I've been homeschooling my four-year-old triplet nephews for a few weeks now, and we're starting to establish a really solid rhythm. I'm still very much in the observation phase, learning more about the children and figuring out how much we can realistically accomplish each day. Time management continues to be one of my biggest challenges because we get so engaged in our projects. I'm realizing that two hours, twice a week, really isn't enough time for everything we want to do.

Today, Wednesday, September 9, 2026 Day 6, we continued a project we started last week when the children cleaned and carded raw wool. We're using that wool to make wet felted balls. I prepared the cores ahead of time using leftover pieces of felt and yarn, and then the children wrapped their carded wool around them.

For the wet felting, we worked back and forth between warm water and ice cold water. I found that the project was much more successful when I initially dipped and worked each child's ball myself until the wool was beginning to hold together. Then the children could continue the process, moving their balls between the warm and cold water until they were nearly finished. Once the balls were felted, we added them to a dye pot to dye them yellow.

Next, it was time to prepare our snack. Today we made chia seed pudding with coconut milk, bananas, and coconut flakes. I ground the chia seeds first, although you could certainly leave them whole. Each child held a measuring cup over their own bowl while I poured in the coconut milk. This worked so well because if anything spilled, it simply fell into their bowl. They were so careful and precise with each step.

While the chia pudding began to thicken, I gave each child half a banana to cut. We used their plates instead of cutting boards because that's one thing I still don't have enough of for every child. They've had quite a few opportunities to work with knives now, and I'm seeing them become much more comfortable and confident with them while still being careful. They finished their pudding with a couple of scoops of coconut flakes, and they really enjoyed this snack.

After eating and cleaning up, we headed into the playroom for some free play. While the children were playing, one of them noticed the little pots of seeds they had planted during a previous lesson and wanted to see how much they had grown.

This turned into an unexpected part of our lesson. We brought down all of the pots and looked closely at what had happened. Some seeds hadn't sprouted at all, while others were in different stages of growth. Some pots even had two seeds growing. We counted the seedlings, compared the different pots, and spent some time simply observing what had changed.

I love that this wasn't something I had planned for the day. The children's own curiosity brought us back to the seeds, and there was so much to observe. Soon we'll need to transplant the seedlings into larger pots, which will give us another project for an upcoming lesson.

We concluded our day with our story, The Hedgehog Leaves Home. We're still reading just a couple of pages at a time, and our collection of props continues to grow as new animals appear in the story. I keep finding myself running upstairs to the school room to find another little animal to add.

The children are so engaged with the props. Today they were particularly interested in a little metal spider that they could hold, squeeze, examine, and pass around. As the hedgehog and mouse ran up a hill in the story, each child received a little hedgehog and mouse to run up one arm, over their head, and down the other side. These little interactions are so simple, but they bring so much joy to the children and to me.

There are several more books in this series, and I'm looking forward to adding them as the seasons change. For now, we'll continue reading this story just two pages at a time. Eventually, once the story has become familiar enough, I'd like to tell it from memory using all of our little props.

Once our story was finished, it was time for shoes, socks, water bottles, and goodbyes. And I'm happy to report that today we actually ended on time!

Our rhythm continues to develop with each lesson. There is practical work, cooking, cleaning, free play, stories, and plenty of unexpected moments of curiosity and discovery. I'm still learning how much we can fit into our time together, but I'm also learning when to allow an experience to unfold naturally rather than worrying about getting to the next thing.

The Hedgehog Leaves Home

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 Day 6