Homeschool Experience
Our Homeschool Experience
A homeschool experience is both personal and unique. Even if you use the same curriculum as someone else, or practice the same parenting styles, each family’s homeschool journey is going to reflect that family’s aesthetic, culture and values. We may learn much from one another, but in the end, this journey is a solitary one. Raising children is a rewarding labor that induces growth in the parents as much as in the children, in fact, one may argue that raising children is a deeper growth opportunity for the parents as we come face to face with our triggers, our weaknesses and our not-so-good behaviors that need attention. My homeschool experience is primarily a parenting experience and it has been a humbling growth opportunity.
The Homeschooling Experience
-
Homeschooling During the Summer
One of the greatest perks of homeschooling is getting to chose a schedule that works well for you and your family. It's an opportunity to dispense with traditional model and explore something unique, like year round schooling, or taking 'summer' break in the fall, winter or spring.
-
3 Homeschooling Mistakes I Experienced
I believe most learning and academic issues will work themselves out in time, but there are a few things I noticed in our homeschool that didn't and rather needed intervention. While these are things I experienced, you may have a different experience all together and have to intervene in other areas of your homeschool.
-
Homeschooling with a Charter School | My Experience
Homeschooling in California has its perks! We are homeschooling using the charter school program. In California, you can homeschool through the private school system or through the public school system.
-
My Biggest Homeschooling Mistakes
The longer you've been doing this, the more mistakes you accumulate. I've had too many to count, so I'm going to share two regrets and one success. Want to join this collaboration? Head over to Tanya's channel at Project Happy Home and let her know you'd like to participate
-
Why We Homeschool | It's Not What You Think
Why we homeschool includes two semi obvious reasons and one reason I've never revealed before. And to be honest, the reasons why we started homeschooling are different from the reasons why we continue to homeschool. Over the years, I've come to understand our reasons better, so while we started homeschooling for two reasons, we continue to homeschool for one.
-
What's Up In Our Homeschool
I've been meaning to do this sit down video as a live chit chat, but let's face it, sometimes we just can't do everything we planned! Today I'm just chatting with you and letting you know what's going on in our homeschool. It's the end of the year and this chit chat and update for May 2018 will be one of the last ones in this series.
-
Homeschool Resolutions for 2018
I love kicking off a new year by looking honestly at what’s working, what isn’t, and what I’m going to tweak. What’s working beautifully for us is our Waldorf-inspired main lesson block/unit study rhythm. We concentrate on one subject for a stretch—mineralogy, oceans, next up the Middle Ages, Ancient Rome, and a physics block—while keeping short daily practices for math and a bit of grammar.
-
Authentic Homeschooling
What does homeschooling mean to you? And what does it mean to be authentically homeschooling? Being authentic means doing what's right for you and your family. Sounds easy, but it's hard to achieve.
Homeschooling During the Summer
One of the greatest perks of homeschooling is getting to chose a schedule that works well for you and your family. It's an opportunity to dispense with traditional model and explore something unique, like year round schooling, or taking 'summer' break in the fall, winter or spring. How ever you homeschool, I hope you take advantage of the freedoms this educational model provides and seek a schedule that suits your family. I'd love to hear how you go about homeschooling and what schedule you follow. Let me know in the comment section which homeschooling schedule suits you and why.
3 Homeschooling Mistakes I Experienced
I believe most learning and academic issues will work themselves out in time, but there are a few things I noticed in our homeschool that didn’t and rather needed intervention. While these are things I experienced, you may have a different experience all together and have to intervene in other areas of your homeschool. Not all things need to be caught and corrected early. Indeed this may be stressful for a young student still grappling with a new skill. Use your best judgment and parental intuition to discern which things need early intervention. One thing I encourage is to follow your intuition about any issue, even if others tell you it’s within normal development. If you feel there’s something not right, see it through. So often I’ve heard mothers say they knew something was amiss but they couldn’t figure out what it was. While I think there are some things that need intervention, I’ve also noticed that a lot of things do simply work themselves out over time. Now if only there was a way to definitively know which ones they were so as to alleviate the stress of not knowing when to intervene early!
Homeschooling with a Charter School | My Experience
Homeschooling in California has its perks! We are homeschooling using the charter school program. In California, you can homeschool through the private school system or through the public school system. When you homeschool through the private school, you pay money for supplies and services, but when you homeschool through the public school system, you get supplies, services and sometimes funding!
For more information of the schooling options for the state of California, check out his video.
Demetria over at MomZest also homeschools in California using the charter school system. Check out her channel and video to see her experiences:
My Biggest Homeschooling Mistakes
The longer you've been doing this, the more mistakes you accumulate. I've had too many to count, so I'm going to share two regrets and one success.
Want to join this collaboration? Head over to Tanya's channel at Project Happy Home and let her know you'd like to participate.
Why We Homeschool | It's Not What You Think
Why we homeschool includes two semi obvious reasons and one reason I've never revealed before. And to be honest, the reasons why we started homeschooling are different from the reasons why we continue to homeschool. Over the years, I've come to understand our reasons better, so while we started homeschooling for two reasons, we continue to homeschool for one. We started homeschooling in 2003 when my oldest son just turned five.
While we weren't adamant about homeschooling, we were open to the idea and aware of it because my sister and mom had homeschooled, but mostly we weren't keen on sending our little son to school for 3-6 hours a day. Granted he probably would have been fine, but have five years of attachment parenting mixed with extended nursing and co-sleeping, that thought of breaking those ties suddenly didn't sit well for my husband and me. Homeschooling seemed the natural solution to wanting to be with our children more.
While academic freedom and a desire to add a religious element to our homeschool were also reasons, the underlying emotional reason for why we wished to homeschool was the desire to be present in our children's lives, to raise them, educate and enjoy them. That we did and continue to do and in the process, I've found not just a love for homeschooling but a love of the time we were able to spend with our children and watch them grow.
What's Up In Our Homeschool
I've been meaning to do this sit down video as a live chit chat, but let's face it, sometimes we just can't do everything we planned! Today I'm just chatting with you and letting you know what's going on in our homeschool. It's the end of the year and this chit chat and update for May 2018 will be one of the last ones in this series. To see the updates, you can check out this link.
I'll be retiring this playlist at the end of the year so watch them now if you want to see our year's journey in homeschool.
It's been a good year, but it's not quite over. We still have a good 6 weeks left, and I hope to make them meaningful.
I'd love to know what's happening in your homeschool. Let me know below!
Check out our Butterfly unit!
Homeschool Resolutions for 2018
It's 2018!! Take advantage of the energy, momentum and motivation to make any needed changes in your homeschool or life!
I love kicking off a new year by looking honestly at what’s working, what isn’t, and what I’m going to tweak. What’s working beautifully for us is our Waldorf-inspired main lesson block/unit study rhythm. We concentrate on one subject for a stretch—mineralogy, oceans, next up the Middle Ages, Ancient Rome, and a physics block—while keeping short daily practices for math and a bit of grammar. That focus gives us “new school year” energy several times annually; just when things start to feel stale, we turn the page to a fresh block. The catch is duration: my blocks often stretch 8–12 weeks, and by the end we’re all exhausted.
So my first resolution is to split long blocks in half with a different block in between. It’s the same rest-rise rhythm Waldorf uses over three days, just expanded to weeks: teach, let it breathe while we explore something else, then return and the learning comes back richer. I resisted this before because I love momentum, but I’m ready to trade a little momentum for deeper retention (and happier humans). We’ll still keep those short daily skills alive so nothing atrophies while a block is “resting.”
My second resolution lives in our daily rhythm and my own self-discipline. I treasure the magical pretend play between my six-year-old and my eleven-year-old, and I’ve let my need for a slow, quiet morning stretch longer than it should—cue hours of glorious forts… and unfinished lessons. This year I’m pulling everyone in with a couple of engaging starters, aiming for a solid 8:00–10:00 work window, then a real break (maybe even a 10 a.m. snack—new for us!) before we roll into the rest of the day and our big lunch. In short: keep the blocks (because they work), split the long ones (so they keep working), and firm up the morning so we can honor both focused learning and the kind of play I never want to rush through.
Authentic Homeschooling
What does homeschooling mean to you? And what does it mean to be authentically homeschooling? Being authentic means doing what's right for you and your family. Sounds easy, but it's hard to achieve. Often we see what others are doing and think we should do it, too. There's a fine line between being inspired and feeling pressured.
Sometimes we may try something out because we see someone else doing it, but it doesn't work out for your family so you abandon it after a period time. That's okay! Maybe you don't even try it because you know it's not for you, and sometimes you try something out and it works!! How great it that!? There are so many ways to homeschool. And you may change over the years. Finding ways to support one another is so important. We may disagree on homeschooling methods, curricula or even what it means to homeschool, but we can always support each other on our journey. That's what this video is about: supporting each other while finding what works for us.
