I don’t write about our homeschooling journey very much. There are so many homeschool blogs available out there, who needs one more? But I have had several different friends and blogging buddies ask me about how we do homeschooling, and I always find it impossible to put it into words at the moment when I’m asked. Our philosophy and curriculum choice is a mishmash of Charlotte Mason ideas and traditional curriculum. The overarching idea is that we want our children to learn how to cultivate their skills in the things they’re good at and discipline themselves in the things they’re not. When it is all said and done, we want them to love to learn and know how to keep on learning when their school days are over. We also want to set their eyes on things that are beautiful and worthy of our attention. But how does that translate into every day life and curriculum choices, how much time we do or don’t spend on work books, what subjects we do or don’t do?
I firmly believe schooling in the early years should be simple. “Those things you learn without joy you will easily forget,” is a big part of my homeschooling philosophy. What it all boils down to in the day to day is really very simple, but I have a hard time telling people about it. So maybe I can just show you? With that hope, here is a day in the life of our homeschooling family.
Our Homeschool Day in 2nd Grade, Kindergarten, and Toddlerhood
6:00 – I get up to have some coffee and some quiet time. I love this morning time alone, but it will probably disappear in the next few months when Baby #4 arrives and I clutch every minute of sleep I can get. And please, do not let my early starting ways turn you off to homeschooling! This is just how I do things in this season of life. Lots of homeschool parents start their days later and it works just fine for them.
7:00 – The kids get up, we all eat breakfast, get dressed, do a few small chores like gathering dirty clothes and making beds.
8:00 – We start math. My husband’s work schedule allows him to be our math teacher about three days a week, which saves my life and the life of my children. That’s the main reason we start with math every day, not because I am a stickler for math before other subjects. We have used Horizons math curriculum from K-2nd grade. Our oldest two have done very well with it so far.
Break – After math, everyone takes a little break. I run a load of laundry, and do the breakfast dishes if I wasn’t able to do them earlier.
9:00 – Reading/Writing/Grammar/Spelling is all bound up in our Sing, Spell, Read and Write curriculum. It also includes handwriting. I love this program. Next year we’ll have to switch to something else with Ella (2nd grade) as it only goes through 2nd grade.
Break – Time to play a little, give Violet (age 2) some attention, switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer, etc.
10:00 – We all sit down at the kitchen table with a snack and I read aloud. If you are familiar with the morning time concept, this is where it fits in with us. And this is also the area of our schooling where the mishmash comes in. We always have Abeka history and science books going (I read from the 2nd grade level for both these subjects to Ella and Isaac(who is in kindergarten)), but we also have a natural science book (like this or this) and a read aloud based on the historical time period we are in. We also have a chapter book that I read aloud for literature, usually based on the wonderful Charlotte Mason curriculum, A Gentle Feast. We alternate science and history each day. Some days we will just read the Abeka book and do the craft or experiment that goes with it, some days we’ll only read our natural science book and do some sketching or artwork along with it, or some days we’ll just do our history read-aloud. Example: We just finished the Colonial Period in our Abeka history book and we read Felicity Learns A Lesson along with it. Now we are entering The Pioneers section and we are reading aloud The Cabin Faced West. When Ella was in first grade, we read The Story of the World instead of an Abeka history book, and both kids enjoyed that, too.
Sketching while I read
Making oil paper for frontier windows
Play-doh keeps Violet busy
Lego time for the younger two
The best school day is an outdoor school day!
Our messy homeschool room
11:00 – Play time. I believe so strongly that playing imaginatively is equally, if not more, important than work books and curricula in the early years. My children need to move their bodies and engage their imaginations throughout the day. There’s nothing that will set them up for success in life like a cultivated imagination, and nothing that will take away their joy more than a lost imagination. As you can see, we work in a lot of breaks. While the kids play, I do some housework, check email, maybe prep dinner if I’m really on top of things.
12:00 – Lunch, then outside time if it’s a nice day. A few times a week, I’ll read to the kids from our literature book while we eat lunch. (See list of read alouds we’ve done below!) We may have to do an errand or two on some days in this time slot, and once a week we have gymnastics at noon. In the spring, we’ll get involved in t-ball/softball again.
1:00 – Rest time – Our toddler naps and the bigger kids stay quiet in the schoolroom for an hour on their own. Ella does unfinished math or writing from the morning during this time, or reads her own book to herself. Isaac almost always plays with Legos, colors, or looks at books.
2:00 – The older two are headed outside again! If the weather is bad, they’ll usually watch a short video.
3:00 – Snack time and literature read-aloud time if we haven’t worked it in earlier.
Our school day is over!
There are a few subjects I would like to put in to our days more often, like music or art or foreign language. Right now, though, a simple approach is all we need and it’s working well for us. I know my world is about to get rocked adding a newborn in the middle of the spring semester! Our schedule will definitely change, but I’m glad we have some sort of structure in place. Maybe (fingers crossed!) it will help my children know what’s expected of them when I can’t be as present for every single part of their school day.
I’m still figuring this homeschooling life out and will probably be doing so forever, but if you do have any questions you’d like to ask me, feel free to in the comments! I’ll do my best to answer them.
Below is a list of some of the read-aloud chapter books we’ve done since starting homeschooling. They would be great fun for any family, whether you homeschool or not! We also do lots of picture books.
- Mr. Popper’s Penguins
- B is for Betsy
- The Boxcar Children
- The Courage of Sarah Noble
- The Bears of Hemlock Hill
- Little House in the Big Woods
- Little House on the Prairie
- The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
- Beezus and Ramona
- The Little Riders
- The Children of Noisy Village
- Kirsten’s Surprise
- Homer Price
- The Saturdays
- Phoebe The Spy
- Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
- The Five Little Peppers
- Lady Lollipop
- The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook
My Treadmill (which is no longer in production) – Got my treadmill eleven years ago with my first paycheck after college. Loved it. Left it. Or, I should say, had to give it away because we downsized homes five years ago. As blessed providence would have it, right when we were moving into a larger house, our friends we gave it to were downsizing themselves. It is mine again! I know it may seem fake to say you love your treadmill (Hey, you’re being unreal! No one loves a treadmill!), but I really do. I love walking or running (when I’m not pregnant) on it and listening to audio books on Overdrive or podcasts on Stitcher. I love feeling my body working hard. I love that I can use it at night after the kids are in bed. Do I prefer the outdoors? Most days, yes. But being able to take a good, uphill walk without leaving the house is invaluable at this stage of life. I am a much happier mother and wife when I am getting exercise. I guess you could say this thing is saving my whole family’s life this winter.
I mentioned in my 
