We’re so excited it’s finally the first official month of homeschool kinder!
We’ve been looking forward to this for such a long time and have had so much fun already. While I understand it’s not for everyone, we feel like homeschool is the perfect fit for our family and everyday I’m reminded that’s it the right choice for us.
The flexibility to learn at our own pace, control the schedule, slow down our mornings, dig deep into individual interests, travel for all the fun field trips and spend so much more time together as a family is such a gift. I’m excited to be the one that sees when it “clicks” and the elementary ed major in me loves planning the lessons, busting out all the resources and spending way too much time researching curriculum.
We’ve been planning to homeschool through the elementary years all along but started a year “late” after choosing to send Alba Grace (6) back to her sweet preschool for an extra year. I remember one of the kinder teachers I interned with sharing about what a difference a year can make when setting littles up for success and it always stuck with me. The difference between the kiddos with summer birthdays and the ones with fall birthdays was huge! After chatting with her preschool teachers each year we decided another year of preschool wouldn’t hurt! In fact, it could be a gift. We loved the entire preschool experience and didn’t think twice about another year of both girls on the same schedule. And delaying our “formal” kindergarten start means an extra year with our girl at home before college, right?! 🙂
All that to say…. we’re eager to finally find ourselves in the homeschool groove. Our family is growing this year (baby sis coming in Jan!) and we’ve got an extracurricular calendar that’s a little more full than usual so we’re easing into everything and holding all plans loosely but so far… kinder has been so fab!
This year I’m using the following to guide what we get out of our homeschool days!
- Develop a love for scripture and wonder of God’s creation!
- Practice showing God’s love!
- Foster a love of learning by letting interests lead!
- Take ownership of school work and caring for our home!
- Remember that creativity wins!
I’ve also set some educational goals to help guide what we work on but I’m gong to keep those private for now. If you’re kicking off a homeschool year I’d recommend setting some of these too! It will be encouraging to look back and see how you’ve grown! I use this planner to map out our big vision goals for the year.
Here’s what we’re working through this year:
Math – Math with Confidence Kindergarten
L.A. – TGATB Kindergarten Prep and Language Arts K
Reading Booster – Dash Into Learning Early Phonics & lots and lots of read-a-louds!
Handwriting – TGATB Kindergarten Handwriting
Science – TGATB Wind & Waves
Bible – Combining lots of resources from our bible cabinet into a “morning basket” with science. It’s a little more involved on the planning side so we may end up splitting science and bible completely and jumping into this curriculum in the Spring! Also considering an entire gardening & botany unity after we finish wind and waves. For now I’m excited to teach on God’s creation and the ocean + weather! *This morning basket is a great way to tie in a few subjects with one theme. We’ll tackle poetry, music and art appreciation here too! I’m hoping to do our morning baskets in the afternoon (Millie gets home from preschool around 11:30) so we can all do this together but so far this year she’s needed a nap immediately after she gets home! Would love to get Millie in the habit of how our homeschool operates so she’s ready for next year.
Geography – Unit study for Me On The Map & then jumping into World Adventures using Little Passports!
History – Unit study on elections, the USA and how we became a country! We’ll start this after geo. Will prob skip history entirely in the Spring when new baby arrives and spend that time on typing. I’ve heard great things about Mickey’s Typing Adventure!
Also “looping” in cooking/baking a few times a month! AG is partial to her Disney Princess Cookbook!
I know I’m forgetting something here but I’ll check back in later this year with an update!
Our flow:
I’m sure this will change the most throughout the year but we’re kicking things off with “full” days on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Geo & history focus on Thursdays and then field trips & review on Fridays! Of course we can shift things around if a friend wants to join us for a mid-week field trip or if this pregnant mama needs a nap. We’re schooling year round so we have more flexibility as to how many days a week we are “technically” schooling. But in reality everything is school when you’re a kindergartener! We’ve also got a group sewing class with AG’s buddies on Monday’s, Piano lessons on Tuesdays (and lots of practice at home!) church and a ballet class for Millie on the calendar so our days will feel full without having to fill them! Also, dad’s a coach and P.E. teacher so I’m outsourcing that entire subject! 😉 Praying no one talks me into signing them up for a group sport this year.
I’ve been blown away by the amount of followers starting to homeschool as well and interested in hearing more on the topic! I am by no means a pro and giving this is our first REAL year of homeschool I’ve got so much to learn. But it’s fun to learn and share together! I won’t turn into a homeschool account but I’m happy to share what’s working for us and what’s not! I’ll update my “homeschool” highlight on Instagram throughout the year as well!
Here we go!
Q & A
“Curious as to why you chose it? I’m considering it!”
Excellent question and totally different for every family! For the early elementary years specifically I wanted more one-on-time than AG would get in a traditional classroom setting. I know her best and I will continue to learn how best to teach her. I was pretty shocked when I looked at how much time in an 8 hour school day was spent on actual instructional time. I also love the flexibility and family time that comes with the homeschooling lifestyle! My husband has been a public school elementary school & middle school teacher for over a decade, teaching in both title 1 schools and A rated schools. We’re not anti-public school but giving our other options locally we still felt like homeschool was the best option for our fam. On a different note, I feel like the world has changed so much since I was a student and instead of teaching with the “get prepped for college” mindset it’s a good time to start thinking about teaching life skills, creativity, entrepreneurship from a very early age. AGAIN, I’m not anti-school and we’re really not homeschooling just to run away from a traditional school setting. There are many wonderful schools but this is what we feel like is best for our student this school year.
“Are you joining a co-op?”
Not this year! I’d love to find a christian hybrid homeschool / university model school once all three girls are on the same schedule. But we don’t have one where we live so we’re flying solo for the time being. We may end up joining a field trip group or another type of social group down the road but as I mentioned earlier… our calendar is pretty full!
“Do you report to another school or church?”
We don’t need to where I live but check your state requirements!
“Will you do all of the teaching or does she learn from virtual teachers too?”
We’re pretty low-tech so the computer based homeschool programs were a turnoff for me originally. But as the girls get older and if I start to feel overwhelmed it’s good to know there are so many WONDERFUL online or video based schooling classes and programs to participate in. We will be introducing the computer with typing this year so don’t worry…. I promise she won’t be computer illiterate! 😉
“How will you structure your days? I worry about too much fun and not enough business!”
I love this. I feel like I have the opposite fear! I think the best thing about homeschooling is that you’re in control so if you feel things are off-balance you can readjust as needed! More on our “flow” above! Try knocking out the core subject first thing if that’s worrying you. We’re really working to prioritize books, reading together and enjoying the process over checking boxes. I’m a natural box checker!
What’s your homeschool philosophy?
Shared our values and goals above and that kind of sums it up as of right now. I love Charlotte Mason and really enjoyed the ideology in Teaching from Rest but I’m also trying not to put us in a box. We value lots of types of learning and are so grateful to live in 2024 where we have so many resources available! We really don’t fit into just once camp when it comes to homeschooling styles and we’re still SO new so I’m not 100% sure yet. Just trying to do our best, disciple our girls and steward their educations well.
“How to manage multiple children at different ages? Mine are K, 3 years and 1 year.”
I won’t officially be doing this until next year when I’ll have a 1st grader, 5 year old and itty bitty baby. I think doing as many unit studies and family-style lessons as possible is helpful! I’ve picked the brains of many more experienced homeschooling moms and they’ve stressed this. Things like science, history, geography, bible, poetry, art and read-a-louds can be done together and personalized to each kiddo as needed. Math and L.A. are child-specific so carving out time for individual instruction might be harder but also remembering that you’re in charge of the school hours and can wait until dad gets home to sit with one child, work on math while sister’s at soccer practice, tackle the hard subjects while the baby is napping, etc. You’re the boss!
“Why did you send them to preschool at all if you were planning to homeschool?“
We’re obsessed with our little church preschool and loved the community, friendships and growth that have come from it! The school day is very short (over by 11ish) so we felt like it was the perfect mix of socialization and fun with learning and developing some classroom etiquette. I love that even though we’ll be homeschooling there is still a foundation for classroom etiquette, sharing, working with others and following direction from someone other than mom. Not all preschools are created equal but we’ve been grateful for ours. The days were so short so we still had plenty of time for school at home and fun adventures AND mom had some time to herself which was a really nice perk that I will surely miss this year! Really hoping to find a university model / hybrid homeschool co-op situation in the future!
