I have noticed as I have become a mother that mothers are naturally teachers so, homeschooling my kids was something that I feel came rather naturally because I feel like all throughout my day, I’m teaching my kids. So, well yes, there are start and end times to our quote “curriculum” we are doing, we do like to homeschool in the mornings. One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that you are able to cater it to your schedule. I find that it works rather well for people who are growing their families or have many littles! If you have followed along, shortly after I gave birth, we were homeschooling in the afternoon. It works really well that you are able to do things while certain babies are napping or are doing quiet time. I love the flexibility of that and I’m always open to changing our schedule! 

A few weeks ago, I did a video all about homeschooling. So, for those of you who may be more visual learners, or want to check it out, I have linked it below for you to watch!

The schedule below is what’s currently working for us. However, this might not work for us a couple months down the line or when we add new babies or other things happen but at the moment it’s really working!

Breakfast

Prior to waking up the kids in the morning, I make it a priority to have my quiet time. Once that is done, I will wake up the kids and we will eat breakfast together. Usually we will have Bible time over breakfast. This can look different from day to day. Some days we listen to a story from Bible Stories for Kids, other days I may read them a story straight out of Scripture, while other days they may do a coloring sheet. I find that doing any of these really helps them ease into the morning!

LINKS: Bible Stories for Kids App, coloring sheets

Homeschool Location

After breakfast, the kids go into the playroom/ homeschool room. Just a side note, you do not need to have a room specifically for homeschool. While yes, it makes it a little bit easier when you do, at our previous home, our kitchen table was where we did a lot of our learning. So, don’t be discouraged and say that just because you don’t have a specific room, that you can’t do this. You can homeschool anywhere, anytime, with anything

LINKS: Homeschool room items

Play Time + Nap Time

The kids will begin playing or doing activities after breakfast. A lot of our toys are very educational and I think it is always great to remember that play is the work of a child. As they are playing, this is when I go and put my youngest down for his first nap. Once he is down, I have three of my kids with me and the ages of those are 5, 4 and freshly 2. At this point they’ve already started playing and we will transition whether we are using songs or I’m reading a book or I will lay out educational activities like a puzzle that has letters so they can build words together. I have a lot of brain rich toys that I feel like are really helpful and help us ease into the day.

LINKS: Playroom closet items, sensory play

Curriculum

Typically, I’m bouncing between the two older kids while I am working with my 2-year-old on colors, numbers or something really simple and getting her situated. Once I find that she is in a good rhythm with play, I will go up to my oldest two and start working on handwriting, math or a different bookwork. We do use The Good and The Beautiful and each have their own book work that they are to do. Generally, I have one working on curriculum while the other one is working on something that doesn’t require me to be super hands-on. It has been helpful that I have been homeschooling my oldest for two years now, so she’s pretty familiar with the flow of everything. I mainly find myself with my four-year-old helping him understand different things. At this point we are mainly doing our Math or English curriculum, while also sandwiching it between doing different scissor and gluing activities or even different songs. I explain this more in the YouTube video that I mentioned above, but I really love sandwiching things. If I’m going to be doing something that requires more attention and can be more mentally exhausting for my kids, I try to sandwich that in between doing a craft where we are coloring or doing a Bible Stories for Kids activity.  I find that when we do this, it never feels exhaustive for my kids and I’m always open and like to flow with what they like to do or don’t like to do. I never want homeschool to feel like it’s like this daunting task that we have to do. Most of the time, my kids are really eager and excited to do it! It doesn’t feel burdensome and it also never feels like learning and that’s the thing, I always want learning to feel like it’s something that’s playful and fun and not stressful. Everything I just explained typically takes us about an hour to an hour and a half to complete.

Lunch + Outside Time + More Naps

Once our morning work is complete, we will transition to outside play. My kids will play outside and will have lunch/snack. I’ll put my two-year-old down for a nap and then at that point usually my baby is up from his nap. I feel like it’s a constant switch with putting babies down for nap and then re-establishing things.

Reading + Introducing Technology

I do follow the Toddlers Can Read Course and I do that with my kids typically in the afternoon, generally during quiet time and when the house is quieter. Within the last week, I just started introducing technology into our homeschool and I’m still not 100% sure I feel about it. I’m feeling it out because I have found that technology is something that we can’t really avoid. So, I do think it allows my children to learn in a different way and so I’m trying it out. We wait to do this until the afternoon, during that quiet time. At the moment, they are using my phone because I’m letting my sister borrow my iPad. Whenever she gets that back to me I will allow the kids to use that instead and do the child safe lock, and all those things. They really enjoyed this and they get excited about it and I find that it’s helpful so we will see! It has been maybe four days of us using this so I will keep you updated on how that goes.

Wrapping Up

Once the kids are done with their reading in the afternoon, I will read aloud to all of them as we go throughout the day doing different things and they spend lots of time outside. Again, this is something that is fluid. If the kids are outside, I will ask them to count the rocks and see if they can make a pattern. God’s world is just a world where we can learn so easily from and I really try to lean into that and use that as my source.

I tried make this quick and sweet. Again, remember, there’s no right or wrong way to homeschool! If you love your child, you will love to teach them as well! I pray this blessed you and let me know if you have any other questions and I will be happy to answer them