m

As we enter our third year of homeschooling, I feel like it’s finally time to share more about how we homeschool, along with some of our favorite resources. I won’t be getting into why we homeschool – I shared that here if you’re curious, and started the discussion on my blog back in 2016 with this post. Choosing a path for your children is a very personal decision, and not an easy one, no matter which way you go. My heart goes out to everyone being forced into a learning at home situation due to the pandemic. Homeschooling was a decision we made in our own time, and we remain prepared to switch gears if ever it’s not working for us and/or them. Choice is a privilege and I feel very lucky to be able to do it and still have time for my creative pursuits. It should be said that I gave up my interior design business when I started down this path full-time (and lost a dream project), but I can say with 100% confidence that I will never regret my decision to homeschool. The time with my kids during their formative years, the co-learning, the ability to creatively support their individuality, giftedness and learning styles, the list goes on and on. There are so many reasons to embrace homeschooling (despite the challenges) and I hope that this post is helpful should you choose that path.

First, a few disclosures: our children are eight and therefore this is geared towards elementary age kids. I am by no means an expert (this is only my third year), and I encourage you to seek out other sources. Third year – ha, who am I kidding?! They’ve been with me almost 100% of the time since birth, so technically homeschooling began long ago…but this is my third “official” year, according to our school district. Lastly, we are secular homeschoolers, so if you’re looking for faith-based resources, this is not the place. With that out of the way, I’ll share more about our home learning environment. There are many different methods of teaching (e.g. Montessori, Waldorf, Mason), and I recommend that you educate yourself on those so that you can understand what works best for you and your family. What works best for us is a blend of a few, with a bit of unschooling thrown in for good measure. I try (key word ) to prepare the week/day/night before, but that doesn’t always happen – sometimes I’m getting organized in the morning while inhaling my cup of coffee (le sigh). I use a teacher planner (ordered this one for 2020-2021) to get a visual representation of the subjects + lessons, and can easily see when we’re out of balance in an area. I make sure that we cover reading, writing, math, science and social studies on a daily basis, and then I mix in art, music, language a few times a week, or integrate it into other lessons.

I let Marie and Henry’s interests drive much of our curriculum. For instance, they’ve both taken a big interest in Japanese culture lately thanks to one of their favorite video games. So we’re reading books about Japan (we love this series), watching animated movies that take place there, learning the art of origami…you get the idea. It’s quite easy to create lessons around your children’s interests, and as a result, they stay engaged and retain more knowledge. At this age, I try to keep “desk/table time” to a minimum. We started out with a dedicated room for schooling, however right now we work at a large dining table together and it’s been great. We try to take our lessons outdoors whenever possible – especially while living in the mountains, as we are surrounded by lessons courtesy of mama nay. The arrangement that works for your family might be completely different. Perhaps you have children that struggle to focus or sit still, or maybe you want to “natureschool” or “worldschool” and be outdoors and/or traveling all the time…that’s the beauty of homeschool! The classroom is wherever you want it to be. You can meet your state’s requirements and still have plenty of freedom!

Since I know it’s on your mind…yes, our children are “socialized”. I’m not a fan of that word, because it perpetuates an antiquated stereotype. Modern-day homeschooled children have endless access to opportunities in real life (playing sports in your district, co-ops, etc.) and online (there are so many amazing communities to be found) that didn’t exist for children in previous eras. Henry and Marie both participate in scouts, ballet, and martial arts (which are now of course all virtual). They can carry a conversation better than most their age, and their mature and respectful nature is frequently noticed and complimented. While we are fortunate to have twins that play well together, we do our best to foster independent play and personal friendships. They have all the time they need to discover themselves, explore their interests, and choose their friendships, without social pressure. You’ll find your tribe, and so will they…it just takes time.

If you’ve made it this far, you might be one of the parents who has reached out to ask me questions about our journey (more than ever recently, which is understandable), and I thank you for your interest! I answered some questions on Instagram which you can view here, and I’m sharing a list of some of my/our favorite homeschool resources in this google doc. It’s not exhaustive by any means, and I will continue to add/edit as we go along. I hope it’s helpful to you, along with this post. I think the most important message that I want to convey is this: you don’t have to have a teaching degree to provide parameters for satisfying your children’s natural curiosity and preparing them for the world. Learning alongside them is such a gift (my son asked to learn more about Jean-Michel Basquiat the other day and I nearly burst with pride – I was thrilled to discover more with him). Of course there will be days when you question your decision (whew, I’ve had quite a few), but when you witness their childhood being savored and their eyes lighting up with curiosity and pride…(whew, it’s amazing). When you became a parent, you became a teacher…you have and always will be their guide.