When I first got the “nudge” to homeschool, I remember studying everyone’s posts and Stories on social media of those who homeschooled their children. I had so many questions. What did their days look like? What curricula did they use? And for how long did they work? And mostly, was it working? Because let me tell you, I was skeptical about homeschooling. Here’s my backstory on the homeschool topic. Maybe you can relate.
Growing up, I only “knew” one homeschooled kid, and by knew, I mean I met him probably three times. I thought he was weird. And since I knew no other homeschooled kids, I made the generalization that most homeschool kids probably were weird. Awful, right? We all make these generalizations about people and things all the time. Praise the Lord for growth in our thinking, right?! Fast forward to becoming a teacher and teaching in both private and public schools: I can assure you, where or how children are schooled has no bearing on whether they’re weird or “normal”. I taught and interacted with some strange personalities and families in traditional school settings…weird people exist everywhere.
I share those things to tell you that I began to fear whether my children (one child at the time) and us parents would still “fit it” if we made this decision for our family. God didn’t give up the nudging, and the brief year of preschool three days a week with my daughter did me in. I started looking at children/young adults that stood out to me. What made them different? What was it about them that I would love for my children to emulate? There was a family at our church who had three daughters, and I felt displayed attributes like how I described I wanted my kids to be like (assertive, confident, educated, and here’s the biggie: humble).
And guess what? They were homeschooled. I reached out to the mom (whom I had only spoken with a few times, err, risky!), and invited her over for coffee. She sat on my sofa, and told me about her journey homeschooling her three girls. I expressed my anxiety about not being capable of doing everything my child needed, and she replied,
“Nothing can thwart God’s plans for your child’s life.”
Those words struck me deeply. It was clear, I was called to be a homeschool mom, and God would fill in all the gaps.
Next, I sat in on a Zoom information meeting with a representative from a co-op in our area that I felt drawn to (that’s another blog post worth right there!), went for an on campus visit, and enrolled for the following school year. I’ve never looked back. Homeschooling has been the biggest blessing to my family. It was hard to see it on the outside of things when I had one shoe in and one shoe still looking at other possible school options, though.
So, after such a long introduction to such a big topic that can go in so many directions, I thought I’d start by sharing a peek into what we do here in the Sloop Household. And if you’re in that season of trying to see clearly through the mud of the possibility of homeschooling, this book, Wild + Free, is a great resource to breaking down all the ways homeschools can look and be and function….there’s no right way or wrong way. And below, this is what works for us. 🙂
We started “officially” homeschooling last year when my daughter was 4 (it was our PreK/Kinder year). This year, she has about 20 minutes of independent work each day (handwriting and math/reading skills practice), 15 minutes of independent reading time, about 15 minutes of review memory work from our co-op Community (We are a part of Classical Conversations), and then about an hour to an hour and a half of directed teaching with me. It takes us about 2 hours to complete everything, and she is working as a Kinder/First grader, for reference.
We read A LOT on our sofa and in our playroom and utilize our library and an online reading app as well. Everything below is the SPINE of our day and her core subjects. History, Science, Latin, Geography, Art, and Music are all enjoyed on our Community day using Classical Conversations’ curriculum. We will dive deeper into those subjects at home as she gets older.
For ELA, I use a combination of curricula and truly have loved how this subject block has come together. We are using All About Reading Level2 this year, paired with a reading comprehension curriculum from Moffatt Girls. The All About Reading focuses on the skills of reading as it relates to decoding words with some comprehension skills. I love it because its phonics based! The Moffatt Girls curriculum takes one book per week and uses it to teach vocabulary, text structure, character, author studies, text-to-text connections, and retelling. It is designed for 9 books a quarter, but we do 6 books a quarter and have it lined up with our Classical Conversations quarterly schedule for the year.
For Math, I LOVE Dimensions Math from Singapore Math. It is rigorous and so thorough. The pages are bright and colorful and it is focuses a lot on manipulatives and games. There are A LOT of resources to use with it including read aloud suggestions and videos as well as blackline masters you can print at home for free.
My daughter has morning bins 4 days a week, and this work is completely independent work. She does not have a bin on the days we have Community. In my daughter’s “morning bins”, she has one sheet for handwriting everyday (I just rip it out of the book), and then one math and one reading task. These tasks are all review of skills she already knows. I usually pull a mix of activities from the Moffatt Girls morning bins and a worksheet. This gives lots of opportunity for coloring AND using manipulatives. If math is a hands on activity, then reading is a worksheet, and vice versa. All together, these 3 tasks take no longer than 20-25 minutes for her to complete them.
For handwriting and independent work, we tried Handwriting without Tears first, and once completed, we moved onto a Reason for Handwriting. which incorporates letter practice and more copy work.
Here is the tool my daughter uses to help keep track of her responsibilities. When everything is done, guess what? She plays!
There are a million different ways to homeschool-this is what has worked for us for daughter, When my boys turn 4 and 5, I’m sure I’ll mix it up a bit too! Building relationships with my kids is the most important thing. We spend a lot of time snuggled up in the afternoon on the sofa reading with my kids or creating something together!
Next, I’ll create a post for what we’re doing this current school year for my daughter: first/second grade. One of the best things about homeschooling is how you can differentiate your instruction…and their grades become more of an “-ish” 😉 because you GET TO cater to THEM and what they need. Such a blessing!
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