What does a good homeschool day look like? What does a bad homeschool day look like? What would it take to have more good days? This class discusses how to bring out the best in ourselves and others. The conversation will begin with our use of time, setting intentional direction for our day with clear priorities. We’ll focus on structuring routines for our families and ourselves, considering personal productivity that has deliberate downtime and clear boundaries.

The French term mise en place (pronounced meez-ahn-plahs) encompasses the idea of having all of your ingredients, tools and supplies ready to go before you start cooking. Chefs employ this method to streamline their workstations. The organizational system of mise en place is so rigorous that chefs should be able to find the ingredients they need even while blindfolded. Journalist and chef Dan Charnas explains that mise en place is more than just a system for getting things done well in the kitchen.

You already know it’s important to exercise. You’re familiar with the list of benefits to your strength, metabolism, and sleep. Here’s one advantage you may not be as familiar with: exercise makes a big difference for learning. As one of the world’s foremost authorities on the brain-fitness connection, Harvard neuropsychiatrist John Ratey wrote Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain to convince the world of the importance of exercise, and not for the cardiovascular benefits; he believes it makes a vital difference in our brains.

A child throws down his pencil in exasperation, and shoves the book away, shouting, “I hate this math, I can never learn to do it! The problems are always too hard! My schoolwork is impossible!” As homeschooling parents, we have all seen frustration like this begin to cloud the learning process. What can you say to help your child shift his attitude? In the book, The Optimistic Child, positive psychologist Martin Seligman has applicable tips to help change the tone of these kind of moments.

Describing the contrasting responses to the same naturally occurring phenomena, volatility specialist Nassim Nicholas Taleb begins his book Antifragile (Random House 2014) with this analogy, “wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire.” He argues that rather than suffering from the effects of unpredictable shocks, chaos, and disorder, we must use them. Taleb continues the analogy by describing what it would be like to fully embrace this adventure: “you want to be the fire and wish for the wind.

Influential Organizational Development leader Peter Block writes about the questions we ask as we begin a journey or pursue a dream. Forcefully, he teaches, “How is the wrong question.” He continues, “The rush to a How [question and] answer runs the risk of skipping the profound question: Is this worth doing? And it skirts the equally tough corollary question: Is this something I want to do?” Block wants us to recognize that starting with the right question will yield the answers we seek.

Managing a Homeschool experience requires many of the same skills as managing a business. In her book, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, Business management guru Liz Wiseman coined a term to describe effective managers. She calls them “multipliers.” Simply put, multipliers multiply the intelligence of others around them, enabling people to become smarter and more capable. The multiplier mindset can be a valuable addition to your homeschooling toolkit.

Who doesn’t need a little magic in their homeschool? I love Marie Kondo’s ideas in her darling little bestseller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It’s easy to see why this Tokyo-based organizer has gained a big following in America; her ideas are encouraging, liberating, and accessible. More than just keeping your house organized, her strategy, dubbed the KonMari method, is a lifestyle. She says, “Remember the KonMari Method…is not a mere set of rules on how to sort, organize, and put things away.

One of the reasons I love homeschooling my children is so that they can have the time and shared experiences that will allow them to develop good friendships with each other. But, since we are home together most days, I find that sometimes I feel like we are only a “group” and we are not focused on “individuals.” We came up with a solution for our family called “Playtime Permutation.

Self-proclaimed “wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz writes a witty and compelling book about her unusual perspective on being wrong. The idea of error as bad, Schulz argues, “is our metamistake: we are wrong about what it means to be wrong. Far from being a sign of intellectual inferiority, the capacity to err is crucial to human cognition. Far from being a moral flaw, it is inextricable from some of our most humane and honorable qualities: empathy, optimism, imagination, conviction, and courage.