leading little hearts home: BACK TO SCHOOL {re-post}

Hello friends! This post is one is from the archives. It was originally posted in 2012 (has it been four years already?), but I love a good homeschool post, so I thought I'd mix it up with a few oldies and a few new posts to get those homeschool juices flowing!

Love sharing the journey with you!

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August 28, 2012

There's no doubt about it. If you're a mom and you homeschool, you are one of the busiest people around!

I've been asked to share what has changed over the years in our homeschooling as well as how we juggle school with our wide age range while keeping our sanity. Well, I've heard that sanity is a relative term (ha!), but here's what we are up to at this stage of the game! The fact that we no longer have tiny toddlers certainly makes a difference! Which brings me to what is most important:

There is no such thing as "one size fits all" when it comes to homeschooling. Or families. Or what it looks like to follow Jesus. So whenever you read anything here take what works, leave what doesn't and enjoy the peace of Christ. He is our biggest help.

1. WE TRY TO COMBINE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

Over the years I have had a mind shift in this area. At one time I would have wanted separate books for every subject at every grade level- History, Social Studies etc. and then I'd just pull my hair out to trying to figure out how to squeeze it all in. Now I have a different approach. I try to include as many people in as many subjects as I can. While we have separate Math and Language Arts we find that we can exercise together, study the Bible and worldview together, memorize Scripture together, study History, Geography and Science together and so on. It not only builds family unity but keeps school time truly simple and enjoyable.

2. SOMETIMES IT MAKES SENSE TO JUST BUY THE BOOK.

In the past I've spent a lot of time creating homemade unit studies, figuring out lesson plans and doing research online. That can be fun if you don't need sleep... This year I am using pre-made materials and just tweaking them rather than creating them from scratch. I finally bought the My Father's World package and I love it!

English from the Roots Up

3. TAKE INFORMATION IN SMALL DOSES.

I am not sure why I sometimes try to give my kids a drink of water from a fire hose. It's not really the best way to teach. Charlotte Mason recommended taking school subjects in small doses and I think she is dead on. Keeping lessons short and sweet works much better for us. Reading 1-2 pages of Anatomy and having the kids label a part or two works. You can come back to it the next day!

History board

4. CREATE A PORTABLE CLASSROOM.

Here's another one of those keeping our sanity topics for me. I love homeschooling but I just don't want to live in a classroom. Well, I can't believe how long it took me to figure this out, but why not just make movable walls using tri-fold presentation boards? I use a different one for just about everything- calendar, phonograms, history (with a world map on the back) and so on. It's a portable classroom. Easy.