Our family took a big step this year and that was to pull our girls out of public school! With much to consider we felt like it was the best decision at this time for our children and family as a whole. The start to our homeschooling journey has been wonderful.
We have focused on a soft start or slow beginning. With this it gives us time to ease into a routine coming out of longer summer days packed full with activities on the go! This will allow us to find a balance of what will work for each of us to be successful in this new venture.
Having three ages 2, 5 and 7, (almost 6 & 8), it can be somewhat challenging keeping everyone engaged and entertained during lessons but I am confident that we will find a groove that works for us as a family unit and each of our children will have lasting lifelong benefits from the time we spend here on our homestead.
The Start To Our Homeschooling Journey
Being that my two oldest are in grades 1 & 2 means I am using some separate curriculums in things like literacy and math but combing science, history and other extra subjects.
We have decided on The Good and the Beautiful for using in some subjects. I will be doing a review on the curriculum once we dive in! So check back for that.
We will also focus a lot on learning through our homestead. We will do lessons on growing food, keeping animals, butchering, processing food and more. I will also do good amount of our learning within nature and learning through nature.
Life lessons like budgeting, cooking, baking, seasonal home prep, basic carpentry and mechanical skills and so much more!
I also want to do a lot of learning through field trips. Vermont itself has so many wonderful places for kids to go and do hands on learning through science and history. You can even be resourceful in utilizing your local library for discounted or free passes to a lot of these locations!
We also do a lot of camping, even in the Fall. So that will be a wonderful time to incorporate lessons along new trail systems, exploration and through history of certain areas we visit as well.
Resources We Are Using
Aside from the purchased curriculum through The Good and the Beautiful I have found some other great places for learning activities, worksheets and more.
Teachers Pay Teachers is a website chuck full with various types of curriculums and also printable materials to use in your “classroom.” There is a wide variety of subjects and interests from grades preK- 12. While many you have to pay for, (affordable), there is a useful free section. You will have to have ink in your printer though. Most packets are big! Which is great and can provide an entire lesson in a certain subject!
Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life is a book that we were gifted and it is stunning! The lessons regarding homesteading life throughout the book are perfect for the direction we are homeschooling and the illustrations are breathtaking. We have been choosing a page and basing a learning lesson off of it! She also has two other books that are Nature Anatomy and Wildlife Anatomy…both are in my cart to purchase!
Paper Pie or the former, Usborne Books has SO many incredible learning books. We have quite the library of these books and they are very interactive and fun to incorporate into our learning day. Some of our favorites are the Shine A Light Series, The Big Book Of Series and independent interactive books like My Year Of Art.
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Love, light and a little grace…
-Olivia
Olivia Whalen is mama to three young girls who is devoted to creative learning, exploration and free range imagination. Olivia enjoys thinking outside of the box when it comes to preparing homemade baby food or meals for her family. She most enjoys allowing the little minds in her life to flourish and with that you will see her write about creative kid crafts, recipes that fit a family budget and keep everyone asking for more, tips and tricks for a tiny babe, and beginner homesteader fun! Some of her hobbies include gardening, hiking, reading, cooking or just basking in motherhood.