Today, Tuesday, August 25, 2026, was our very first day homeschooling my triplet nephews, who are four years old, and I quickly remembered that everything takes more time with younger children, especially when there are three of them. Their older brother joined us for many of the activities, my sister-in-law was here, my daughter helped throughout the day, and together we began what I know is going to be a wonderful season of learning.

We started our morning by making breakfast together. I wanted each of the boys to crack their own egg, something they had never done before, and although we had to fish quite a few shells out of the bowl, they absolutely loved it. Looking back, I realized that many activities work better when every child has their own materials. Next time I'll have three bowls, three eggs, and three whisks so they can all whisk for as long as they'd like. It turned out to be wonderful practice for both fine and gross motor skills, and the egg burritos made the perfect first-day breakfast.

The rest of the morning was filled with meaningful work that will connect to projects throughout the season. We gathered rosemary needles and twigs for a natural dye project we'll do later, started a batch of decaf Joshua Tree cold brew coffee, removed tomato seeds for planting, and saved apple seeds to inspect and plant in a future lesson. I love when one activity naturally leads into another and the children begin to see how everything is connected.

One of our favorite projects was making an apple pie together. Rather than worrying about exact measurements, we measured with our hearts. I wanted every child to smell each ingredient, take a turn adding it to the bowl, and help mix everything together. We used apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, and a pre-made pie crust, although I would love to make the pie crust from scratch with them in the future. They couldn't eat this pie because it needed to bake after they left, so before our next class I made another apple pie sweetened with maple crystals from Wilderness Poets instead of brown sugar. They thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think we'll be making many more apple treats this fall.

One of the things I loved most about the day was having children of different ages working together. My older nephew participated in every activity right alongside the younger boys, and even the adults joined in. Multi-age learning has always been one of my favorite parts of homeschooling. The younger children have something to look forward to, while the older children get to revisit activities they loved when they were little.

We ended our day with movement and balance work before gathering together for a story using some simple props I had made previously. It was the perfect way to bring the morning to a peaceful close.

All in all, it was a wonderful first day. We learned together, cooked together, planted seeds for future projects, and enjoyed the simple rhythms of early childhood. It reminded me that with young children the process is always more important than the product, and I can't wait to share more of our TK and kindergarten homeschool journey throughout the season.

The Hedgehog Leaves Home