Make the Seton Program Work for You!

The day the Seton boxes arrive has always been fun in my house. But after the initial excitement of new things dies down, it’s up to me to make this work and make it work for my family.

Since I am the primary educator in the home, it is important to treat that as a full-time job in the same way any teacher in a brick-and-mortar school would. This can seem overwhelming because while you are trying to plan your household duties, your children surround you.

Homeschooling is a Full Time Job

Teachers in the local schools will come in early, stay a little later, or use a day or two during vacations. They are also afforded professional development and teacher service days to refresh and catch up. Homeschool moms have very little opportunity to refresh and catch up.

The key to making Seton, or homeschooling in general, work for you is to treat it like a full-time job because that is exactly what it is. Yes, some perks come with homeschooling: you can nurse the baby, run to the park, fold some laundry, and the like, but it rarely affords you the mind space you need to think and plan.

Carve this into Stone

Therefore, I encourage you to pick a weekly or monthly time and carve it in stone to plan, read the lesson plans, make your lists, and generally catch up. Do this in a library or coffee shop, and hire a sitter for a few hours, whatever it takes.

The lesson plans provide a variety of assignments for each child to complete, some meant to be graded by Seton, and others intended to be parent-graded. Some grades and subjects have extra assignments based on a child’s interest or need for practice.

The Best Keep Secret

The best-kept secret in homeschooling is that you only need to do what you want to do.

If having a Seton-graded report card is important to you (and I highly recommend it for high school), then you only need to send in the assignments to be graded by Seton. Any other assignments are optional.

If a Seton-graded report card is unimportant, feel free to submit as little as you choose or even nothing for that subject. Some families like independent grading for English, Reading, and Religion and grade other subjects themselves. It’s entirely up to you, the parent.

Extra Work is Optional

Often, I would see that one of my students needed extra writing practice, so I would assign most of the suggested essays to the LPs. Sometimes, they would need less math practice, so we could skip some of the extra problems on the pages and move on once a concept was mastered.

When it comes to history and science, the LPs are filled with additional suggestions and resources, and it is for you to decide if those work for your family; some years, they will, and some, they will not.

A Shortcut to Consider

Remember that history and science cycle through, so your student will encounter American and European history, life science, and general science more than once and in greater depth each time. If you do not have time for a deep dive into something one year, it will come up again.

No education is perfect. There are gaps in every education because there is no way for anyone to teach everything every year. Seton is committed to providing as wide and generous an education for all of our families as possible.

We are here to help you navigate the best way to do this for your family in your current season of life. Our support is just a chat, call or email away. We are dedicated to helping you make the most of your homeschooling experience.

You are encouraged to contact us: Counselors@setonhome.org | 540-622-5526
Or chat with us on your MySeton page

Editor’s Note: If you haven’t been using the printable online lesson plans, you may want to read 5 Reasons to Love Seton’s Online Printable Lesson Plans by Cheryl Hernández. She says Seton’s printable weekly lesson plans help her students stay on target and complete their assignments on a timely basis.