Our Homeschool Checklists

One thing I want to help instill in my children with their school work (and every area of their life,) is accountability and responsibility.  I can't always be there to make sure they get all their work done.  I do plan on them moving out of the house...one day.  But, waiting until then to teach them how to be responsible is too late.  So, I start now, when they are young and can form good habits.

Which brings us to the checklists.  I like seeing a list, holding it in my hands, and being able to check it off.  It just gives me a feel of accomplishment and helps me stay on task.  So, last year, I made a check list of subjects for Buddy and Sweet Pea.  I told them they could do the subjects in any order they choose, they just had to check them off as the subject assignments were completed.

 The subjects go down and the days go across, so by Friday, they should have quite a few checks on their lists.  Some subjects, such as History and Science, are not done everyday, so there will be some blanks, but there should be more checks than blanks on a consistent basis.

At the time, Sweet Pea was still fond of getting marker all over her body and her clothes, so we used the new Crayola Dry Erase Crayons.  They are much friendlier with laundry than the regular dry erase markers and the kiddos loved it.  They would use a different color for each day, and sometimes for each subject.  It helped them to keep themselves on track instead of me having to do it for them.  Of course, there were plenty of days when I had to stay on top of them to get everything done.  Even on those days, though, it helped them to see the subjects getting checked off and the work getting finished so they knew 'quitting time' was getting closer.  Even as adults, we ALL have those days that we just can't wait for everything on our list to be finished so we can stop for the day.

I haven't made this year's list for the kiddos yet because I just want us all to get 'in the groove' first, but I will be making them in the next couple of weeks.  (Which will also allow me to continue feeding my laminating addiction.) 

This year, I added a list for myself.  Like I said, every year it seems the subject list gets a little longer and I found myself trying to remember what we had already done and what we still needed to do and who was doing what.  Whew!  So, even though the kiddos will have their own lists, I decided I need to make myself one to keep up with everything I need to do.

I, with the help of my husband~mostly my husband, created a checklist of each subject for each child and included small boxes to put my little checks in.  (And, of course, I just had to laminate it!)

The names have been changed covered to protect the innocent.  :)

This has helped me so much, already.  And I love that I can just wipe it clean and be ready for the next day.  I leave you with this small confession, though.  Only AFTER I made the list AND laminated it, did I realize that I, yes~the preacher's wife, forgot to include Bible study on the list!!!  My husband said he is "so proud" of me.  Hehehe.  Never fear, I will make sure it is included on the kiddos' lists.

I would love to hear what you have done to help your kiddos with self-accountability and responsibility.  Just leave a comment below.

God bless!