Category: Homeschool Families

A Homeschool Mom’s Journey from Lit-Based to Classical and Back Again

Homeschooling is an adventure. There are so many paths that it is difficult to choose which is right for your family. It’s different from sending your kids to school in many ways with the most obvious being that you make all the decisions, including your teaching methods.

Maybe you are wondering if a literature-based curriculum can provide a excellent education? I’m here to tell you that it can and will. I should know! I’ve shifted from a literature-based (Charlotte Mason) approach to a classical one and finally back to literature-based curriculum with BookShark.

“If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.”? Ralph Waldo Emerson

Along my journey of homeschool styles, I read everything that Charlotte Mason wrote, re-read The Well Trained Mind and even delved into The Lost Tools of Learning. The one thing all experts and philosophers agree on is that children should be reading. They vary somewhat in the application of the reading habit, but not in the method.

“The most common and the monstrous defect in the education of the day is that children fail to acquire the habit of reading.”? Charlotte Mason

For years, I straddled the fence between classical and lit-based, trying to split our year into different approaches. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it was a fail.

This past year I even attended a classical homeschooling conference to pin down whether or not I should go with a fully classical program. Although I ultimately decided against it, I learned so much about teaching that it was time well spent. After all, the ideas espoused by classical educators are admirable. Who doesn’t want to cultivate wisdom and virtue in their children?

A careful look at reading during the three stages of a classical education shows that the same goals are equally attainable through a literature-based approach. Because all three stages can be implemented through BookShark, I don’t feel like I have to straddle that fence between Charlotte Mason and classical education anymore. I get the best of all worlds!

Reading in the Grammar Stage

This first stage is the foundation of your child’s education. They begin to read and learn the number sense of simple arithmetic. Kids this age love to spout off random facts; therefore, memorizing math tables and rules of phonics is usually fun for them. This stage lasts roughly through the fourth grade. In a literature-based curriculum, stories read both to and by the child increase vocabulary and open their minds to the rest of the world. Also, there is no better way to learn proper grammar. Most well-read kids instinctively pick up proper grammar just by knowing what sounds right based on their experience with great writing.

Reading in the Logic Stage

Beginning in the fifth grade and ending after the eighth grade, pre-teens are questioning and thinking analytically. This is where reading widely is a massive benefit. Kids are able to start putting the pieces of history together. The cause and effect of events becomes clear as the stories relate to their history studies. The facts aren’t merely dates on a timeline but real experiences that through historical fiction are much more memorable. I’d like my kids to know what it was like to live through the American Revolution and comprehend why Americans revolted more than I want them to memorize the dates of battles.

Reading in the Rhetoric Stage

In high school, the student should be capable of accessing both the facts and causes of history. That they can now consolidate that knowledge into their own written and spoken opinions. This is the stage when most homeschool parents turn to textbooks, and in my opinion, it is the worst possible time for that. Here’s why: Literature is more interesting to read than textbooks. If you are interested in what you are learning, you will have a longer attention span. Hopefully, at this stage, your teen is ready to begin studying the subjects that they’ll need to pursue their long-term educational goals.

In all stages, classical education is language-focused. Reading widely is an avenue to understanding history in a more personal way.

At the moment, I am fully embracing our secular, literature-based curriculum, merging the principles I learned about classical education into my own homeschool philosophy. I have a sense of excitement for the year ahead because I know that each BookShark level includes enough geography, fiction, and nonfiction that my son will get a full picture of history!

About the Author

Jenny Naughton lives in Chicagoland with her husband where they have been homeschooling their four sons and one daughter since the dark ages of 2001. Her nose is always in a book, and if you come over, she will send you home with one so that she has the shelf space to get more. Her favorite social media platform is Instagram where she overshares her books, coffee, pets, and more books.

02/26/2025
Why It’s Okay to Homeschool in the Afternoon
Our mornings go a lot like this:
- I wake up about the same time as the children. We have coffee and breakfast.
- We do a few chores, and I do some work
- Suddenly, it’s lunchtime.
- After lunch, my youngest goes down for a nap, and we get down to the business of school.
Although some families swear by starting your homeschool day early, morning school is impractical for our family. I’m here to tell you that homeschooling is okay at any time of day!

I grew up in the homeschool world, and in those days, homeschooling moms spent a lot of time trying to copy each other or the homeschool celebrity they heard at a conference that year.

My mom spent hours creating schedules that we ultimately never used because they were not right for us. She often felt guilty for not following someone else’s schedule rather than feeling awesome about what she was able to accomplish (a lot).

For our family, afternoon homeschooling works best. We would not do well on a homeschool schedule that starts at 8 a.m. or even at 9 a.m.

My children and I are not morning people. The thought of getting up and immediately taxing our brains with school sounds exhausting. Morning school would cause needless frustration and tears in our home. Why should I adhere to the schedule of traditional school if I don’t have to?

In the mornings, Bo (age 3) is up early, and she is such a busy little bee that it is nearly impossible to focus on school while she is awake. Monkey (age 9) likes following a schedule she puts together includes starting school at 1 p.m.

The Benefits of Afternoon Homeschool

Homeschooling is just what it says—HOME schooling. Your homeschool should reflect the needs of your home. It doesn’t matter if you start school at 8 a.m. or even 8 p.m. if that is what works best for your family.

There are hundreds of reasons I can think of that make afternoon school ideal:
- Extracurricular activities or doctor’s appointments in the morning
- Work
- Kids or mom are not morning people
- Dad goes into work late
- Baby naps in the afternoon
- Not feeling rushed in the morning
- Health challenges
- Grandparents or extended visitors in the home
The Challenge of Afternoon School

The only drawback with afternoon schooling is that you cannot skip it. If you procrastinate, it could easily get to be evening without any lessons having been completed. While this is okay occasionally or in short bursts, this could get you off track if it happens long-term. Even if you start school in the afternoon, it still requires discipline to sit down and teach the lessons each day.

We have defeated this challenge by creating a semi-structured afternoon schedule that helps keep us on track for school.

Learning Can Happen Any Time

Homeschooling is an amazing journey that provides flexibility and tailored learning in an environment unlike any other. Many top private schools work hard to create a home-like environment for their students that is precisely what we have in homeschooling. Your school does not, and should not, look like everyone else’s.

You chose to homeschool because it is best for your family. And if starting school in the afternoon is best for your family, then by all means skip morning school. We can enjoy our morning coffee guilt-free together!

About the Author

Brenda is a professional writer and homeschooling mother to two girls in Dallas, TX, with a passion for books, DIY, and creative education. Her blog, Schooling a Monkey, is all about homeschooling, crafts, green living, and fun.
02/24/2025
Homeschool Science for Multiple Children: How I Failed But Finally Won

With seven years of homeschooling I’ve racked up more than a few successes and failures, but nothing has been so black and white as our science journey. I’m sorry we wasted so much time but grateful we’ve finally found our perfect science fit. Here are six tips that would have gotten us learning and loving science much sooner.

#1 FAIL: Keep Using Science Curriculum No One Likes

We started out doing science with a grade-specific textbook for our oldest daughter. As time marched on and we added another student, we discovered that juggling two science programs was possible. I would sit down with each girl separately to read the assigned pages and ask the coordinating comprehension questions. But there wasn’t ever any additional discussion. They didn’t talk to each other about what they were learning, and they weren’t ever waiting at the door when their dad got home, bubbling with excitement over the new information they had learned.

Our time doing science didn’t cause any sparks; it was clear that we were just serving our time in order to check science off the daily to-do list.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be a disconnect between my kids’ innate interest in all things animal, weather, or nature-related and how disinterested they were during our science time. It didn’t make sense, but we kept plodding on.

#2 FAIL: Stop Doing Science Altogether

The walk from the couch to the school bookshelf took approximately seven steps when it was time to start art or literature. Oddly enough when it was time to grab a science or handwriting book, the floor expanded to approximately seven hundred foot-draggy steps, complete with moaning.
Ultimately, we threw in the towel when our third child, accurately dubbed The Tornado, skipped walking and graduated right to running at one. I didn’t have the time or energy to keep multiple science plates spinning, especially with the song and dance required to keep my kids motivated. To be honest, I wasn’t all that excited about those science textbooks either, and I couldn’t fabricate enough curiosity for all of us while chasing The Tornado.
We took a break from the textbooks, which meant stepping back from science, too.

#3 FAIL: Attempt to Design a Whole Curriculum from Scratch

Our break didn’t last very long since I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was letting my kids down by leaving big gaps in their education without science.
I tried following several book lists and checking out science-themed books from the library, but that required lots of free mom-time I didn’t have. I spent too many precious hours trying to figure out charts of topics, wondering if I was missing a major -ology.
The books we did bring home, however, were devoured without any pushing on my part. We were getting closer to a solution. I sensed that winning was just around the corner.

#1 WIN: Trust a Solid Curriculum Plan

Reading about another family’s success with BookShark this past spring got my curriculum-investigating wheels turning. It didn’t take long to see that it might offer a solution for our science-loving, but textbook-hating, multi-level family.
We settled on one science program that we’d all do together BookShark’s Science D. My kids clock in at ages 10, 9, 6, 4, and 1 1/2. It’s already a zoo, even before baby number six arrives this winter. The option of doing science as a family with a single science program is ideal.

Spiral Science Homeschool Program

Based on our experience, I knew that a literature-based, hands-on program would work well for our family. What I didn’t realize was how BookShark’s spiral approach is perfect for multi-level families like ours.
With the spiral approach, students explore a wide range of content with the understanding that they will cover those same topics in greater depth several times in the future. My school-age children who can’t read can still listen and help us complete the experiments without being shamed for not being able to answer all the same questions as their older siblings.
The best part? I don’t have to organize that master plan. I don’t have to remember when or how to cover topics. Experts have already thought through exactly when to cover and re-cover every topic. It’s one less thing (more like one hundred fewer things) for me to worry about.

#2 WIN: Go Beyond the Textbook

In my past homeschool science teacher life, I wanted to figure out appropriate experiments or find the perfect coordinating videos online. But it just took too much time. I half-heartedly checked out some hands-on science books from the library, flipped through them, and quietly slipped them into the return box without showing the kids, feeling like a failure for not doing more.
By blending hands-on activities and experiments, high quality literature, and videos, all my kids can get something out of what we’re doing this year with BookShark. Obviously my preschooler and my middle schooler won’t finish the year with all the same factoids floating around in their minds, but they will have memories of completing experiments together.
They each glean what they can from the books we read, and I know that they’re internalizing so much more than they would otherwise.

#3 WIN: Have Fun

We spent far too long dreading science in our homeschool. I reached that sorry conclusion when I was unpacking all our BookShark science supplies for this year while my kids looked on. They weren’t drooling -because that would be weird -but they were pretty much drooling. They were so excited to see how the materials in the little supply box were going to get put to use, and I had to squirrel away the included books so they wouldn’t be read secretly under covers in the dead of night with a flashlight ahead of time. They flipped out at the thought that sometime this year we would be growing our own popcorn. Popcorn! When my husband came home that night, he could barely squeeze inside due to four little people at the door, bursting to tell him about all that science holds for us this year.

The moral of our story is that we can win at science whether we have one child or ten, if only we just give them the right tools to enjoy it.

About the Author

Alicia Schonhardt lives in Iowa with her husband and five homeschooled kids. She loves reading aloud with all the right voices and pretending to be crafty. She is not-so-great at planning and organization but dabbles in minimalism, so it isn’t quite so tricky.
With two medically needy kids, Alicia strives to choose happiness even when things are hard. She blogs at Sweeping Up Joy, about finding beauty and humor in life right now, even when it’s hidden behind piles of laundry and chewed up books.

02/21/2025
When Mom Has ADHD: Tips for Parenting and Homeschooling
Parenting a child with ADHD is difficult. For a mom with ADHD, though, it can feel nearly overwhelming.

There are the typical symptoms of ADHD, which often pose a challenge to a person’s ability to think clearly on demand. But, since parents with ADHD are more likely to have children who also have the disorder, these moms may struggle to manage both their own symptoms and those of their child.

How can moms with ADHD cope with the stresses of their own lives while parenting and homeschooling successfully? These tips for the ADHD mom can help. (Really! I use them!)

Tips for Living as a Mom with ADHD
- Do one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is almost impossible for moms with ADHD. Giving each task full attention reduces the likelihood of mistakes and becoming overwhelmed.
- Delegate. Moms already have a lot of responsibilities, so it’s easy to become burdened with things to do. Teaching kids to help out around the house can make this load easier to bear.
- Be realistic. No mother should have to be a superhero. Being reasonable about the amount of things that can be done each day will help to avoid frustration.
Parenting as a Mom with ADHD
Slow down. Moms with ADHD may experience racing thoughts that can make it difficult to parent with patience. To avoid a meltdown, try to slow down and approach each situation calmly.

Develop a routine. A predictable routine can make it easier to structure the day ahead. Keep things simple by developing a natural rhythm that can be followed by everyone in the family.

Expect the unexpected. Parenting is full of unexpected moments. While a routine is helpful, it cannot predict the events that will arise each day. Ease stress by giving yourself time to manage last-minute needs that kids may have.

Homeschooling as a Mom with ADHD

Focus on the essentials. Some mothers who have ADHD may tend toward hyper-intensive planning. Since homeschooling already requires a fair amount of planning, these mothers may overwhelm themselves with lesson plans, activities, and state objectives. Instead, concentrate on the most important subjects and approach the others with a more relaxed method.

Use a block schedule. Unlike timed schedules, which require that each lesson be completed by a certain time, block schedules consist of time slots for each subject. This routine can be easier for moms with ADHD to follow because it allows for structure without adding the stress of a timed deadline.

Be flexible. No matter how well in advance a lesson is planned, homeschooling parents will always need to make adjustments. If a child dislikes a curriculum or if the lesson doesn’t get completed, learn to be flexible enough to move a lesson to another date or remove it from the plan completely. As long as the objectives are covered each year, the actual method doesn’t really matter.

Get help. Some homeschooling moms put pressure on themselves to teach every subject. Instead, enlist the help of family members or friends to help kids with some subjects. This frees up the parent to focus on the material that she can enjoy learning with the kids.
Living with ADHD will never be easy. Using these tips, though, can make some of the most difficult aspects of life with this disorder manageable for moms. In fact, even moms without ADHD will probably benefit from applying these same survival skills.

About the Author

Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a veteran homeschooling mother of four, including three with ADHD. She and her husband, Jay, use an eclectic homeschooling approach to encourage their children to learn throughout their lives. Selena blogs about her family’s homeschooling adventures every week at Look! We’re Learning!
01/28/2025