Homeschooling

Larry and I are so glad we can homeschool our kids. This post is simply meant to bring you into our home to see what that looks like for us. This post is not meant as a teaching tool or as a suggestion to other families :) Each family needs to do what works best for them, which is the beauty in homeschooling!

First off, our "homeschooling philosophy" follows more along the lines of unschooling. This doesn't mean we unteach our kids ;) It simply means we do not follow a strict "school day" or even a curriculum. We believe that learning happens naturally throughout the day. We are not "true" unschoolers as we do have a specified learning time built in, but that amount of time is very short and by no means is the only learning time. We are also currently waiting on a curriculum that we ordered called "Before Five in a Row." It takes a children's book and has you read it every day for a week. Each day you do something different with the book that focuses on Language Arts, Math, etc. We liked that because Isaac has a passion for books and reading. We chose the Pre-K level to get Jared more involved while we can extend the lessons for Isaac. If it works for our family, we'll get Five in a Row next year. 

As I mentioned, we feel that learning happens throughout the day. Isaac is reading and we never had to sit down with official school lessons to teach him how to read. His brain just works in such a way that after he's been exposed to a word, he knows it and can recall it later. I don't know if all of our kids will be that way, which is why I'm slow to say, "This is how we homeschool, period." It works for us now, but we'll see how the others respond and learn as they grow up. 

So, here's what our house looks like.

We put the months of the year next to the pantry with birthdays of close family members. We have a lot of discussions here about how long it is until someone has a birthday, what month it is now, etc etc. 

In the living room we put up the numbers 1-100. Isaac had a goal to count to 100 so he could buy a new Fireman Sam game on the iPad. He reached that goal not too long ago simply by practicing on the wall. Jared loves to practice here as well and we've even caught Grayson pointing to the numbers and speaking in his own language :) (1-20 was on top, but we moved it because Jared is learning to count to 20 and he couldn't reach.)

The clock has post-its counting by 5 and we talk a lot about what time it is. 

I got this idea from a homeschooling blog. She has a daily schedule with no times on it. She said they do the same things everyday, like eat breakfast, get dressed, etc. This has been a God-send for us. Isaac thrives on it. He loves to go to the schedule and see what is happening next. If we go on an outing, which we do often, we decide together when we get home where we are going to pick up next on the schedule. My kids determine quit a bit on how their day will look. I know some would disagree with this method, but again, it works for us. They are getting independence, but also they are learning quite a bit of responsibility. For example, Larry and I were strategic in setting the schedule. We have a clean up time before a Bonus screen time at the end of the day. The other day the boys did not want to clean up, so Larry cleaned up and then he sat on the couch with the iPad while the boys moped on the couch and complained. We explained that they had a choice. No clean up means no screen time. Eventually they cleaned up and learned that you have to work for and earn things. 

If you look closely on the schedule we have "Homework time." We decided to call it that because the boys know that term and they call worksheets and specific learning time "homework time." One of my goals for Isaac this year is for him to begin writing. We've started with writing numbers on the chalkboard since we've been working on counting backwards and filling in missing numbers. He likes to reference this chart to practice writing his numbers. I didn't tell him to do that, but he is so used to references being around him, that he naturally referred to it. 

Isaac loves to read, so I posted some pictures here of what that looks like. We have made a change to the schedule as well. After lunch and dinner we are having reading time. The boys usually just want to go play, but I will sit and start reading a book out loud and it never fails that they all end up next to me. I love these pictures of Isaac reading to his sister :)

This is our "reading chair"and it's where I sit after meals to begin reading. It's also the "Let's throw things back here and then climb back and get them so we can climb back out" chair. I like our furniture to be multi-purposeful ;) 

Jared is practicing his counting :)

Of course, we are the Summerlins and I didn't want you to get the wrong idea. Many times homeschooling looks like this ;) 

P.S. No babies were harmed in the making of this blog. ;)