The Heartbeat Of Our Homeschool
I wanted to homeschool way before I had children - I always secretly dreamt of being a teacher and was obsessed with playing “teacher” growing up. But as I got older, I realized I didn’t want to deal with all the rules and bureaucracy of being a teacher in an actual school. I also didn’t want a job where I’d have to get up at the crack of dawn. Turns out I ended up being…a farmer. Haha!
We started our homeschooling journey back in the city, in our urban neighborhood in Dallas, when my oldest was in pre-K and I had a newborn. Now my oldest is starting 5th grade, and my youngest is starting 1st grade. We moved from Dallas 4 years ago and now live on a sustainable produce farm, and I couldn’t be more thankful that this is the setting where we learn everything from perseverance to math to social skills to where our food comes from.
Steven and I knew from the beginning that as an entrepreneurial family, we wanted as much freedom as possible, and homeschooling would be a good fit for our lives. (I’m still holding out hope for that cross-country road trip one day in an RV to live and learn on the road for a month, our lessons filled with the way the sun shifts across the surface of the Grand Canyon or the multitudes of unique wildflowers in Yosemite.)
I’ve always had other jobs in addition to homeschooling. Right now, I’m working on our farm, helping Steven with his chef business, and writing a book. But we somehow make it work by operating with a team mindset keeping the most important things to our family at the forefront. In other words, we say NO to a lot of things so we can say YES to the things that really matter to us, and this is one of them.
I fully recognize that homeschooling is a choice and a privilege, and it’s one I don’t take lightly at all. Since COVID-19 hit our world, the thought of the children who actually are not “safer at home” and who need the safety covering and provision of school life in order to thrive has kept me up at night. And now? There are so many parents who wish they could keep their kids home during COVID but who simply do not have that option. I do have that option, and I will use it wisely. I will do right by them and not take for granted the opportunity to have my children at home in a safe learning environment. We will also be looking for ways to also serve our local schools this year however we can.
If you want to know our curriculum choices for the year and favorite school supplies, I covered all of that in this post:
Our Most Important Values
Intentional learning and our everyday lives are intermingled for us, not separated. So I believe the most important thing I can teach my children is to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind and to love their neighbors as themselves. We know that “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” (John 1:5)…because we’ve actually lived it, and we’ve experienced it. So sharing the truth and knowledge of the freedom we have in Christ is the most important value we can give our children, and it’s the undercurrent of everything we do - from history, to math, to science, to language arts. We are part of a Rescue Story, and I want them to grow up knowing God their Creator and Father, Jesus their Rescuer, and the Holy Spirit their Helper. Flowing out of these relationships, we learn to be bearers of love, kindness, justice, peace, goodness, and joy to a world that needs it so desperately.
I love how Sarah Mackenzie of Read Aloud Revival says in this post that “Education is for love.” If we believe that God is love, the root of everything we do flows out of that love. Learning is more than to-do lists, tests, and checking off boxes. It’s to equip us for life. Real, messy, beautiful life full of diverse, God-breathed people.
This isn’t just something we talk about on Sunday; this is infused into our everyday. We are laying the foundation of faith, and at some point, our girls will each have to decide for themselves what they will each do with that knowledge and hopefully make it their own for the rest of their lives.
A “Word” For Our School Year
My personal word of the year is RECLAIM, but the word for our homeschool this year has got to be CHANGE. As I mentioned in this post, we’ve made a big change in our tutorial and some of the curriculum we’ve been using. And really, who isn’t dealing with change this year with the way our world has shifted? We all have to adjust and learn new ways to not only survive, but thrive and grow.
Our Goals and Method
Every year I have to remind myself (multiple times!) of our main goals in homeschooling:
Love of learning - I heard once that “homeschooling is the re-education of the mother,” and that couldn’t be more true. I absolutely love getting to learn new things alongside my girls. I can so easily get caught up in checking boxes and trying to replicate a traditional school environment at home instead of embracing the freedom we have for curiosity, imagination, and learning at our own pace so it actually sinks in.
FUN - There’s enough heaviness in the world right now - seriously! This year I’m concentrating on infusing as much fun into our homeschool as possible - jumping off the couch pillows to recite state capitals or math facts? YES. Getting paint or salt dough all over your hands and work surface and face? YES. Keeping things upbeat and fast-paced and chasing a spark of interest over rote workbooks or memory work? YES.
Greater connection - With all this time together, they have to learn on the spot the give-and-take of relationships, conflict resolution, etc.
Building strong character - When we’re together so much, there are opportunities allll day long to work on this. Perseverance is a big one - we have to learn to do things we don’t want to do sometimes, including school work.
“Less is more.” - The less I try to cram into our days, the better they are, and I find that learning happens more naturally and with more joy.
Basically if any of the tools or curriculum we’re using are hindering these things, then we ditch them.
We walk out our goals through…
Reading LOTS of living history books - We learn about history not through textbooks but through stories of real people or historically-accurate fiction of certain time periods.
Encourage independent thinking and time for discussing real life issues - I believe our home is the safest place to do this so they can then go out into the real world equipped. I want them to use their own brains rather than force-feeding them information in order to check a box or pass a test.
Spending lots of time in nature and going on adventures.
Learning valuable life skills. Instead of just worksheets, we try to build in as many real-life scenarios as possible.
Being a part of community. We regularly get together with other friends who homeschool and in our tutorial. And just overall, gathering people together for connection on the farm and around the table is one of our family’s favorite things to do.
To all the new homeschooling mamas…
Remember that you know your children best. You know what makes them thrive and what makes them shrink back. As much as possible, add in the things that help them thrive, and learning will happen so much more naturally. If that means math or reading outside on the grass, then so be it! If that means your child needs a private corner of the bedroom closet in order to concentrate on language arts without distraction, then so be it! We need to be ready to adjust as the year goes on and know that’s okay. It won’t be easy, but go into it believing this will be a great year of growth for your family rather than drudgery.
