September Homeschool Journal

Isn’t September like a breath of fresh air?

Something about the beginning of a new school year brings me a deep sense of satisfaction. It’s the time of year where I finally get to put into action the plans that I’ve poured and prepped over throughout the summer. It leaves me simultaneously excited and relieved.

I must admit that my other fascination with September is because it marks the beginning of fall(my favorite season) and then we go into my favorite time of the year. While I see friends sad to say goodbye to summer, I’m the jerk that’s drinking my PSL and gleefully awaiting the cold weather.

As for our first weeks of homeschool, they’ve been good. Did they go off without a hitch? Of course not. I’ll spare you the silly details of bee stings that turned into allergic reactions and mornings that went side ways for this reason and that. Our favorite distraction yet has been our chicks hatching under their mothers. My cute students spent a whole homeschool day sitting in the chicken coop. It’s basically a day dedicated to “field work”. I think Anna Botsford Comstock and Charlotte Mason would approve.

So what does a school day look like when we aren’t sitting in a chicken coop all day? I’d love to tell you!

An example of our schedule:

• Morning Basket – this typically looks like us starting off with prayer and scripture reading. Then depending on the day we read some poetry or a book that is part of our theme for the week. Sometimes we will do some painting or craft to start us off. Once a week we attempt to go outside for nature study as a part of our morning basket routine. We also love to include the Manners by Aliki book. It makes us giggle while reminding us how to behave politely. 🤭

Basically morning basket(or the start of a homeschool day) can be whatever you decide. If I’m bored with morning basket, my kids are probably bored too and that’s why I like to add variety in the days, weeks and seasons.

• Recitation – recitation is just what it sounds like. It’s the beginning stages of learning how to recite things learned. It helps with memory and eventually the skills we learn here will give us the ability to speak publicly but also to remember verses from songs, poems and scripture that are important to our lives. The things the girls are reciting right now is the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23. We also take this time to say our alphabet and all the sounds and reviewing vowels and consonants.

• Book Work – Book work is what the girls are typically most excited for. They love getting their hands on some curriculum(the apple may not fall far…). For this portion of homeschool we use memoria press classical curriculum. A typical day looks like calendar time, phonics, spelling(for the 1st grader) and math.

The girls have about two hours of school from start to finish. Sometimes give or take a few hours depending on attitude and motivation. This gives us time to do chores, play with animals, garden and the kids have time to free play!

I like to tell people that this is a good schedule for us for now, but as the year goes on and life changes and seasons alter our schedule we choose to flow with it. This means sometimes we’ll add a short read aloud time to the day for a few weeks until we finish a book. This can also mean that we step back from the crafts and extra enrichment activities until we’ve regained footing and feel up for it. Flexibility will be your best friend in homeschool and arguably life in general.

As I bring this homeschool journal to a close, I want to share some things that have helped me have the energy and motivation to cultivate home and education in the way I have thus far. Not because my home/parenting/education choices are anything to aspire to, but because I believe that we all have potential to do and be beautiful things. Unfortunately the world we live in doesn’t often teach us how to tap into that potential, rather it tries to sell us things that will make life easier and more bearable without having to do the hard work of changing things. Although I am an advocate for not making more work for yourself than you can reasonably sustain, I am also a firm believer that the easiest way isn’t always the most beneficial in the long run.

So with that said, here are some things that I have implemented in my daily life to keep me going:

1. Being daily in the Word. Reading/studying my Bible has been life altering. You may have heard it all on this subject, so I won’t droll on. However, I encourage you if you are a professing believer, the least we can do in this Christian walk is remember that giving our LIFE to Christ is a full surrender, meaning we can make the time if it’s important. When we realize the importance of His word as the sustenance to our souls we will be able to re-prioritize.

2. Resting in His incredible Grace. Boy do I need this. And so do you, friend. I fail miserably so frequently that it’s a running joke of mine. I couldn’t be a perfectionist if I wanted to. I need His good grace that reminds me of who I am in Him, especially when I want to beat up on myself. So when you’re having that rough day(week, month, year) with your kids and you’re embarrassed at how you’ve handled yourself, remember where your identity lies. Go to your children/spouse/friend in humility and sincerely apologize, and then try again. ❤️

3. Making beautiful things. Before you get frustrated and tell me you’re not a creative, hear me out on this. I often think that the act of creating anything is such a basic imaging of our most high God. What a privilege to be able to do that while we do things like garden, cook, make a work of art or even just taking a space from dirty and dis-organized to clean and tidy. Even if you don’t consider yourself particularly creative, you still create things daily whether or not you realize it. This doesn’t mean taking on more than you should(only you know your limit). This doesn’t even mean doing anything to perfection. This just looks like putting our best foot forward in the tasks in front of us and not diminishing our need for beauty and order in our lives.

4. Boundaries with technology. What my mind is consuming matters for my time and my mental health. Sometimes I fall into unhealthy patterns with social media and what I consume on tv. I feel like most people can relate to this issue. Sometimes we don’t even realize how impulsive the instinct to check our phone until we’ve lost it. Or we think that if we could just sit down and watch something we’d feel like we’ve had a break. I’ve found this to be untrue for myself. So I set some boundaries. It’s hard to be honest with ourselves about it because social media feels like connection or like if I don’t show up there I’m shirking a responsibility(this may be part of your job and if it is, I empathize and encourage you to continue to fine tune the structure that you need to stay sane). I deleted the apps off of my phone. I check social media on my computer(I know 👵🏻)or sometimes I just download the apps back as needed. It’s something that I use with more purpose now and sometimes it’s something that I feel really comfortable without. I also just replaced the time I was watching tv with reading and other activities. It’s been a really good thing for our family. If this is something that you feel like you would like to do, just try it for a few days. See what happens.

I hope you all have a beautiful September. May your PSL be extra spicy and your school year be a blessing. ☕️📓