Finding Our Rhythm

Welcome to our first day, Tuesday, August 25, 2026, homeschooling kindergarten. I’m homeschooling my triplet nephews who are four years old, and their older brother is joining us as well. My sister-in-law is here with us, my 15-year-old daughter is helping, and we have so much planned for this season.

One of the first things I am already learning is that everything takes a little longer with younger children, especially when there are three of them. I may have a full list of activities planned, but I am quickly realizing that the experience itself is more important than getting through everything on the list.

We began our day in the kitchen by making a snack. I thought it would be fun for each of the boys to crack his own egg, especially because their mama told me this was something they had not yet done at home. It was definitely fun, although we did have quite a few eggshells to fish out along the way.

After cracking the eggs, they took turns whisking them. I learned something immediately from this activity. The next time we do this, I will have three bowls, three eggs, and three whisks ready because they wanted to keep whisking for quite some time. There is so much coordination and movement involved in a simple task like this, and it is wonderful for developing both fine and gross motor skills.

They thoroughly enjoyed their egg burritos, and it felt like such a lovely way to begin our first kindergarten day together.

Our next activity was gathering rosemary needles and small twigs that we will be saving for a natural fabric dyeing project later in the season. I love when one activity connects to something we will revisit again several weeks later.

My older nephew and I also prepared a batch of organic decaf cold brew coffee that we would be able to enjoy a couple of days later. I wanted him to have his own meaningful activities alongside the younger children, and he ended up participating in almost everything we did.

After a little playtime at the workbench, we moved on to another gardening project. The boys removed seeds from tomatoes so we could save them for planting during our next class. They had mixed feelings about the squishy texture, which I completely understand, but they still did a wonderful job collecting the seeds.

We also saved the seeds from our apples. The apples themselves were going into an apple pie, but I thought it would be interesting for the children to inspect the seeds and save them for planting.

The apple pie became one of the larger projects of our day. The children helped slice the apples, squeeze lemon juice, smell the ingredients, add cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar, and take turns stirring everything together.

We did not measure this recipe too carefully. We measured a little more with our hearts. What mattered to me was making sure each child had an opportunity to smell the ingredients, add something to the bowl, and participate in the process.

There were plenty of little things I learned along the way. The mixing bowl should have been bigger, and next time I would probably organize a few parts of the activity differently. But those are the kinds of things I am learning as we go.

We used a premade pie crust this time, although I would love for us to make the crust together in the future. Each child helped spoon the apple filling into the pie, and my older nephew joined right along with them. The adults did too.

That is one of the things I love so much about teaching across multiple ages. These activities really are enjoyable for everyone. Older children can revisit things they loved when they were younger, while younger children get a glimpse of the kinds of work and experiences waiting for them as they grow.

Unfortunately, the children could not eat the pie that same day, but before they returned for our next class, I made another one using maple crystals instead of brown sugar. They thoroughly enjoyed it, so I think apple treats may be making several appearances this season.

It is technically fall, although here in Southern California it still feels very much like a second summer. Still, I love bringing the feeling of the season into our home through food, stories, natural materials, and the projects we are doing together.

We ended the day with some rolling and balance work before settling down for a story using little props I had made ahead of time.

All in all, it was a wonderful first day. There were plenty of moments when I realized I needed to adjust my expectations, simplify something, or prepare differently next time, but I think that is part of this experience too.

This first day reminded me that kindergarten is not about rushing through activities. It is about giving children time to participate, explore, work with their hands, play, and simply be part of the life happening around them.