As we count down our last few days of summer, I wanted to go ahead and post my homeschooling blog post and try to answer the questions that I received on my Instagram. The majority of my questions centered around scheduling, curriculum, and the social aspect of homeschooling. In this post I’ve answer each of these questions, and I put section headers above each one so that if something doesn’t apply to you, you can just skip to the next section! I have also attached a small video at the end of this post because I wanted to show you a couple of things instead of just explaining them to you. These are just products that I love, and also a helpful tip on something that has truly changed our homeschool day. Be sure to check that video out as well. I’m just going to go ahead and caution that this may get long, and there will not be any cutesy pictures, lol, so with that out of the way, let’s jump in!
OUR SCHEDULE
Before I start talking about our personal schedule, I want to remind you that you do not have to be in the “schoolroom” from 8:00-3:00, so unschool your mind in that respect! Having said that, the best tip I could give you regarding your schedule is: be flexible! No two homeschooling days will be the same, and so do not even try to write down a minute-by-minute schedule. I write down a general schedule, and we try to follow it as best we can. Our overall goal is to start school by 9:00 and to be finished by 2:00, with a 12:30 lunch break. We rarely go past 2:00 unless it’s a really difficult day, and sometimes we’re finished by 1:00 or even before lunch on reallyyyyy good days! On Tuesdays my high schoolers will be taking coop classes, but for the rest of the days of the week this is what I anticipate our 2020-2021 schedule looking like:
Because I have teenagers, I allow them to decide what time they wake up. I just tell them that by the time they sit down at the school table, their rooms must be tidied up (beds made!), they should have eaten breakfast, clothes on, and chores started. Yes, I generally make my kids wear clothes because they do SO much better when they are dressed in day clothes. I don’t know why that is?! So if they can finish all of those responsibilities in 20 minutes, they are free to wake up at 8:40! If they are sluggish or are not getting things done in time for us to start school, I wake them up myself at 8:00 to give them a full hour to get prepared for school. I don’t typically have to do that though!
We start with everyone together for Bible class, and after we are finished with Bible, my older girls are given their assignment books (I explain what that is in my video below – this was a game changer!), and they begin all of their independent work. I then teach my fourth grader pretty much all of her subjects. We may leave reading or something similar for the end of the day, but we usually try to finish her teach time all at one time. Then she gets her assignment book and works independently while I teach my 9th grader all of her work that I will be teaching. I also take time to answer any questions from her coop classes or independent work that she may have. Her teach time generally lasts for about an hour to an hour and a half, because I am only teaching her two subjects. Again, if she is having trouble with a particular subject it can go longer, but we don’t typically need more than two hours for her teach time. And then my 11th grader’s teach time is only around 30 minutes, because I’m only teaching her one class this year! So that is what our schedule looks like and how our days generally flow. Just remember when scheduling: be flexible!
GETTING SOCIAL
Another question I get asked often is, what do I do to keep my girls socially interactive? A lot of people worry that if they homeschool, their kids will somehow not know how to act in social situations. This is not true as long as you are keeping your kids active in various activities! Our number one means of social interaction is our church. All three girls are very involved in the youth and children’s ministries, and that includes everything from weekly services, to church plays, to praise band, to youth camps and events. They are constantly interacting with other kids and adults at church, and in my opinion church is the very BEST way to keep your kids social!
We have participated in many other activities over the years: local basketball and soccer leagues, local theaters in which the girls were in plays, coop classes, and homeschool support group field trips. Homeschool support groups and coop classes are growing in popularity and can be found in most areas now. Many times they will be a part of a local church, so call your local churches and see if any have support groups or coops that you can be a part of. Coops offer classes for your students and field trips that will be fun for the entire family! They also oftentimes offer sports teams for your child to be a part of. Many public schools also now allow homeschoolers to try out for their sports teams, and this is a great option if you want your children in competitive sports! There are many great opportunities to keep your kids social, and socialization should never hold you back from homeschooling!
OUR 2020 CURRICULUM CHOICES
Lastly, the number one question I always get about homeschooling is: what curriculum do I use. I don’t typically like answering this question, because I believe curriculum choice is a very personal choice based on your WHY for homeschooling. I choose my curriculum based on two main things: my religious beliefs, and my desire for my girls to have a traditional style education with strong academics. That has motivated my choices again this year.
For my 4th grader, I am staying entirely with Abeka’s full grade kit. I use this for all of my kids elementary years, because it lays an amazing foundation in phonics and mathematics, and biblical truths and stories are thread all throughout their history and science courses. I have seen all three of my children, who are all different learning styles, thrive with the Abeka curriculum. It is challenging and can also include lots of “busy work” (which, we do not do all of their seatwork requirements), but it is by far the strongest curriculum I have seen academically. I love it and we will be using that for our 4th grader this year.
My 9th grader will also be using Abeka for World Geography and for Literature. However, I moved away from Abeka for grammar this year because I do not like their grammar approach. It moves too quickly into new concepts without reinforcing or explaining concepts thoroughly enough in my opinion. We will be using Bob Jones grammar this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing how she does with that. We are doing coop classes for Algebra 1 (Math U See) and Life Science (still not sure of that text yet!). She will also get a high school credit for Bible (Grapevine studies) and for PE (we have our fingers crossed that we will be playing basketball again this year)!
Our 11th grader is taking via coop Algebra 2 (Math U See), Chemistry (not sure of the text yet), American Literature (Bob Jones), and Personal Finance (Dave Ramsey). She is also taking Spanish 2 from an individual instructor. I am teaching her American History (Abeka) at home. One reminder and caution that I have is to be sure with your high schooler that you understand graduation requirements, and that you are meeting the necessary amount of credits each semester! You don’t want to get to Senior year and realize that your student needs 10 credits to graduate! Do your homework and understand what is required for graduation.
And that’s it! Hopefully it was helpful! Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. Happy Homeschooling!!