How to Wisely Anchor Your Homeschool Day

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How to Wisely Anchor Your Homeschool Day

This is a guest post from Leah Hudson! It has amazing encouragement and wisdom. Find out how to hear more from Leah at the bottom of the post.

When I started homeschooling my oldest, I compared the anticipation to jumping off a cliff into a vast ocean. From my pre-homeschool vantage point, I could see countless other women bobbing up and down in the waves - obviously keeping afloat. Some had even fashioned together trim little boats for their crews. Their success gave me encouragement to take the plunge.

I dived in.

Who knew kindergarten could be so overwhelming? Who knew adjusting to new routines would prove so difficult? I needed to get my sea legs FAST!

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Making Our Homeschool Days Work for Us (A Day in the Life)

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Making Our Homeschool Days Work for Us (A Day in the Life)

This is a guest post from DJ! I love her perspective of making things work well for her family. Find her details at the bottom of the post.

Hey y’all! I’m DJ from thebookishden.com and I’m so excited to have the opportunity to share with you what a typical homeschool day looks like for our family. I’m sort of fan-girling over here, as Erin’s blog is one I’ve followed for ages!

We’re a family hanging out in a small town right outside of Charlotte, NC. We have 5 kiddos ages, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. I wish I could say that those stair step ages were our plan, but that was all Jesus!

Our family started this wonderful world of homeschooling about 5 years ago and man…there’s been a serious learning curve! We’ve been experimenting with how we do school since the beginning, and with each child coming to school age-each year looks a little different.

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When God Changes Your Homeschool Plans

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When God Changes Your Homeschool Plans

The alarm labeled “Its Co-op Day!” goes off at 6:00 am. Thankfully, the coffee pot also automatically starts at 6:00am. I’m not a morning person, so, in all honesty, the next step in my morning routine is hitting the snooze button. Lunches have been packed the night before and the kids are old enough to get themselves breakfast, so as I grab that first cup of coffee I take a moment to sit in the dark, pray over the day ahead, get snuggles from my dog and let my brain wake up a bit. 

Then we hit the day running. Everyone out the door by 7:35am to be on time.

If previously you had told me this would be my norm this year, I would have scoffed. I love sleeping in and cozy mornings reading on the couch with my kids. It’s why I homeschool. The packing of lunches, the hustle to get out the door, the stress over “did you remember this or that” is something I have avoided like the plague. 

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A Peak Inside a Relaxed Preschool + Kindergarten Rhythm

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A Peak Inside a Relaxed Preschool + Kindergarten Rhythm

This is a guest post written by Kim! I hope you enjoy all of her encouragement and insight as she details a typical homeschool day with her two little ones. Find out more about Kim below.

With two boys, three and five, our days are usually full of a lot of energy, a lot of noise, and a whole lot of crazy. When it comes to our daily homeschooling, I have been slowly introducing a gentle learning environment for both boys since they are both still young.

When I first began to plan our official homeschool “Kindergarten” year, I was already (almost unconsciously) trying to recreate a public school environment. I was already beginning to forget the freedom homeschooling allows in learning. While planning, I was trying to check all the boxes and tick all the subjects. I was trying to figure out how to cram all of this material into one day… for a five year old! 

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The Charlotte Mason Method in a Single Parent Home

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The Charlotte Mason Method in a Single Parent Home

This article is a guest post by Tia McArthur. You can learn more about Tia and find her online via the information at the end of this post. I hope you’ll find Tia’s words a comfort and encouragement!

As a single mom with a small business that is a full-time ministry, homeschooling looks a lot different in our home than many others.  Finding balance to implement the feast that is a Charlotte Mason (CM) education while also providing our sole source of income is the most rewarding challenge of my life.  Like family dinners, this feast is often messy and loud and one of us often wants to take our favorite dish/book off to a corner somewhere. But this time spent together is weaving a fabric of memories for us both to treasure for a lifetime, just like those family dinners from my childhood.

I would have loved to have met Charlotte Mason.  From her writings, she seems so wise yet approachable. However, I cannot now sit down with her to chat over a cup of coffee, so, instead, I sit down by myself or with like-minded mamas with a cup of coffee and her six volumes.  This nineteenth century educator has completely revolutionized the way I envisioned homeschooling my son, and thusly, both of our lives in the process.  

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What I Learned When I Quit Homeschooling

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What I Learned When I Quit Homeschooling

Just over 3 years ago, I was 4-5 months pregnant with my very welcomed but highly surprising 4th child. At that time, my 3rd was still shy of his FIRST birthday, and I had a daughter going into junior high and one struggling greatly due to dyslexia and dyscalculia.

As a new school year loomed large, I was overwhelmed. As a matter of fact, I was CERTAIN that I could NOT do it. I could NOT successfully homeschool my two girls with any sort of excellence while wrangling a newborn and tiny toddler. I went to the Lord with my great overwhelm. Shockingly, to us and everyone around us, my husband and I felt completely led to put our two girls in the local public school.

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Spirit-Led: Teaching Your Teen or Tween to Study God's Word with Purpose

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Spirit-Led: Teaching Your Teen or Tween to Study God's Word with Purpose

There are a LOT of Bible study tools on the market. A. LOT. It’s honestly a little overwhelming, but with two teenage daughters, I felt like it was wise to pursue a program that could be an additional voice in teaching them to seek God’s word out daily.

Aside from the general overwhelm at the quantity of programs available, I became overwhelmed by the AUTHOR’S voice, perspectives, interpretations, and beliefs as I perused guide after guide. Ultimately, I wanted simplicity for them. I wanted practicality. I wanted their time in God’s word to not be led by an author (no matter how esteemed and brilliant) but rather GOD’s Spirit.

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Kindergarten Morning Binder Sample

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Kindergarten Morning Binder Sample

I’ve been exceedingly shocked by the enthusiasm and reactions from the very-popular Preschool Morning Binder. And of course, as my own little kiddos get older, I knew we would need a slightly more advanced version of this great tool. Beyond that, since Level 2 of The Gentle + Classical Preschool is for ages 4-6 years and is a full Kindergarten program, I knew that most of us would want a morning activity binder perfect for our kiddos who are 5-7 years old.

So what is a Kindergarten Morning Binder?

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A Few of My Favorite Things

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A Few of My Favorite Things

AHHHH! I’m so excited about this! I recently hosted an amazing giveaway with a few companies that I adore. Even though that giveaway is over, I wanted to leave this post up to share their wonderful products!

I know that preparing for the first few years of home education with your little one can be overwhelming- teaching them to read being right at the top of the list of fears at times! I’ve talked about this before, but honestly. teaching our children to read can be one of the most stressful, daunting tasks in all of homeschool (with the exception of Trigonometry… which we will outsource ;).

Below are 4 of my FAVORITE resources for doing K4 and Kindergarten at home this year!

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