Hands-On Homeschool

A home-school day in the life with an almost 11, 8, and 31/2 year old…in conjunction with Simple Homeschool’s homeschooling blog-hop, I’m sharing what our days generally look like in this particular season.

Perhaps when you read HOMESCHOOL you envision butter-churning, hair-braiding, stifled and awkward denim jumper-clad robot children who rarely leave the house, instead spending their days completing rigorous seat work and household chores? To be clear, that’s not what we’re about. (This is not entirely true, my girls do love a good french braid.)

As a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ve decided to share a few recent snapshots to illustrate what we are about.

For us, Homeschool looks like: Extracurricular Activity

Each of my three precious pupils are pretty wiggly. I would categorize them all as kinesthetic learners who flourish with incorporation of their whole bodies. With most subjects, they dive in and prefer to get their hands dirty. Providing hands-on lessons gives way to light-bulb moments where concepts become cemented into their noggins.

They love any excuse to dress up, and are avid readers who enjoy immersing themselves in literary worlds.

global dressup night at awanas last week {representing france, china & scotland, respectively}

the girls just started a 6 wk basic sewing class with their new machines, courtesy of my mother

mermaids & a muscle-man at the local hot springs

Homeschool also looks like: Home-Base

We recently deemed it prudent to pull back from an overzealous activity schedule, discerning we would be more aptly dubbed “never-at-home-schoolers” than true home-schoolers. With an abundance of enrichment opportunities available, it’s enticing to want to do ALL THE THINGS, but we must know our limits and strive to maintain balance.

We don’t shirk sit-down lessons and lectures– reading, writing, and arithmetic are foundational to our routine, routine ironically providing the margin we crave in our schedule.

working on their submissions for a creative writing contest

alphabetizing spelling lists while brother’s in speech therapy

Additionally, Homeschool looks like: Call of Nature

We moved to our current home a year ago, selecting it primarily for the rural countryside setting where the kids can run free, shoot their bows, bird-watch, and track herds of deer.

There’s a large pond just past our property line, followed by miles of untouched Montana farmland. In summer the kids float on the pond, in winter they skate on it. We are currently raising three ducks to release onto it, and often search other local bodies of water to re-home frogs and turtles to it.

meet minerva mcgonagall, darth vader, & luna lovegood

hunting for turtles & frogs to transplant

Freedom and flexibility are our favorite perks of home-education, and I’m grateful to be able to cultivate a custom, free-form atmosphere where my students can blossom and thrive. I heart home-school.

“The business done in the home is nothing less than the shaping of the bodies and souls of humanity.” -GK Chesterson