly to that plan that you miss the passing opportunities to learn and grow. Sometimes the best growth happens outside your timetable. Go with it.

You see, success in homeschooling is not about checking off assignments on the dates the calendar dictates. True education is all about developing a person to be the best that he or she can be.

Encourage that kind of growth in the year ahead with a broad spectrum of interesting studies, tools that will help you reach your goals, and a calm certainty of what is most important.

Plan for variety. Shop with purpose. Flex with life.

The CM Organizer: A Planner that Flexes with Life

If you are looking for a planner that will flex with you as life happens (and eliminate the need for an eraser), check out the CM Organizer. This online planner, designed especially for those using the Charlotte Mason method, is built on a different principle than most. It’s designed to operate on a “what’s next” mentality.

Think of the CM Organizer like a Pez dispenser. Have you seen one of those? They dispense candy one piece at a time. The CM Organizer dispenses assignments one at a time. You fill up the dispenser with the books you want to read and artists you want to study and poems you want to enjoy, and the CM Organizer feeds you those assignments one at a time.

If you complete an assignment, it will feed you the next one. If you don’t get to an assignment, it will patiently stay there until you’re ready to move on. No pressure. No due dates. No lists of assignments for weeks ahead. No “you’re a bad mommy” messages.

Simply open it today to see what’s next.

Try the CM Organizer with a free Basic account and see how it feels to have your planner flex with life too.