//
Browsing Tag

nature-based homeschooling

10 tips for nature based homeschooling in the winter
Homeschool, nature

Top 10 Tips for Nature-Based Homeschooling in the Winter

Until last year, I dreaded winter. Winter, to my gardening, barefoot self was a season of eternal inconveniences, discomfort, and grayness. After leaving Colorado, our winters spent in Hawaii went largely unnoticed, other than better waves and whale-watching. I didn’t skip a beat in our daily excursions, so our nature-based homeschool rhythm had a chance to really take root. When we came back, our first winters were an exercise in patience–and I didn’t enjoy them very much at all. I did, however, notice what a big dent that season left in our outdoor lifestyle. And I knew something had to change–specifically, my mindset about winter.

Continue Reading
secular homeschool science
Blossom and Root First Grade, Our Homeschool Week in Review series

Our Homeschool Week in Review 1/14 – 1/20

Falling Into Our Winter Homeschool Rhythm

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure statement for more information.

Our second week back from winter break was a busy one. We added a bit more of our academic subjects in, went on a day-long field trip, finished two more projects from the Rooted Childhood January collection, and spent the weekend romping in the snow at my grandparents’ house in Monument.

Continue Reading
secular homeschool
Nature Study, Our Homeschool Week in Review series

Our Homeschool Week in Review 1/7 – 1/13

Embracing Winter in Our Homeschool

It’s been awhile since I wrote a “week in review post.” Our late autumns and early winters tend to necessitate a bit of a stepping-away or dialing-back. I use the time to reflect on the year past, set my focus for the year ahead, and to enjoy the holidays with my family. We took the last two weeks of December, and the first week of January, off from homeschool and the much-needed break was heavenly.

Continue Reading
nature study books
Nature Study

Our Favorite Books for Nature Study

Here’s the thing: there is not a used book store, regular book store, library, book pile at a rummage sale, or Scholastic sale I can walk by without stopping and stacking up more books than two people can safely carry. I have a weakness, and her name is books.

It has always been, and will always be so. I’m pretty sure that’s why the Charlotte Mason philosophy resonated with me so strongly. I want shelves and shelves of books. And I want the rolling ladder so I can do that “Belle move” every morning as I swoon over my shelves and shelves of books. Continue Reading

homeschool room
Homeschool

Tour of Our Homeschool “Room”: Spring Edition

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure statement for more information.

I love homeschool room tours and videos where mamas share their homeschool spaces. It’s always fun to peek into the learning spaces of other families and see how they have everything organized and set up.

We’ve always been a bit on the casual side when it comes to our own homeschool “classroom.” In the winter, we curl up in front of the fireplace in the living room. In the summer, we spread out on the balcony between the calendulas and the zucchini (yes, we’re trying to grow zucchini on our balcony–it’s a science experiment.) The kitchen table features prominently throughout the year. Other than that, we’re talking stacks and bins of books everywhere, games tucked under our living room couch, and a modest IKEA rolling cart rip-off that houses our math manipulatives and art supplies. Continue Reading

reasons for homeschooling
Homeschool, Parenting

The Top 5 Reasons Why We Chose Homeschooling

If you gather a group of 100 homeschoolers together and ask them why they made the decision to educate their children at home, you will likely get 100 different answers. Although there are certainly similarities in the reasons that we jump into this endeavor, the heart of the matter usually comes down to specific needs of a child, values of a family, or (in many cases) a series of events that made that family decide to abandon public school.

And there is very rarely “just one reason.” Continue Reading

relaxed nature-based homeschooling
Parenting

The Beautifully Unhurried Homeschool

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure statement for more information.

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time (I mean a lot) thinking about homeschooling my children. It goes in waves–for a few months, I feel like I’ve got everything figured out and have cracked the code for what works. We’ve got a steady rhythm going, they’re engaged and enjoying themselves, and I feel good about where we are. But then we come down the other side of the wave and I start wondering, researching, reading blogs of how others are doing things, and for the next several months, I’m in tweaking mode, trying new things and second-guessing myself. Are we doing enough? Continue Reading