Every school year, I get the same feeling — a little flutter of new-school-year excitement mixed with that mile-long mental to-do list. This year makes fourteen first days of homeschool for our family. Bekah is going into 7th grade, homeschool cheer and volleyball are cranking back up, and our kitchen table is about to be a classroom again.
After this many years, I've learned something that I wish somebody had told me back in 2012: the calm school years are made in the two or three weeks before the first day. Not with a color-coded binder. Not with a Pinterest-perfect school room. Just a handful of simple things, done ahead of time, so the first week feels like a rhythm instead of a scramble.
Here's my real back-to-homeschool prep — the version we actually do, not the version that looks good in pictures.
1. Get the curriculum squared away early
We have used My Father's World for years, and the biggest reason is right there in how they describe it: open and go. I don't spend my evenings building lesson plans from scratch. I open the guide, and we go.
Here's my favorite budget secret: I reused Bailey's curriculum for Bekah. When your first child finishes a year, box that curriculum up and keep it. By the time Bekah came through, all I had to buy were the consumables — worksheets and workbooks. The most I have ever spent on homeschool supplies was about $1,200 for a year, and broken down that's roughly $100 a month. That covers it.
If you're still choosing, my post on how to choose a homeschool curriculum walks through it, and the homeschool cost calculator will help you see your real numbers before you spend a dime. Homeschooling on a tight budget? Been there — here's how we make it work on one income.
The point for right now, in prep season: order early. Nothing starts a year off wobbly like waiting on a box of books that hasn't shipped.
2. Plan a rhythm, not a bell schedule
I like the idea of a schedule. But fourteen years in, I can tell you strict start-and-stop times never worked for us. What works is a routine — the same beats in the same order, without the clock bossing us around.
For years we ran a four-day school week just to keep a flex day in our back pocket. These days, Bekah's rhythm looks like this: breakfast, then school, then volleyball practice, then lunch. If school didn't get finished before practice, it gets finished after. Then house chores, dinner, and bed. No one day looks exactly the same — and honestly, that's one of the things I love most about homeschooling.
Before the year starts, sketch your family's beats. Not times — beats. What comes first, what comes next, where the wiggle room lives. If you want help, I wrote about homeschool schedules that actually work and the simple daily rhythms we lean on.
3. Set up your space — simply
You do not need a school room. We've homeschooled two children at the kitchen table for fourteen years. What you need is for the stuff to have a home: a shelf, a basket, a rolling cart — someplace where the books live so school starts with reaching, not hunting.
Before the first day, I clear out last year's leftovers, sharpen what needs sharpening, and give everything a home again. That's it. If your supplies have taken over the house, here's how to organize homeschool supplies without a school room.
4. Start slow on purpose
This one took me years to learn. The first week of school does not have to be a full week of school. Start with your core subjects and add the rest in as you find your feet. A gentle first week beats a burned-out first month every single time.
When I first started homeschooling, I thought it was going to look a certain way — and it turned out to be the complete opposite. Homeschooling doesn't have to look the same for everyone. You do what works best for your family. Give yourself permission to ease in.
5. Check your state's requirements
Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states — just make sure you follow your state's laws. Every state is different, and prep season is the right time to double-check yours: any forms to file, anything to keep records of, any deadlines. Here in Mississippi it's simple, but don't take my word for your state — look yours up before the year starts. My post on homeschool-friendly states is a good starting place.
6. Plan some fun before the calendar fills up
Here's a prep step nobody puts on the checklist: put the fun on the calendar first. Field trips, science experiment days, park days with your homeschool group. If you wait until the year gets rolling, busy will eat those days alive. The memories are the part they keep forever — guard those days like appointments.
And if you're not plugged into a homeschool group yet, make that part of your prep too. That support system carried me through my first years — the group is not just for the kids, it's for moms too. My homeschool mom support post has ideas for finding your people.
If this is your very first year
Breathe. I mean it — breathe.
I remember my first back-to-homeschool August like it was yesterday: stressed, worried, scared I'd fail. My own parents asked me what made me qualified to teach my children. Fourteen years later, both of my kids have only ever been homeschooled — and my son just graduated in a homeschool class of 107.
There is no one way to homeschool. You know your child's strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. Not every day will go as planned, and not every day will feel like a success — but there will be more good days than bad, and you are making memories that will last a lifetime.
If you're starting out, these are for you: the complete guide to starting homeschooling, my stress-free tips for new homeschool moms, the homeschool style quiz, and the letter I wrote to my own first-year self. And if you have a question, ask it on the contact page — if I don't know the answer, I will find a homeschool mom who does.
Here's to a calm first day and a year full of good ones. As always — remember to be kind, be careful, be considerate, and have a great day.