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I think most people have heard more about homeschooling in the last four months than in the last four years. There’s so much that has changed in recent months and many of us find ourselves in situations we never imagined we’d be in.
As long-time homeschoolers (this is our tenth year), I thought I’d share some of the journey that has brought us to this point, as well as what has and hasn’t worked. Because there’s always things that don’t work.
A couple years ago I shared what part time road schooling looked like that year, but that’s the only time I’ve really talked about our homeschooling. That’s all about to change!
How We Entered the Homeschool World
My husband and I both went to public school our entire K-12 experience. A couple years after I graduated, my mom decided to homeschool my younger siblings. I was in college by then and only peripherally aware of what that entailed.
Fast forward ten years and Sunshine, then a toddler, and I moved in with my parents while Jeremy shipped out on his first deployment. My youngest brother was in high school and still being homeschooled. Honestly, I didn’t get a great impression of it. It seemed like my brother pushed back on doing his assigned work and it caused a lot of friction.
We lived with my parents for almost two years before we moved to Virginia. By then, Sunshine was old enough to go to preschool, and I intended to send her once we moved. But after we arrived in Virginia, I kept feeling like I should homeschool her. I didn’t want to do to that, but while I tried to decide what to do, I also didn’t enroll her in preschool.
Instead, I started researching the local homeschool groups and co-ops and attended a couple homeschool conventions. I realized that there are a number of different philosophies when it comes to homeschooling, and I didn’t have to do it the way my mom did (which was school at home).
After that realization, I jumped in with both feet. I liked the idea of a classical education, so we ordered curriculum and buckled down. And within a couple years, Sunshine and I were both burned out.
What Homeschooling Looks Like For Us These Days
These days, we are much more relaxed. While we want our children to learn, we also want them to love learning and to seek out those subjects they are interested in. That wasn’t happening with the regimented curriculum that focused on a lot of worksheets and exercises and took longer than it should have to complete each lesson.
Now we read a lot of books, do some workbooks (but not nearly as many as we used to), and try to spend a lot of time outside, hiking and exploring nature. We also do music lessons (online, these days). We’ve done a variety of co-op classes and enrichment classes over the years that the kiddos enjoyed, but it’s also nice to just be home and not running all over.
While we jumped right into bookwork when Sunshine started kindergarten, we’ve taken a much more relaxed approach with the boys and are incorporating much more learning through play. Ever heard of gameschooling? Kids can learn so much from games and incorporating them into our school work has made learning a lot more fun.
We’ve changed our curriculum a few times over the years and now have a patchwork of things we like. Most of what I’m sharing below is elementary or middle school level curriculum. Sunshine is just entering high school, so we don’t know yet if we like what we’ve chosen. 😉 The boys are entering first grade and preK, and they’re benefitting from their sister being the guinea pig in all this.
We plan on traveling full time in a couple years and we’ll be able to use any of the following when we start road schooling full time. We’ll also incorporate the NPS Junior Ranger programs into our road schooling, as we have in the past. Can’t wait for the parks to open up again!
While there are free resources available, it can take time and effort to track them down. Honestly, I’m too busy for that and would rather spend some money to have the resources all in one place and easy to use. Some of the resources I mention are one-time purchases, others are monthly or yearly subscriptions.
Homeschooling Resources We Use and Like
Story of the World
This is the one thing that has stuck around since the beginning of our homeschool journey. It’s so much more balanced than the Euro-centric history I learned in school. Chinese history! African history! Japanese history! I’ve learned so much listening to the audio cds and doing the activities with the kiddos.
There’s a series of four books that cover ancient times to the fall of the USSR. The books themselves are on cd as well, so we’ve listened to them while driving to various classes and co-ops. There’s also activity books with a variety of enrichment activities and supplemental reading recommendations if you want to dive deeper into a subject. If you want to test your children on their knowledge, test books are available as well.
Life of Fred math books and other living math books
The Life of Fred math books are a great way to show children how math applies in real life. They’re not necessarily a complete dive into the subject, but they are a good way to learn the how and why of math, which isn’t always evident in more standard math books. Each chapter contains a few practice problems at the end, but there’s no “drill and kill” with pages and pages of repetitive practice problems.
We’ve also used a variety of math-centric children’s picture books like Sir Cumference and the First Round Table. Living math books for older children include Math Doesn’t Suck and other books by Danica McKellar (yes, from The Wonder Years!). If you’re looking to save some money, see if your local library has these books before you order them.
Foreign Language
We’ve used several of the Song School books with cds (they come in a variety of languages), but they are geared towards younger children. As Sunshine got older, we tried Rosetta Stone and a variety of apps, but so far, Transparent Language is working the best for her. We’re able to access it free through our library, though not all libraries participate.
The Good and the Beautiful
This curriculum is easy-to-use with no prep time needed (a plus for this busy mom!) and can be used across multiple ages. For K-8 they offer language arts, handwriting, math, history, science & health, and several electives. We’ve tried most of their courses and like that they’re easy to use, clear to understand, and don’t have a lot of boring repetition.
Currently, language arts is the only high school curriculum offered, though they plan to offer more in the future. I think they’re in transition right now, as I seem to remember them offering more high school classes in the past.
In addition to courses and materials for purchase, they offer free downloadable PDFs for some subjects, like Levels 1-5 of language arts and the marine biology science unit.
This curriculum does have a Christian worldview, but is not specific to any denomination.
Wild and Free
This isn’t a curriculum source so much as a resource for families who want to embrace the adventure and wonder of childhood. They do offer a nature journal course and a music of Mozart course, as well as monthly content bundles with encouragement for homeschooling moms and activity ideas for the whole family.
Experience Astronomy and Experience Biology
These two sites are under the umbrella of Journey Homeschool Academy, along with a Bible Study Course. Both Experience Astronomy and Experience Biology offer elementary and upper level courses. Sunshine took the elementary astronomy course a couple years ago and will probably do the upper level biology course next year. They open enrollment only once a year, and I believe it’s open till the end of August.
These courses also have a Christian perspective.
Gameschooling
As I mentioned earlier, we use a variety of games to help the kiddos learn. I mean, what’s better than learning about math, spelling, vocabulary, economics, nature, strategy, and more, and without even realizing it? If you’re interested in learning more about how to use gameschooling in your home, My Little Poppies is a great resource and I get a lot of our game recommendations from her.
Five Marys Ranch School
The M5 Ranch School was just started as a reaction to so many children being out of school because of the pandemic. Courses will teach about farm animals, animal husbandry, ranch life, vocational skills, and more. Current offerings include video lessons, workshops, and a community forum. Professional teachers have been hired to help with course development.
Classes are appropriate for all ages (even grownups!), regardless of where you live, and age-appropriate supplemental materials are available for each one. Our whole family is enjoying Ranch School.
Usborne Books
Usborne has a lot of educational books that are designed to help children explore a variety of subjects. They’re colorful and engaging and a fun way to learn. Use this link and my friend Nicole, also a homeschooling mom, can help you pick out books for your children.
Oak Hollow Cottage
Ok, I’ll admit that this last one is a shameless plug for my shop, Oak Hollow Cottage. But most of the products in the shop came about because of a need we had while homeschooling. I’d much rather spend a little more for a durable, handmade item that will last for years than buy a cheap, mass-produced item that will wear out or break the first or second time we use it.
The leather bound music notebooks are so much sturdier than the cheap spiral bound notebooks you get from the music store. Though we do have covers for those as well, to make them last longer.
Leather tote bags in a variety of sizes are perfect for trips to the library, the co-op, or wherever you need to haul stuff. Canvas and leather buckets are just right for gathering nature finds in the woods or holding minnows or tadpoles while playing in the river. I’ll be adding more items, so be sure to check back regularly.
Is this your first time homeschooling? What are your thoughts about it?
