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Homeschool Planning with a Master Course of Study

Homeschool Planning with a Master Course of Study title with partial spreadsheet

I’m a list person. I love lists. If there’s a problem for me to solve, the solution will probably involve a list. And, if it’s a list in the form of a spreadsheet, all the better!

Now, even if you’re not on the same page as me about lists being the answer to life’s most pressing problems, please hear me out. 

There’s one list – and, yes, it’s a spreadsheet *giddy squeals* – that has helped me plan out our homeschool years more than any other resource I’ve made or bought. The best part is, it’s *EASY* and *FREE* to make and highly customizable. 

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Ways We Customize The Story of the World Curriculum in our Homeschool

Ways We Customize the Story of the World Curriculum in our Homeschool title with stacked books

(There may be affiliate links in this post – click here to learn more. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

We love The Story of the World history curriculum.  

(And, given that I loathed history when I was a kid, it’s no small potatoes for me to say that I love a history curriculum!)

After using Tapestry of Grace Primer for my oldest son’s first and second grade years, we started Volume 1 of The Story of the World and haven’t looked back.

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An Interview with a 5th Grade Homeschool Kid

An interview with a 5th Grade Homeschool Kid title with cartoon child speech bubble

I’m a homeschooling mom who was public schooled. From time to time I wonder what it’s like for my kids to be home educated. Do they like homeschooling? What are their favorite and not-so-favorite parts about their education? 

Well, the best way to find out is to ask – so I did. 

The following is an interview with my oldest son. I’ve tried to capture his exact responses and he’s read and approved of this post. 

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Our Homeschool Summer Break – Year 5

our homeschool summer break year 5 title on grass background

I’d like to start this post with an apology for any neck injuries you may have sustained by following this series of posts.  It’s been like watching a tennis match!

Back and forth I’ve gone, trying to find the sweet spot for our summers. More academic? More relaxed? Over-scheduled? Lazy days? Seems like we’ve tried it all.

We’ve finally caught up to real time in this series – we’ll be heading into our 5th official homeschool summer in less than a month! 

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Our Homeschool Summer Break – Year 4

Our Homeschool Summer Break Year 4 on grass background

If you’ve been following this series (if not, start here), you’ll probably have noticed a pattern by now. We seem to keep ping-ponging back and forth between work-focused summers and play-focused summers, always trying to find the sweet spot.

Year 3 was a summer of virtually no advanced planning and no academic work. So, you probably won’t be too surprised when I tell you that Year 4 was the complete opposite. 

(And, according to my oldest son who was just reading over my shoulder a minute ago, Year 4’s summer was “horrible!”  Can’t win ‘em all, I guess.)

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Our Homeschool Summer Break – Year 3

Our Homeschool Summer Break Year 3 on grass background

In the last post, I promised you a summer on the other side of the continuum, so here it is! The summer of our mega home renovation! When all bets were off, plans were non-existent, and I was living way, way outside my Type-A, Planner-Person comfort zone.

You can see more about the renovation, including before and after pictures, in this post.

I didn’t try to plan a more relaxed summer. I didn’t decide that we needed less formal school-ish work. By the time I had my head far enough above water to think about our summer homeschool plans, it was already August. 

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Our Homeschool Summer Break – Year 2

Our Homeschool Summer Break - Year 2 on grass background

In the last post, I described the summer break we had after our first official year of homeschooling. If you read it, you may recall that I said it was a “fun and balanced summer.” 

“Fun and balanced” sounds pretty good to me – so why, I ask myself now, why-oh-why did I try and fix what wasn’t broken? 

Looking back on Year 2 from a Year 5 perspective, I think it’s ultimately because I let the “you’re-not-doing-enough” worry-monster get to me.

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Our Homeschool Summer Break – Year 1

Our Homeschool Summer Break Year 1 title on grass background

I never know what to do with summer break. 

Wait. Let me rephrase that. 

I never know what to do for our homeschool during summer break. 

If I ever had the luxury of my own summer break, I’d know exactly what to do with it (i.e. unlimited ice cream, a beach, and a stack of good books)!

But I digress.

When it comes to planning out what to do for my kids’ education over summer break, I perpetually bounce back and forth between two extremes. 

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