How We Are Home Educating This Year
Wow has 2020 been crazy. And with all the uncertainty, it looks like it could end just as crazy. (Although I hope not!)
There are so many people who are considering home educating this year for a variety of reasons and circumstances and I thought I would share an overview of my homeschool philosophy and vision for our particular family and what we are tentatively planning to use this year.
In the next post in this Homeschooling series, I’m going to give you a list of my favorite home educating mentors and resources if you need some education, inspiration, support, and encouragement.
So diving in with a bit of background, I was homeschooled for first through third grade, then attended a tiny Christian school for fourth through sixth grade (because my father had cancer), was homeschooled again for junior high and then attended another Christian school for high school.
I have always known that I wanted to homeschool my children. I will even admit to purchasing a set of logic books when my son was a baby (a little overeager on my part! lol)
But even knowing I wanted to homeschool, it wasn’t until I started doing some research and reading that I realized how many different philosophies, curriculum choices, and resources were out there. So I followed that rabbit trail, read a lot of books and settled mostly on a Charlotte Mason philosophy with some Classical and Unschooling in the mix.
I think one of the most important things I’ve come to realize is not to try to fit your family into a box. You don’t have to be JUST Classical or JUST Charlotte Mason. You don’t have to be defined by those things at all. You get to create your own vision for your family. You get to use the different curriculums and resources as tools for you in creating the home education that fits YOUR unique family. There is no one right way. No one right curriculum. So take off the pressure to find that one right thing.
And also, going hand in hand with that, is realizing that your children are born persons who grow and change (sometimes practically weekly!) and what works today may not work next year, next month, or even next week. We have to be flexible, adaptable, and an observer of our children.
It takes time to figure out what works for you and your family. I’m coming to a better understanding of what is a good fit for us, but I’m still fleshing it out and things may change. I haven’t been “officially” at this all that long, so I’m trying to focus on being realistic in our current season, really paying attention to my children and what works for their personalities, their energy and rhythms, and what areas of habit and character training we need to prioritize.
I’m trying to focus on slowing down, not chasing after perfection, and enjoying them where they are instead of rushing them through just to get down with something and check off a box.
2020-2021 “Plan”
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So with all that said, here is our tentative plan for this year. My oldest son will be 7 in August, my daughter will be 5, and my youngest will be 2 in September. I had “officially” started homeschooling my son last year when he turned 6 but we were doing a Charlotte Mason philosophy for the Early Years before that which included lots of reading living books, time in nature, and learning through play.
We did half a year of Classical Conversations in a community from January to April (the last four meetings had to take place via Zoom thanks to Covid. =/ ) We were in a really great community, made a lot of friends and really enjoyed the relationships, support, and community we had there.
This year, after much prayer and discussion with my husband, we have decided not to attend a CC community this year. We will be following along with the spine, but on our own and in a more relaxed way.
I had purchased A Gentle Feast (a Charlotte Mason based curriculum) this spring in anticipation for the fall. I had originally planned to take April off and start our new year in May (because of how ding dong hot it is in the summer here!) but a couple weeks in with Covid and all the upheaval which took some transitioning and adjusting, I felt like it would be better to push back our start date.
But, testing it out, gave me a better idea of what the realities of our season will look like, the challenges, what my kids need and where they are at. I also realized that I was feeling overwhelmed by all the options I had, as well as trying to figure out how to work with two children and give the toddler what he needed.
I had the A Gentle Feast curriculum, the Beautiful Feet Early American History curriculum, The Playful Pioneers, The Peaceful Preschool, the Classical Conversations spine, and Julie Bogart’s The Wand, and Quiver of Arrows to name a few. Trying to figure out what to cut or how to blend them all together was short circuiting my brain!
So after taking some time and some planning tips from Elsie at The Farmhouse Schoolhouse, (She is one of my homeschool mentors, definitely check her out!) I took a hard look at where we were, what the next 3-6 months would like like (as best as I could in these uncertain times), where my kids were at developmentally, what they needed from me, etc…
I came away from that session, realizing that I needed a more slow, relaxed, and peaceful pace and plan for at least the next half year. My little guy is active and getting into everything, my daughter really needs some one on one time with me, and my oldest son needs some time and training before we embark on a more rigorous plan. I also needed something that I could easily and simply bring my daughter into without having to juggle so many different moving pieces. And I knew there would be a lot of interruptions with my little guy and I didn’t want to be so stressed out trying to “get to everything” that I couldn’t enjoy our time together.
That is a huge part of the reason I homeschool. So that we can do life together. I know myself and my tendency to get snappy and start seeing my kids as a distraction when I overwhelm myself with a bunch of “shoulds”, so here is a breakdown of what I decided.
We are going to use The Playful Pioneers as our “main” curriculum. It uses the Little House on the Prairie books as a spine (which my son has listened to on audiobook dozens of times and LOVES). It includes copywork, art, narration, baking/practical skills, etc… It will be fairly simple to bridge The Peaceful Preschool with The Playful Pioneers so my daughter will be able to have some one on one reading time with me, but still join in with her brother as she chooses.
The Playful Pioneers starts history around the Revolutionary War, but I also have the Beautiful Feet Early American History pack and A Gentle Feast which both start with Leif Erickson, and the Classical Conversations cycle starts with Columbus. So I am combining the read alouds from BF and AGF and will start the CC memory work at the same time. Then we will start The Playful Pioneers when we get to that period in history. I made a Master book list combining all the books from BF, AGF, and The Playful Pioneers so I can pick and choose what I’d like to add in for extra read alouds.
Curriculum breakdown by child
My soon to be 7 year old son (In between 1st & 2nd grade)
Bible (together as a family):
-Bible stories
-Bible memory verse and hymn will be from A Gentle Feast’s Morning Time plans.
History:
We are starting with read alouds from Beautiful Feet and AGF, several of which overlap. I’ll be picking and choosing as we go. We will also be doing the CC memory work but will not be keeping pace with their history. It goes too quickly and I don’t want to be pushing to keep up. We will be taking our time with Early American and Pioneer history. The Playful Pioneers will start around the beginning of September. My 5 year old daughter can choose to do this with us or go play with her little brother.
-Beautiful Feet Early American History
Geography:
Using some of the geography books from AGF and doing the US states and capitals within the CC memory work. We’ll use Pin It maps for practicing. We LOVE Pin It maps! (Again, my daughter can join in as she likes)
Math:
We LOVE Right Start Math. My son enjoys math and our first go round with Math Lessons for a Living Education Level 1 wasn’t bad. He really enjoyed it but he got bored because of so much repetition of what he already had mastered that we ended up skipping a lot. It is more workbook than we needed, so I ordered the Simply Charlotte Mason math and it just wasn’t a good fit. I had heard great things about Right Start and it’s just what he needed! We started a little bit back in April but took a bit of a summer break while I was getting things figured out, but we are back and loving it.
Reading/Language Arts:
-100 Gentle Lessons Level 1 and transition to Level 2 (from A Gentle Feast)
-The Wand
-Quiver of Arrows
I LOVE AGF's reading. We also will be working through the set 2 readers from Dash Into Reading, and have him practice reading from Early Readers like Frog and Toad. He will be doing copywork from The Playful Pioneers, and I will probably loop in The Wand or A Quiver of Arrows from Brave Writer as we go along. This is one of the areas I’m still tweaking and fleshing out.
Nature Study:
Exploring Nature with Children, as well as nature walks/hikes on Fridays, nature journaling/watercolor/notebooking, and a themed study on whatever they want to learn about. My son wants to start with plants and flowers so I’m working on pulling together some resources for that.
Composer/Artist/Poetry, etc…
We will be using AGF’s Morning Time plans which include all of these, along with Bible, Hymns, etc… I will also be adding or switching out as I feel like it. (This will be looped into our family morning time)
Spanish:
I currently have Usborne’s First Thousand Words in Spanish and as we find our footing starting this year, I will see how best to add this in. My husband is a native Spanish speaker but I’ve forgotten most of my two years of high school Spanish, so we don’t speak it a lot at home currently. It’s something I want to change, but I have a feeling I’m overthinking it right now. I’m also looking at Speaking Spanish with Miss Mason and Francois.
Music:
We are going to be teaching the kids piano. I’m figuring out how to weave this into our daily rhythm. My mom was a piano teacher and I’m decent but out of practice. I’d love to have this be more of a daily habit for me too. I just signed up for The Hoffman Academy, which I’ve heard great things about and after watching a lesson, I’m SUPER excited for the kids to try it. I think it’s just what we need, but I’ll let you know how it’s going as we progress.
They will also be learning tin whistle along with the CC cycle and learning folksongs from the AGF curriculum.
Art:
I have a watercolor class for kids from Emily Lex that I plan on doing with them, as well as doing some basic drawing lessons along with the CC cycle utilizing several drawing books from our home library.
Handicrafts:
I’m still deciding on specifics but options are crochet, finger knitting, basic sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, paper sloyd, and whittling with a bar of soap. We have the videos for crochet, knitting, and sewing from Simply Charlotte Mason to help the kids (and myself!) learn.
Simply Charlotte Mason handicraft videos
My 5 year old daughter (In between Preschool & Kindergarten):
The Peaceful Preschool & A Year of Playing Skillfully from The Homegrown Preschooler. I try to really give my kids, as Charlotte Mason put it, “a quiet growing time” and don’t start formal lessons until 6. I’ll be pulling from The Peaceful Preschool booklist and using some of the independent activities for her to do while I’m working with her brother and then have some one on one time reading together, or having her help me in the kitchen or learning a new practical skill.
I’m going to select and put together activities from A Year of Playing Skillfully for her to do independently when she chooses and pick some for us to all do together throughout the month.
I want this to be a time of awakening wonder, curiosity, and learning through play. She’s growing so quickly and I want to intentionally cherish this time with her.
I have Right Start Math Level A but this is optional for her right now. She enjoys “doing school” too, and she loves using the manipulatives that come with the set. I plan to do more of setting up an invitation to explore math and including her in the math games with her brother if she wants to join in.
Resources:
Whew! That was long, but I hope it gave you some ideas not just for resources because there are a lot of great ones out there, but also how the decision and planning process might go.
If you are brand new, an open and go curriculum might be a good starter until you figure out what works for your family, or maybe just being free to pick and choose as you go is better for you.
It depends so much on your personality, your family, and your current situation, which is why it’s so important to think through those things beforehand and PRAY about it, and not just get caught up and overwhelmed by all the pretty shiny choices.
This is a learn by doing kind of a thing and until you actually dive into the day to day, nitty gritty, you won’t really know what works best for your family.
So, jump in, observe your kids, take lots of notes, ramp up slowly, and give it a good chance before deciding something’s not working and you need to change something.
Ultimately you DO NOT need a bunch of expensive curriculum and pretty homeschool STUFF to educate your children. A library card, time in nature, listening to great music, reading aloud together, taking advantage of the fact that we learn so much just by living, and learning alongside them is enough to get you started.
If God is calling you to homeschool whether it’s for your child’s whole education, part of it, or just this year, you CAN DO IT. There is a whole community of mothers (and fathers) out there who are doing it in diverse circumstances to encourage and support you.
Please reach out to me if you need help, prayer, or to connect with other home educating moms!
Next up will be some of my favorite homeschool mentors and resources and then a look at scheduling our homeschool day (with a toddler in tow!)
Stay tuned and you can subscribe if you don’t want to miss the posts.
You can do this Mama!
God bless,
Heather