OUR Version of Homeschooling

I knew I wanted to homeschooling my kids before Sophie was even close to school aged. I threw myself into it, became totally overwhelmed with the options, and panicked.

To this day, I still have to remind myself that our days don't have to look just like public school days. The children don't have to be sitting at desks all day long doing busy work.

Our days are filled with parks, nature walks, pretend play, cooking, hide and seek, house chores, grocery shopping, reading, and SO MUCH MORE. Sure, we sit down and do a few worksheets here and there, but not for 7 hours a day.

My children are soaking up so much knowledge without even thinking about it... And I love it. They are learning HOW to think, as opposed to learning WHAT to think.

We often pack up a few workbooks, lunch, sketchbooks, and oodles of crayons then spend the entire afternoon at a park.

This week we went to the park with our cousins. The 3 year olds and I pretending to be pirates on our ship, gathering treasure (acorns), and fending off the evil mermaids (the 6 year olds). We sailed around Spooky Mountain and through the Slime Sea.

 Just this afternoon we spent a whopping FOUR hours running around at Kidmania with a local homeschooling group.

Sophie loves to learn new skills. Yesterday she sewed together a warm winter blanket for Finn all on her own. She was so proud of it, she was practically glowing.

Art is a HUGE part of who I am, so I make sure to share that with my kids. Now that we get less sunshine during the day, I felt a need for a change. We decided to add some of our own sunshine to the apartment. The kids were more than happy to help me paint the wall.

 Sophie has a little section in her school binder for her own recipes. The other day she made soft pretzels and they were delicious. Giving her responsibilities does wonders for her sense of self worth. She loves that we trust her with so many things.

The girls always love to join me when I pull out my art case. Pastels, watercolors, acrylics, washi tape... so much fun. They have free range of my "good" art supplies, and I just love to see their creativity flow.

Someone is always half naked at our house, usually Mya. We are free spirits over here.

Finn loves to get in on the pretend play too. He makes a fantastic super hero.

I am so grateful to be able to stay home and teach my kids. (Even if they drive me to binge eat chocolate chips.)