How Our Homeschool Journey Took Me By Surprise

How Our Homeschool Journey Took Me By Surprise

A few weeks ago, I registered for a homeschool conference, and no one is more surprised than I am that this sounds like a thrilling way to spend my free time. Seven years ago, when my oldest daughter was old enough for preschool, I didn’t find myself ready to send her to school every day. Then, when it was time for kindergarten, I felt the same. We did a laid back curriculum and I found myself really loving having her at home and pursuing home education. Even with a major in Great Texts (English+Philosophy+Theology) and enough credit hours to pursue an education certificate in Louisiana, I never really thought of myself as someone who would excel in the homeschool world. I’m not very organized in general, I’m pretty spontaneous, oh and I am truly atrocious at math, at doing math? I don’t even know the correct grammar for that sentence! All that to say, here we are, about to embark on our third year of homeschooling full time and I absolutely love our homeschool journey so far! 

After homeschooling our oldest daughter for kindergarten, I had plans to continue for her first grade year. I enjoyed being part of the Classical Conversations community (a once a week co-op), mostly for the social aspect and was happy with how she was progressing. But life threw me a curve ball and after being diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2021, I felt it best to take the load of schooling off my plate and send my oldest to a hybrid school and my middle daughter to a church-run preschool. While I focused on healing (with my toddler in tow and precious friends babysitting her when I needed to be at the hospital), I also really enjoyed the hybrid school set up. We decided to continue this for our daughters’ second grade and kindergarten years. We had a great experience at Logos Academy and liked the schedule of our girls going to school two days a week and doing their at home school work the other days. Again, I intended to continue that for the next year. But last spring, my best friend, who homeschools full time, pitched me the idea of us trading off schooling days and homeschooling together. I was honestly resistant to that idea, but after thinking and praying for several weeks, I had a sense that this was the right step for our family. 

I’m happy and surprised to report: I loved our year! On Mondays, I had the kids, ranging from kindergarten to fourth grade, at my house and on Wednesday mornings, I was kid free! That was a lifesaver for me to have that margin of space in the week where I knew I could run errands or sit and stare at the wall. In addition to this, we have a weekly co-op with five families every Friday. At co-op, we did a simple nature curriculum, art projects, and went on a few field trips. This was a great opportunity for our kids to get time around other kids, learn in a larger group environment, and for me to connect with other moms. There were things about our year that I knew I’d love: reading aloud to my kids, doing art projects, poetry tea times, and having a slow start to the morning. I didn’t anticipate that I’d enjoy re-learning third grade math and doing on the side deep dives about what we were learning. 

What I most enjoy about homeschooling is the freedom and space to foster curiosity and a love of learning in my kids and in myself.

The best homeschool advice I’ve received is to not try to recreate the classroom. We are usually able to get our work done in just a couple of hours and we are often sitting on the couch, eating snacks, and taking breaks as needed. Yes, we have specific curriculum guidelines that we are aiming to follow, but we are also able to explore and get side tracked when our interests are sparked. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when my kids don’t want to do their school work, there are times when I lose my patience, and there are times when a day feels like a total fiasco. But in the grand scheme of things, the time freedom and the joy of learning alongside each other make every challenging moment worth it. It’s been fun to see my older girls learn so much this year and our four year old, who is just along for the ride, has learned a crazy amount just by playing and joining in here and there. 

People often are surprised when we say we homeschool and comment that they could “never do that.” I am so thankful that I don’t have to work and I can spend my time doing this and I know that’s not everyone’s reality. I also think that people are afraid of all that time with their kids, when in reality, you get used to it! But there are things that keep me in a good head space. Exercising regularly, extra-curricular activities, having someone clean my house twice a month, and having friends that homeschool are four things that feel pretty essential to me. Going on a morning walk or going to a workout class is so life giving. I crave that time alone to move my body. I’m not superwoman and I am always, ALWAYS, behind on laundry, so getting my house cleaned twice a month is an absolute life saver. Again, I know this is a privilege, but I do think homeschool moms should try to build this into their budget. Having our kids in extracurricular activities is really important to me as well. It’s an opportunity for them to make friends and be in social settings and it’s good for them to learn cooperation and dealing with authority besides just their parents. Our girls have loved playing soccer, being in theater, doing piano and voice lessons, doing gymnastics and ballet. We are usually done with school by lunchtime, which provides ample time for them to participate in a couple of these options each season. 

Moving forward, I’m excited to continue our homeschool journey. We will be mostly on our own this year and I’m not sure what our specific schedule will be this fall, but I do know that I am enjoying summer break and looking forward to the fall! I think anyone who has an inkling of homeschool interest, should at least look into it, if I can do it, you can too! 

For those curious, here’s the curriculum we used this year. I’ll continue some of this, but may change some things up as well. We loved the “Morning Time” aspect of A Gentle Feast but may use Beautiful Feet Books for history and geography and I’m looking at Michael Clay Thompson for Language Arts. 

History, Geography, Language Arts, Literature: A Gentle Feast 

Spanish: Flip Flop Spanish

Math: Math-U-See

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears, Memoria Press Cursive 

Reading: All About Reading 

Nature Studies: Treehouse Schoolhouse 

Watercolor: Brighter Day Press

I have no idea if we will homeschool all the way through, but I feel confident that this is right for our family this year! I’m thankful for the time I have to invest in my kids and cultivate a love for learning.