It happens every year, but I’m always surprised when our quiet and relaxing summer is interrupted by the inevitable Back to School displays that pop up in every store. My initial shock usually gives way to excitement — I can’t help but love fresh school supplies, and of course, new curriculum! While these displays always feel premature, I don’t mind the gentle nudge to start thinking ahead.

For me, that process always begins by looking back. What worked well last year? What were some areas that I was surprised by, either wins that I didn’t expect, or things that I thought were sure-fire that ended up missing the mark?

Here are five specific tools and approaches that stood out as wins for our family this past school year, and how I plan to build on that success for the year ahead.

What Worked Last Year

1. The Yoto Player 🎛️

Hands down, this was one of our biggest wins! We started last school year expecting it to be a slower one as we welcomed our fifth child in August. To help ease the transition, we got a Yoto Player as a screen-free entertainment option and a homeschooling tool.

Read-alouds are the backbone of our homeschool, and with a newborn, I knew I wouldn’t have as much time to read to the kids as I would have liked. The Yoto filled that gap beautifully: the kids listened to classic stories, and I even uploaded our History of the Bible and History of Civilization curriculum.

The Yoto is incredibly customizable — I even made interactive sight word and catechism quizzes that the kids were excited to use and greatly aided the memorization process. We've found that using our own recordings, CDs, and MP3s to create Make Your Own cards has been the best fit for our interests and budget (I will write in the future all about how to make the most of your Yoto Player with MYO content!).

I have been blown away by just how helpful this simple device has been in our home!

2. Leaning Into Read-Alouds — Even for Traditional Subjects 📖

This past year, we used First Language Lessons (First Edition), an oral language arts curriculum, and Life of Fred, a math supplement written in a story format — both were huge hits! Even our science curriculum worked better when I skipped many of the projects (which were often redundant to our daily life, like starting seeds) and just read the material aloud.

This gave us the flexibility to add activities or worksheets on days that we had more time, but also allowed us to consistently work through our curriculum even when life was more demanding.

3. Thinking Outside the Box With Utilizing Workbooks ✏️

While read-alouds are our spine, I still want my kids to learn to write clearly and gain confidence with some independent work. Also, most of my children really look forward to this part of our school day!

I found success by selecting workbook-style resources based on learning goals, rather than sticking to grade level or even subject labels. For instance, one of my goals was to encourage my 7 year old to read more independently. To my surprise, he eagerly read the instructions, wrote neatly, and even practiced grammar- all through his spelling workbook! He found the structure of that workbook simply more engaging. Rather than require a stack of workbooks to try to hit at these concepts independently, I found he really only needed that one.

Similarly, all my kids — from preschool through 2nd grade — loved the preschool worksheets and printables I originally intended for my almost 3 and 5 year olds. I pulled worksheets from a variety of places, but currently they’ve been enjoying our Morning Menu on repeat, as well as our Saint Coloring pages. They give everyone handwriting practice, review, and some fun, hands-on engagement while listening to their lessons.

4. Checklists ✅

Who doesn’t love a good checklist? Apparently my kids do! By happy accident, I discovered that a simple checklist was all the motivation a few of my kids needed to happily and efficiently finish their schoolwork and chores. One of my children had seen me making a to-do list for myself and was instantly intrigued. I made her one just for fun, and it took off from there!

On days when we could use a bit more motivation or structure, I would typically grab a scrap piece of paper and then jot down tasks, adding checkboxes manually. It was incredibly easy to tailor this to the specific day with minimal forethought. I would included essential tasks for that day like "read to Mommy" and "make bed," but the kids would also add their own items they wanted to do, like “Catch a frog” or “color a picture”. We made sure to include something enjoyable to look forward to at the end.

All my previous attempts at implementing a chore chart or a more structured daily schedule had failed; I found our current season of life too unpredictable to fit into a rigid framework. The beauty of this checklist method lay in its relaxed and adaptable nature. Each child had their own list that was designed for a single day, limited to no more than ten items to prevent overwhelm. While we typically followed the order of tasks as they were listed, we also jumped around as needed and we found that to be perfectly acceptable.

Even my children who couldn’t yet read enjoyed me pointing out the words and explaining their meanings – unintentionally, this turned into a great opportunity for word recognition and decoding practice!

What began as a visual way I could show my kids a few things we needed to accomplish before moving on to something fun, became something that they loved so much that they began asking me to write checklists for them on other days. It brought a sense of accomplishment, playfulness, and gentle structure to our days.

5. A School-Day Macro Basket 🧺

We all know that the actual schoolwork is just one part of making homeschooling run smoothly — organization is another.

Confused by what organization would be ‘best’, I started using a wooden crate as the vessel for all the book materials we might need in a day. I had only peripherally heard the term ‘morning basket’ floating around in the homeschool space, and it sounded like more effort than I had with a new baby to curate and then manage one at the time. Still, I found this macro system, strangely, worked. For us, this made starting our school day and picking up at the end of it manageable. I would simply move the crate from its resting spot to our table and then collect everything and place it back again before dinner.

How I’m Adjusting for Next Year 📅

• Keep using the Yoto — I’ll continue to use the resources that worked so well, and I have a few ideas brewing to use it for further lessons, review, and enrichment.

• Continue prioritizing read-aloud-friendly resources — and use that as a filter when choosing curriculum. While I’ll end up having to get some grade specific items for our various grade levels, read-aloud styles are the easiest to adapt to whole family learning.

• Focus on what’s actually working rather than finishing a curriculum just to finish it — if I find there is a certain resource that my children find more engaging and better meets our goals, I wont be afraid to lean into it, even if it means putting my preferred choice on the back burner.

• Be more intentional with daily checklists — this year, I want to make more frequent use of daily checklists to keep the kids motivated, while also helping me stay organized and on track, rather than feeling scattered or reactive during our days. I’ll make some slight updates, like actually getting some checklist paper, and try to set aside a few minutes the night before to think about our priorities for the next day.

• Revamp our School Basket system — with three official “student-age” kids now, plus a soon-to-be 3-year-old who will certainly want to do “school,” our single basket likely won’t be able to adequately hold all our supplies anymore. I’m planning to split it into a Read aloud/Morning Basket and an Activity Basket containing our consumables to better organize all the materials we’ll need.

Every year is a little different — and that’s one of the blessings of homeschooling. We can adapt, simplify, and build on what works.

What worked for you last year? Are you making any big changes for the upcoming one? Comment below!