Halfway Through the Best Year of Homeschooling Ever: Why This Time Is Different

Mindset, priorities, and the power of choice

If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts about homeschooling, you know that I’ve tried it before with three other children off and on over the past 25 years. But this time, it’s completely different—it’s wonderful. I’m not stressed, my child is happy, and we both look forward to waking up and starting our school day together. She’s learning so much, and our relationship has never been better. So, what’s our secret sauce? Mindset, priorities, choice, resources and support, community, and flexibility.

When she was enrolled in school, we both often wanted to cry or scream just trying to get out the door. After school, it was chores, cooking, after-school activities, fighting screen time, laundry, homework, and bedtime. It was a drag. My child’s best times of the day were spent with others, and our relationship suffered. With homeschooling, my child and I get the best of each other. I can’t get enough of watching her grow, learn, and become the little human God created her to be. I am so grateful for this opportunity.

In this blog, I will share what I think is making this year great for us as well as example schedules and resources we use.

MINDSET

I am homeschooling my child primarily because I despise the concept of “Teaching to the Test.” In fact, I sat in on my first school board meeting last night, and testing happened to be the main topic. It’s far worse than it was when I was in school. I found it very difficult to stay quiet and need an outlet, so look for that rant in a future post :) But back to mindset... I’m not trying to replicate public school or private school at home. Instead, I’m guiding my child through educational experiences that truly matter.

PRIORITIES

• Character development.

• Joy. 

• No wasted time. 

• No meaningless work. 

• Fall in love with learning. 

• Develop skills to learn anything we want to. 

• Apply knowledge in meaningful ways. 

• Don’t do something just because others do it, because I did, or because I don’t know what else to do.

CHOICE

I give my child a lot of choice because I believe children work harder and accept authority when they have power in their lives. Here are a few examples:

• Choosing math and typing programs: I tested out various options for math and typing, then gave Snow the chance to test my top choices out to choose her favorite.

• Choosing unit studies: I let her pick which topical unit study to pursue for the month (ish). We’ve primarily used Campfire Curriculums, but I’ve introduced other great resources, like a book by a local author who immigrated from Holland in the '70s. It led to laughter, tears, new vocabulary, cultural understanding, and some fun side research. We also did a Native American study, thanks to an Open Ed homeroom teacher’s recommendation during November (Native American Heritage Month).

• Community classes: I’ve allowed her to choose which activities she wants to participate in—horseback riding, cooking, art, homeschool PE, dance, gymnastics, sports—she loves them all, and our flexible schedule makes it easy to fit them in.

• Online classes: Each month, Open Ed sends a list of available online classes. I let Snow choose what interests her. Sometimes, she has to make tough choices when schedules conflict with other activities. Through this process, she’s learning how to schedule and evaluate pros and cons.

• Co-op: We “shopped” for co-ops at the annual Education Expo and then visited the ones that seemed like a good fit. I let her take the lead in choosing the community where she felt at home.

• Writing: I gave her the choice between different writing assignments, giving her the freedom to choose what works best for her.

• Extras: I offer her the option to read more, do extra lessons, or research related topics when she’s interested.

RESOURCES & SUPPORT

Open Ed has been a huge part of our successful homeschool year. Most homeschooling families live on a single income, which makes it difficult to spend money on classes, trips, supplies, and experiences. But with reimbursement for these costs, choosing the best resources for my child has become much easier. I’ve gone from being a “No Mommy” to a “Yes Mommy.” Open Ed reimburses about $2,700 per year, which has covered gymnastics, art, PE, dance, cooking classes, books, a cash register, learning games, puzzles, a microscope, field trips, museum memberships, math programs, co-op dues, and more. Though they can’t cover my faith-based unit studies, they do cover my internet bill, which is a wash. This financial support alone has made this year’s homeschool experience night and day compared to previous ones. Similar to a charter school experience, the Open Ed staff is just an email away for help, tutoring, and more. And most of all, Open Ed wants us to be on our own path. There is zero pressure to duplicate public school at home. They want us to be innovative, flexible and have fun. 

People often ask, “What program or curriculum are you using?” The answer is: depends on the day, the month, and the season!

As the founder of Options for Education, I’ve had many conversations, attended various events, and done A LOT of research. This helped me start homeschooling feeling confident, free, inspired, and equipped. I hope my work helps you do the same.

My husband started a new job this year and has a few days off each week where he sees our homeschooling in action. He’s so impressed and encouraging, telling us every day how happy he is for both of us and supporting me in any way he can.

COMMUNITY

Leaving our previous school was hard because the community there was amazing. Snow had a class of wonderful children she’d grown up with since pre-K. I worked at the school, so I was deeply attached to the parents, teachers, and staff. It was our home away from home, and I didn’t want Snow to lose that. We still visit for lunch and recess occasionally, maintaining those relationships, but we’re also building a new community.

• Homeschool co-op: I wrote another blog post about how we chose our co-op. It was her decision out of the options I provided, which aligned with our lifestyle and priorities. I took on responsibilities like planning field trips and experiences that are better done as a group. This has helped me find my place in the group and connect with others.

• Facebook: It’s such a great tool for getting quick advice from other parents, finding local resources, and creating in-person connections.

FLEXIBILITYI use Google Calendar to organize our days, so I can see where things fit in and where they don’t. Our schedule is always changing (which I love), but there are steady elements as well. Here are two snapshots of what our weeks look like. They may look like a lot, but you will see that I work from home a bit, Snow sleeps in often and our days are so chill and fun that it doesn’t feel terrible to have sports and dance 4 days a week right now. Please also note, EVERY DAY something changes the plan and that is fine! That’s a joy of homeschool! Happy Gumby Mommy.

Note: we have a style. Everyone does. We love reading stories. We hate worksheets. We like freedom. We (I) hate manuals, lesson plans and busy work. So, we rarely do any of those things (I think we have done 4 worksheets all year). I don’t add in spelling at all because it is incorporated into our unit studies a bit and Snow asks for spelling tests all the time for fun, so we do enough. I don’t do grammar lessons outside of the unit studies, but we do talk about grammar as we are reading and she is writing. She tested 100% on her standardized test practice test in language arts (and we are only halfway through the year).

Speaking of tests, besides the annual standardized test for 3rd grade and the practice test (so she knows how to use the test program), the only other assessments Snow takes are the math quizzes built into her math program which is all on an app. No other testing. I just don’t see the point. On the years she doesn’t have standardized tests, we may do a gaps test to see if there are any gaps we may want to go back to and reinforce. 

SAMPLE WEEK A (from December)

Monday (Mom work (from home) all day, so Snow does self-guided work part days):

Sleep in and play

12:00 (noon!) Mix It Club with Open Ed (parent gather supplies and supervises)

1:00 Watercolor Class with Open Ed (parent gather supplies and supervises)

2:00 Penmanship and typing practice

2:30 Work on writing a penpal letter

2:45 Math on Teaching Textbooks (an app that requires absolutely no work for parents) in the car and while we wait in the pick up line to pick up sister from school (yes, my older one really loves school, so she attends Rogue Christian Academy)

5:00 Ballet

Tuesday

8:30 Snuggle with tea and read the “living book” style unit study (this month we are doing a Christmas unit) usually based on historic events or a particular piece of culture

9:30 Pause to make breakfast and prepare for the science and language arts add-ons to the unit study (these are included in the curriculum, but sometimes we skip them or I have an idea for something different)

10:00 Science and/or language arts

11:00 Spanish

11:30 Play Chess

12:30 Lunch 

1:00 Penmanship and typing practice

1:30 Free choice

2:45 Pick sister up, doing math on TT app in the car

5:30 Gymnastics at Motion Matrix

Wednesday

8:30 Unit study while snuggling and drinking tea

9:30 Break and prep for science/Language Arts

10:00 Science and/or LA + sometimes the conversations that come up while reading lead us to want to look something up (we chose to learn about Christmas traditions around the world, learn some songs, and make many new recipes and crafts)

11:00 Spanish

11:30 Get ready to leave for the day and eat lunch

1:00 Clay studio at the Children’s Museum

2:00 Culinary class at the Children’s Museum

3:00 Free play at the museum

4:00 Math on TT app on the way home

Thursday

8:30 Unit study while snuggling and drinking tea

9:30 Break and prep for science/Language Arts

10:00 Science and/or LA + whatever tangents we feel like taking

11:30 Get ready to leave for the day and eat lunch

1:00 Science club with Open Ed

2:45 Pick sister up, doing math on TT app in the car

3:15 Theatrical Jazz dance class at Southern Oregon Dance Center

Friday

Sleep in, chores, free play

10:30 Penmanship and typing

11:00 Math TT app and some multiplication flash cards

12:00 Schole Homeschool Co-op (this time, Snow has the Line Dancing and Campfire Studieseople Throughout History)

SAMPLE WEEK B (next week’s schedule - I forgot to sign up for Open Ed offerings this month, but it’s ok - I have a lot of extra work stuff going on, so the extra time helps me)

Monday (Mom work (from home) all day, so Snow does self-guided work):

Sleep in and Free Choice: sewing, cooking, reading, art project, etc.

2:00 Type revision of her writing project: a creative story about us camping in NYC and befriending a bear (Snow wrote a rough draft, then we edited it together and now she is working on typing it)

2:45 Math on Teaching Textbooks in the car

5:00 Ballet at Southern Oregon Dance Center (biggest sister is her teacher)

Tuesday

8:30 Snuggle with tea and finish reading a book we have been reading by a local author about her immigration from Holland and her development of the Christian faith

9:30 Pause to make breakfast and prepare for the science and LA

10:00 Watch an episode of The Chosen and pause to add to our character, scene, and setting descriptions (This has turned out to be a brilliant idea I had! I made up a note sheet for each character and Snow is getting practice analyzing and note taking in a really enjoyable way!)

11:30 Get ready for PE

12:00 Lunch with a special friend - the author of the book to get her autograph and answer questions!

1:00 PE

2:00 Practice standardized test (going through samples together to learn test taking skills) 

2:45 Pick sister up, doing math on TT app in the car

5:00 Basketball at Boys and Girls Club

Wednesday

Mom works (hosting a meeting this morning with the Chamber of Commerce), Dad and Snow sleep in and have breakfast together

11:30 Snow goes with mom to a business lunch and works on her penpal letter

1:00 Spanish with Miss Anna’s Gracious Me Academy

2:00 Math on TT app on the way home

3:30 Art class with Rocky at REACH Charter School (We usually go to Medford Children’s Museum, but it is the end of our 6 month membership, so it is the perfect time to take a break and hop into a local art class for a couple of months! hopefully - I may have to wait until March as Rocky’s classes are month-to-month. If not, we will go to the Pottery Canvas & Stone and work on a project).

5:30 Gymnastics at Motion Matrix

Thursday

8:30 Snow eats breakfast during mom’s zoom meeting

9:30 Start a new unit study on the Titanic while snuggling and drinking tea

10:30 Science and//or LA + whatever tangent may come up (like how ships are built, iceberg photos, inventions, historical timelines, or life in other countries

11:30 Play Chess 

1:00 Get ready to leave for the day and eat lunch

2:45 Pick sister up, doing math on TT app in the car

3:15 Theatrical Jazz dance class at Southern Oregon Dance Center

5:00 Basketball at Boys and Girls Club

Friday

9:00 911 Dispatch field trip with our homeschool co-op

11:00 Math TT app in the car 

12:00 Ice Skating with EPEC Homeschool PE (Schole is only every other week in the winter, so no co-op today)

Who knows how things will look next month! 

PS

The photo is of Snow selling her carved and painted feather pens and beet juice ink (a tangent we took during our unit study on "The Real Pirates of the Carribean") at a homeschool marketplace where she bartered for a ton of goods from friends and still took home a $30 profit!