In my wee early home school days, I was overwhelmed. The idea of having to break my day up between three children was daunting. Their age levels and individual curriculum made it even harder. I didn’t want to feel exhausted. I thought to schedule each separately. I wanted to leave lots of time for independent work. However, I learned quickly that independent work was not reasonable for a then 9, 5 and 2 year old. It’s worth noting the 2 year old was not being schooled. Then I found Gather ‘Round.
This is not a sponsored review just a recommendation from one home school family to another. Gather ‘Round has saved my sanity. This is curriculum is a Charlotte Mason approach that is rich in literature and hands on activities. What I love most is that there is one lesson, yes, ONE LESSON for all children. Keep in mind that a parent reads the lesson. This takes about 20-30 minutes if you use resources. Then each child has their own developmentally appropriate workbook. With a high-schooler, upper elementary and early reader, their time spent on each lesson in their workbook varies.
Our home school day starts in the afternoon. I let my children sleep and get all of the rest their growing brains need. This means wake up times are staggered. It looks like 8 am for our 7-year-old, 9 am for our 10-year-old, and sometimes 9:30/10 am. We get chores and breakfast done before noon. Then lunch followed by lessons from 1-3:30. I love having slow, easy mornings. This is especially true in the summer when the best time to be outside is before 11 am!
Starting at 1 pm we have a read aloud, a chapter book that goes along with our unit that month. We choose all of our units at the start of the school year. This way, each kiddo gets a say in what we learn. I find if they choose they stay interested longer. After the read aloud, we jump right into the lesson. Then workbook time, while the younger two finish up earlier than my high school kiddo, they get math in. Once my oldest is done his workbook, he moves into independent math work. The rest of the day is ours to spend in any way we would like! Some days we get it all done perfectly, other days we finish early due to life demands. What I love most about home school is we get to make it work for our family and our needs.
When we first started I thought I had replicate what institutional school looked like, at home. I learned after year 2 that it does not have to be that way. If I am being honest, I felt more pressure from others to make home school look like the institution. The freedom we found when we realized it does not have to be that way was liberating. We get to go at our pace, in our time, with our interests. I had to stop letting people influence us. These people are not teaching our children. They are not raising our children. We did it. We started our own path. Of course, following all of our state home school laws in the process.
The sanity saving for me was letting go of the performance mindset. Performing how education, socialized, etc, that my children were for others to see. Stop performing institution school at home, and allowing my children to bloom into the people God made them to be. Giving us the freedom to go at our pace, never behind, just always right where we should be. This grace is something I have to remind myself of daily. For my children, I found it is necessary to offer grace and lots and lots of snacks!
Every home school is just as diverse as the families are every where. This is simply what works for us!
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