How We Homeschool

Even though a fair number of the homeschool population are bigger families, I still get a lot of 'how do you homeschool so many different ages?'  I also suspect I have a few friends/family that don't think we do it well enough, and since I've never really put it out there, I thought I'd give an overview of just how it is we homeschool.

The most important thing to know about homeschooling is that, just as every family is different, and every child is different, so too is every homeschool different.  On that note, here's how we homeschool!

Our Routine

The day starts extremely early around here.  Matt and I usually get up around 5 or 5:30am, I make a lunch for him while he gets showered and dressed.  It's not unusual for Reagan or one of the boys to wake us up, but often they only wake up just early enough to say goodbye to Matt when he takes off ridiculously early to NYC.

Once Matt is gone, we make something for breakfast, which could be anything.  If we do oatmeal or cereal, it's pretty quick, but sometimes we opted for eggs and toast, or pancakes and bacon.  Those days might be pajama days :P

Karol often comes down already dressed to catch up with her early riser siblings, so she's eating when they're dressing, usually with a book in hand.  That kid is inseparable from her books.

So anywho, after folks are all dressed and ready for the day, we do Circle Time.  I should note here that Circle Time and the general flow of our routine is patterned after what the kids did at Nazareth Nursery.  It made for a very smooth transition since the kids were playing, eating, exercising, and learning in the same order.  Circle Time opens with a game I call "Mommy Says."  In the summer, the kids can run around outside after breakfast, but once it gets cold we need to have some exercise to get the wiggles out.  Next comes morning prayers, the pledge of allegiance, and a loud and off key rendition of God Bless America.  After that we do group reading in math, history, science or religion.

After Circle Time, the days vary.  We educate year round and do a block schedule.  So on "red" days (M/W/F), the big kids do their book work using a very lazy version of the work box system.  The younger kids usually occupy themselves with Duplos, fun worksheets, an educational app on the iPad or iPhone, or if I'm desperate, a LeapFrog DVD.  The work boxes have 6 compartments and each one has an assignment for one subject.  This always includes handwriting, language arts, and math.

We read a chapter from each of their religion books on Monday, there's a worksheet on Wednesday, and if there are enough good worksheets associated with that chapter, another on Friday, otherwise no formal religion on Friday.  On Mondays they each read a whole story from their reading books out loud to me.  There's also often an extra book, science or history, in their workboxes to be read on their own (or I read it to them, if it's more advanced).  A good deal of the work box work Karol and Patrick do independently, or they just need to come to me when they have a question.

It's at snack times and lunch that I do most of the 'hands on' teaching or lecturing.  We approach education from the Classical Method, meaning we start at the beginning and work our way through history chronologically.  Science also has an 'order' to how it is studied, diving into a different subcategory each year.  When all the children are gathered for meals, I read from the Bible (the original, not a children's version) or from language, literature, history, math or science books that would interest all four of my students.

After the big kids finish their work boxes, they are free to pursue whatever academic interest they choose.  Often Karol and Patrick play math bingo, or work with one of the math manipulatives from their Montessori shelves.  Sometimes they prefer to get creative and we throw together an art project.  Karol usually has 2-4 books she's reading, so she's often on the couch with a book or two.

On "gold day," we have what we call "Preschool/Free School."  That just means I do preschool activities with Max and Reagan, and Karol and Patrick are on their own to work on subjects like music, art and foreign languages.  I dedicate a couple of hours to doing a couple of activities from our preschool level Montessori equipment, letter of the week activities, and Max also has a kindergarten level math book he's started working in.

Both Karol and Patrick are using Duolingo to learn French (and I'm using it to brush up on my German), and Karol is studying piano through Hoffman Academy.  Patrick will often practice coding - luckily the internet makes up for my computer science deficiencies!  Both kids like Splash Math - an app I absolutely love (it's totally worth the $9.99/grade).  Other than these, they're free to roam the Montessori shelves or read any of their school related library books.

Searching for the letter of the week.

Sometimes I come across more traditional worksheets that look fun and print them out.  I gave Karol a packet of about 6 worksheets all based on an excerpt from The Little Princess.  I don't ever present literature in excerpts (part of the Classical Method is reading whole, original works of literature, rather than bits and pieces taken out of context), but Karol's already read both a children's version and the original Little Princess, so I figured she'd enjoy the worksheets.  Not only did she have fun filling them out, but she was inspired to re-read the original yet again.  In one day.  She is a very fast reader!

When the school bus drives by around 4pm, I tell the kids, "School's out!" And I encourage them to play, if they aren't already.

While this is the boilerplate, there are still lots of days spent at the library (we have three in Fairfield!), a museum, or the beach/park/trails/lake.

Library fun!

Our Curriculum

For the young kids, I stick to Montessori Method as best I can.  For the big kids I use this Montessori resource and also follow the rubric in The Well Trained Mind for the Classical Method.  Even the baby has a 'curriculum!'  I've read Montessori from the Start four or five times now.

As for school books, we got a lot from Catholic Heritage Curricula, including:
MCP Mathematics
Language of God grammar series
Little Folks reading program
Faith & Life religion series

We also use First Language Lessons series for a deeper understanding of grammar and the Story of the World series, both written by the same mother and daughter that wrote The Well Trained Mind.

I've recently added the Life of Fred math series to supplement our math books.  It's math - from kindergarten to calculus - laid out in story form, and it's turned out to be a huge hit with every single kid.  I'm surprised at how many real mathematic concepts the author has weaved into a genuinely fun and relatable story.

So there you have it!  I know I didn't mention handling an infant or making meals (which is the ultimate juggling act) throughout the school day--perhaps that's for another post.

Mass Hysteria

So it's 6pm and I just informed Matt that I've reached that point in the day where I will no longer be useful. Now that I'm in the home stretch with this pregnancy, the fatigue and ever-increasing lower back pain reach the breaking point somewhere around dinner time. More and more I've started taking naps with Max during his morning nap, which pushes useless-time back to just after bedtime. But it seems like life is just getting busier, so naps aren't always possible.

Anyway, I thought I'd take a moment to write a post instead of, I don't know, pack. Or sleep.

Today is Sunday, and like every Sunday, we had a plan to get to Mass that was fast and efficient. And like every Sunday, it fell apart at the seams. The Church we attend most regularly, Ascension, is a 10 minute walk away, and the plan was (and usually is) for one of us to go to the early Mass - 8:15am with one or two kids, and for the other to go to the 11am Mass with the remaining children. Today it was going to be Matt & Max at 8:15 and me with Karol and Patrick at 11.

But Daylight Savings Time happened. So the kids I've finally got trained to sleep until 6 now slept past 7, as did Matt and I. By 7:45 it was evident that nobody was going at 8:15.

Well that's okay, Matt and Max can go at 9 at Holy Name, but Holy Name is a 20 minute walk, so Matt would need to be ready by 8:30 and considering he hasn't even had that pivotal first cup of coffee that starts the morning ritual timer, that is unlikely as well. On top of that, Max really needs to start his morning nap around 9:30-10, and that window will be completely shut by the time they'd be home - or worse, he'd fall asleep really late in the stroller and throw his whole routine off, which would take me at least until Wednesday to straighten out again.

Okay, then I guess we'll all just go to 11am. But Max probably won't wake up until 11, and I hate being late to Mass (or anything, really), so that's a no-go. Maybe me and the older two can go to 11 at Ascension, and Matt can take Max to Holy Name at noon? That would work, except the kids need some playground time today since they were stuck inside all day yesterday, and I can't really do a playground trip with more than one by myself anymore, so we'd have to wait until Matt's back at 1:20pm, then eat lunch, then go out to the playground - but everyone needs to nap no later than 2:30pm, so that leaves about 3 minutes of actual play time in the park after eating, suiting up and walking there and then walking back and getting ready for naps. AAHH!

So then we formulate plan C (or is this D?). 'Okay wait, I promised the kids yesterday we'd get ice cream, so let's have lunch ready for when Max wakes up at 11, go to noon Mass at Holy Name (which is fortunately right across the street from the cheap cone place and a nice playground) and have ice cream and play until 2:15 or so.'

And my plan would have worked, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids. Lunch was ready and the kids were dressed and shoed when Max woke up, but then a couple of them decided they didn't feel like eating. I informed them that I wasn't buying ice cream for anyone that hadn't eaten their lunch. Karol's attitude toward eating turned on a dime, but apparently Patrick isn't motivated quite as much by treats because at 11:45 Matt was frantically begging him to finish his food so we could go.

And then everyone pooped. Or at least the preschoolers. "I don't care if we're late, we are going to noon Mass!" I say. "Did someone kidnap my wife and replace her with you?" my husband says (remember, I would usually rather not go than be late to pretty much anything). So at 12:05 Karol, Max and I were waiting at the base of the staircase for Patrick to finish his 'work.' At 12:15 we are walking at a brisk pregnant pace (which is medium-slow for us normally) to Mass at a Church 13 blocks away.

I think we got in after the homily, somewhere around the Our Father/Sign of Peace time frame, slid into the almost-last pew as surreptitiously as possible with three tots. I spent the rest of Mass recovering from the walk to the Church and trying to keep Max from babbling loudly and falling off the kneeler and into the wooden pews, and getting out Karol and Patrick's Mass stuff (mostly coloring pages and handwriting sheets that currently have a Lenten theme). I think Matt is actually trying to pray and be Catholic - he's kneeling and standing at the appropriate times and everything (I've been playing the pregnant card on that for the past few weeks).

Then it seems like we've been there maybe 8 minutes, it's time for Communion (caught me off guard because I haven't heard a word of anything the whole time) and then boom, people are dashing out the door already. Usually I coat the kids up as soon as we get back to the pew since it'll take us until the end of the recessional hymn to be ready anyway, but I figured since we just got there we could hang out for a couple minutes and chill.

But now Karol and Patrick don't want to leave. "I didn't get to do anything!" Karol cries, referring to her coloring and handwriting pages. I quietly whisper "ice cream!" and she quickly packs up and heads to the door.

Ironically, no matter how late we are or how much the children misbehave, we always get several people coming up to us to say how adorable our family is because they miraculously turn into angels when it comes time to walk down the aisle for Communion. And Max was exceptionally cute today - he somehow managed to cut our whole family ahead of two people with his cuteness alone.

The rest of the day, ironically, went basically as I had outlined it - ice cream, playground, smooth segue into naps, and Karol even completed her kindergarten (homeschool) reading program.

So why is Mass always so difficult? We have a pretty good system for keeping the kids calm/occupied once we're there (although that's taken years, and Max is still in uncooperative toddler phase). We've got a good system for getting the kids out the door - it works Monday thru Friday relatively well. Maybe it's because Sundays are a later start and the kids get to have some play time before Mass? Is it because there's always a fall back - some other Church that has a Mass an hour later - so we take the time table for granted? Is it because really I'm dreading the whole experience anyway, so karma just makes it as bad as I already expect it to be?