Homeschool Life So Far

We are just weeks into our new homeschooling lifestyle, so we are adjusting and learning a few things, but I thought I would give you a few weeks in update on our journey! I have definitely learned a few things about myself, the boys, and our lifestyle overall which has been eyeopening in many ways. I have had doubts and different feelings I didn’t expect, but overall we are loving it!

For all of you asking, we went with Wisdom as our schoolboard because we have more opportunity to choose what we teach him as they are quite open and don’t hover over you too much. If I didn’t have my mother-in-law who has homeschooled 6 boys, I might not be so brave about what I teach him and may have gone with a more structured schoolboard, but I am so thankful to have her help and wisdom!

We did decide to go with Alpha Omega’s Lifepac for his curriculum and have found it to be well laid out and easy to navigate through! We love that is also allows us to add in Christianity to his education in every subject, and they do a great job with not overdoing it, but still teaching basic life lessons throughout the curriculum!

The Future

Homeschooling my kids is not something I ever pictured myself doing. I grew up in public school, sure it had it’s issues, but overall it was an alright experience based on the schools themselves. Every child is so unique in how they learn and how they communicate and socialize, and I am so happy we had Jackson in public school for kindergarten to gain confidence, meet new friends and learn about being in a class social setting. We do plan to continue homeschooling this year and have him assessed next summer to see if he qualifies for a school with a more challenging curriculum. At this point, I do not plan to homeschool throughout, but anything can change!

Why we chose to homeschool

If you are newer to the blog, I’ll just give you a brief look into why we chose homeschooling for Jackson. About 2-3 months into his Kindergarten year, we had his teacher assess his reading level which ended up being end of year grade 4 level, and Jackson being the youngest in his class just squeezed into kindergarten at the earliest he could. After months of research, asking opinions and looking into how we could keep him challenged in a public school setting, we analyzed all of our options and decided to try homeschooling him for his grade 1 year.

Jackson has responded so well to homeschooling so far which has made the transition so easy. We wake up in the morning, have our breakfast, get dressed, and right away we dive into school work. At this point we study bible, math, language arts, social studies and science every day, however we are flying through the curriculum faster than expected. His favourite subjects are bible and math - totally not surprised! He gets so excited to see what we’ll be learning in the morning, I am praying his excitement lasts a while longer.

We spend our mornings doing school work, then weather permitting we try to get outside on an exploring adventure, collecting pinecones for a future craft, or just getting out energy at the park! I have been doing some baking with them to help learn measuring, and when I can figure out how to better balance my life and get myself together I plan to put in crafts and extra puzzle activities to keep us busy in the winter months where we’re stuck indoors.

Personally, this process has been an adjustment for me in all aspects. We went to the park the other day, and there were a few other kids there. It was the first time I saw that Jackson will almost always be the oldest kid at the park by far as the rest of his age is in school full time during the year. I know homeschooling is becoming more common, but in our area it isn’t as much and that has been a mental adjustment that I’ve had to make. I definitly am looking to find a homeschool group in the area to meet up with, I think this will mentally save me this winter!

Balance, focus and preparation are all things I need to work on in these coming months, but as snow is already starting to fall, I am really not minding our slow mornings bundled inside!

I will update you again in the coming weeks about our journey! Comment below if you are homeschooling and if you have any advice, craft ideas or encouragement!