Last week when I published my Plan with Me post, I received a few requests for me to do one for our high schoolers, as well. So I did. 🙂
As simple as my homeschool planning is for my 1st through 8th graders, my high school planning is even simpler.
Sounds counterintuitive, right? I explained why this is the case in my latest video.
Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of “clean with me” videos come up in my YouTube feed. While I could never make a video like that myself (I wouldn’t have the patience!), they gave me an idea.
People are always asking me how I do my homeschool planning, so today I shared a video of me planning next week’s homeschool activities.
I hope you enjoy it!
It’s that time of year again…. curriculum time! Admit it, you feel just a little giddy planning for your next homeschool year, too. 😉
Like this year, next year I’ll be homeschooling eight kids – 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and 12th. At one point I was homeschooling ten, so I’m getting there! One thing I’ve learned over these ten years of homeschooling is that our curriculum choices aren’t set in stone.
They just aren’t.
I refuse to allow myself and my children to get caught up in trying to make our homeschool fit our curriculum, rather than the other way around.
With that being said, I’m going to share with you the resources we’ve chosen for next year. Before I start, though, I’m going to make one thing clear:
Continue reading “2019/2020 Homeschool Curriculum for 8 Kids”
I can’t believe it’s that time of year again! Yep, it’s time to share our relaxed homeschool curriculum choices for next year.
Yay!! This is going to be so much fun. 🙂
Since I have so many kids, instead of sharing all of our choices at once, I’m going to break it up into three separate posts: the littles, the middles, and the teens.
Today I’m going to start with my littles, who will be entering Kindergarten, 2nd, and 3rd grade in the upcoming homeschool year. Continue reading “Our 2018/2019 Relaxed Homeschool Curriculum for Kindergarten, 2nd, and 3rd Grade”
I know, I know. You’re probably getting tired of me going on and on about relaxed homeschooling. I just can’t help it.
The fact is, this approach has had such an impact on our family that I just want to shout it from the rooftops. Continue reading “101 Reasons to Relax Your Homeschool”
Part 3 of the Relaxed Homeschooling 101 series
I cannot believe that we’ve already reached the third and last installment of my “Relaxed Homeschooling 101” series.
Over the past couple of weeks, I delved a bit more deeply into what relaxed homeschooling actually is and how to set the stage for a relaxed homeschool. Today I will (finally) be covering how to get started with relaxed homeschooling.
So let’s get started. 🙂 Continue reading “How to Relax Your Homeschool”
Part 2 of the Relaxed Homeschooling 101 Series
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about my fellow homeschoolers these past couple of years, it’s that they are dedicated, passionate, and intent on figuring out what they need to do in order to best help their children learn.
Okay. Maybe that counts as more than one thing.
Out of everything I discuss either here on my blog or on my YouTube channel, the two topics that receive the most interest are relaxed homeschooling and notebooking. Since I’ve already dedicated quite a few videos and posts on notebooking, last week I decided that it was time to write a series on relaxed homeschooling, the second part of which I’m bringing you today. Continue reading “How to Set the Stage for a Relaxed Homeschool”
Part 1 of the Relaxed Homeschooling 101 Series
I’ve learned something about myself these past couple years of blogging:
I can have a one-track mind.
I tend to go on and on about things like relaxed homeschooling, yet I realized that I’ve never actually defined what it is- at least not in a way I’m satisfied with.
The fact is, embracing the relaxed homeschooling lifestyle literally saved our homeschool. Would I have quit homeschooling if I had never discovered it? I honestly doubt it because I’m no fan of the school system, and I know what it’s like to have kids enrolled in that mess, BUT it helped us to uncover a sense of peace that can only come when you know you are doing what was willed for you all along. It enabled us to find joy in our learning and contentment as a family.
Relaxed homeschooling has been a gift that I’d love to share with you.
Starting today, I’ll be publishing a 3-part series called “Relaxed Homeschooling 101.” I’ll be covering:
So let’s get started. 🙂
Relaxed homeschooling is known by several names, such as simple homeschooling, minimalist homeschooling, and even hyggeschooling, but the foundation remains the same.
I tend to think of it as a hybrid of eclectic homeschooling and unschooling. While it will look different for each family, relaxed homeschooling, simply put, is a homeschool environment that offers an element of structure with ample time for children to follow their own interests.
One of the basic tenets of relaxed homeschooling (and unschooling, for that matter) is that children learn best through life, whether it’s through pursuing their hobbies or simply going about their day absorbing whatever comes their way.
This may sound very similar to unschooling, because it is, but for varying reasons, relaxed homeschooling families supplement this leisurely learning approach with more structured lessons, which you won’t find in an unschooling household.
Some reasons people may choose to add this bit of structure may include:
Again, it will look different from house to house, but the majority of relaxed homeschoolers tend to focus their structured learning time around the 3 Rs- reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Other resources used may include:
Additionally, relaxed homeschooling families are often very intentional about keeping their lessons short. After all, spending 5 or 6 hours a day on school work wouldn’t be very relaxing now, would it?
A few months back, I made a video in which I gave a rather thorough explanation of what relaxed homeschooling is and how we implement it in our large family homeschool. I encourage you to watch it if you have any other questions. 🙂
I’ll see you next week when I discuss how to set the stage for a relaxed homeschool. Until then, God bless and happy homeschooling!
If you’ve been on the lookout for a relaxed homeschooling community, join my FB group!
As a relaxed homeschooling family, our family’s combined learning time is crucial to our everyday routine. When you’ve got multiple children learning- all at separate levels- consolidating your homeschool regimen as much as possible is an absolute must.
For us, this happens during our daily morning time.
As with all homeschooling techniques, morning time can and will look different for everyone. One thing that most families who incorporate this routine into their day will have in common is a morning basket. Continue reading “Our Homeschool Morning Basket for 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Grade”
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