*I wrote this post when my older two children were just 3 and 5. This was our rhythm homeschooling pre-k and kinder aged children.
I open my eyes to that blue morning. The sun waking and stretching just beyond the horizon, casting a hazy blue tint over the sleeping hills and rustling trees. The house is quiet and cold. I wrap my sweater over my chilly bones and head for coffee. I sip slowly, drinking in that hot creamy promise of what the day will hold, and open my devotional. I know in part what it will say; don’t worry about the events of the day, for they have already been laid out before you; indeed. There’s a squinty eyed, crazy haired little girl that finds my lap and plops there inside that nest of comfort, and before long a drawn out “moooooommmmmaaaaa” comes sailing through the air from the nursery. He wraps tiny arms right around my neck as I lift him from his crib, eager for juice and a snack. We live there in that semi wakeful state for a bit, cups full of green juice, thumbing through books, and just after that, when our minds are alert and ready again, our school day begins.
We all make the best decisions we can for ourselves and our families, and although those decisions all look different, they are all the right decisions for each of us. So whether you choose to homeschool, public school, or private school, know that if it sits comfortably and peacefully in your gut, and your children are happy and thriving, then that’s undoubtedly best for your family, which I can assure you, is all, that truly matters.
I taught high school English for six years before I had children, and somewhere along that road decided that homeschooling was something I wanted to explore when I had my own kids of that age. So I began teaching Daphne at home when she was two and a half. We began with The Learning Box Preschool curriculum, and I would highly recommend it for the 2.5-3.5 year old set. After about a year she was ready for more, so I began supplementing with various materials catered to her age, or one year older. There are tons of resources that can be found HERE, HERE, and HERE. I know there is a wealth of other resources out there, but I’ve found that I work best with fewer options, so these are the ones that have worked well for us, yet still provide a vast variety.
From the ages of 2.5-4 years old, I would do about 30-45 minutes of schooling with Daphne three mornings a week. I wasn’t too strict on the days and times, just knew I wanted to commit to that amount of time with her more formal curriculum. It’s pretty crazy how much you can truly accomplish within a 30 minute period when it’s just you and your child, so don’t let time be a huge factor to you. I always keep in mind that even now, throughout an entire day, I am teaching my children continually. They are either with my husband or myself, and in one way or another we are talking to them, explaining things, teaching them about a plethora of topics without being confined to walls or “school hours;” one of the many beauties of homeschooling for us.
Daphne started kindergarten this last fall. I knew that I needed to be more consistent with our school times, and that we needed to be doing lessons Monday-Friday. I wanted to make sure we were covering everything she needed in terms of reading and writing and math, while also being able to cover topics like science and history and bible studies in a way that made sense to Matt and I and our family’s values. So for the past six months we have done “school” every morning, Monday-Friday, and it takes us about an hour, sometimes less. After doing some research and talking to other homeschooling moms, I knew I wanted to do something a bit more structured and laid out for me for this first real year of homeschool. I wanted a curriculum to follow… and that lasted all of about 10 minutes. I use Abeka k5, which caters to a classroom situation where there are multiple students. Because it is just her and me, we can get through the day’s lessons extremely fast, so in order to expand our time learning in the morning, I’ve been doing a few days’ worth of lessons each day, which means we will officially be done with the kinder curriculum by the end of this week!
And with the end of our formal kinder curriculum approaching, I am very excited to get to fill the next three months with other lessons in homemaking, cooking, farming, history, bible studies, and science. We recently bought this book, which we will be diving into since Daphne adores cooking, and also this book (which has an activity book that goes along with it that we will also be using), this book, this book, among many more.
We have pigs, horses, cows, and chickens, and my husband is an almond farmer, so obviously farming and ranching is something we value and will include in our schooling. I think that’s where you can really make this adventure your own. You are in charge of what your children are learning and can therefore add in areas that make sense to your life. I also obviously love arts and nature, and so we are constantly on walks, picking out flowers, leaves, rocks, (bugs!), and taking them home to study, paint, and learn about. There are teachable moments everywhere!
*Stay tuned for part 2/4 where I discuss homeschool rhythms for multiple grade levels at home!
*I am also working on a free supply list for homeschoolers download coming soon!