An unpopular opinion

Here’s an unpopular opinion from a homeschool mom. It’s OK if your homeschool has curriculum, structure, and routine.

When I first started homeschooling I sought advice from seasoned homeschoolers. I visited popular blogs and I asked friends who were already homeschooling: If you could give a new homeschooler one piece of advice, what would it be?

Everyone seemed to agree: don’t make homeschool feel like school because homeschooling isn’t school.

At face value that seemed to make sense and I thought I understood what they meant.

For years our homeschool didn’t have a set “start time”.

For years we all sat around the table at the same time.

For years I created the space for ample free play.

For years we combined multiple subjects across all grades.

For years I tried to make it not “too academic”.

For years we have spent over 1,000 hours outdoors annually.

For years my teaching style was eclectic: unschooling for science, unit studies for history and literature, classical for math.

Our mornings included free play. Only when I felt that it was time did I call everyone to morning basket. Then everyone did math at the same time, reading at the same time, history at the same time, etc. All gathered cozily around the kitchen table together.

Years passed and each year didn’t get easier. I struggled.

I always felt like there were gaps and holes in what I was teaching and what they were learning. As I added more and more children to our homeschool table, I started to see my older children grow frustrated that I wasn’t giving them my full attention. The younger ones struggled with concentration as I taught other grade levels while they worked. What seemed to work for so many other families was not working for mine.

I loved the freedom of homeschooling and the trips and activities that we were able to do, but I found myself constantly tweaking our school day, our curriculum, and our routines. I was never happy with the end result.

Put simply: the first five years we homeschooled I never found a rhythm that brought us all peace. I never found a rhythm that I was so pleased with that I carried it over from one year to the next.

It was time to face the music. I realized that as my kids grew older, what we had done before was no longer working.

Three years ago I went against the advice that I was initially told and we completely changed our homeschool structure, curriculum, and expectations.

We start at a set time each day after our family devotion. We do not combine any academic classes across grades. We follow a structured (but rich and vibrant) curriculum. We learn (and memorize) Latin. We think it’s important to memorize facts and dates.

This was the part that (shouldn’t have) shocked me. Even with this shift we are still done with school before lunch. We still have hands-on experiences and learn in nature. We continue to have hours and hours of free play each school day. We have the freedom to travel, experience our world, and come and go as we please. We still surpass more than 1000 hours of free play outdoors annually.

I think many people fear (I know I used to) that a more structured homeschool automatically means that you have to sacrifice childhood. As homeschoolers (and parents) we read books about children barefoot and exploring the forest, having ample amounts of free time in nature, and a rich childhood deciding what they want to learn.

In the past three years I’ve often wondered: why can’t they have both? Why can’t they read and discuss classic literature, complete a rigorous algebra lesson, and conjugate latin verbs in the morning while then having their afternoons free to pursue their interests and barefoot adventures? Why can’t we have rigorous academic standards three weeks of the month and then travel and explore a National Park together the fourth week?

I’ve found that the more structure, routine, and challenging academics our homeschool day has, the more my children have risen to the occasion and have had a more well-rounded academic experience on top of preserving their childhood. I’ve found that they take pride in academic work that is difficult, yet rewarding.

These are things that also build virtue and character.

Unlike just a few years ago, our homeschool looks a little bit like school from 8:30-12:30 each day.

But maybe (and here’s that unpopular opinion part…) that’s not such a bad thing after all.

November Mix + Diffuser Refill

When it comes to picking what to diffuse, I tend to find a combination that I love and then shamelessly fill my diffuser with the same thing for basically the entire month. Kind of like a good playlist. You too? Then this is the only recipe mix (see what I did there?) you need this month.

This blend is the perfect blend of spice and citrus and is perfect for fall. It’s my current go-to each morning when I fill up my diffuser!

Snippet from my week

This weekend we headed out to Anza-Borrego State Park for an overnight camping trip and an off road trail that’s been on our list! Sandstone Canyon was absolutely stunning!

Thanks for reading! Are you a homeschooler? Do you know someone who homeschools? I would love to hear what you are thinking! Just hit reply if you’d like to respond. (When you hit reply, your message goes directly to my email. It’s a private conversation between just us.) I read all your messages and try to respond, but not always in a timely manner. Sorry! And if you enjoyed this email, you’d be doing me a favor by forwarding it to someone else who might like it.