Homeschool Hubbub Archives | Heavenly Homemakers

What I Teach My Kids about Geometry, Food, and Budgets

July 14, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’ve always been a very practical person. I’ll even admit this to you: When my kids ask me during an advanced math lesson, “Mom, when will I actually use this Geometry or Algebra 2 stuff in real life??” I’m like, “So sorry Dude, YOU WON’T.”

But then I make them do it anyway.

Will some kids grow up and use the Geometry and beyond-basic Algebra lessons they learned in high school? Absolutely. But all of my kids (so far) are more creative types. In fact, beyond some very basic pre-algebra skills, not ever in all my 47 years of life have I used the high school level math I learned as a teen.

Oh, except for what I’ve had to relearn so I could teach it to my kids, who will also not likely ever use it. But I’m not bitter.

So like good little soldiers, we complete the courses anyway, and here’s how I explain it to my kids:

It’s a state requirement for high school, therefore we will complete these classes. And we will keep a good attitude while doing it (except for when we don’t, because there are some lessons that only Jesus-as-Tutor could help us understand). But what you are really learning about while doing these difficult lessons? Hard work. Discipline. Perseverance.

Amen. Preach it, Mom.

So now you know how I really feel about upper-level math classes that all of our kids are required to take. I think you already know how I feel about identifying gerunds and diagraming sentences.

I just so much prefer to teach my kids about things that matter to our family. Jesus. Caring for others. Life skills.

So we plow our way through the harder, less-practical-for-our-lives-stuff. Then we focus our time more on what we know we’re going to need and on where our gifts and interests lie.

Food, Budgeting, Leadership…

This year’s Homeschooling Bundle piqued my interest because it includes really practical courses and books about things like:

Leadership for your teen
How to run a business
Personal finance (banking, budgeting, and buying)
Photoshop for kids
Creative writing
Prepping your high schooler for college
Scavenger through the grocery store
Building strong readers
So much more

THIS is how we love to learn at our house. And we’re sort of not actually homeschooling anymore. Except that we are. This explains it all.

So practical skills that we all need for life – that is where it’s at.

And also: FOOD.

Because of my love of food, and because of the fact that every one of us needs to know how to shop, plan, and cook food, I made all of these for us to give to our kids:

This is a 2-in-1 package that includes:

Fun With Food activity book for kids ages 2-10. It’s full of fun menu planning, grocery shopping, and budgeting activities that are practical but almost game-like. Never before has learning the skills of menu planning and grocery shopping been this much fun!
Feed Your Friends is a book for preteens and teens. It shares inspiration and tools needed to learn basic meal planning and cooking, and it’s all centered around teens cooking with and for their friends. I would have loved having this during my teen years!
PLUS, both of these come with a set of recipe cards that can be printed and turned into a recipe flipbook to use in the kitchen. The recipes included are kid/teen favorites!

Let’s teach our kids real life skills.

Let me say this again though: Even if you don’t homeschool, you homeschool. Because we are our kids’ first and best teachers, no matter where they attend school. So look at this with an open mind, grabbing the resources to help your kids of all ages learn so many valuable life skills!

Our Bonus For Teens:

Here are a few more details about our Feed Your Friends package.

I know how this works. Most teens love to hang out with their friends. All teens need to learn basic cooking skills before launching into the real world. So I put together this package just for teens, full of recipes, party planners, and more so that they can practice their cooking skills with and for their friends!!

It’s a book full of printables plus a file full of recipe cards that they can print and turn into a recipe flipbook to have in the kitchen!

Bonus for kids ages 4-10:

Here are a few more details about our Fun With Food package:

It includes a 30+page printable book full of fun activities to help them learn to grocery shop, budget, and plan simple meals. This is hands-on, fun learning – activities I’ve never seen before but created to be fun and almost game-like. But ah yes. They’ll be learning too!

Plus the book full of blank recipe cards, menu planning activities, grocery shopping/budget practice, and more.

All of this has been so much fun to put together! Here are a couple of sample pages to see some of the included activities:

They also get a file of recipe cards to print and make into a Recipe Flipbook.

I love it when practicality and fun go hand in hand. These packages are a win in every way!

I’ll give them all to you for free as a thank you for purchasing this week’s Homeschool Bundle from our links.

But wait. I don’t homeschool!

It’s doesn’t matter. WE ALL HOMESCHOOL. Read my thoughts about this here.

Just don’t let the word “homeschool” in the bundle title scare you. These resources are for everyone. I’m using them even though we mostly don’t homeschool currently. Because we learn from home all the time!

Get your bundle here. (offer expired)

Then email me and I’ll send you all the freebies!!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Is Our Family Still Homeschooling?

July 14, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Today seems like a good day to update you on whether or not our family is still homeschooling…

I’m not great at keeping you updated on life, and for good reason. Here’s a small scrapbook to show you what takes up our time and energy these days:

And oh yeah. Asa’s getting married next month!

When people ask me, “How many kids do you have?” I absurdly stutter around for several awkward seconds like a weird-y weirdo because I honestly don’t know how to answer.

The breakdown:

One of our foster babes went back to live with bio family, but he’s still with us three days a week and we still claim him as our own. We’re adding a daughter-in-law to the mix, and she totally counts as ours. Justus also has a serious girlfriend; she is our girl too. We currently have four foster daughters. We have four bio sons and two adopted sons. And there are at least 2o young adults/college students that come and go from our house regularly for food, laundry, and hugs.

So Laura. How many kids do you have?

I don’t know. 27?? 32?? Eighty-twelve??

Currently, though, I’ll go ahead and land on the number ten. That’s the official number as of today, which includes our bios, adopted, and fosters. Today, we have ten kids.

I guess I still haven’t answered the original question though:

Is our family still homeschooling?

The short answer is yes, we are. But also no, we aren’t. Eh?

I’ll explain.

About a year ago, I shared how God led us to put Brayden (our now 7 year old) in public school to help meet his many academic and emotional needs. Head here to read more about that.

How’s it going?

So, so well. Our public school in York is fantastic and is offering Brayden so much of what he needs right now. We are so thankful!

He will start 2nd grade there in August, and his 5yo sister (our foster daughter) will join him as a kindergartener.

Meanwhile, our 16yo Malachi will be doing a hybrid-type of schooling for his junior year. He’ll take two classes at our public school, which will allow him to participate in extra-curricular activities (soccer, tennis, show choir, one-act, and whatever else our extraverted child decides to become a part of). He’ll also take three college classes per semester this year to knock out as many dual credits as possible. And he’ll finish up any regular homeschool credits he needs to meet high school graduation requirements.

So technically, we’re still homeschooling Malachi. But really, we’re just guiding him through college courses and equipping him for adulthood.

But here’s the big truth about homeschooling:

We. Are. All. Doing. It.

Or at least we’d better all be doing it. Officially or unofficially.

No matter who is the main academic educator of your children, as parents, we are all and should be still teaching our kids. We teach them about loving and following Jesus first. We teach them about loving and serving people. We teach them to work hard and share and care and take turns. We teach them to put others before themselves. We teach them to be responsible and for goodness sake please take your dishes to the sink and your trash to the trash can.

And what else? We turn everything into a teaching opportunity. (Ok, not everything. Sometimes by the end of the day, I cop out with “good question I don’t know go brush your teeth” because my mouth is so very tired of talking to so many people all day long. I admit it.)

But (in the morning after I’ve had coffee) when my kids ask a question about the bug they find on the leaf outside, we have fun finding the answer (because there’s an app for that). When we scoop flour into the mixer, we count out loud. When we realize that every kid got to crack three eggs to help with breakfast, we add them all up to see how many that makes altogether.

I read books to them. They read books to me. They read books to themselves. We talk. We explore. We memorize scripture. We talk about budgets, money management, running a business, running a home, running for office, running a race, running for cover (tornado drill, anyone?).

You don’t have to be a homeschooler to homeschool.

Does this make sense? Call it whatever you want, but know the truth: You are your child’s teacher. You are their best teacher. Their first teacher. Their most important teacher – no matter who teaches them to sound out words or explains the finer points of Algebra (and shall we all now take a moment of silence to appreciate these professionals who pour into our kids so that we can avoid having to hurt our brains trying to understand exponential equations?).

Will our family ever homeschool again?

Again, we are still homeschooling. We’re just currently sending our younger kids to public school, and we are so grateful for this wonderful option for our family right now. ;)

But will we ever homeschool again in the traditional sense?

We’re waiting for God to tell us that answer.

Right now, we feel 100% confident that public school is necessary for our kids and also for me with all I am juggling (four kids ages two and under, court, caseworkers, baby’s medical needs and physical therapy, etc).

However, I also sometimes look at our shelf of books with longing. I look back at our years of homeschooling memories and I miss it.

But I also remember how much work it is. It was good, meaningful, worthwhile work, but it was hard work. And I don’t miss that right now. I don’t have the bandwidth to do it well right now. Our kids need more academically than I am able to give.

We are confident that God will make our kids’ educational needs clear in the coming months and years. So while we’re gratefully turning their academics over to the public school teachers, we’re still teaching them at home as God leads us to.

We hope you are too. No matter what educational route you’ve chosen for your family. :)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Why I Don’t Love Christian Homeschool Curriculum

June 6, 2021 by Tasha Hackett Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Woah! Did Tasha just say what I think she just said? Tasha doesn’t love Christian homeschool curriculum? Ho, hum. Well, no. Yes. Kind of. Here’s the thing. I do. But I don’t. Clear enough for you?

Why I Don’t Love Christian Homeschool Curriculum

by Tasha Hackett

Without diving too deeply into all the arguments, the main reason is because I love reading the Bible with my kids. That’s it. I want to pick up the Bible and read it. I want to gather my four kids around and snuggle together on the couch and read. We also gather around the table and copy verses. Often I am stopped every few verses with ideas, opinions, connections, and questions. Either from one of the kids or myself.

In a nutshell, I’m too selfish to give up my own family Bible reading habits to make room for the other Bible reading required by Christian homeschool curriculum. Does that make sense? I tried a first grade curriculum a few years ago that included Bible stories for the reading lessons, Bible verses for handwriting, Bible text for ancient history… and by the time we added in Sunday and Wednesdays, I didn’t feel like adding extra devotionals for the family and I sorely missed that time. The time is precious when we just read the Bible with no expectations or questions to answer or papers to write. Just listening to God speak.

I do love curriculum written with a Christian worldview!

Last August I started the Early American History collection with my kids and we loved it. The course provided a good amount of books that were interesting to all three of my listeners (currently 9, 6, and 4). The baby didn’t care. This isn’t a “complete” curriculum. I still added a reading course for the Kindergartener, I needed Math and Language for the 3rd Grader, Handwriting for both, but our focus was American History guided by the books and characters provided in the kit. Currently, the 9-year-old is studying and memorizing the Declaration of Independence. Yes, you heard me right. We are memorizing it. He and I can practically recite the first two paragraphs already by memory and boy do we feel smart! We plan to have it ready to recite confidently by July 4th. (Even if it’s not memorized, reading it well is a challenge!)

Okay, so I do like Christian curriculum.

But I don’t prefer curriculum that uses the Bible as its main history text because my kids already read it with me, and they will continue to read it for the remainder of their lives. Therefore, I’d like to study other things for our school time. Laura has mentioned a few times that we do school, but we don’t “do Bible” and I agree. She’s emphasized the importance of Bible and God being more than school. Reading the Bible isn’t something I want my kids to forget about once they check it off their school to-do list and think that it doesn’t carry through the summer and adulthood.

That being said, if you love curriculum with the Bible stories included, go for it! But it’s not for me.

I’m already itching for NEW BOOKS.

Does this happen to anyone else? We’ve barely finished and I’m looking for what we’re going to read next. Ha! So I have to share with you the news. We’ve decided to study world history with Around the World with Picture Books I and II from Beautiful Feet Books to guide us. I’ll use that and supplement with either the History of Science or History of the Horse for my 4th grader. We’re charging forward with Saxon Math for 4th grade, and we’re trying out Writer’s in Residence for him. Curriculum can break the budget, but I’ve been saving and I’m ready for it. There are many more affordable options—namely the library and free books online. Did you know you can print math worksheets for free and watch YouTube videos on just about anything… #truth. But for me, I do prefer to own the books and then I don’t feel rushed.

What about you? How do you integrate the Bible into the school day?

Tasha Hackett is Laura’s friend, fellow homeschooling mom, and author of Bluebird on the Prairie. She eats a good amount of homemade chocolate and all agree that she dances too much on Instagram (@hackettacademy), but she spends most of her time with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. Learn more about her at www.TashaHackett.com.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Fearful of school? This can help.

August 12, 2020 by Tasha Hackett Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Fearful of school? Here’s what worked for Tasha, and it’s beautiful advice!

Fearful of school? This can help.

by Tasha Hackett

Pushing Back Fear

I’ve found many helpful things to push back fear. Practical, tangible, concrete ways to stay grounded are so helpful for me. Fear can keep us from doing anything and everything. Niggling doubts and insecurities have a way of sucking the joy out of what could have been an amazing adventure. When we’re faced with making a decision the fear of picking the wrong one can keep us from picking at all until we’re out of time and are stuck to simply go with the default or what may appear to be the easiest.

Write Down Specific Fears

When I was overwhelmed with making the decision to homeschool my oldest I did not know if I was doing the right thing. I would make a decision in my mind and immediately question my choice, therefore I would flip the other way. A pros and cons list never helps me. Maybe because I’m a wordplayer and can manipulate anything to sound the way I want it to. What I finally ended up doing changed everything.

How was I ever going to do this with another baby on the way?

I started writing down every doubt and fear and question I had about homeschooling. In my heart it’s what I knew I wanted to do–I just didn’t want to do it. Essentially, it became a page of fear questions. And it looked something like this:

What if he misses his friends? Will I lose my temper too often and yell at him? I’m going to be too tired when the new baby is born? Wouldn’t it be better for him to be in school when there’s a newborn at home? What if his siblings are jealous of the extra attention he demands? Can I teach him everything he needs to know? What if the school thinks I’m weird because Ben is still teaching there? Is it weird for a family who works at a school to homeschool their own kids? Isn’t that sort of hypocritical? What if I never have time to pursue my own interests again? What if my family doesn’t support me? Is Ben be willing to pick up the slack around the house? What if I completely botch the whole thing and have to send him back to school next year and he’s behind?

After the Fears Came the Truths

When my fears filled most of a page I started a clean one to answer all my questions. This became my page of truths. And it looked something like this:

We can schedule meet-ups with his school friends and will make more friends through the homeschool group. I will probably lose my temper some, but this is a personal problem that needs to be addressed whether or not I’m homeschooling. I will be tired with the new baby, but how wonderful for him to get to experience his baby brother. Loving and caring for a newborn is more important than anything I could teach him through books. I will have fun toys and games to play with the little ones while he does his school. Kids are only here for a few short years, there will be plenty of time to pursue my interests, also I can involve them in my life, that’s part of the joy of homeschooling. My family does support me. Ben is always helpful when I ask him to help with chores around the house. I’m not going to botch the whole thing, and if something happens and I have to put him back in school, that would be embarrassing, but nothing that I couldn’t move on from.

Through the next week, I added more fears and more truths. Eventually, I was able to pinpoint a few main things I was most worried about and a beautiful thing happened: I was able to practically set aside the emotion connected with all those would-be fears and look at the situation logically. When I took away the strong emotion connected with it, it was a simple decision. If I wasn’t afraid, I wanted to bring him home. And that’s what I did. I didn’t pull him out or even start homeschooling. What I did was bring him home and it was the absolute best thing.

I Started With Nothing

I had no curriculum or lesson plans, or year overview. I simply asked him, “What would you like to learn about?” And he said, “crocodiles.” We checked out every book the library had about crocodiles which launched our two-month study on crocodiles and learned loads of new vocabulary, geography, science, math, some paleontology, and archeology. Because we drew pictures of them, saw them at the zoo, and watched videos about them, they came to life in so many ways. Did you know a healthy crocodile can live up to two years without eating? Do you know what an osteoderm is? Did you know crocodiles communicate with each other over distances by the distinct way they splash their torso in the water? Did you know mama crocodiles will sometimes take turns watching the babies? Our studies naturally led to Ancient Egypt and we studied the culture and geography of Egypt, and how and why they built the pyramids. I learned SO MUCH with him during those first few months of school and the younger siblings were there for all of it.

Their toys took on new roles after studying the Egyptians

Interestingly, we almost never used a table or desk because we were reading books on the couch or building things on the ground. The second semester I bought a full curriculum and as valuable as it was, I missed those early months of school with him.

This pyramid building project lasted for days.

I Know You’ve Made a Difficult Decision

If you have kids at home, you have made decisions regarding their school. I don’t want to talk you into homeschooling. By this time, you’ve decided where your kids will be going this fall. But I don’t want you to enter into homeschooling with fear–or send your kids to school in fear. Whatever you have settled on for this school year, I want you to be at peace! You know what’s best for you, for them, and for your family! You’ve looked through the options, you weighed the merits of each side, and you’ve made, or will soon make a decision. And then in three months, everything might flip over on its head and you are allowed to change your mind!

How parents feel signing their kids up for school Fall 2020

You are not Ariel! As funny as that picture is, it’s just not true! Yes, you want to be consistent, but if the finality of the decision is bothering you, realize you have not signed your soul to the follow-through of either one. (But I would suggest not telling that to your kids, as they may not put their best foot forward.)

Fear Did Not Influence My Decision to Homeschool

When I brought my oldest home from first grade, it was not an easy decision. There were family reasons that influenced my choice to bring him home, not a pandemic, but I still agonized over it. I was full of doubt for many months leading up to it.

Fear is real, and too much is not healthy. The scriptures are loaded with encouraging passages reminding us to “fear not” and that “perfect love drives out fear” and to “cast your anxiety,” etc. God really wants us to live at peace in him and let him guide us. But practically, what does that mean? What does that look like from day to day? How can we lean on him and simply fear not? Are we not still responsible for evaluating the options and making an educated decision and when both options have their pros and cons and neither answer is perfect and we have friends on both ends who are perfectly happy and what if we screw it all up and pick the wrong one and ruin everyone’s life forever!? You get me? I know I am not alone in this struggle with anxiety and fear and trying to hold everything together. The best answer I can give you to push back fear is to actively push back the fear… make sense?

Be in the Scriptures

Wait, come back! Okay, Jesus is the answer to everything, right? I almost didn’t add this Jesus paragraph because I don’t want to suggest some cliché solution or to make it one-stop in a lineup of others. God isn’t the priority that you can check off and then move on to the next thing, rather he’s the center that permeates out into everything. Considering this, please understand that though the above suggestions are concrete solutions, tangible, they are done with a calm mind and the comfort of knowing God’s love is greater and bigger than anything this physical world can throw at you. Being daily in the scriptures and finding ways to connect with the Holy Spirit through study and worship will calm your mind in more ways than you or I will ever know.

Remember You’re Not Alone

Be sure to check out the abundance of resources Laura has already provided here. You don’t have to reinvent anything! I’ve written about Beautiful Feet Books curriculum, and a step by step guide to start homeschooling. Laura has shared about how she makes the start of school special each year, and how this year is going to look different. And we have a whole section of homeschool resources included in your membership!

What is helping you launch this school year? How have you handled the doubts surrounding this year?

May your school year be blessed with peace and joy and lots and lots of smiles.

Tasha

Tasha Hackett is a friend of Laura who likes to encourage mamas and write about money and school and Christmas. When she’s not forgetting to water her pot of flowers or pick the zucchini she can be found reading books to her four children, launching new business ideas with her public-school-teaching husband or serving a dry crust of bread to her family. Laura is still here and @heavenlyhomemaker, she just let’s Tasha play on the blog a couple times a month. For more homeschool shenanigans you can find Tasha personally on her Instagram account @HackettAcademy.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Back to School Routines – How to Make them FUN this year!

August 2, 2020 by Laura 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Whatever school looks like for you this year, might I suggest that you continue some of your normal back to school routines? You can most definitely still have a lot of fun with this. Here are some ideas!

This post contains pictures of my grown-up kids back when they were little. Remember these guys?!

We’re starting our 18th year of homeschooling. Every year before we officially begin a new school year we:

Order books and basically have an unboxing party when they come in! (Read: excitedly spread books and materials ALL OVER THE FLOOR. This is one mess that mom doesn’t care about and most certainly contributes to.)
Make school supply lists for each kid and go shopping together – and yes. I make them pose in the school supply aisle for our annual picture. Then we go out for a fun lunch. (Said lunch used to include free kids meals which made the final bill very small. Now? I don’t want to talk about it.)
Have a special prayer time the night before our first school day.

Numbers 1 and 3 can easily be accomplished even with COVID. We’ll have to get creative about accomplishing #2 – but WE WILL DO THIS IN SOME FORM. I love this family tradition too much to nix it.

Back to School Routines – How to Make them FUN this year!

Consider what your family typically does in the weeks before a new school year starts. While some of you may be distance learning or homeschooling for the first time this year – if at all possible, still do your traditional back to school “things.” I’m guessing your kids are longing for some sort of “normal” and most certainly they need something to look forward to if you’ve all been stuck at home for months and months. Here are some ideas:

Shop for clothes.

Even if your kids don’t need as many school clothes this year. Even if you can’t actually go to the store. Online shopping works. New shirts are fun. And the excitement of picking out some new items as a fresh school year begins may be a nice pick-me-up for your kids!

What about picking out new school supplies?

A new school year means new pencils. Folders. Notebooks. Make a list of what each child needs, even if the list is minimal, and let them be a part of choosing their new items if possible. Perhaps find a fun basket or tray to house all of their supplies. Maybe set up an inviting schooling area in your home.

Something for lunches?

If your kids are used to packing a lunch every day for school, but will instead be eating lunch every day at home, I think it’s a nice idea to allow them to suggest some fun lunch items they might like as a new school year begins. Hopefully, this will double as a win for the parents who likely need some easy lunch foods ready to grab out of the fridge as you all settle into a new routine!

Ah, the extracurriculars…

Many of them are canceled for the fall. So is there a way you might be able to organize something active and safe for the kids in your neighborhood? Or at the very least, make a plan for your family to do something active and creative together in the afternoons or evenings. If your kids are into music or drama – come up with says to sing and act. Make videos. Play charades. Be intentional. Have fun.

The last hurrah

Our family has had this tradition for 17+ years and by golly, I’m going to figure out how to keep it going this year too. (Why yes I do plan to make Asa drive from out of town to meet us for this. Even though he’s done with college. Even though he’s fully adulting with a full time job and a retirement plan. I’ll buy him something for his work or for his house?? Whatever gets him here.) :)

As I mentioned above, our tradition is that every year we make a list of school supplies we need, go shopping together, then eat lunch at Runza, our local favorite fast food restaurant. Since we almost never eat out, this is always a huge treat.

It’s worth noting that our years of school supply shopping have gone from crayons and glue sticks to college dorm rugs and trashcans and…back to crayons and glue sticks. This year we’ll be shopping for both (school kids 1st grade through college senior!!).

Can we actually make this last hurrah happen? Taking our huge tribe to the store for shopping together this year may not be an option. So I’m brainstorming for how we can still shop together somehow. Runza is a given, because at the very least we can go to the drive thru and eat our food together at home. Hmmm….

That little baby looking at his kindergarten school list is heading to college in one week.
I’m not crying. You’re crying.

Start a new tradition!

So this year is different. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. Be an example to your kids by letting them know how excited you are about some of the fun changes this year brings! Brainstorm with your family for ways to celebrate this new school year – different though it may be. Ice cream for dinner the night before school starts? Popcorn and prayer time as you head into a new year? New pajamas for everyone for the first day of homeschool? Vote on a homeschool mascot? Be creative – have fun!

Here’s to a great new school year!

God is biggest. And because of this, we can count on many great blessings as we head back to school!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How Do I Start a Homeschool?

July 26, 2020 by Tasha Hackett 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

So you think you can start a homeschool? Enjoy this article from Tasha!

How to Start a Homeschool

By Tasha Hackett

Going back to school looks different this year. In light of everything going on in the world, many are choosing to homeschool. You may be sick of hearing about it! What are schools going to do with the COVID situation? Do we homeschool because we want more protection in the school or because we want everything to go back to normal? Even parents who never wanted to homeschool their kids, ever, are looking into homeschool. If you’re a seasoned homeschooling family, go ahead and forward this article to someone needing encouragement.

Where Do I Begin for Homeschool?

So let’s say, hypothetically, that you wanted to homeschool your kids this year. You may be asking, “How do I even start? Where should I begin? What do I do first?”

There are amazing resources everywhere and I know it can be overwhelming. I’ll break down the essentials of homeschooling for you in a few simple steps.

Legal Steps to Take Before You Start a Homeschool

First, make sure you’re going about it legally. You are not allowed to simply buy a few books and tell your friends you’re homeschooling. Your kid will be just fine, but the government frowns upon that and you could get into trouble. (Most likely your local school will call you and find out what’s going on, and then they will tell you to do what you should have done and say, “Tisk Tisk.” But let’s avoid that.)

Go to hslda.org/legal (Home School Legal Defense Association) and find out what specific laws are required in your state. Some states require yearly testing, others just want a signature. For Nebraska, we signed a form, named our school, and filled out another form with our local school–including putting birth certificates on file. You can have fun with this and name it something creative and inspiring like, “Sunshine Unicorn Lollipop and Rainbows Happy Homeschool” or “Hackett Academy” or you can move right along and be amazingly simple: “Coppinger Homeschool.” This is not a game-changer and the government doesn’t care.

Promise me you will not freak out when the form asks you complicated questions and use fancy words like “the scope and sequence” of your curriculum (don’t make this answer complicated) and ask you to “provide instruction in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and health.” I’m telling you not to be threatened by this type of chatter.

What they want to know is simple: Are you going to teach your kids and take them outside and go for walks and let them know what’s going on in the world? Yes? Good. Next. Play around on the HSLDA website, there are lots of goodies there that are helpful for beginners. Just don’t get lost in the weeds.

So we’ve covered the legal aspect of homeschooling, now what?

Now the real Homeschool fun begins: Curriculum!

This is where every family has their own opinion and some will fight to the death for Saxon Math and A Beka Language Arts. We love the curriculum book packs from Beautiful Feet Books and Sonlight. But we also use a hodgepodge of other resources. For Preschool/Kindergarten, Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve is a golden standard.

For peace of mind, you can purchase an all-inclusive curriculum pack from a huge variety of Homeschool publishers. This is a great option if you are nervous and want to make sure you have everything covered. But seasoned homeschoolers may tell you this is unnecessary.

Essentially: Pick something and run with it and then be flexible. You’re allowed to change your mind if you hate it. But you might love it.

Homeschooling a Kindergartener

Just have fun! This is the year they should learn to love learning and love school. This isn’t the time to bog them down with busy-work (unless they really love worksheets, and some children do.) I would not recommend an expensive math curriculum for Kindergarten or 1st grade. Kindergarten math means counting and shapes and patterns, learning the days of the week and months of the year. Kids do not have to learn how to read in Kindergarten unless they are inclined to.

Laura Ingalls paper dolls.

Multiple studies have proven that accelerated learning in the early years (before seven) DOES NOT increase reading ability, grades, or advanced placement in the later years, and can in fact have the opposite result. (Read any of the homeschooling books by Dr. Raymond Moore for more information on this.)

Legal boxes checked and homeschool books picked out, now what?

You will have to decide what works best for your own homeschool. No one is an expert in your kids the way you are. My habit is to set aside time each morning for school, Laura does much of hers in the afternoon.

Protect your mornings (or whatever time you have set aside for school). Set aside certain hours for school work and protect that time. Don’t answer the phone, don’t play on social media. Turn off the TV. Don’t schedule dentist appointments or random park dates or lessons during your school hours, within reason. (Remember how we’re still being firm… but flexible?)

Make a plan and be consistent, but relax if things need to change. If mama is stressed, everybody is stressed. Protecting your mornings doesn’t mean you must be a rigid taskmaster.

A Sample Homeschool Schedule to Start With

Our homeschool day will look something like this but yours may be entirely different:

6:00 AM Mom awake and prepare for the day.

7:00 AM Kids wake up. (We have a rule they may not come out of their rooms until 7 AM)

7-8:00 AM Dad off to work. Breakfast for all. Daily chores and general clean up.

8-9:00 AM Morning Time (We start our homeschool day all together, with the baby on my lap and the others sitting on the couch with me. Memory work, poetry, singing, check calendar to what’s happening the rest of the week.)

9-11:00 AM Other book subjects. Language, Math, Reading, (Baby will have a morning quiet time in crib from 9-10, toddler will play. Small snack at 10.)

11 – 1:00 PM Free play for kids. Lunch. More play and chores if needed.

1-3:00 PM Quiet Time. (May play quietly alone. Read, write, draw, etc. This is life for a family with littles home together all day.)

3 – 5:00 PM Snack and then outside play.

5 – 7:00 PM Dinner and Chores.

7-8:00 PM Bedtime routine with Dad

8 – 10:00 PM Mom and Dad hang out.

You Can Start a Homeschool! You Got This!

When I first started, even though I was homeschooled as a kid, I felt lost trying to figure it all out as a parent. But really, you’ll be okay! Fill out the legal forms, choose a few basic books/curriculum, and arrange a generic daily schedule. Boom. Done.

You’re Not Alone

We have many resources available right here on this site. You’d be surprised how much support there is for homeschooling once you start looking! If you’re feeling lost and afraid, remember that there are thousands of others faced with making the same decision you are. Chin up!

Be sure to share this article for all your friends who are struggling with this same decision; a basic step-by-step plan is a great way to calm your nerves.

Subscribe for more homeschool, homemaking, and simple meals encouragement.

Blessings on your new homeschooling adventure!

Tasha Hackett, friend of Laura, is a second generation homeschool mom x4 living in the heart of Nebraska. She spends her free time, (haha, she has no free time), reading and writing Christian Romance novels, and DIYing anything that needs done. She’s a huge promoter of being debt free. Laura is still here! Tasha is only a contributing author a few times a month. You can find Tasha @hackettacademy and on Laura’s IG account @heavenlyhomemaker.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How I’m Organizing our Homeschool Days

July 22, 2020 by Laura 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’ll share today about how I’m organizing our homeschool days. But if I’ve learned anything during the past 18 years of homeschooling, it’s that flexibility is key!

In many ways, as I sat down to write this post I wondered if someone else could write it for me. :) How exactly am I supposed to organize our homeschool days? Our high school sophomore can do most of his work on his own (if I help him stay organized with these planners). But our first grader needs almost constant direction. Meanwhile, our babies have turned toddler and well, they are busy.

I considered doing all of Brayden’s school work with him during the babies’ afternoon nap. But I need part of their naptime to:

Do my blog work.
Breathe and have a little downtime after a very full morning.

I prayed about this quite a bit, because who’s better to offer direction on what seems to have no solution but the One who gave us all these kids in the first place? So here’s what we’re looking at for our 2020-21 school year:

How I’m Organizing our Homeschool Days

1. Kid Folder Solutions

I created a very simple but brilliant folder solution for both Brayden and Malachi. Before a new week begins, I’ll fill the boys’ folders with work for the week ahead. This means that if it’s a printable, I’ll print it and put it into the folder. If it’s from a workbook, I’ll tear it out and put it into a folder. Instead of asking Brayden to “go get your math book” then “go get your handwriting book” then… I’ll simply have him get out the days’ folder and everything we need will be in one easy place.

(Club Members will find this printable pack of resources in both the “Printables Collection” section and the “eCurriculum” section of the membership site. Come and get it! Get yourself organized. Work yourself out of a job.)

Also – I’m using the Homeschool Planners here for both Malachi (10th grade) and for myself. He needs a list to work off of to help him stay focused. And I need plans out of my brain and onto paper. These planners reallllly help us both!

I actually experimented with this idea during the summer before officially beginning our new school year, just to see how it would work for all of us. BRILLIANT!!! I’m loving this so far!

Which leads me to…

2. Printables and workbook pages are working for us.

They haven’t always, because my boys all tend to prefer hands-on learning. But I’ve found that it’s working well right now to have simple math, handwriting, and enrichment pages ready to pull out of each day’s folder (fresh pages go in the right pocket, completed pages in the left).

Brayden and I work on these at the kitchen counter in the mornings after the babies have had their breakfast and are content to play (and make a monster mess) in the living room while we work. I can watch babies and help Brayden at the same time, mostly. This is actually helping Brayden learn to already become an independent learner, which is very good for him.

Once the babies are bored with playing in the living room and Brayden has worked his way through as much as possible…

3. Brayden takes a worksheet break and we move on to free play.

Since the weather is so nice, we use this time to take long walks. The babies love strolling with us and are content for at least an hour! So they stroll while Brayden and I walk and learn. We’ve discovered new kinds of flowers, caterpillars in cacoons, varieties of train cars, food people have growing in their gardens, construction workers and machines — everything can be educational! And while we’re walking, we are talking (non-stop, ehem) and learning.

Once winter hits, these times of walking-and-learning will end. But we’ll find new ways to explore and learn, no doubt!

Smoothies for the road are highly recommended. :)

We play more, we have lunch, we check on how Malachi is doing with school work and video editing work (he is working remotely for Asa!)

4. After the babies go down for a nap in the afternoon…

Brayden and I sit and read. History books, read-alouds, and Bible. This takes about 45 minutes, then Brayden has some screen time while I get some blog work done (and drink coffee, obviously).

Our little experiment has worked well so far, and hopefully this will be our basic structure for the upcoming school year. But again – flexibility is key. We have no idea what this school year will bring. So we’ll make adaptations as needed.

What is your upcoming school year looking like at this point? Know that I am praying for all of us as we head into many unknowns this school year. :)

P.S. If you haven’t yet, please consider joining us here. You will love the useful resources!!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Back to School Looks Different. Might this help?

July 20, 2020 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

To say that “back to school looks different” this year is kind of an understatement. Even for those of us who have homeschooled for a very long time, it looks different. Will there even be field trips, co-op days, our regular P.E. group days, etc? :(

But for some of you, the changes surrounding the upcoming school year are even more difficult. For those of you who never intended to homeschool and have chosen it for this season. Or those who are planning to do distance learning at home through your local school. Or those who are cautiously sending your kids to the school building knowing that things will look much different than normal. I’m proud of all of you for choosing what is best for your family during this season.

And teachers?

Oh, teachers. Those who love their classroom because of the dear students who fill it and learn inside its walls. I am really sad for you as you’ve endured so many changes in both your career and in your life. And I admire you. You’ve had to make so many adaptations and have worked harder than most of us realize. YOU HAVE ROCKED THIS. I’m amazed at you.

I have a hunch that classroom teachers long for normalcy more than the rest of us – and that’s saying something. Well anyway, this post is intended to be one of encouragement and hopefully lots of help too! Let me head in that direction now, but I couldn’t do that without first acknowledging the pain and challenges that put us all here in the first place.

“Back to School” Looks Different

While none of us are walking the exact same path (and aren’t we glad that God has different and perfect plans for each of us!!) – what I’ve seen for almost everyone is that our plates are all just a bit more full than they used to be.

It’s funny, isn’t it? There are fewer places to go and perhaps not as many outside commitments with so many activities and events canceled. But at home? Well, the cancelation of outside events means that we are all home more, which can make our work at home much bigger than it used to be in some ways.

For instance, if everyone is now working from home and schooling from home, the house gets messier and more meals and snacks need to be made. Take it from a long-time work-from-home-and-school-the-kids-from-home mom. The messes are real and frequent and the hunger is real and constant!

If you’re used to grabbing lunch at a restaurant during a lunch hour and counting on your kids to eat at the school cafeteria – suddenly you need to figure out lunches at home. If snacks used to be eaten in the car on the way to sports practice after school – suddenly snacks are requested every afternoon just about the time you thought you’d catch a five-minute breather.

Thanks for the encouragement, Laura.

Hmmm. I told you this post was intended to encourage, but here I am pointing out more changes and harder work!

But wait. I do have encouragement and help and resources! I have so much encouragement you won’t even believe it. (Really, I do.)

First of all, there’s this: While almost everything around us has changed, GOD HASN’T GONE ANYWHERE. He knew this was coming, He has been at work all along, and because He is a God of good plans for all of His people, He is constantly at work to teach us more about who He is and how He loves us. God is bringing so much good to all of us during this time! Do you see it? Do you recognize it? Just think about all the good God has done during these past months of change and trial. HE IS SO GOOD.

(And yes, even if we’ve experienced extreme hardship during this time, He is still good, still at work, and still working out His good plans. Hardship is how we learn more about who He is. I know this. I’ve experienced this.)

Here’s where I’m hoping to help.

All I’ve been able to think about recently is how I can help and what I can offer. I have 12+ years of resources here at Heavenly Homemakers, and I put the best of them all in our Heavenly Homemaker’s Membership Club site. But I kept thinking that I needed to add more. More to help us all as we figure out more meals at home, more snacks at home, perhaps more about schooling at home, and all the planning and organizing that comes with this new journey we’re all on (different as it may be for each of us).

First, let’s talk about Menu Planning.

What I felt was the biggest need for most of us is figuring out food (or maybe that’s simply where my brain always goes because I love everything about food). How can we all feed our families well without having to:

reinvent the wheel
spend more time than necessary
or work harder at something that we don’t all love to do?

Our membership site already offers an entire year’s worth of Simple Meals packets ($52 value). But I knew we needed more. So the packets are still there, but instead of leaving the section as it was, only offering pre-made menu plans and grocery lists, I exchanged this section:

With THIS:

It’s an entire page filled with Menu Planning Resources now!!!!!

It includes:

52 weeks worth of Simple Meals planning packets (like it always did) and also…
Our exclusive Recipe Search Bar – so you can type in any ingredients you want to use and find recipes that work with those very ingredients – incredible!
A brand new packet of printable and practical Menu Planners for you to fill in and use in any way that works for YOU.
Cheat Sheets!! (These are my favorite new resources!!) These cheat sheets are filled with lists and links that include 100’s of ideas for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks! So instead of thinking on your own and spending a lot of time scrolling and reading and brainstorming, you can simply pull up these Cheat Sheets and skim them to get all kinds of wonderful, simple, tasty, real food ideas!

And here’s a little peek at a few of our new printable menu planners. Some of them allow you to only plan meals and snacks, like a regular menu planner. Others give you the option to plan your entire day – with appointments and to-do lists and oh yeah, your menu plan too! That’s my favorite planning page – so I can plan my entire day from school to appointments to meals all on one page!

And what else did we add to the Heavenly Homemakers Membership Site?

More Homeschool Resources

While we already offered an entire section of Homeschool Encouragement articles:

And we already included a huge selection of homeschool curriculum and printables and materials:

But we just added more. And we had in mind everyone from veteran homeschoolers to new homeschoolers to online distance learners and classroom teachers!

Here’s what’s new:

We created over 50 printable enrichment pages.

While I love our Sonlight curriculum, I always also have files on my computer full of activities and worksheets and printable books I can use to encourage further learning and fun for my kids. The goal for these sheets, also, is to give my kids activities that they can work on in their own time, without much help from me – hopefully!

These printables cover subjects from math to science, to English, to reading, to social studies, to brain stimulation.

Homeschool Planners

We also created and added a packet of Homeschool Planners to our Club Membership site. This includes planners for both students AND parents!

Here’s a little sample of what some of the planners look like:

And the simplest but perhaps my favorite…

Kid Folder Solutions

This is how I’ll be organizing our boys’ school work for this year. The idea is simple and that’s what I love about it. This will help them (from 1st grade to 10th grade this year!) be more independent plus it will keep all of their work in one place. I love this! Club Members, check out Kid Folder Solutions in both the “Family Learning Printables” section and the “eCurriculum Collection.”

$50 added to our $1,000+ worth of resources!

So in summary, while our Club Membership site already includes well over $1,000 worth of helpful resources, we just added over $50 more! Club members enjoy:

all of our eBooks and eCurriculum
our beautifully organized recipe section,
a page full of Kitchen Tips
a page full of Family Tips
a page full of Homemaking Tips
loads of Homeschool Encouragement
and now a fantastic new Menu Planning Resources page!
Plus we’re slowly adding articles to our Foster Care and Adoption Journal if you’d like to follow along. :)

Join our Heavenly Homemakers Club!

We’d love for you to enjoy all of these resources and more. :)

Already a member? Go check out all the new resources we added!! Read to join?

Get even more details about what our Heavenly Homemakers Membership Site offers here.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Laura’s Favorite Books for Homeschool (and how I feel about starting over)

July 17, 2020 by Laura 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

If you’ve been reading here long, you already know my favorite books for homeschool. But who doesn’t love talking about books? So I thought I’d share again and talk a little bit about what our school year might look like.

Do you like how I said, “…what our school year MIGHT look like”?? I’ve been homeschooling for many years (18!) and if I’ve learned anything about homeschooling or about life in general it’s that one should not make firm plans. Instead, one should try to be fairly organized, but be willing and open to changes that are sure to be necessary!

What? Life is uncertain?

Yes, just a little bit. I’m looking at you, COVID. But on a personal level, I will share this example:

Malachi is a sophomore in high school this year. (Asa has graduated from college, Justus will be a college senior, and Elias a college freshman/sophomore.) We had planned to homeschool for just three more years and then tra-la-la right out of this homeschool life that we’ve loved so much.

Then two years ago God (long story short) said, “You know how you got rid of all your elementary school books? Well, here are some more kids for you to raise and teach. Indeed, you are starting right over again. Go ahead and order all the books again.” If this hasn’t been the biggest lesson in not making plans, I don’t know what is.

It’s also been the most beautiful lesson.

So here I am, with my adult and college sons out of the house. And my sophomore “baby” who has now become the oldest of four boys at home, hahahaha.

What might school look like this year?

Malachi will be finishing most of his high-school-only classes this year and begin taking college classes for dual credit for the rest of his high school years. You can read here about how we do this for our family.

Brayden is a 1st grader this year, and I need to tell you this:

We have truly loved homeschooling our older kids. But I was tired and truly ok with and even excited about being finished three years from now. When God gave us more babes, I actually had to grieve a little (more than a little). I thought I was done raising kids and teaching and training and chasing. I was ready to move on, and I might have already danced a jig on the biology book I thought I would never have to teach from again.

While I was so grateful and amazed and excited that God was adding to our family, I simultaneously grieved the loss of what I thought my life would be at this point. It’s hard to explain, but my feelings were big and intense.

What if homeschooling wasn’t the answer?

We considered public or private school for our new guys. It’s not that we’ve been opposed to the school system anyway, especially in our area. Homeschool is simply what we believe God led us to with our older four sons. So sending our new ones to school when the time came…might that be what this new season would bring for us?

But God said no to that option, at least for now. We prayed for months over this, and we only had peace about homeschooling. Brayden especially needed the stability and daily consistency that homeschooling would provide. So I said, “God, if you want us to homeschool these babes, please, please make me want it.”

And He did.

Only after experiencing such hard emotions over what this new life brought could I experience the big joy over what God said yes to. He truly made me want to do this again. It is all Him.

God does not give us these challenging gifts with a pat on the head and a “go get ’em!” No, He gives us these gifts and He says, “I will provide you with everything you need to serve me in the ways I’ve asked you to.”

God absolutely made me want to – and even excited about – homeschooling all over again. I might even be more excited than I was when I homeschooled “Round One” because I know more now than I did when I first started out 18 years ago. Our God is good, big, faithful, and the best provider there is. I love how He works, and I love experiencing His goodness in these brand new ways.

There are no words for the beauty of this life with Bigs and Littles.

So we ordered this years’ books, and I cried.

Why? Because seeing the books and remembering the beauty of my time with our Bigs back when they were my Littles has been precious. And thinking about how much I love our new Littles and how I can’t imagine life without them now, and realizing that I get to live this life with them and enjoy these books and times of learning with them – well. I cried.

I GET TO DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN!!!

I snapped this picture when our box of Sonlight books came in and sent it to our Bigs saying, “Remember unboxing day?!” They had a variety of fun responses. Yep, they remember!

Brayden is excited to be considered a first-grader this year. He’s a bit behind in a few academic areas, so we’ll be working through the Sonlight’s Kindergarten history, readers, and literature books. We’ll give him a mixture of K-1 math lessons from a variety of sources. He’ll do grade 1 handwriting (Getty-Dubay). We’ll get books from the library to learn about whatever he is interested in. We’ll do lots of enrichment activities (more about this soon!).

I started with Sonlight 18 years ago and while there are many more options now, I still always go back to Sonlight. Part of this is because it’s familiar and comfortable. But it’s also awesome, so why change what’s working for us, right?

My Favorite Books for Homeschool

My favorite thing about Sonlight curriculum is how there are no textbooks involved. We read awesome literature together, learning history and science in a more natural (and more fun!) way. Not only that, the history and the reading options almost always sync up. So when we are learning American History, the readers are from that time period too. Or if we’re studying World History, the readers go along with that era. And they are age/grade appropriate. I just love this!

So that’s a bit about our upcoming school year. Though I have more to share about how I’m trying to organize our days to actually make school happen since we are also chasing around two busy toddlers while keeping up with a high schooler and a college community. So stay tuned for that post!

Tell me what your upcoming school year is looking like! So many are choosing to homeschool this year because of the changes COVID has brought to us all. Have any questions? I don’t know everything, but I do have many years of experience and can answer what I can!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Tasha’s New Favorite Books for Homeschool

July 12, 2020 by Tasha Hackett 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’ll take my turn to share my favorite books for homeschool too! For today, check out Tasha’s excitement, experience, and enjoy her encouragement!

Tasha’s New Favorite Books for Homeschool

by Tasha Hackett

I’ve just stumbled upon an amazing homeschool resource! Beautiful Feet Books is my new favorite. Is it weird that I’m already looking forward to the next nine years with my firstborn so I can read more of these books for homeschool?

Do you ever look at a homeschool mom and wonder, “Wow. How does she do it?” Or maybe it’s cringe-worthy and you think, “Jeez, why would someone choose to hang out with their kids all day?”

I get it. Maybe it’s not for everyone. But boy, when all the pieces line up and you get to see the one-year-old crawl into the eight-year-old’s lap for a book and a snuggle and the three and five-year-old are busy cutting paper for a project they’re developing on their own… that’s where the magic happens. I homeschool for a variety of reasons, but one is the gift of learning with them through the reading of great books.

Round two looking for homeschool books

Second generation homeschooling mom here. I always knew that I would homeschool my kids before I even had them. Today, I can tell you, I’m in it for the long haul! This year I have a 3rd grader, a Kindergartener, and an almost four-year-old that doesn’t want to be left out. (Oh! And the one year old will be getting into everything in the meantime.) But things haven’t gone as smoothly as I’d hoped.

My firstborn went to Kindergarten and fall semester of First Grade at the public school before I committed (again, for real this time) to homeschooling. It’s been a journey, to say the least. But I am beyond excited for school to start this year. Only five weeks left! I’m just waiting on one more order of books to arrive from Beautiful Feet Books and then I’ll have everything in place. Am I organized this year or what!?

You’ve Got This

If you are jumping into homeschooling, whether by choice or necessity, just breathe. And smile. You will be amazing! Your kids will think they have the very best mom who loves them so much. Just think, you get to be the one to witness the “ah-ha!” moment when it just clicks.

When “Just carry the one!” finally makes sense, you get to be there to celebrate with him. You get to have slow mornings and hot chocolate whenever you want. Imagine taking the time to snuggle for a picture book at 10:30 am. You also get to sit side by side with your older ones and dig into Algebra again, but You Can Do This!

You’ll be great. Especially with all the great resources available to us now. (Keep reading for a promo code to my new favorite bookstore!)

This is how homeschool kids have fun. Haha, just kidding!

Thanks, Mom!

My mom, bless her heart, did the best she could with what she had, ya know? When she started homeschooling me, she had not been dreaming of it for years like I’ve been doing; there was no internet or Facebook homeschool groups. She had a daughter who was struggling, picked on by teachers, physically sick, and shy to the point of anxiety. (Hey! That was me. I’ve overcome mountains of insecurities. Thanks Mom for doing what was best for me.)

Point is… she had a paper curriculum catalog, and a once-a-year book fair. She figured it out on the fly mid-year with three girls under eight. (I turned out great by the way.)

Now I’m planning my kid’s school-year and I have the entire world’s resources available to me and sometimes it’s just too much. I know about Charlotte Mason, and Classical Conversations, and Montessori, and Waldorf, and Unschooling, and Wild and Free, and Traditional, … and wait a minute! You mean you can’t just get History, Math, Language Arts, and Science textbooks and just go with it anymore?

Textbooks are out, living books for homeschool are in.

Dear fellow mothers, I am bursting with excitement. I want to tell you ALL THE THINGS about homeschooling, but I really need to focus here. Just the facts, ma’am. I was homeschooled with textbooks. I sat at the table (or the couch, or my bed, or the car) and I read my textbook, I took the quiz, I took the tests.

What if I told you there’s a better way?

I’ve found some of the true joys of homeschooling with the Charlotte Mason idea of using “Living Books” for much of my curriculum. A well-written biography of George Washington that reads like a novel is going to leave a longer-lasting impression than a chapter on George Washington in a History textbook.

I have researched and researched and researched such books and finally stumbled upon Beautiful Feet Books. They sell “curriculum” packs that are not textbooks, but a collection of books in a theme at varied grade levels. For this fall, I ordered the EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY PRIMARY JUMBO PACK: over 20 books for only $210. Believe me when I tell you this is the cheapest price you will find for these books. I price checked the individual books at three other sites. (And you know I did. I spent two hours price checking. So… you’re welcome.)

Spend less time researching books and more time playing in the sprinkler this summer.

You can customize your pack.

Beautiful Feet Books allows you to adjust your book packs. If you already own a few of the books in the pack, or (like me) you don’t want to bother with the lesson book that accompanies because you already have a separate curriculum you’re using, it’s no problem, just click the option “Customize your pack.”

Or, you have the option of purchasing the books individually. You get the idea. We are focusing on American History this year, so I was glad to find a ready-made pack of American History stories for K-3rd. It will fit into our year perfectly.

What if I told you the books are already homeschool mom approved?

I let my order sit in the cart for three days deliberating if I should place the order or not! In the end, I went for it after reading at least thirty reviews from other homeschool moms. Being able to pick a book out of a stack and know that it’s preapproved, at grade-level, interesting, historically accurate, and appropriate is a huge weight off my shoulders.

Later this month I’ll tell you more about what I’m planning for Hackett Academy this year. For now I’m working on getting the papers and binders and pencils all in their places. Five weeks is plenty of time… but I’m doing my best to start out on the right foot.

Homeschool = Flexibility

One of the joys of homeschooling is how easily it adapts to your life. I had a baby last year. We spent more time loving on a newborn than we did learning about George Washington, and I have no regrets about that. With so many little ones who aren’t strong readers, trying to juggle multiple subjects in multiple grades would be impossible, I’m looking forward to learning with my kids all about our country’s history, and doing it all together. I’m beyond grateful someone else took the time to find these amazing books and put them in a collection for me. Now all I have to do is open it up!

Want to check out Beautiful Feet Books?

Beautiful Feet Books is a digital storefront that sells living books in all grade levels, from the illustrated Leif the Lucky to Beowulf. Purchases can be made individually or in a curriculum pack with a teacher’s guide (or customize your pack by removing the books you don’t need). Have a look and tell me what you think! Use the code BFB2020 for free shipping during the month of July.

Are you a homeschool family? What are you excited about this year?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!