Simple Homeschool

I have a tendency to make things complicated. It must be my tendency towards clutter.

I don’t want complicated….

Nor do I want clutter….

But I keep finding myself bombarded with options and choices. I’m learning to say no, but I’m also finding that it takes time and practice.

When it comes to educating my daughters at home, I find that the simpler, the better. There are so many good options out there – methods, curriculums, resources, ideas, crafts, field trips, co-ops, etc.

Schooling goes best for us when we weed out the unnecessary, and focus on just a few things.

5 ways I’m keeping our Home School simple this year:

1. Home - I want to be home, fully and completely, at least 3 week days (more if possible). No errands, no field trips, no reason to get in the car. The days we stay home are the good ones. We get so much done, including plenty of free time to pursue our own interests. We read, we create, we play, we rest, we learn.

2. Simple Curriculum – There are so many options and good ideas floating around. I would love to do it all, but have found that when we keep it simple, learning gets done and we all stay happy. Trying to do it all wears me out. I love our curriculum this year (we are doing a classical education approach). By having a few key goals for each of my girls this year, I can stay focused and say no to all the other good ideas.

3. Library – I want to give my girls a literature based education. We read every day, several times a day. We read individually and as a group. Because of this, the library is like a second home to us. Like me, my girls cannot walk out of the library empty handed.

4. Simple set up – No fancy classroom here. No fancy desks. We do have a designated schooling area, but it’s used throughout the day for other things as well. The girls use this small table or our dining room table for most of their work.

5. Life – So much of our learning happens when we close the books and are done with “school”. We use our weekend family hikes to explore and learn about nature, as well as count (by twos, fives, tens, hundreds, in Spanish), and so much more. I try to look at every thing we do as a learning opportunity ~ grocery shopping, home maintenance, weekend adventures, etc.

discovering sea urchins in a Canadian tide pool