How We Homeschool

The Nitty Gritty Ways We Homeschool

One of the beauties of the homeschooling world is that there are so many ways to take charge of your children's learning experiences successfully. This article shares our daily routine, home layout, time allocations, and what homeschool is to us.

Daily Rind and Grind

It is vital our routine functions as a lifestyle rather than dreaded work. Order of events matters more than specific times to maintain consistency when plans alter in duration. Unlike traditional school schedules, our homeschool schedule syncs with the calendar year. After thinking of your own educational experiences, this may sound treacherous, but the way we orchestrate learning is enjoyable for the whole family. Year-round homeschooling allows for periodic breaks as needed when loved ones pay surprise visits, illness strikes, pets pass away, traveling awaits, or quality holiday opportunities arise. It also gives us incredible flexibility when life happens unexpectedly.

So What Do I Call Homeschool?

In the first five years of life, I am focused on establishing essential concepts and life skills. Every year I write our primary goals and optional extras. We began toddler learning activities at age one, preschool at age three, and kindergarten at four. These ages were my oldest son's readiness, but each child should increase knowledge at their pace.

The toddler years' goals were to increase focus and spend 10-30 minutes each day on the essential concepts-focused play. I dedicated preschool years to improving reading, writing, and math skills through fine motor games, sorting and matching challenges, and writing prompts. Our kindergarten time focuses on building on phonetic reading skills, learning analog and digital time, exploring money concepts, reinforcing writing using writing prompts journals, and comprehending necessary addition and subtraction. I will share a video showing in detail the tools we use for each level of education.

We spend a lot of time instilling character and emotional skills through pretend play and games. Time in nature is essential. Other topics, such as history, are included when possible.

For my infant, homeschool is as simple as having conversations (with actual words, not baby talk), looking at black and white pictures, reading books together, singing, and spending time in the sunshine exploring. We look forward to the homeschool portion of our daily lifestyle. As we need breaks, we take them, whether it is to travel seeing loved ones, feeling under the weather, or focusing on a specific area of life for a brief time (like the month off we took after I gave birth). No matter the age, learning, and building on that foundation is exciting! It is a privilege to learn together as a tribe

The early years must be taught in fun, engaging ways to establish a love and understanding of the power gained with increasing knowledge. I tend to be creative and love coming up with ideas for learning. Even if you don't feel you have a creative bone in your body, there are infinite resources available to homeschoolers. My favorite resources are Teachers Pay Teachers, YouTube, themed subscription boxes, library resources, free classes, and don't forget the dollar spot at Target for quality but inexpensive materials.

Building on Solid Ground

Following the first five years of life, we diligently research intriguing areas of interest that result in one or more projects for the year. For example, suppose my son loves mechanics; I would give him the option to choose a project such as building an advanced lego vehicle, engineering a workable aircraft design out of paper, or coding a lightbulb system to turn on. He can pick any project idea that is kinetically and mentally stimulating. To be thorough, we dabble in different subject areas for fun, such as mazes, art, and sports, but the main and long-term goals help us stay on track for what matters most to our tribe.

Once my children have established the core foundations I deem essential, we will take an approach much like unschooling. Unschooling is a term meaning different things to different people. It is an unconventional method of educating in our society. Our family falls somewhere between the lines of traditional and unconventional educating. As we progress, things will become increasingly more about each child's particular curiosities and talents.

What Makes Them Tick?

Initially, we spent substantial time studying new concepts to inspire interest and be watchful of natural aptitudes. Homeschooling allows us to proceed with individual readiness rather than hold back potential as classmates practice more. My firstborn was potty trained by nine months, spoke clear sentences at age one, and was effortlessly riding a bike without training wheels and reading phonetically by age three. Still, at barely four, he showed readiness for kindergarten and some first-grade lessons.

I want to be clear that I do not expect milestones to be the same for each child. Children will advance at different rates. Homeschooling can prevent age and group limitations over the years. Guide your child to be their best in comparison to no one. Performance demands will get you nowhere fast. Take off the age restrictions. Give opportunities to learn, and don't underestimate a child.

I write which virtues we will emphasize throughout each year. Teaching character development and emotional stability is priceless. I cherish life skills as I want my children to have more than book knowledge. They must understand possible encounters in life and know how to overcome challenges. I prioritize practical skills, cultural understanding, and etiquette.

My oldest son is noticeably mechanically, mathematically, and geographically inclined. Most children want to ride on the metal horse at the store, requiring quarters to move, but Thaddeus eagerly jumped off that machine to look underneath and try to figure out how it was working. I noticed his habits of meticulously lining up his toy vehicles and counting them for fun early on. He would ask addition and subtraction questions during his playtime. Directions are complicated for me, but by age two, Thaddeus gave precise directions using the terms "left, right, and straight" to help me navigate the road. Sometimes he even accurately told me which way we were driving — North, South, East, or West. He usually picked up the way to go somewhere after only one trip. As a homeschooling mama, I can apply these observations to his educational experiences. I themed the core concepts taught in our time together to his mechanical interest.

The daily duration we typically spend on core concepts during the preschool and kindergarten years are 1-1.5 hours per day, with a minimum of two hours outside. I make a point to be active as a family. We focus on fitness games, walks to nearby places, and daily events, better known as field trips. Reading is encouraged and treasured in our tribe. Books are often the way we delve into topics about the Constitution, cultural traditions, and heritage.

Raising Role Models

Anytime my son is curious, I feel that my duty as his mom is to help fuel his curiosity and navigate the world around him. Mastering the skill of buttoning was an opportunity to understand how to face challenges with determination, consistency, and will power while managing difficult emotions. These moments are prime times to model behavior that will shape my son into the adult I would be proud of. Schools pass off so many of these opportunities to multitasking teachers with full classrooms and other priorities. Small exchanges allow us to thrive and navigate more of life's exciting and essential moments together. Homeschooling is a beautiful blessing.

Daily opportunities arise for emotional strengthening. Our home has a corner known as "the Fox chair" arranged for intensely tuned in one-on-one time together whenever emotions need managing. It is a calming corner with various tools for teaching how to self-regulate emotions. We play out different emotional scenarios with beanie babies. Teamwork is emphasized and practiced often. Posters hang at eye level to help identify feelings expressed. Play-Doh and fidget gadgets are tools available to help work out the emotions in a healthy way

The main requirement for successful homeschooling is to love your children and have their best interests in mind. If you desire to homeschool, do not hesitate out of fear or traditional ideas of how education should be. Trial and error will happen. If you have zero interest in homeschooling, leave it to the passionate public or private school alternatives around. It's better to have someone else educate your children than to get upset, bark orders, or be impatient when teaching. Stressful and negative instruction will make learning a miserable experience and lead to unwanted results.

The organization keeps me sane. I buy a new binder each year for our home management plan that contains our routine, daily documentation sheets, cleaning schedule, budgeting plans, event calendar, fitness game ideas, and more.

I evaluate recently gained skills and review my son's growth and plan for one year at a time. Each month I print off a blank calendar for event planning. We don't necessarily do every event written on the calendar. It serves as more of a reminder to available classes and unique festivities in our area. We typically do one event a day, which is when we leave the house to have a focused experience. Memberships have proven to be beneficial for this. We go to places such as the Zoo, Botanical Gardens, Sea World, or various parks to make new friends and memories. If we have errands to complete, we wrap them in with our event of the day, running the errands first and finishing with our event.

When my firstborn was an infant, I prepared for homeschooling in advance by collecting books, gathering materials, and planning for the next year beforehand for convenience, ease, and flow. It’s worthwhile to document our daily activities and progress. I designed a daily overview sheet. Other things I do besides homeschooling are cleaning, audible books, studying, blogging, and side jobs in child and pet care. There are always tasks to do and having records makes a world of difference should any reason arise for me to provide proof of homeschooling to the state.

Home Sweet Home

The playroom is arranged with a kid's table and wobble chair for days he can't sit still. My desk is where I prep daily details, blog, and write endless lists. We have an unstructured free play area based on interest, a calming corner with tools for working through intense emotions, a baby station for bonding and early learning, a baby swing, and a nursing chair. In the hutch, I have binders, resources, games, and homeschool tools neatly arranged. The closet contains craft projects, costume play, sports equipment, documentation, and a stereo for every occasion. Just outside of the playroom are two bookshelves crowded with books at a child-friendly height. The backyard is ready for action with a climbing tower, ball pit, basketball hoop, soccer goals, archery target, garden bed, fruit trees, prayer bench, table, converted shed office area, and lots of space

This layout encourages learning by having materials easily accessible, posters at child height, books accessible near a comfortable reading spot, and toys organized. Everything has its place. The structure enables children to put items away when finished and keep main areas clear for use. Clutter can be overwhelming and hinder learning. I purchase open-ended toys suitable for letting the imagination run wild. A toy that only works one way doesn't leave room for creativity and problem-solving skills.

Our tribe loves board games because they encourage patience, focus, and activity. The backyard has multiple areas to inspire movement, experiments, and imagination. We use water and sand for sensory experiences, tracing letters, understanding the science of sand turning to mud, and experimenting with weight and measurements. We use nature and sunshine for mood improvement, scavenger hunts, connecting with the world around us, and understanding insects, birds, and other creatures. Children can play freely without structure

Humans are naturally curious and will learn with or without an instructor, given the right environment. How we homeschool is unique from the numerous options and freedoms available. Don't take the small moments for granted as you engage in this journey together. My children have given me life-changing insights just by being themselves: playful, forgiving, and worry-free. The key is doing life together through the best and worst times.