Unique Education: Discovering My Love of Eclectic Schooling

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This week we began our homeschool year! I’m sure many of you are wondering why on Earth we would begin our year in the middle of the summer, so let me explain. My son finished his homeschool year in April and my daughter finished up preschool at the end of May. This means my son has had two months off, and my daughter one month. Our homeschool associations rules say we are allowed to start our school year on July 1st. By beginning our year now, it provides much more flexibility for taking days off when family is visiting or one of us gets sick. Flexibility is one of many reasons we chose to homeschool in the first place. It allows us the opportunity to learn alongside our children and teach them skills they wouldn’t learn in a traditional school setting. It also allows for a more personal education that can be tailored to the individual interests and needs of each child. The beauty of homeschooling is that it isn’t a “one size fits all” system, and there is no right or wrong way to homeschool.

School in July

Our schoolwork for the month of July is mostly to get us back into a routine and begin to re-build any skills that have slipped since last school year. This is also a great time to evaluate what areas might need some extra support in the coming months and look into any additional resources I might need. My kids are really enjoying their schoolwork so far thanks to these awesome summer workbooks from Brain Quest. Every time they complete a page they get to add a sticker to a huge map at the back of their books. There are also extra stickers for bonus challenges and “outside quests”. For them it’s a challenge to see how many stickers they can get in a particular day. Usually, we work on these for about 20-30 minutes, give or take. In addition, we do daily reading time. During the summer months my kids can pick what books they want. My son is reading the Wings of Fire book series and my daughter (wanting to be like her big brother) chose the Dragon Girls series. Since she hasn’t learned to read yet, my husband and I take turns reading chapters to her. Once they have both completed their summer workbooks, we will transition into our regular school year. That means we will spend a little more time on schoolwork each day, probably about 45 minutes to an hour most days. We will also do lots of hands on activities, field trips, library visits and reading.

Resources for this Year

Now for the fun part. We are eclectic homeschoolers, which means we don’t subscribe to just one teaching style or curriculum. This allows me to choose educational material that is much more catered to each of my kids needs and learning styles. For my son this is especially important because he is at different “grade levels” for various subjects. Over time I have accumulated a wide range of workbooks, textbooks, games, flashcards and manipulatives to use in our schooling. By not using one curriculum, I am able to create a unique learning experience to compliment how each child learns best and aligns with the goals we have for them. You will notice that we have quite a few games. I’ve found that games are a great way to break up the monotony of bookwork or to fix a little bout of crankiness. If you have ANY questions about any of these items do not hesitate to ask them in the comments! I’d love to give you honest reviews on any of these resources.

Mini Units

Nearly every week we do a mini unit study. These studies are designed to be completed in as little as one day with the option to stretch it to two or three days. Our first study for the year was on fireworks, which was so fitting for Independence Day. The kids watched a few videos about the history and science of fireworks. My son had a note taking page to work on while watching and my daughter worked on an “F is for Fireworks” tracing and coloring page. Afterwards they did a “Listening to Learn” activity which involves listening to and following directions to learn more about fireworks. Afterwards, my daughter worked on coloring a firework picture to work on fine motor skills while my son worked on matching the elements to what color firework they produced and took a short quiz to test retention. Lastly we did a fun art project making fireworks with shaving cream and paint. The kids loved this as they were allowed to get as messy as they wanted, and I loved the minimal supply list for a quick and easy project. The next night was the 4th of July so of course we went to a fireworks show so we could watch what we had just learned about in real life! Honestly, I learned just as much as my kids which was pretty awesome. I secretly get just as excited about mini units as the kids do. Most of our mini unit studies are from Peanut Butter Fish who I would highly recommend as a homeschool resource! The awesome thing about the setup of these mini units is that they accommodate several learning styles to really make sure every child can gain from the study.

Our Homeschool Setup

We don’t live in a huge house with a dedicated school room. Because of this I have to be more selective in what items I bring in. Our main school space is right at our dining room table. I purchased a small rolling cart which holds each kids workbooks and any supplies used regularly such as colored pencils, markers, glue sticks, erasers and crayons. In the corner of our dining room I had my husband put up a 2′ x 3′ whiteboard. This is probably one of the most used pieces in our entire homeschool! Shortly after the start of our 2023 school year, I realized we needed to have a place to write down homeschool events. I added a small dry erase monthly calendar on the wall above the cart (photo is from before I added this!) where we write down any practices, field trips, extra curriculars or other important events. This makes it easy for everyone to know what is coming up which eases a lot of chaos in our home.

After acquiring a small library worth of children’s non-fiction books from my neighbor, I decided to buy a small bookshelf to keep in our living room. This shelf allowed space to keep not only books, but other supplies that are used on a less regular basis as well as our learning games. It is our designated “homeschool shelf” and only houses materials for school. The only other supplies we really use are a couple of clipboards for our mini unit note-taking or outside work, and some personal whiteboards which are fun to use sometimes when the kids start to get bored.

Using Tablets

I’m not a big fan of tablets in daily life, but I realize there are a few apps that could be helpful in learning. Adding a second child to our homeschool means that I need to find ways to have some one-on-one time with each child and some days, tablets might help with this. Both kids have an Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro Tablet. Some of the apps I plan on using this year are Khan Academy Kids, Khan Academy, Scratch Jr., Endless Reader, Endless Wordplay, Dragonbox Algebra 5+, and Rabbids Coding. I am also planning on beginning a coding program for my son, but I am still trying to decide which one. Right now, I am leaning towards Code Monkey (if anyone has any experience with this please let me know!).

Record Keeping

Part of our South Carolina Homeschool Laws are that I have to keep an academic record and attendance sheet for each of my kids. For me, using a homeschool planner is the easiest way to do this. I use the planner in almost a backwards way. Instead of planning what we are going to do, I write down what we did. You can find the planner that I use here. It is super cost effective and has lots of cool extras like places to record field trips, book lists, account usernames and passwords, attendance logs, monthly overviews, homeschool goals, and more. Because they were so cheap, I bought one for each kid so I have lots of space to write down what we did.

Looking Ahead

When I look ahead at what we have in store this year, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. I really have to focus on some main goals for the year and just allow everything else to fall into place. Homeschooling is much easier when I let go of preconceived expectations and instead just follow what my kids need when they need it. My main goal for my daughter (Kindergarten) this year is learning how to read. For my son (3rd grade) it is becoming more consistent and confident in writing. I know it is going to be different than last year since we are adding my daughter into the mix, but the beautiful thing is that it’s not going to look the same year after year. Homeschooling has been amazing for our family and has offered us so many opportunities for real world learning and hands on experience. It’s also allowed us to have so much more time as a family which I am endlessly grateful for. I’m truly blessed to be able to enjoy these years with my babies, watching them grow and develop into their own individuals and allowing them to dive head first into anything their little hearts desire. If you are considering homeschooling, or wondering if it might be a good fit for your family and want to find out more, leave a comment, I’d love to chat with you!