This is a post in a series of 31 Days of Minimalist Homeschooling. See the intro post with all the topics here.  One of the most difficult things we do as parents is learn to trust our child. Each of our children is on their own unique path, their own timetable, their own growth chart. A […]

This is a post in a series of 31 Days of Minimalist Homeschooling. See the intro post with all the topics here.  Defining your educational philosophy Now that you’ve spent some time thinking about what education means to you, now it’s time to define your particular homeschooling and educational philosophy. It’s worth spending some time on […]

Tomorrow I’m once again joining a large group of bloggers who post on one topic, every day, for the 31 days of October. It took me weeks to figure out what topic I would choose this year. Last year, I chose two because I simply couldn’t narrow it down. (At that time, this blog was two […]

I usually post our homeschool curriculum choices here every year. A disclaimer: by posting this list, I’m not necessarily making recommendations. We do what works for us as a family and the children individually. I’m not claiming to know what’s right for your family. Reading through this list may look like “less” or “more” than […]

Although the girls started last week, yesterday was our official back to school day. It went very well. We even got finished up early, at around 1:15. Which was good, because by then I was totally pooped and needed a nap. I was reminded of something early on however, as my morning almost got derailed […]

While our official back to school date is August 25, the girls decided to start this week. I’m particularly impressed by the change in Sadie, who will be 9 in a few days. Last year was difficult for her. She struggled with focus. It was difficult for her to pay attention for more than a […]

For years, I didn’t take summers off from homeschooling my kids. But in recent years I’ve changed my tune. Why I take a summer break from homeschooling and what changed my mind… I used to think it was silly to change my homeschooling routine based on the public school calendar.  I wanted my kids to […]

I mentioned back in January that a friend tipped me off to the fact that Life of Fred, our favorite purveyor of home school math curriculum, had recently released a language arts series. Since I wasn’t spending money that month, I had to wait until February to order it! I didn’t know what to do […]

I had a terrible, awful, no good, very bad day yesterday. I went to bed at 8:18 PM, totally spent. But, as the evening unfolded, I realized that many things went right. Everyone got their schoolwork done (with the exception of the younger kids’ history lesson) The house was reasonably and clean laundry got done […]