Homeschool Plans and Curriculum Choices for the 2020-2021 School Year – 1st and 3rd Grade

I recently shared our 2019-2020 wrap-up and curriculum review.  I am excited to share what we will be doing this year!  First, we have actually already started.  Since we are home so much because of Corona, I decided to get a jump start on the new year.  Hopefully this will give us a chance to take off a big chunk of time during the holidays where we can bake and make crafts, all with zero guilt.

This year Ethan (7.5) will be in 3rd grade and Lillian (6) will be in 1st grade.  Here are our plans by subject:

Arithmetic

1st Grade

We will be using Master Books Math:  Lessons for a Living Education Volume 1.  I loved Volume 2 for Ethan last year.  I think Lillian will love the story portion of the lesson, the color pictures and the gentle pace.

Along with the gentle pace comes plenty of time for her to use our Montessori Math Materials.  We will be using the Addition Strip Board, Teens Board, Tens Board, Hundred Chain, Thousand Chain, 45 Layout Mat and the Stamp Game.

3rd Grade

This will be our first year using Beast Academy Math.

I purchased both the online version and the workbooks.  At first we started with just the online version.  But I think since we are very low-tech, Ethan was struggling a bit with solving his problems on the computer.  So I ordered the workbook so he has an area to practice with paper and pencil too.  Although in a little over a week, he has really already improved with using the computer.

I love the challenging aspect of Beast Academy and I think using Montessori materials prior to this helped him develop a super strong number sense.  He is doing great with the challenging problems on Beast Academy because his fundamental math skills are so strong – particularly place value work.

I probably never would have chosen a curriculum called Beast Academy if I did not have a 7 year old boy.  The name probably would have turned me off.  But I get it now and the monster appeal is huge!

BOTH GRADES

We are using the book Addition Facts that Stick by Kate Snow as part of our Morning Basket.  So far this is just review for Ethan but I don’t mind the extra practice and it’s been great for Lillian.

English Language Arts

1st Grade

I am going to useThe Good and The Beautiful with Lillian this year.  This will be our first time trying out one of their products.  Since we are a secular homeschool I know I might have to change or omit some things but I’m really not worried about that.  We will also continue to work with Montessori Language Work, read BOB books and continue using Spelling You See Level B Book 1.

3rd Grade

This is a real hodgepodge but I feel will be best for Ethan and the learning goals I have in mind for him this year.  We are using:

Comprehension Skills:  Short Passages for Close Reading by Scholastic

Grammar Tales by Scholastic

Daily Word Ladders Grades 2-3: Word Study Lessons that Boost Reading, Vocabulary, Spelling & Phonics by Scholastic

Spelling You See – Level B Book 2

We may also use the The Brave Writer Dart Program single issue in May.

BOTH GRADES

I read aloud daily 2 picture books, 2 poems and a few chapters of whatever chapter book we are reading.  Both kids also love listening to audiobooks and read independently every day.  We have Poetry Tea Time once a week and the kids enjoy using Reading Eggs/ Reading Eggspress from time to time.

Handwriting

Both kids are going to continue with Handwriting Without Tears.  If Ethan moves quickly through his book, we will add in Keyboarding Without Tears when he is finished.

History & Geography

We are moving on to Story of the World Volume 2.  We loved Volume 1 and are excited to continue with this program.

Science

Our science plans in the past have usually all been outsourced:  forest school, Brooklyn Robot Foundry and Boat Building Class. But this year I am going to try an official Science curriculum for the first time.  We will be using Pandia Press Real Science Odyssey – Astronomy.  It is Level One for Grades 1-4.  I’m a little nervous about finding the time to add this in but also excited to have found a secular science program that looks awesome! It includes lessons, lab experiments and worksheets.

Art

We are trying something new this year!  I purchased 2 Picture Study Portfolios from Simply Charlotte Mason.  We are going to study Vermeer and Michaelangelo.

Music

We are using another product from Simply Charlotte Mason called Music Study with the Masters to study the composers, Schubert and Lizst.

Outside Activities

Oh, are the choices slim this year thanks to Corona.  We are going to continue meeting with our Wild + Free Group for free play in nature with friends and Zoom Tae Kwon Do lessons.

Misc

I always leave time to add in special studies of what each child is interested in and will accommodate that through the books I choose to read aloud, copy work, art projects, field trips or Outschool classes.  We also always incorporate special seasonal studies for fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas.  I will make a post about this seasonal schooling soon!  And of course, just like everyone else, I have no idea how Corona will impact or change any or all of these plans!  Will museums be open?  Will we want to ride the subway?  And the list goes on and on.

But, this is our plan as of right now!  One of the best parts of homeschooling is the ability to adapt, change and evolve whenever you need to do so.

 

2019-2020 Kindergarten and 2nd Grade Wrap-Up + Curriculum Review

Today’s post is a wrap-up of our 2019-2020 school year including our curriculum.  These types of posts are always my favorites to read on other homeschool blogs and I hope this is helpful to someone!

NYC has different age/ grade cut-off dates than most other places.  The year you turn 6 is your 1st grade year.  This year Ethan turned 7 in the late fall and Lillian turned 5 at the end of the summer.

I’ve broken down our Kindergarten and 2nd grade curriculum choices into the subjects required in NYC.  Kindergarten is not mandated in NYC so my daughter was not an officially registered homeschool student.  She will be next year for her 1st grade year.

I hope that this post illustrates that everything counts!  Homeschooling is a lifestyle which encompasses more than your curriculum choices.  I love choosing curriculum but it is just one part of a life full of learning and fun.

Arithmetic

Kindergarten:  Lillian did not use a formal math curriculum.  She worked with our Montessori Materials, some printables and self-chose work during her school time.  She enjoyed the teen hanging bead frame, the hundreds board, the beads paired with count and clip cards, the game Roll and Record and some holiday themed worksheets from the Moffat Girls at Teachers Pay Teachers.  Math was not her favorite subject and I definitely did not push it (I firmly believe all academic work can wait until after a child turns 6).  One morning recently when she woke up, she asked me, “Do you want to see what I wrote in my notebook last night?”  She proceeded to show me how she wrote out all of her doubles facts (1+1 =2, 2+2=4, etc).  I had NO idea she even knew about doubles facts or how to write an equation.  She said she had been watching Ethan and she learned these things herself!  It was really amazing.  She let me know she is ready for more math work, all in her own time.

2nd Grade:  Master Books Math:  Math Lessons for a Living Education Level 2.  This is a religious curriculum and we are a secular homeschool.  But, it is very easy to simply overlook the small portions of the Math stories that did not apply to us.  We both loved this program.  The format was a story to read aloud and then problems to solve – always a good mix of review and practice with new concepts.  The pace felt gentle but never boring.  It was very “open and go” with absolutely no prep for the parent.  I felt it was very thorough and this level covered addition and subtraction (single digit, double digit and regrouping), word problems, measurement, simple fractions, money, time and bar and line graphs.  I am thinking about using Level 1 for Lillian next year.

Ethan also completed a Kumon math book on counting money and another on telling time for extra practice.  I will definitely use those books again with Lillian.

Ethan also enjoyed working with our Montessori materials – the stamp game for static and dynamic addition, the multiplication bead board and the bead chains.

Both kids loved the Skip Counting Songs on Spotify from Heidi Butkus and the math gamesSum Swamp and Dino Math Tracks.

Reading

Kindergarten:  We used a textbook that I had previously used with Ethan called, Phonics Pathways:  Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling by Dolores C. Hiskes and Montessori’s Pink Series Language Program.  We will continue working with both of these in 1st grade. We also used BOB books.

2nd Grade:  We used the next level of the same program, Reading Pathways:  Simple Exercises to Improve Reading Fluency by Dolores C. Hiskes.  This book focused on reading accuracy and fluency.  I loved the format of a daily pyramid starting with one word and then phrases and lastly sentences.  As the amount of text increases on each line it builds eye span, strength and tracking, fluency and confidence.  Each pyramid has a different phonics focus and the book culminates in reading multisyllable words.  This is another very open and go curriculum.

Both:  Reading Eggs is an online phonics program that is a monthly subscription.  It is full of lessons and games and is a great supplement to your at-home phonics program.

Both kids also read independently each day and read aloud to me each day.

For Read Alouds, we typically read 2 picture books every day and 1-2 poems (not including bedtime books).  We loved reading poetry together over Poetry Tea Time!

Here are the chapter books I read aloud to both kids this year as part of our homeschool:

• All of a Kind Family, All of a Kind Family Uptown and Ella All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
• Bunnicula by Deborah Howe
• Catwings by Ursula K Le Guin
• The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds
• The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Writing

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade:  We used Handwriting Without Tears – both for Kindergarten and 2nd Grade.  This is the same program I used when I was a NYCDOE teacher.  I am very familiar with it and both kids really, really like it.  We have the full kit – teachers guide, wooden pieces, foam mats and chalk boards.  It is amazing to look at the progress they both made in Handwriting this year.

Each child also wrote their own original stories often!  Lillian would either dictate hers for me to write or enjoy writing pages on her own.

Spelling

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade:  We used Spelling You See – Level B.  This program develops visual memory to learn common spelling patterns. I felt this program was effective, age appropriate and both Ethan and Lillian loved the nursery rhyme format.  It was very age appropriate for Ethan and a little bit of a reach for Lillian.  We will also continue with this program next year!  Something that I did not realize is that you can use this program as a handwriting program as well.  At times I felt it was too much writing for young children between the two programs.

History

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade:  We used Story of the World:  Volume 1.  We love this program!  I also purchased the Activity Guide and we enjoy doing the activities that go along with each story.  I love that history is presented in chronological order and also that if we stick with it, we will re-visit this time period in the next 3 year cycle.  We always do History together.

Geography

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade:  We used Beautiful Feet Books:  Around the World with Picture Books.  To be honest, this was the hardest to keep up with. The program is lovely and the books are beautiful but if we skipped something, it was usually this.  We will try to finish it this summer.  Story of the World, our history program, contains geography work (maps, bodies of water, continents, cardinal directions) so I do feel like we still covered quite a bit of Geography.

Science

Kindergarten and 2nd grade:  Science is another subject we always do together.  I did not purchase a formal science curriculum this year.  We completed a Timeline of Science Sticker Book which was a great way to look at the progress of scientific advancements.  Also:

• Weekly Forest School – Homeschool Program with Brooklyn Nature Days
• We planted a garden
• We used an InsectLore kit to watch caterpillars transform into butterflies
• We kept nature journals
• We watched videos on YouTube – Science Max
• Ethan took weekly classes at Brooklyn Robot Foundry 
• Ethan got a microscope for his birthday and loved learning how to prepare slides and study specimens.

Health Education

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade:  Both kids learned to prepare healthy recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We do not use a formal health curriculum.  We talk often about making healthy choices and what we can do to keep our bodies healthy.

Music

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade:  For the first half of the year we read through the Usborne Book of Famous Composers and listened to the corresponding classical music.  We studied the Nutcracker and The Magic Flute and saw a kid’s version of each performed live!  During our quarantine, both kids loved taking piano lessons online from Hoffman Academy.

Visual Arts

I did not purchase a formal art curriculum.  We had a subscription to Artventure which was great for drawing lessons.  We used Usborne cards for studying famous paintings as well as several Usborne art history books.  We visited the Met Museum and completed many seasonal arts and crafts projects.  Both kids loved selling their artwork at our annual Wild + Free Homeschool Handcraft Fair in December.

Physical Education

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade:  Our PE consisted of hikes with forest school and weekend family hikes, weekly bike rides, outdoor play with Wild + Free, swim lessons, Tae Kwon Do lessons and ice skating lessons.

Bilingual Education

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade:  This year one of the moms in our Wild + Free group provided weekly French lessons to any children who were interested.  They were fantastic and we are so grateful!  My kids learned the days of the week, colors, names of food, how to count and vocabulary for weather.

Field Trips

This year we visited:

• The Met
• The NY Hall of Science
• Intrepid Museum (they run a wonderful homeschool day program!)
• Puppetworks
• The Little Orchestra Society
• Radio City Music Hall
• American Museum of Natural History
• Prospect Park Zoo
• Sweet Briar Nature Center
• Tea Town Nature Preserve
• The Nature Place (we learned how to tap trees and make maple syrup!)
• Theodore Roosevelt Bird Sanctuary
• Blydenburgh Park (we built our own small boats and set them sailing!)
• Sunken Meadow State Park
• Planting Fields Arboretum
• Lewins Farm

Extras

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade:  Both kids kept a gratitude journal and took 1 class each with Outschool.

As part of our Wild + Free group we enjoyed weekly free play with friends in nature, weekly time for nature journaling, monthly book clubs and a winter handcraft fair.

Both kids enjoyed ice skating lessons at Lakeside, playdates with homeschool friends, using apps with Osmo and Cosmic Kids Yoga.   Ethan loved his boat building class with Koko NYC and Lillian loved her ballet, jazz and tap classes with a local dance studio.

And that’s a wrap on our homeschool year!  It was a crazy year for everyone but writing out this post helped me focus on the good and all the academic progress the kids made!

I will write a post soon with our curriculum choices for this upcoming year.

“How do you teach both of your children at the same time?”

Right after I get the socialization question, this is ALWAYS people’s next question.  Usually they ask with a kind of horrified look on their face as they silently motion to my three year old.  My short answer is, Ummm…easily.  That’s never enough though.  Here’s a closer look at what learning looks like in our home with two kids of different ages (5 and 3.5) 

I think before you can begin to picture this you first have to acknowledge and accept that homeschooling looks NOTHING like school.  As a former teacher, this was difficult for me!  I don’t think many homeschoolers are sitting down at the table for 6 hours a day breaking only for lunch and recess.  Also, what took me say, a month, to teach a room full of 1st graders often takes about 5 minutes to teach my one son.

Almost everything happening at home counts as “school.”  We don’t have to wait for math time to “do” math.  We measure and count while making breakfast, lunch or dinner.  We can leave a note on the fridge for dad and learn a new phonogram while we do so.  We can read a new recipe.  We can write a shopping list.  We can count the dirty socks as we throw them in the laundry.  I could go on and on.  But in short, learning is all around us, happening all the time.

Most things we do in our homeschool we do together.  I’ve posted before about our morning basket.  My kids go to forest school and our Wild + Free playgroup together.  Any “field trips” we take, we take together.  I read aloud to them together, except for bedtime.  

I do present lessons to my kids individually.  We use a Montessori approach in our “school work” so I present new materials or teach new concepts to each of my kids.  I do this when the other child is either engaged in independent work or play.  These lessons and presentations are very short but we have also talked a lot about not interrupting and respecting each others work.  They often will watch each other have a lesson but know not to interrupt.  Since the lessons are short, this is not hard even for a very young child. Lillian has surprised me many times by showing me that she has already learned something that I previously presented to Ethan.

Maria Montessori also refers to the prepared environment as the third teacher.  Our home is carefully prepared to support our kid’s states of development.  Our kitchen is completely accessible for the kids to prepare their own snack or cook a meal independently (I obviously supervise them when using a stove, oven, etc).  

Their clothing storage and toy storage is also set up for them to access and take care of independently.  Their learning materials are carefully organized, rotated and presented on shelves in our playroom.  Learning is really seamless this way. They can work independently and uninterrupted by me; free to try, struggle and succeed.

Also, it’s important to note that since Ethan is older, he is a natural teacher for Lillian.  She learns so much just from watching him.  And she is always, always watching.  Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn who has studied the value of mixed age learning and play wrote:

“If we want to capitalize on children’s and adolescents’ natural, playful ways of learning, we must find ways to break down the barriers we have erected to keep young people of different ages apart. Age segregation deprives them not only of fun, but also of the opportunity to use fully their most powerful natural tools for learning.”

Lillian just naturally knows that Ethan is older and that he is a valuable source of information for her.  She knows it’s important for her to pay attention to what he’s doing without me ever having told her to do so.  This is a natural borne drive.  

In short, teaching kids at home of different ages is not only possible, it’s awesome!  They learn independently through their own work and play and also from individual direct lessons from me.

They learn from each other by playing together, watching each other play or work, listening to the same books read aloud by me or Audible or working on a shared project together.

We all learn together when we take field trips together or choose to learn about the same topic (something that happens often).  They are both currently loving learning about rocks and soil.

To the shock and surprise of this former teacher, teaching different aged kids is very natural and organic.

 

 

Morning Basket

In a previous post, I discussed how we have incorporated the Charlotte Mason concept of a “morning basket” into our homeschool.  In this post, I thought I would explain how we use our morning basket.  

My kids really love to eat breakfast!  This meal can go on for a really long time in our house.  Before reading about Charlotte Mason, I began reading to my kids at the breakfast table simply because we were sitting there for so long each day!  We came to love this time spent together, when everyone was well rested and well fed.  We now have a structure to our morning time and we keep all of the components we need in a basket right next to our table.  Hence the name, Morning Basket. 

Here are the components to our Morning Basket, in the order we work through them:

Calendar – Oh, calendar work.  This work has taken so many forms over the last few years because I have changed it up so many times.  We started with a traditional “school” calendar with velcro numbers. But honestly, it was too big for our apartment and a pain to keep up with.  Why?  Because, for my daughters first two years of life, it was her personal mission to rip off every number as many times as she could get at it.  She loved to hear that very satisfying velcro sound .

 Currently, it’s quite simple:  a printed out calendar for each child where they write in the date (handwriting practice, counting practice) and mark off the days as we go.  We also use our Montessori bead bars to “make” the date which again affords counting practice as well as number sense work.  These bead bar cards are from the blog Every Star is Different.

Books – I keep some high quality, timeless picture books in the basket that we enjoy reading over and over.  We usually read 2 – 3 books each morning.  The kids choose from the basket or can choose a book from the bookshelf in our playroom where we keep a seasonally rotated selection of books.  

Poem – We have a few poetry books for children.  I’ve included a list of the books we use in the Booklist section of the blog.  The kids often request to hear a certain poem or I will read one that is seasonally appropriate or pertinent to something we are learning about.  

Here is a list of poetry books we own and love:  (Amazon affiliate links)

A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (My grandmother read this book to my mom, she read it to me and now I am reading it to my kids.  It is so special to us.)

A Child’s Book of Poems by Gyo Fujikawa.

A Stick is an Excellent Thing:  Poems about Outdoor Play by Marilyn Singer

Honey I Love and Other Poems by Eloise Greenfield

Slickety Quick:  Poems about Sharks by Skila Brown

Hailstones and Halibut Bones:  Adventures in Poetry and Color by Mary O’Neill

Insectlopedia by Douglas Florian

Over the River and Through the Wood:  A Thanksgiving Poem by Lydia Marie Child

Thanksgiving Day at Our House by Nancy White Carlstrom

Reading Practice – My daughter is currently learning her letter sounds, so I keep a few letters in the basket for her to identify, trace or try writing.  Sometimes I will keep a few miniature “language objects” for her to identify the first sound or try to spell phonetically.  We do only one of these things each day and it is a super quick activity, taking 1-2 minutes.  I will also introduce new phonograms at this time or introduce my son to a new high frequency word.  Sometimes he will read a list of words from the same word family, or read out a sentence strip.  Sometimes I bring over a few letters from the moveable alphabet and they will spell one word each.  This is always very quick and I just plan something to compliment what they are working on at the moment.  Again, very simple.

Math Practice – This, like reading, can take many forms.  Sometimes we use a random number generator on my phone and will count to the number it suggests for us.  Other times we will practice counting backwards from 20 or make a pattern with loose parts.  I might give my son a simple addition problem to solve or the kids might play one of their favorite games, Roll and Record.  I follow the kids and their interests and always keep it very simple.  

Song – We always end with a song.  I keep a seasonal playlist on my phone using Spotify and we enjoy learning new songs and singing together.  

For where we are in our homeschooling journey and the ages of my kids, this is how Morning Basket works for us.  We all look forward to this time of day and really enjoy spending this time together.  

If you’d like to hear how another family practices this morning time, take a listen to Wild + Free podcast Episode 33 to hear Elsie Ludicello describe her morning time.  It starts around the 8 minute mark.  I might have cried listening to how beautiful it is.  🙂

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wild-free/id1209794530?mt=2

Do you have a Morning Basket or do Morning Time?  I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

 

 

What We are Reading this Wednesday

Since my son was 2, we have spent the month of April studying birds.  Now that he is 5, we still enjoy when we see and hear the birds come back to our neighborhood in the spring.  

Below you’ll find a list of bird books we have enjoyed reading together.  I thought about separating the list for the 0-2 year old set and the 3-6 year old set but I decided to list them all together.  My daughter has enjoyed listening to and looking at all of these books from a very young age even though I may have purchased some of them with my older son in mind.  And both children still enjoy looking at the bird board books we own that are intended for younger children.

I’ve also included this booklist in the Booklist section of the blog if anyone would like to print it to bring to the library or bookstore.  I hope you find this feature helpful.  

the links below are Amazon Affiliate Links

Busy Birdies by John Schindel

Birds by National Geographic Kids Look & Learn

Backyard Birds (Peterson Field Guides for Young Naturalists) by Jonathan P. Latimer and Karen Stray Nolting

National Geographic Kids Bird Guide of North America

Birds, Nests and Eggs by Mel Boring

About Birds A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill

Urban Roosts by Barbara Bash   ** our favorite! **

Falcons in the City by Chris Earley ** on a great sale right now! **

Peregrine Falcons: Birds of Prey by Melissa Hill

National Geographic Kids Penguins! By Anne Shreiber

Mama Built a Little Nest by Beach Lane Books

We do not own this book but if my kids were younger I would definitely purchase it…

Baby’s First Book of Birds & Colors by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes

Have you read about birds with your children?  I’d love to hear any book recommendations you have in the comments!  

 

Choosing a Homeschool Philosophy

Classical, Waldorf, Montessori, Unschooling, how does a family choose?  Today I want to share about how we chose a homeschooling philosophy.  Or better yet, how we blended several together to design our own.  

My very first glimpse into the homeschool world was a blog I stumbled across while teaching called, Chasing Cheerios.  Does anyone else remember that one?  I remember being enamored with the sweet toddler activities she did with her daughters and followed along as that blossomed into full-blown homeschooling.  Even then I had a thought I still wrestle with now, “Isn’t that great for them?  It looks so lovely.  I’d like to do that too but instead I’ll just read this blog.”  This is a thought that often plagues me!  I’m tackling that kind of thinking head on by starting this blog!  

Anyway, back to choosing a homeschool philosophy… 

Once I jumped the hurdle to decide we were actually going to homeschool, it was time to decide how.  With our homeschool mission in mind, I began doing my philosophy research.  

Our homeschool mission is to raise children capable of and comfortable with independent thinking, who develop a deep appreciation for and a love of life and who eagerly celebrate their successes and failures as they chase their dreams.

My first reading centered on Maria Montessori and her pedagogy.  I pretty much instantly fell in love.  Check the booklist section of the blog for a list of some Montessori books I read that were inspirational.  In short, the Montessori philosophy is about following the child. Montessori herself did not believe that she created the “Montessori Method” but instead that she closely observed children and merely gave back to them what they showed her they needed.  

Montessori valued the whole child and viewed him or her as an independent person, deserving of the utmost respect. Parents or teachers (called guides) closely observe their children to see when they are ready for certain lessons or activities.  Children move through predictable “planes of development” and lessons are introduced accordingly.  Children are free to chose their own “work” within limits and are engaged in, what is called, a three hour work cycle.  Work is self-selected from the curriculum areas of practical life, sensorial, language, math and culture.  

Practical Life

Sensorial

Language

Math

Culture

Children receive lessons on how to use new materials, are expected to use them appropriately and when ready, clean up after themselves.  The materials are very hands-on and the learning concepts are very concrete. By observing the child at work, and without breaking their concentration, the homeschooling mom or teacher can decide if that child has mastered a concept, needs a new lesson or may in fact not be ready for that type of work.  

Often, when people see #montessori, they see what looks like children doing chores.  Maria Montessori believed that children were very much interested in learning about their environment and fully participating within it.  In the Montessori home or classroom, children happily work on practical life skills, like cooking, cleaning and sewing, using tools specifically made for people their size.  This not only helps the child feel they are a valuable, participating member of their family or classroom, but lays the foundation for fine motor, gross motor and even future reading, writing and math skills.  

As we’ve continued on our journey I’ve learned about other methods which I knew I wanted to incorporate in some way into our homeschool.  

From the Waldorf method we have adapted the concept of rhythms in the home.  Rather than a strict schedule, Waldorf families have rhythm or a gentle flow to the day making plenty of time for family connection and time spent outdoors.  

I previously mentioned our commitment to Forest School in my last post.  Please check it out for more information as I believe it’s one of the most important parts of our homeschool at the moment.

From my very limited reading about Charlotte Mason, we have adopted the concept of a morning basket or morning time.  This is one of our most cherished parts of the day.  Very simply, I keep a basket of high quality poems, children’s books, phonics and math activities next to our table.  I also keep a playlist of songs we are learning or enjoying listening to on my phone, using Spotify.  We work our way through the morning basket while we eat breakfast.   

Additionally, we have taken the concept of nature journaling from the Charlotte Mason method.  Keeping a nature journal is another cherished part of our week.  We enjoy collecting nature items from outside and bringing them home to study and sketch.  We have also sketched and painted animals we have decided to learn about (for example reindeers during the month of December). 

From the Classical style of education we highly value the 3 R’s – reading, writing and ‘rithmetic.  We currently work on these subjects the Montessori way, but they are definitely an important aspect to our homeschool.  In our quest to raise independent thinkers, I believe reading the great books will be an important part of our homeschool as our kids get older.

When I first heard of Unschooling I was immediately turned off by the term.  That’s not for “us”, I thought.  However as I learn more about it, I realize it both resonates with me and I want to experiment more with it.  I believe free time for children is important so they can focus on what interests them and develop their individual passions.  

The kids spent a large part of December acting out the Nutcracker

After reading Peter Gray’s, Free to Learn, I came across the concept of Self-Directed Learning.  I also had the privilege to hear him speak at an alternative education conference (AERO) here in New York last summer.  He was very inspiring and I now ensure my children have the opportunity for lots of self-directed learning at home.  They are free to follow their interests and I try to guide them along the way or find a way to supply materials to meet their needs.  This is most evident in my son’s love of sharks and the many, many, many projects he’s undertaken to learn more about his favorite animal. 

I’ve found that many of these method overlap and intertwine in so many ways.  Here are some quotes from the creators of these philosophies which I think illustrate their interconnectedness and highlight our homeschool emphasis of the importance of play for young children, time spent outdoors and self-directed learning within limits.  

“To aid life, leaving it free, however, that is the basic task of the educator.”  Maria Montessori

“Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and when the grass of the meadows is wet with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath it’s shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning.”  Maria Montessori

“There is no education but self-education.”  Charlotte Mason

“Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.”  Charlotte Mason

“We have forgotten that children are designed by nature to learn through self-directed play and exploration, and so, more and more, deprive them of the freedom to learn, subjecting them instead to the tedious and painfully slow learning methods devised by those who run the schools.”  Peter Gray, Free to Learn

Through careful research, we’ve been able to pick and choose what works for us.  In a future post I’ll share more specifically about how our days, weeks and months look.  

I hope you can see that all homeschools are quite unique, from pre-existing philosophies, to a blended approach like ours, to an “open and go” boxed curriculum which maps out a daily homeschool schedule and lessons for you. 

How about you?  What type of homeschool do you have?  Are you a purist – with only one philosophy?  Have you blended like us?  Do you use a boxed curriculum? 

Did you choose a philosophy before you began homeschooling or develop one along the way?

I’d love to hear about your homeschool in the comments!