We’ve tried a few different homeschooling schedules over the years but our favorite so far is 6 weeks on, 1 week off.
It’s not a new idea but it was new to me a few years ago and I’m absolutely loving it!
Whether you’re a Planning Patty or a Spontaneous Sally, everyone can benefit from a big-picture look at the school year ahead.
So far we’ve seen what’s worked and not worked of my original plan for this year. But there have also been some unexpected resources that have ended up being some of our new favorites!
As hard as it is for a planner like me to admit, sometimes embracing spontaneity is the best plan of all!
In the first post in this series, I focused on subjects that are going well. I do love it when a plan comes together!
But that was the easy part. Now we come to the part that can get discouraging really fast if we’re not careful…
A lot of homeschool bloggers like to post their yearly curriculum choices (like I’ve been doing in this series) for their readers. Over the years, I’ve found it incredibly helpful to see what other families are using.
But sometimes these “what we’re using this year” lists give the impression that choosing curriculum for the year is a once-and-done kind of thing.
Totally not the case!
I pray that 2019 brings you joy, peace, & fulfillment! Happy New Year from my family to yours!
Here are some of our most popular posts and series from 2018:
If you haven’t done so yet, read the first post in this series here and check out Our Curriculum Choices – Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, and Year 4.
Year 5 Snapshot
If you’ve been following this series of posts, we’ve now caught up to real time. I wrote about the first four years retroactively because I started this blog just before we began our fifth year of homeschooling.
Since I can’t summarize a year that hasn’t happened yet, this snapshot will be a look at how our year has started so far. Later this school year I hope to post about lessons learned during Year 5… but I have to learn them first, so stay tuned.
If you haven’t done so yet, read the first post in this series here, and check out Our Curriculum Choices – Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3.
Year 4 Snapshot
While we were (and still are) far from having it all figured out, Year 4 was the first year I felt noticeably more confident in our homeschooling.
After several years of educating our kids at home, I now had some data to work with – some proof that this was working. We could look back on work from the years past and see tangible evidence that growth and learning were taking place. Phew!
If you haven’t done so yet, read the first post in this series here, and check out Our Curriculum Choices – Year 1 and Year 2.
Year 3 Snapshot
Each year seems to bring something new, and our 3rd year educating our kids at home was no exception. It was the first time I was homeschooling with an infant. And we were still grieving the loss of my dear mother-in-law who had passed away only a few weeks after I had our third baby.
But God has always been our Provider, whether it’s in the form of new insights, tangible resources, or help from friends and family. He’s consistently given us hope and a way through difficult seasons, both in homeschooling and life in general.
Read the first post in this series here and check out Our Curriculum Choices – Year 1.
Year 2 Snapshot
Well, we made it through our first year of homeschooling and came back for more! Just when I was starting to figure a few things out, Year 2 brought new challenges.
My oldest was now in first grade and our three year old wasn’t content to sit on the sidelines. Finding ways to engage them both was a trick. It wasn’t easy to find a balance where everyone was met at their own level and not frustrated (with work that’s too hard) or bored (by work that’s too easy).