Recently I made two purchases for myself for this upcoming homeschool year that have made a huge impact on me. I bought Sherry Hayes book Homeschool Sanity and I purchased the Easy Homeschooling Library by Lorraine Curry. Spending money on homeschool material is rare for me. I spend a lot of time finding free advice online. But this time I felt that these resources would be helpful and were worth paying for. And I am glad to say that I was not disappointed.
Another huge problem that I was having was that I just couldn't figure out how to use public domain texts in our modern day homeschool. I had a very inconsistent approach. But between the two resources I listed above, that is no longer an issue. I feel like I have a good, simple, and viable plan for homeschool for the first time ever. Praise God!
Last year I made a lot of changes in our school more than once during the school year. We changed curriculum and methods midstream on several occasions. We were all over the place with worksheets, notebooking, Charlotte Mason techniques, Ambleside Online, and only God remembers what else. Did I mention that I changed things up several times?
I really was aiming for a smooth homeschool year but obviously that didn't happen. Nothing seemed to be working quite right. I am thankful that I found Sherry Hayes' blog a few weeks ago. She is a huge advocate of using oldie but goodie PD books. And she has figured out how to homeschool 15 children in a simple, yet effective way. That is quite a feat. So, I decided to glean all I could from her, and from Lorraine Curry - another homeschool veteran.
And I just kept being brought back to the same principles.
- Keep God foremost in our homeschool.
- Keep it simple.
- Use classic literature.
- Do nature studies.
- Do a lot of reading (out loud and independently).
I have wrestled with all of these concepts before (not with putting God first but with all the others). I have even given Charlotte Mason a try. Her philosophies line up very closely with these principles. But my public school institutionalized self kept fighting against me. I just couldn't shake the feeling that simple equated to "not enough". But the other part of me really believed that keeping school simple is the right way to go with our family. I believed God didn't intend for school to be so hard.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:29-30
The Plan
So this is what we will using for homeschool next year.
- English - McGuffey's Eclectic Readers
- Math - Ray's Arithmetic and math manipulatives
- Drawing - Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes and Willie's First Drawing Lessons
- Science - public domain (PD) children's books about nature and nature studies using Handbook of Nature Study
- Penmanship - copywork from the Bible
- Social Studies - PD books
- Bible Study - reading from the KJV, scripture memorization
On paper that may seem like a lot. But I assure you that I will make sure it's not. I know that Charlotte Mason was right on point when she said that lessons should be kept short. "Less is More" is my new homeschool philosophy.
