Redeeming the Time

That sounds like a ton of time until you realize that they must not only do school, but everything else during those seconds. This includes time for things like eating, dressing, playing, fighting with their siblings, daily devotionals, and violin practice. If you read at the same speed as Microsoft Word’s read-aloud function, you’ve used 53 of those seconds to reach this point in the article.

Scripture tells us to redeem the time, meaning we are to make the best possible use of the time God has given us. We’re told in 1 Corinthians 4 that we are stewards of the things of God. You, as a parent, are the steward of your children’s time. How can you help your students make the best use of their time for the honor and glory of God, including making sure their schoolwork gets done amidst everything else on the docket? Here are a few tips that helped my family when I was homeschooled.

1. Plan Ahead

   This sounds cliché and trite, and it sort of is, but it is also true. Meticulous forward planning makes life much easier in the long run. If you have your lesson plans done well in advance, you can prepare your student’s work the night before so they can start the day on time. It also means you probably won’t be doing work at the kitchen table at midnight when you have to get up at six the next day. That’s a win for everyone.




2. Prioritize School

   Again somewhat cliché, but what you make a priority, your children will also. If you act like school is no big deal and it can be pushed off for a sporting event or social gathering, your students will think that as well. If you are well structured, you should be able to plan around these events. When I was growing up, the rule was that school had to be done before soccer practice at one or we didn’t go. We wanted to play soccer, so school always got done.




3. Use Motivators

   Both you and your students will enjoy school a lot more if the students are properly motivated. Some students will be self-starters and won’t need much encouragement. Others will need consistent goals and measurable benchmarks to succeed. You, as the parent, know your child better than anyone else. You know what motivates them. With the freedom and flexibility of homeschooling, you can adapt the motivator to suit each child. For us, it was soccer practice/games. For your child, it may be something completely different. And remind your students that we are called to do whatever we do for the Lord and thus do our best (Colossians 3:23).




4. Be Consistent

   Being consistent is the simplest way possible to help students manage their time. Particularly when your children are younger, if you consistently do things the same way and around the same time, students will develop corresponding habits. As they get older, these habits will start to stick and you will likely need to do less prompting. They’ll start getting the work done because they know you expect it. This does mean there needs to be consistent consequences for failing to meet the expected pattern. In other words, if a student forgets to do a piece of his homework, consequences must be consistent every time and apply equally to all children (barring exceptional circumstances).




5. Be Spiritually Active

   Children are better than adults at smelling frauds and phonies, even if they don’t know how to express it at times. If you’re faking Christianity or faking spirituality, they will know. You can’t expect them to serve God with their time if you don’t. Making good use of our time means taking time for Bible reading, prayer, and church even at the expense of other things. Set a good example for your children. They will remember it later.