When I first began homeschooling I would search for curriculum relentlessly, believing that if I found the perfect one it would make my children super geniuses who would be racing to the table every morning to do their schoolwork. I also believed that as my child’s teacher, I needed to already have all of the knowledge and information I ever wanted them to have. What I have learned after six years is that much of the curriculum I expected to be magical wasn’t, and in fact, some of it never even made it out of the box. I also learned that homeschooling wasn’t about filling their brains with what was already in mine. Rather, it was about teaching them how to learn, and in many cases, having the privilege of learning right alongside them.
Don’t Stress About Curriculum
Your homeschool is about so much more than the curriculum you choose. While a curriculum can be helpful, it should never feel like the boss. Always remember it works for you, not the other way around. So if there is a book that isn’t working or a project you do not want to do, give yourself the freedom to scrap it.
In the beginning, purchasing a ready made curriculum can be helpful because they can provide ready to go lesson plans and enable you to figure out who your kids are as students, and who you are as a teacher. It also helps you to decide who you are not. Maybe you are a mom who loves doing lots of hands on projects, and maybe you are not. Either is OK! It is easy to want to buy every single shiny new resource and manipulative, and then feel overwhelmed at not only the amount of “things” in your school space, but also the amount of work that has been created for yourself and your children. My advice after all these years is to try to keep things as simple as possible, and to resist the urge to re-create school at home. Remember that the approach a teacher with a classroom full of kids needs to take to a subject and the methods that you can use at home are very different, and will most likely consume much less time. When I do buy curriculum, I always try to find it used first, EBay has lots of options and so do homeschool Facebook groups.
We cover the basic subjects in a couple of hours or less a day, leaving the rest of the day for nature study, reading great books, life school, and pursuing things that each of my children find interesting. Over the years I have found certain resources to be helpful, and I want to share them with you.
You can find some of my favorite books for kids and curriculum we have used and enjoyed here. Read on for more resources and tips!
Ambleside Online
This website offers Charlotte Mason based lesson plans which we loosely follow. I like that it is free and the books it recommends are all intended to be living books.
Audiobooks
We do a lot of reading aloud, and I think it’s important, but we love audiobooks too. There are many services that offer them at no cost, we even have a great app through our library (Libby). I love Librivox.org for free audio versions of old classics.
Social Media
Facebook groups for home educators are an excellent way to get the low down on certain curriculum and challenges. A local group can also be a convenient way to organize field trips, curriculum trades or sales, or group rates on tickets to local events. Instagram can connect you with other homeschoolers and you can see what they are doing. For me, it helps inspire and it is a way to connect with other homeschool Mamas.
Create a Plan
Rather than plan out an entire year in full I prefer to create six week plans. This is usually five weeks that includes the subjects we are covering. It may have specific books or chapters of books we will include, read alouds, unit studies, copy work and recitation, artists or composers, our Math and Language Arts, a specific area of concentration for nature study, handicrafts or lifeskills, etc. I then have a “grace week” in which we spend time catching up on anything we did not complete, working individually with each of my children on anything they may be struggling with (not to say they do not get my attention during the 5 weeks, they definitely do, it is just about allowing space for time). I also use this week to plan out the next six weeks and to do plan something fun like a tea party or a field trip. If we have stayed caught up with everything then the children just simply have more time to play and to persue subjects that are interesting to them. Planning in blocks and building in breaks helps me to not feel overwhelmed and constantly behind. It also allows to be more mindful about what is working for our children and what isn’t.
Homeschooling allows us the freedom to tailor our schedule to our family and lifestyle. For example, we grow a big garden every year, so we prefer to wrap up school in April when the garden is going in so we are able to dedicate more time to it. I also consider part of my childrens education, there is much to be learned in a garden! I also think that after months of cold winter I want them outdoors as much as possible in Spring and doing hours of schoolwork everyday just doesn’t make sense to me. We usually pick school back up in July when the weather is hot and they are happy to spend a bit more time indoors in the air conditioning. After Thanksgiving we take it easy until after New Years. We still do our morning time (we never really stop our morning time) and they do a basic copywork and math assignment daily, but we shift to holiday activities, making gifts and special meals, and acts of service. One gift of homeschool is that it allows for so much freedom and the ability to center iton your family values.
Allow Children To Have Input
When I am lesson planning I ask my children for input. No, they do not get to decide every single thing that we do, but I usually ask if there is a particular subject or skill they are interested in learning more about, and then I find a way to include that in my planning. If they list off many, I take notes, and let them know I will most likely only pick one or two of the things for our next six week block but that we can persue the others later in the year if they are still interested. I like asking them because sometimes they throw things out there I never would have guessed they would be curious about and we all have a lot of fun learning together.
Find a Rhythm
A daily rhythm helps and so does a routine for “morning time”. During our morning time we talk about things that we are grateful for, we do some kind of character lesson, (this can be as easy as reading a fable or a devotion) we go over our memory work (poems, bible verses, state capitals, etc, it changes every few weeks), I read aloud from a current book (usually history or historical fiction), we sing a song or hymn, and we pray and set our intentions for the day. We usually do all this over breakfast, so each thing only takes a couple of minutes and it takes no longer than a half hour total. After this we have a quick stretch. This simple morning time routine really makes a HUGE difference in the way our day goes. I notice all of our attitudes suffer if we skip it.
After morning time we clean up breakfast, do math and language arts/reading/copywork, and then it’s free time/outside play until lunch.
After lunch we spend time outside and have quiet time in the afternoon, usually around 3-4. After quiet time we rotate art, handicrafts, science, or whatever other subjects we are studying. Then it’s dinner, after dinner chores, reading aloud, bed. A couple of times a week there might be an activity, like co-op, choir, or homeschool PE, depending on what my children are involved in at the time. We try to get all our bookwork done M-Th so we can do something fun on Fridays like spend the day at the park with friends, have a tea party, or go to the children’s museum. I use this as a motivation tool during the week too, reminding them if we meet our school goals we get to do the fun Friday thing.
Stacking Curriculum
Children with more than one child may feel a total overwhelm if they attempt to complete entire curriculums for each child. I recommend getting age appropriate resources for math and language arts, but try to find ways to do other subjects together. Read alouds that will please more than one child, and activities that can be done together as a family, instead of trying to do all the things for every child. Don’t try to do two or three nature studies, at the same time, pick one, and find an appropriate activity or way for the different aged children to participate. For history the Story Of the World Books work well across a wide age group (although do pre read for the very young as there are a few instances of events that may be startling for very young readers). We read the chapters aloud together(or listen to the audio CDs) and then I have a picture book or two for younger children and a book or two for my older independent readers. This way we can study a period of history together, and the kids that are older can delve a bit deeper. Any subject can be persued this way.
Using Loops
I first read about using loops in Sarah Mackenzie’s book Teaching From Rest and this approach has been so helpful to me. There are certain things we do everyday. But some things, like art or spanish, or for keeping track of read aloud, loops are such wonderful way to organize. It is basically a set of notecards kept on a ring and on each card you write down one of the items in a particular category. For example, we have a morning time loop. I usually read aloud for 10 minutes or so during morning time and we typically have several different books we are reading. So I write each title on a card, and everyday I flip the card on the loop and the one on top is the one we read that day. Or maybe you have an older child and you want them to use a specific block of time everyday to do independent study and they are working on several skills, like calligraphy, typing, and a foreign language. They can use the loop to keep track of what they need to study from day to day. I like this approach because it frees me from trying to plan everything on particular days, and then feeling behind when we were not able to get to a certain subject on the right day.
Diet
Feeding children a healthy protein dense breakfast will lead to better performance. When we send our children to school we are exempt from seeing how their breakfast impacts their study that day. As someone who feeds her kids breakfast and then tries to be their teacher, I can assure there is a very real connection between what my children eat in the morning and how well they absorb material and are able to complete assignments. While carbohydrates like toast, granola, oatmeal, or cereal can be part of a breakfast, they are not ok on their own. They just spike the blood sugar which seems to lead to kids feeling very energized, but not necessarily focused, for a short time, and then crashing hard. Healthy food in the morning doesn’t have to be complicated, but remember that your morning won’t be as rushed so you can take a little more time with breakfast. Prepping some kind of egg dish the night before, or even just hard boiling some eggs, is easy. I like to have out favorite almond butter balls on hand for an easy breakfast too. Sweet potato breakfast custard is another one of my kids favorites. It is nutrient dense and it feels like you are eating dessert for breakfast. It may seem strange but bone broth or a simple soup can make an extremely nourishing breakfast and although it is not common in the West is it very common in many other parts of the world. Letting some bones simmer overnight allows you to wake up to a broth that is ready. Throw in a few vegetables or some noodles and yu have a complete soup. Also, consider planning a simple weekly menu so that you do not find yourself struggling daily with what to make for meals.
Go for a walk
Getting outside and into nature as much as possible is a must. We live on a small farm, so we are outside everyday just to care for the animals and garden at some point. But we are also intentional about taking nature walks. Identifying plants, insects, and birds builds the habit of attention in children. We also really enjoy learning about edible wild plants and mushrooms.
We are entering spring and it is actually one of the most beautiful times in those places in the country to be outside. Take advantage of this. Make a goal of doing five local hikes are learning 10 forageable plants that grow all around you.
My Favorite Reads for Homeschool Moms
These are three books I read yearly that help me get my head in the right place for homeschool, they were all life changing in their own ways.
1. For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaefer Macaulay: This book helped me believe I was capable of homeschooling my children. I read it the Summer before my oldest was to enter Kindergarten. I was still on the fence about homeschool, I wanted to try it and had known other mothers who seemed to be doing it beautifully, but I was honestly afraid I was going to ruin my daughters education and maybe her life. I just didn’t believe I could do it. This book helped me to realize I needed to adjust the way I was thinking about education.
2. Teaching From Rest by Sarah Mackenzie (her podcast Read Aloud Revival is also great). This book, again, just provided me with encouragement and experience from someone in the trenches who was more seasoned than I was.
3. The Lifegiving Home by Sally Clarkson isn’t so much a book about homeschooling as it is a book about being intentional about the atmosphere you want to create in your home. It was immensely helpful.
Everytime I read one of these books for the first time I felt immensely grateful I had read it, and I fully believe my entire family is better off for me having read them. I just cannot recommend them enough.
Things to remember
Keep Lessons Short and Sweet
Brain scans have shown that there is a difference in the activity of the brain when a child is trying to force learning, i.e. the type of learning that happens when memorizing information for a test, versus what happens in the brain when someone is interested in the topic. The former files the information in a part of the brain that keeps information on a short term basis, versus the latter, which stores the information in long term memory. This is why standardized testing is a waste of time. Information is memorized and then quickly discarded. So, in order for children to actually learn and remember (and that is the goal right? What is the point if they don’t remember?), they have to be interested and engaged.
To keep kids interested, keep lessons short. If you start to lose them, end the lesson. When reading out loud to them, you want to stop before they are ready versus when they have had enough and have become distracted.
The Charlotte Mason method focuses a lot on the habit of attention and building that in children, because if children don’t have the habit of attention, it is difficult for them to learn. I try to excercise these brain muscles in my kids by asking them what is around them when we go on walks. Can you spot 10 different kinds of plants, can you spot 5 different living creatures? I do this at home sometimes when I just send them outside.
Learning styles are important
When you are your childs teacher taking the time to understand their unique learning style can be very helpful. There are many books available on this topic, here is one that was helpful to me.
Narration
Another Charlotte Mason trick, and one that helps build the habit of attention (and therefore retention) is narration. This is when after a lesson (or you read to them or they read to themselves) you ask your child to explain back to you, in their own words, everything they heard or read. This can also be acted out live action style, or with puppets, or action figures, or they can write it or draw pictures. The idea is that if they know they are going to need to narrate, they listen better, and having to reiterate it helps them to remember it even better.
Let them help
Your children are capable and they are able to help you. Teaching them to help make lunches, do dishes, and learn basic housework is preparing them for the real world. Remember, they can spend many less hours on academics while at home and still learn the same amount, so you need not feel like you are taking anything away from their studies. When they first start helping, they may make huge messes or mistakes, and that is OK because the dividends will pay off and eventually they will be able to do a whole process, like make breakfast, wash and put away their own laundry, or bake a loaf of bread, and clean it up all by themselves. This is not only helpful to you, but will build a sense of capability in them.
Children can be helpful even when very young, a child or 4 or 5 should be able to clear their own plate and wash their dish, set the table, fold towels, etc. I am not suggesting turning children into servants while you lazily sip tea, it’s more of a doing life with them alongside you approach, rather than feeling the need to come up with some sort of entertainment for them while doing all the work. For example, instead of putting on a show while making dinner, invite them to help in the kitchen. The idea that giving children chores robs them of their childhood somehow is false and it hurts and demoralizes them. I remember knowing many people my age when I got my first apartment who did not know how to do very basic things like wash a load of laundry or make a meal. I. have four children so having them all with me while I try to do everything can be overwhelming. They have rotating days when it is their turn to cook, or be mom or dads helper. They get tolearn and have some special quality time with a parent too. I also try to plan my meals accordingly, doing simple things with the youngest onesandsaving more elaborate meals for the older childrens cook days.
You’ve Got This
Even if you never were a teacher or wanted to be one, even if you never went to college, you can be your child’s teacher. Because being their teacher should really just mean that you teach them how to learn. Which means presenting them with things they would like to learn about. Think of yourself as a curator of information. When I first started considering homeschool I didn’t know how I could do it because I felt like I already needed to have all the information they were ever going to need. Now I understand it’s more about presenting things to them, and learning right alongside them (which is one of my favorite parts about homeschool).
As far as math (which is one that gives many new homeschool moms anxiety) between YouTube and resources like Teaching Textbooks it is not as scary as you think. And remember that not every child will grow up to be a mathematician or an award winning author, don’t beat your head against the wall about things that just aren’t meant to be. If your child is a mathlete, they will show you that, they will excel and want to go deeper into the subject. If math is not their favorite subject, keep them up to grade level with the basics and figure out what makes them excited. And get them doing more of the things they are excited about!
Many school districts have a “Refrigerator curriculum”, a short one page printable with an overview of subjects and topics that your child will cover at every grade level. While I don’t try to do “school at home,” I do try to make sure my children stay caught up with where their peers are so that if they do ever enter the school system, they are not lagging years behind or have not even heard of many of the subjects kids their age know all about.
There Will Be Bad Days
Yes. Yes there will. That is just the truth. There will be days that they may resist , that you yourself can’t seem to motivate, days where your children bicker non stop, and you feel like maybe you failed. But the beauty is it’s just a day. One day. And every day is is a chance for a new start.
Take Care of Yourself
When you homeschool you spend roughly every waking moment with your children. It is really important to carve out some time because as the saying goes you cannot fill from an empty cup.
Sometimes the only time I get that feels truly mine is to get up before the kids and take a walk, read, pray, or exercise. I don’t always get to do this but the days that I do get to do it feel better. Other options are to take a bath when your partner can be with the children or institute an afternoon quiet time.
Afternoon quiet times can be very helpful. This is a time to look at books or rest quietly. No crafts for mom to have to set up or monitor. Each child can have a basket or shelf with books or magazines that are age appropriate and about subjects they are interested in. This can be done even with very young children. If they are too young to entertain themselves for 30 or 40 minutes looking at books, they are probably young enough to nap. Older children could also use this as a time to journal or do more advanced studies.
Sometimes I put the kids in the car, put on an audio book, and take a drive. This way everyone is in one spot, the toddler usually takes a nap, and they are all entertained by the story. They are all buckled in and accounted for, it’s hands free time for mom.
Consider forming a group text with a group of your friends to encourage each other and provide moral support, ideas, and even funny Memes while entering this new world of homeschooling.
Also, something I have found to bring more joy and life into my homeschooling is to share things with my children I am interested in learning about. I love gardening, so we look at seed catalogs and gardening books together, we learn about plants and flowers. What do you love? Art? Classical music? Trains? Architecture? Ireland? Horses? What is a subject you are excited about? Share that with your child, there is a good chance they will love it too. And then you are teaching them and you get to enjoy one of your favorite things.
Finding a homeschool mentor can also be helpful. Talking to someone who has been through it and whose children have come out successfully on the other side can be so encouraging!
The most important thing to remember is that every child, parent, and family is different. But that is honestly what makes homeschool so special: it is able to be incredibly personalized. So remember to breathe and enjoy the experience. Studies have shown that the relationship a student has with their teacher influences their level of engagement and their academic performance. So put the relationship with your child ahead of everything else, even if it means throwing a lesson plan out the window, because if the relationship isn’t there, the learning probably won’t be either.
There will be also be incredible days
Days that fill your heart to bursting. Remember this season of your life, and theirs, is fleeting. Getting to be their teacher is a privilege, and they are privileged to have you as one.
