The Start of Our Homeschool Journey
After months of debate and maybe a crazy leap of faith, we’ve decided to try homeschooling Brody + Isla this year. We are less than a month in, but I am hopeful for a fun-filled and bonding year ahead. I know many of you are weighing your options for school this year and I will be sharing all of the highs and lows as they come.
Curriculum
I’ve received a lot of questions about what curriculum we’re using and after a good bit of research + consulting with my connections in education (aka my mom, who’s teaching Kindergarten this year) and friends, we decided to go with The Good and The Beautiful curriculum. I love that each lesson is completely provided to us, down to the activity instructions so there is very little prep involved. The math even comes with a kit includes all of the manipulative, flash cards, etc. that we’ll need for the year.
In total, we probably spent about $350 for two grade levels of curriculum plus the math kit. The price was well worth it to me because I feel prepared for teaching the content, especially with no prior teaching experience.
We’re using the kindergarten and kinder primer language arts, handwriting, and math for Brody. We purchased the pre-school curriculum for Isla, but right now it’s still a bit advanced for her (she’s almost 3) so we’ll table most of it until later in the Fall.
Currently Isla is using some of the handwriting and supplemental items and will join in on Brody’s math just for fun. Right now most of her activities are focused in motor skill development -- cutting, gluing, and tracing. The other big part of her day is play! She’s almost three and I really want this to be a fun, creative year for her instead of an academic one. She has the rest of her life for structured school so I hope when she looks back on this time she’ll remember it as a happy, carefree one.
We typically finish the actual lessons in an hour and a half each day. Like I mentioned, I love that the curriculum is just open and go so I don’t have to spend a bunch of time prepping beforehand.
Schedule
I’ve found that having a set (or close to set) schedule helps all us stick to our routine without much whining from me or the kiddos. I know there will be days that we take off, go on field trips or need to move things around but for the most part, below is how most of our days flow:
Getting Started // We start the day with our morning basket and set the mood for the day. We usually read a chapter of a chapter book (currently Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), complete an entry in our gratitude journal together, and then select one item from the morning basket. So far we’ve included workbook pages, games, a small craft or an activity. I plan to change these out every few weeks so they stay fresh!
The Essentials // This is where we tackle the Handwriting, Language Arts, and Math lessons for the day.
Lunch // If we need to get out of the house, I’ll load everyone up for the drive-thru or set up a picnic outside. The kid also really enjoy our snack board style lunches and it keeps me from having to make individual meals for everyone -- win!
Nap + Quiet Time // The smaller kiddos typically take a nap and Brody will have quiet time in his room. This has been critical for me to get some work done so I’m not waiting until the end of the day to tackle my projects.
Free Time // The afternoons are for free + fun time. Some days we may do a science experiment or study something the kids are interested in, let the kids play in the bouncy castle while I catch up on work, or maybe have some special activities. The kids are most focused in the morning so having unstructured time in the afternoon works well for them and me.
Our Set Up
We’re using our “formal living room” (which has essentially been unfurnished since we moved in) as the homeschool space and since it’s right by the front door, I want it to be organized as well as functional. It’s pretty clean right now but I’m sure it’s going to be covered by drawings and projects by the end of the year!
I’ll keep updating y’all throughout the year on what’s working, what isn’t, or any other awesome organization finds + hacks that help us along the way. It’s going to be a wild year but I’m staying hopeful that it will be one filled with adventures and memory making!
