I’ve read many “Day in the Life” posts over the years as a blogger, but never did one until now, when SimpleHomeschool.net invited readers to share their day and link up to their Friday post. I’m so glad I did this! I learned a lot about myself. I’ll share what I mean tomorrow.

5:13 AM: My stomach, ignoring the protests of the rest of my body, decides sleep time is over. I get up and reheat a bowl of last night’s chili. I contemplate going back to bed for a bit, but since pregnancy nausea has set in, I’ve been sleeping later and I miss my morning routine. So I decide to stay up.

I grab the computer and place our farm order, which hubby will pick up tomorrow. 3 gallons of raw milk, 4 dozen eggs, and a bag of grass fed beef bones for broth. I read an email and learn what baby’s doing now at 14 weeks, officially my second trimester.

I hear Sadie, 6, get up and go to the bathroom. She leaves the bathroom light on, wide open, as usual. Ugh. It shines right into my bedroom and hits my eyes when I’m in bed. Reminding her to turn it off won’t do any good because she probably wants the light on so she can see back to her room easily. I decide to buy her a small flashlight to keep by her bed to solve this problem. She slept badly last night, and woke me up twice. I think it’s because she ate wheat Sunday. Every few months I let her try a bit to see if there’s a reaction, and there always is.

There’s a lot I need to do on the computer, but I shut it down because I’m feeling nauseous. Screens have that effect on me when I’m pregnant, which is really inconvenient when you’re a blogger.

I take a bath, get dressed, start water boiling.

6:45: Julien and Sadie wake up and come sit with me on the sofa. I hear toddler feet padding down the hallway and cries of “Mama” from the youngest, her Daddy just behind her. They’re not usually up for another hour. I must have made too much noise. I nurse Ruby and snuggle with Sadie. I say a prayer and ask for help with patience… not something I usually struggle with, but pregnancy hormones and nausea are making my fuse way too short lately.

I eat another small bowl of chili. I’m hungry all the time now.

Tea time. Julien, our resident tea maker, steeps a cup of Tasha Tudor’s Welsh breakfast tea for me. We drink this tea every day.  I write “Tasha Tudor” in my notebook and decide it would be fun to spend a day with the kids studying her life and works. She was a remarkable woman who lived life squarely on her terms and she’s fascinating to me.

Ruby hands me a Berenstain Bears book and says, “Read it“. I do, but it looks more like her turning pages to the objects she recognizes, so she can point and name them. “Baby, owl, bunny, eggs, puppy”, etc, which is frustrating to Sadie, who actually wants to hear the story.

7:20: I cook *Breakfast in a Bowl for the early risers. The later crew of big kids  can cook some more eggs to eat with the remaining grits when they awake. Ruby seems frantic for the sausages to be done, and eventually grabs my fork from my hand and feeds herself, then asks for “Mo“. I take this as a sign my milk supply is dropping. While we eat breakfast, we see the sunrise out the window.

(* Grits cooked with a ton of butter and cheese heaped in a bowl with fried egg and sausage.)

I get up to get Ruby and myself more food and realize it’s normal to be hungry when your body is nourishing 3 people. “Pee!”. I look behind me and Ruby is standing in a puddle. I had just put a clean diaper on her but the leg elastic is a bit stretched out on her Fuzzi Bunz and her toddler bladder holds a lot. I take off her pants and diaper and clean up the mess. Good thing Ilana will be mopping later. Yes, we will be potty training come Spring.

While I’m away from the table Julien reads this post in progress and laughs. I explain what a “day in the life” post is about. He says that I need to “make a book”. Ruby goes in the sink for a quick bath. Meanwhile I unload the dishwasher.

7:46: Hubby’s up, so I fry more sausages and eggs, then put on a little makeup. I ask Sadie not to play guitar while people are sleeping. A sleepy teenaged boy emerges from his bed and sits down at the piano to practice a new piece. I don’t tell him to be quiet. Now the big girls are up and eating breakfast. Ruby asks me to put her Raffi tape in the CD player. We discuss the origins of the song “Kumbayah”.

8:05: I check the calendar in my notebook that tells me what “monthly” cleaning task I’m working on today. It’s cleaning the outside of the fridge, stove and dishwasher. I decide to enlist Sadie’s help. I feel pukey, so I make myself a Perrier with lemon. I get a package together to ship, something I sold on Amazon.com. I don’t have a large envelope, but thankfully Julien, the eBay entrepreneur, does. My tape isn’t where it’s supposed to be on my desk. I holler to ask if anyone has it, and a child retrieves it for me.

8:20: Hubby kisses me goodbye, in a rush and looking stressed. Zoe is out the door to catch the school bus. I clean breakfast mess off the table then wipe the grits Ruby dropped attempting to feed herself off the floor.

Someone has given Ruby a bowl of shredded cheese. She eats half, the remainder is all over the floor. I attempt to brush my teeth, but before I’m through painful gagging ensues. I make a mental note to floss later. Meanwhile the girls have followed me into the bathroom and begin peppering me with questions. I use a tiny screwdriver to unlock the door to Sadie’s room which has mysteriously gotten locked for the umpteenth time this week. I announce 5 Minutes to Bible Reading.

8:45: Everyone is fed, dressed and has teeth brushed. Our homeschool day begins.

We sit down to read the Bible first. This is probably my favorite time of day, and the kids really enjoy it too. Today we take turns reading Joshua 5-7. We discuss it afterwards. Then we spend a few minutes looking up some of the places mentioned on a detailed map of the Promised Land. The baby runs around the living room playing with her doll, rummaging through books and alternately sitting in my lap.

When we’re done Caleb immediately starts on Math without assistance or prompting from me. He’s in the young Scholar phase for sure. I send Julien and Ilana to do their chores (Julien sweeps the dining/living room and Ilana sweeps and mops the kitchen) while I read two Bible stories to Sadie that correspond to the reading: one is about the fall of Jericho, the other about Achan’s thievery. She is distractable and squirrelly today. I point to words and have her read them. She gets the word right about 25% of the time.

We’re interrupted by a poopy diaper. I get up to clean up Ruby, then pass her off to Julien to put the new diaper on while I finish reading and discussing the stories with Sadie.

I notice that Ilana has begun reading Dave Ramsey’s book Financial Peace Revisited. She just finished Chapter One. I told her yesterday that for math this week instead of doing our usual thing (Saxon for her), we were going to talk about money and personal finance. It’s interesting that she took it upon herself to pick up this book and read it. Caleb did the same thing several months ago, and completed the book in a few days. It’s very important to me that my children learn sound financial principles (and it’s clear my brainwashing is working) so this makes me very happy!

9: 30: Julien goes outside for a bit for some fresh air and takes Ruby with him. I take the opportunity to clean up the kitchen. I usually have it done up by now, because I find that I enjoy doing school far more when it’s clean.

Ilana brings me a science project she’s working on: she and Julien decided to sprout a bean and chart the progress over a week’s time. Sadie gets excited about this and decides to make one of her own, Ilana helps her set it up.

While I clean, I discuss dinner plans with Caleb. He wants to cook lasagne which wasn’t in my meal plan, so I don’t have the ingredients – but how can I say no to him cooking that? I didn’t want to leave the house today, but decide to swing by the store to pick up the couple of things we need. I can send Caleb in while I stay in the car with everyone else. I look up my favorite slow cooker lasagne recipe. Caleb tells me that Nannie says he needs to start a compost pile for our garden (we had one, but abandoned it because our garden was a colossal flop). He goes downstairs to find a bucket, brings it up to the kitchen and dumps old tea leaves in it. I’m determined to find a local gardener who can mentor us this year. A friend comes to mind.

Sadie wants to write a letter to her friend. I help her spell the words she doesn’t know.

The trip to the store doesn’t take long. When we get home Julien, Caleb and I start on the lasagne. I cook rice and leftover chili for lunch. Sadie decides to eat her rice with chopsticks.

11:40: Ruby has nursed to sleep, so it’s time for Read Aloud with the middle kids. We’re reading The Boxcar Children, which we started yesterday. We’re already halfway through the book because they kept asking for “One more chapter!“. While we read, Caleb does Rosetta Stone Spanish. Then he looks up YouTube videos to learn the fingering for new songs he wants to play on piano.When he’s done, he picks up his current read, a 700+ page Sherlock Holmes collection. He bought the book Sunday night, but it looks like he’ll finish it this week.

12:13: Sadie skips off to play in her room, so I decide to take a 20 minute nap with the baby. I let Ilana play on the computer for a bit. Julien is working on eBay stuff.

1:18: Ok, so maybe my nap was a bit longer than 20 minutes. The nausea has been unrelenting all day, and I’m fighting grumpiness. Besides, I have this sweet snugglebunny.

I get up, and remember the monthly task I need to do. I ask Sadie to come to the kitchen and hand her a cleaning cloth and a spray bottle of vinegar/water. We clean the front of the stove, fridge and dishwasher. It only takes a couple of minutes. The kitchen is a disaster again, but I don’t say a word. I’m happy the kids like to cook, so I’m ok with the “clean as you go” lesson taking a bit longer. Julien is at the sink washing a saucepan so he can hard boil eggs.

1: 50: History. I sit with Ilana and Julien and we read about Charles the Hammer. Caleb is working through the Story of the World: The Middle Ages too, but he’s way ahead of us and uses a different workbook to test himself after his reading. Where is Caleb by the way? I hear the dryer door slam and realize he’s downstairs doing his chore: laundry.

2:13:  “Pee. Poop.” Pick up the baby and change her diaper, then head into the bathroom to wash my hands. I brush my teeth again, remembering to stop when I get that tickle in my throat, before gagging begins. I empty the bathroom trash can, then take two bags of kitchen trash to the curb.

It’s warm out, so Ruby comes with me. She begins climbing into the stroller. “Walk!” This surprises me, since for the last couple of months she has been protesting the stroller and the sling, meaning I’ve had to either let her walk and meander alongside, or hold her. I take advantage of the situation, tell Sadie to get her shoes on, and start walking around the neighborhood. Ruby points out everything she knows. “Bird. Doggie. Choo-choo train. Flower.” Then, “Out.” Ah. There it is. I am already huffing and puffing so I encourage her to stay in until we get home. She goes back to humming and singing. Sadie chatters happily. I give myself permission to feel proud of exercising despite feeling like warmed up dog poop.

3:04: Caleb is back upstairs, updates me on the laundry situation, and sits down at the piano again. Julien plays with LEGO behind me, he is building a safe complete with a combination lock. Sadie is outside digging holes. Ilana is playing a pointless computer game in which she has to do “Chef” tasks like shred cheese. I consider telling her that there is real cheese in the kitchen she can shred, but think better of it. We don’t have TV, cable, or Nintendo, so a little brain candy in the form of computer games isn’t a hill I want to die on.

Note The Shirt. It says, Eat. Sleep. Lego.

I grab Ruby and head back outside to play with Sadie, who is digging up earthworms. She asks me again what they do for the garden, and I explain. I suddenly feel happy with my life, to be here with my children, and say a little prayer expressing gratitude for the mild weather. My body is craving Spring about as much as it’s craving steak. I remember to take my shoes off so my feet can connect with the earth.

 3:35: Caleb brings up a load of clean cloth diapers, then reads a Potty book to Ruby. She Ruby brings me another book and says, “Couch!”. I sit down and we “read”. I try to muster the energy to attack the kitchen mess before Zoe gets home. It’s her chore, but I hate for her to come home from school to such a mess. Caleb is deep into Sherlock Holmes again. Ilana asks me to read another chapter of the Boxcar Children. I read 2. I successfully procrastinate the kitchen cleanup.

I go back outside with Sadie, who is desperate to do something in the garden. I tell her she can put dead leaves on the garden area so she begins picking up armfuls and spreading them around.

4:10: Did somebody mention steak? I’m starving, so I reheat the rice from lunch and stir fry some steak with ginger, soy sauce, vinegar to eat. I begin to smell the lasagne cooking in the slow cooker. It’s bubbling over and dripping all down the counter and drawers underneath. Caleb puts it on top of a large plate to catch the mess.

A fight commences, only the second skirmish of the day, so I feel fortunate. Ilana has taken a necklace from the floor, but it belongs to Julien, who demands it back. She can’t find it. They get animated, and the baby starts screaming at them. I ask Ilana if she wants to be like Achan, who took things that didn’t belong to him. She replies no. I ask her to sweep the living room. Incidentally the exact scenario played out earlier, only the perp was Sadie, who took a toy from Ilana’s room. I was thankful to be able to use that story.

4:50: Caleb walks in the door from the bus stop where he has picked up Zoe, who is finally home from school. I find it disturbing that a child in public school is gone from her family for this many hours a day. I’m glad I got the kitchen cleaned up. I call Julien over and read a couple of chapters of James and the Giant Peach, the current read-aloud I’m sharing with just him (although Ilana joins in). He’s not as much of an avid reader as my other kids, but he loves to be read to, so I single him out for this.

5:15: Hubby walks in. He tells me immediately about a conversation he had with a potential landlord. We were interested in a home with 5 bedrooms in the area, and I contacted the man through Craigslist. He asked how many children we had. When Zeke answered truthfully, he laughed and said, “That’s not going to work.” Large family discrimination is very real folks. Nevermind that in the 2 years we’ve rented from our current landlord, we’ve never been late on rent. Nevermind that we were prepared to pay a security deposit and first month’s rent. 6 kids are the proverbial turd in the punch bowl. It occurs to me that if I were a litigious person, I could contact a lawyer to sue him for discrimination. I think about emailing the jerk, but decide he isn’t worth my time. Besides, I prayed hard about this situation and asked that if it had His blessing, it would be effortless. Obviously it’s not meant to be.

The noise from dinner is getting to me a little, and I’m feeling gross. I send the kids downstairs to play so Zeke and I can have some quiet to talk. He rocks Ruby and sings to her, a song he made up.  He announces to the kids that it’s 5 Minutes to Family Worship.

6:25: Family Worship. We read a few passages from 1 Samuel and discuss how God chose David. That he judges people not based on their appearance, but on their qualities. Caleb answers a question he was assigned to look up in his personal study. Sadie is getting tired so she’s a little wiggly.

7:00: The kids go back downstairs to play. Zeke holds my hand on the sofa and we commence one of our favorite activities, watching Ruby’s antics. She keeps picking up Julien’s foot and wrinkling her nose. I must look terrible, because Zeke keeps asking me if he can get me something to help. “Beer“, I reply. “I don’t have any. Do you want me to pick some non-alcoholic brew up for you?” “No“. I know he’s tired, and I don’t want him to have to leave the house. The only time I crave beer is when I’m pregnant.

7:18: The nausea has been getting progressively stronger and I can’t deal with it anymore. I head to my room to lie in the dark. (I ended up falling asleep and waking up at 12:00 to eat a snack. Meanwhile, hubby put everyone to bed!)

This week’s Green Moms Weekly topic is our last one focused on attachment parenting. It asks:

“How do you think attachment parenting enhances learning?”

It’s funny. As I write this post I’m reflecting back on a couple of conversations I had last week about homeschooling.

These conversations took place at different times. Both at the behest of two moms who are currently homeschooling but who are unhappy and totally stressed with their choices (both have their children enrolled in Georgia’s K12 program).

I mentioned one of the conversations, which took place via email, in my post on advice to a homeschooling friend. The second took place just last night, but my advice was very similar.

You know what I think is at the bottom of these two mother’s concerns?

Trust.

Trust in their abilities to educate their children.
Trust that their children will learn what they need to learn.
Trust that, despite being “experts” with letters after their names, they are enough to be their kid’s teacher.
And trust that their choices will be “right”, even when they’re swimming against the stream.

What does all this have to do with attachment parenting?

Everything.

Because attachment parenting is all about trust.

Trust that your body can give birth, something it was created to do.
Trust that your breasts will nourish your baby.
Trust that when your baby cries, he needs you.
Trust that doing what you know in your heart is right for your child and your family, even when it’s very different from those around you, is right and good.

It pains me when I observe so many parents being apologetic about listening to their children. I hear moms confess, almost with shame, that they bring their babies into bed with them at night… as if this was some kind of mothering failure.

This doubting oneself and one’s ability as a parent that begins in the first days of a baby’s life continue as that child grows up. It becomes a pattern.

And the funny thing is, we often trust people outside our families who have set themselves up as experts, but who in the end aren’t accountable for or responsible to our children.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

The friend I mentioned in my last blog post is quite hung up on choosing the “right” curriculum and the “right” approach. She wants me to come to her home so I can show her everything we do and use in our homeschool day.

This whole thing makes me uncomfortable because it’s not appropriate for ME to be positioned as some sort of authority for her family. She and her husband are more than capable of choosing a curriculum, or none at all, that is right for her and her kids. I have to decline her invitation.

Another way that attachment parenting enhances learning? It minimizes stress on the child. There’s a lot of research around this point, I won’t go into it all here, but there are many great books on the topic. Peaceful Parenting for a Peaceful World comes to mind.

A stressed child can’t learn as well as one who is securely attached.

Going back to the second mom I referred to above, her daughter is completely stressed and burned out on learning at all. She asked me how I got my kids excited about learning. I told her that one way is by not trying to recreate school at home. School is broken. I don’t want to do school at home, I want to create an environment that is conducive to learning.

That also means letting each child tailor their own education. Which goes back to trust.

Attachment parenting teaches babies and children that the world is mostly a good, safe place. That there are people you can trust to help you when you need it, that you will be accepted for who  you are as an individual.

All of this means that children can free up more energy to do what kids do… which is learn about the world and the people in it.

What do you think? How does attachment parenting enhance learning?

Read what Rachel and Tiffany have to say on this topic.

My 10 year old son is an eBay business magnate.

Well, maybe magnate is a bit… ambitious.

It’s more like he’s an eBay business… beginner.

But even Trump had to start somewhere, eh?

One of the things I love about homeschooling?

That it leaves enough time for a child to pursue their interests.

Sometimes this requires a bit of trust. As in, if my son spends 4 hours a day doing LEGO, will that actually serve him later on in life?

But other things that kids choose to pursue have clear, measurable (and immediate!) value.

For instance, my son has completed approximately 50 auctions on eBay. He’s got a full fledged part time business now, and he loves it. I had to move a desk into his room, help him secure some storage room for his inventory, and open a Paypal and eBay account just for him. I also had to help him set “eBay hours” so he didn’t get too sidetracked from chores and school work.

In this process, he’s learning:

• Spelling. Noone is going to buy stuff from someone who can’t spell. Professional looking descriptions are important.
• Grammar/Punctuation. Ditto.
• Copywriting and Salesmanship. Boring or sparse auction descriptions don’t bring in as much cash either.
• Details Matter.  If you are lazy and don’t weigh your item with the packing material first (and charge enough shipping), it’s your own dang fault if you lose money on the auction.
• Profits Are Everything. If you lose money, you lose. (No government bailouts here!)
• Profit Margin. Higher profits don’t always mean a higher profit MARGIN. To increase his profit margin, he gets his inventory for free and recycles packaging material.
• The Customer Isn’t Always Right. In business you gotta be smart. Never ship an item when the customer hasn’t paid you yet. (How many times you think he did this before he learned this lesson? Exactly.)
• Geography. I can’t count how many times little man looked on the map to find a state, trying to calculate how long it would take a package to arrive. (This is from his buying activities, but still…)
• The Value of Mentors. He wisely listens to Mom’s advice since she’s more experienced than he is. But he’s not afraid to blaze his own trail a little bit, either.
• Managing Money. He’s not making a killing, but he is earning extra pocket money, which leads to lots of conversations with Mom about what to do with that money.
• And last but not least… Mom will get mad at you if you accidentally print shipping labels and pay for postage with HER Paypal account, when the buyer’s payment went to YOUR Paypal account. 

I don’t know if Julien will end up doing eBay full time when he’s an adult, but wouldn’t it be cool if he did? He comes from a long line of entrepreneurs. (His paternal great-Grandfather was a famous inventor, his maternal Grandparents are self- employed, his Dad, StepDad and Mom are all self- employed!)

Personally I think it would be uber cool to do eBay for a living. I hope he never has a “job”.

But even if he doesn’t, he’s learning all kinds of valuable stuff NOW.

And that’s enough for me.

Have I mentioned PaperBackSwap lately?

Oh how I do love PaperBackSwap.

Why? Well, two ways mostly.

Reduce clutter

Don’t get me wrong, I love books. I have 4 bookcases in my living room alone. But unless a book is one that I know for sure I’ll be revisiting monthly, or is a classic kid’s book that will be re-read again and again by multiple children, I don’t keep it. I list it on PaperBackSwap and bless someone else. This keeps my book stock relatively uncluttered.

Save money

Obvious but worth pointing out. I only pay postage when I send someone a book. When I receive one, it’s free. This is important in a homeschooling household, especially if you have a few bibliophiles (they come by it honest!). So far this school year, my 13 year old 8th grader has devoured 8 novels. That’s in 3 weeks!

PaperBackSwap keeps him and the rest of us in fresh reading material.

If you want to become a member (free) and post books, click on the graphic above and begin. The name “Paperback swap” is a bit of a misnomer because you can post (and request) all sorts of books: hardcover, paperback, even audio books.

And once you put 10 books on your bookshelf, I get some more points.

Enjoy!

I did something today that, for me, was a little bit scary.

I sold my “What Your _ Grader Should Know” books.

No offense to the author and publisher. Because truly, these are awesome books. In fact, if you were homeschooling on a tight budget, you could buy one and easily create your child’s entire curriculum for the year using it.

And this was more than an exercise in minimalism/decluttering.

Far more.

You see, by getting rid of these books I am finally untethering myself from Should.

I really should use those books, I would think each time I walked past them sitting on my bookshelf.

And yet I never did.

I really should take a look at what those books say, to make sure my kids are learning what they “should”.

These books sitting on your shelf may not have this effect on you.

But in my house, they had to go.

Every year I find myself less and less concerned about what “they” say my kids should be learning. Getting rid of these books once and for all released a huge burden from my mind.

I am untethering from the idea that children “should” learn a particular “something” by a “certain” age because “they” said so. 

Because you know what?

I don’t care about someone else’s should.

Here is what I think my children should learn:

• They should learn to read well, so they can learn… everything else.
• They should learn math, so they can build things, balance their checkbook, figure out how much to charge, where to invest, and how to save.
• They should learn history, so they can see the truth that “man has dominated man to his injury”, and why every system of man made government is inferior to the Kingdom.
• They should learn to be people of character: kind, respectful, and honest so they can live peaceably among other people.
• They should learn how to live: how to cook, clean, do laundry so they can be independent.

And they’re already learning these things.

With just their mom as the educational expert.

I had to get rid of these books so I could quit shoulding on myself and my kids.

What Shoulds have you let go of?

I can hardly believe that our homeschool year begins in just one week! I actually started my planning very early this year. Last year I had a tiny newborn when the school year began, but I was determined not to let things sneak up on me this year.

The school books have been sitting here on a shelf for weeks, and my closet has several bags of shiny new school supplies.

But of course the biggest, most important component is: scheduling and organizing our day.

After creating a kanban board to organize the kid’s chores, it seemed perfectly logical to make one for our homeschool day.

I’m very much a visual learner, and seeing it all laid out like this had several advantages for me:

• I can see possible technology and teacher scheduling conflicts. For instance, only two kids can do Rosetta Spanish at a time because we only have it installed on two computers. And some kids and subjects need my direct involvement, such as Sadie with phonics, and Julien and Ilana with Five in a Row. These “classes” cannot happen at the same time because they require my full attention. Other things, like Sustained Silent Reading, can be done independently.
• The kids can see what they’re supposed to be doing, when – without my input. This is priceless. Nothing is more tiring as a homeschooling mom than to have to round up kids and remind them over and over of what they’re supposed to be doing. Just because I leave the room to change baby’s diaper or what have you, doesn’t mean students get to stray from their work.
• I can stay organized. The alternative is overwhelm, and I’m not interested in that

You can’t really tell from the picture, but things like “Breakfast” and “Recess” and “Chore Time” are written on the right hand side in pencil. We do those things too during the day.

I’m excited about using this system to stay on track. The lovely thing is I can easily move the Post-Its around without re-creating the Kanban board, if adjustments need to be made.

How do you organize your homeschool day?

One of the questions people ask when they come across homeschooling parents is how they manage to teach their kids when they have more than one. Since so many homeschooling families seem to have larger families, it can certainly be done and it’s not as difficult as some might think. In fact, there are certain advantages to homeschooling when you have several kids.

For parents making the decision to homeschool, the fact that they have more than one child may concern them. They might fear that they won’t have enough time to focus on each child’s education enough.

Here are some tips to help you juggle your various children’s needs while you teach your kids at home.

Homeschooling Multiple Children: When You Have Babies and Toddlers

Homeschooling the older kids when you have babies and toddlers in the house is probably the most challenging time. With a baby or tot small enough to be held a lot, you can use a sling to keep your youngest close and happy and meet his needs while you read to or work with older children.

Use feeding times for study periods and read aloud time.

Since you’ll likely be sitting down to feed your baby anyway, have your other child(ren) read to you or sit them on your other side and read aloud to them. Your baby will benefit too from hearing words read aloud. They will learn that reading is a pleasurable activity, and hearing all those words spoken will improve their own vocabulary and reading skills later on.

For preschool and Kindergarteners, a literature based curriculum like Five In a Row may be just the thing if you have lots of little kids.

Create and enforce quiet time/nap time.

When your baby or toddler is napping is an ideal time for more focused attention on the schoolwork, but what if nobody is still napping? Create and enforce quiet time. This is a good time for you to regroup and rest or catch up a struggling reader or child who needs some extra attention with school.

Keep little ones busy.

Toddlers and preschoolers can “do school” in the same area when older children are doing seatwork. Keep them stocked with appropriate arts and crafts activities to do. Likely they’ll pick up on much of the discussion going on during school time.

If this doesn’t work well for your kids and you need to separate them, try moving around the house a little. Perhaps the older child(ren) can sit at the dining room table for a bit and the younger ones use the floor or coffee table in the living room. Or an older child can do schoolwork at a desk in their room or a parent’s office.

If you have older children, let them take turns taking care of the baby/toddler in the house for short periods. This allows you to spend some one on one time with each child during the day.

Homeschooling Multiple Children: Your Older Kids

If your children are older (and certainly once they’re all reading well!), things are a little easier. They no longer need much supervision. Most older homeschooled kids are pretty accustomed to figuring things out on their own and coming to you when they get stuck and need some help or to get more information. And for trips to the library!

With older kids, you can definitely use their size and maturity to help you get things done around the house, increasing the time you have available for homeschooling projects and field trips.

Get your kids involved in chores and meal preparation.

I cannot emphasize this enough. Learning how to clean up, complete simple handy projects around the house, do laundry and cook is very important real life preparation. In the old days, they called this stuff home economics!

If you have a child who is old enough, teach them how to prepare simple meals on their own without your assistance. A child as young as 7 can be taught how to make toast, eggs, oatmeal, sandwiches, cut vegetables and fruits, etc. After my youngest was born, my oldest son was a huge help to me because he could make snacks and easy meals for me. He was only 7 but he could do a lot around the kitchen. Now at ten, he loves to bake snacks and desserts, bake bread from scratch (no bread machine, he kneads the dough by hand), and help with dinner.

Meal prep isn’t just about eating and helping mom, but also reinforces reading, math and science skills.

A child as young as 3 can take their folded laundry to be put away in their dresser. Older kids can bring you dirty laundry, help fold and put things away when they’re done. Children can operate a vacuum properly from the time they’re around 6. A 5 year old can sweep small messes (like crumbs under the table) with a hand held broom and dustpan.

The reason I mention this is because as a homeschooling family, your house will likely get messier simply due to the fact that the kids are in it more hours of the day!

Forego summer and other lengthy vacations and do school year round.

Teaching through the summer can make up for lost time you experience during the year due to having a baby or illness or other family challenges that come up. Some parents even do a little schoolwork on the weekends. Why should learning be limited to 5 days a week?

One of the best things about homeschooling is the fact that learning can take place anytime, anywhere. Sometimes I even have to urge my kids to stop reading or building or creating and Go.To.Bed. My oldest can often be found reading his Science book at 10 PM (past his bedtime!).

Use your support network.

Can your husband, grandparents, or babysitters help the kids with schoolwork in the evenings and on weekends? Or are their other experiences your family and friends can expose your child to? Does your local homeschool support group offer a co-op? You don’t have to go it alone. Your children will benefit from different people’s perspective.

Avoid the “school at home” mentality.

Contrary to popular belief, homeschooling doesn’t involve sitting across the table from your child for several hours a day doing schoolwork. Most homeschoolers do not follow this model and the ones that do, burn out really quickly and either quit entirely or change their methods. Usually everyone is much happier!

Use curriculum that isn’t instructor intensive.

This means that you won’t have to spend a lot of time in prep work each day/week. The kids will be able to dig right in to their work, saving time. If the curriculum you’ve chosen requires you to spend a lot of time preparing lesson plans, it might not work for your family situation. That’s ok. Choose another!

On the other hand, unit studies, which do require more advance planning on the part of the parent, can allow children of different ages to learn together since everyone can do activities on their skill level. Try it out and see what works best for your situation. You don’t have to find the “perfect” solution right away.

Encourage working together.

Older kids can help younger kids with their schoolwork when you can’t be available. This reinforces the older child’s skills – the best way to learn something is to teach it! It can also increase goodwill among children.

You might want to forgo a traditional preschool curriculum for 3 to 5 year olds and let the younger kids learn alongside the older ones.

Encourage independence.

Allow older kids leeway in their school schedule. You may even want to let them choose their own curriculum or how they learn various subjects.

And finally, don’t set yourself up for failure with a rigid schedule. Adding pregnancy, a new baby, toddlers, and preschoolers to the mix can be challenging for any parent, and if you’re homeschooling, you especially need to be realistic about what you can accomplish. You might want to adopt an eclectic homeschooling style or even unschool for a period (or permanently).

If you ever doubt that your children are getting a good education because of homeschooling during their various ages and stages, think about what school was like for many people in this country a hundred years ago. Schoolkids of all ages were put in one room together with one teacher and this system produced a generation of Americans that were far more literate than modern generations!

Create a flexible, visual Schedule

When it comes to organizing your homeschool day, creating a visual schedule may work best for you. If you can SEE everything at a glance, you can see where there may be “bottlenecks” in your day and shuffle things around for a better fit. Also, if the kids can SEE the schedule prominently, they’re more likely to stay on task.

Finally here is a book recommendation. Homeschooling More Than One Child: A Practical Guide for Families is a wonderful book that has hundreds of tips and bits of advice for families. The author is a homeschooling mom of 4 who also founded a homeschool support group in her state.

Homeschooling has cost me very little. In fact I bet I’ve spent less to homeschool my kids than I would have if they were in public school.

Making lunch at home is cheap. I drive less because of homeschooling, saving gas money. I don’t have to buy lists of school supplies. There is no junky overpriced stuff to buy in the name of a “school fundraiser”, and no kids to schlep around town to sell said junk.

I’ll admit – when I crack open some of those homeschooling or educational supply catalogs, my mouth waters! I have intentionally stayed away from the homeschool conferences for this reason too. No need to tempt myself with things that I probably don’t even need, or could acquire cheaply with a little creativity.

My overall philosophy on learning is that it doesn’t take money to get a good education. Forget what the politicians tell you, they’re trying to buy your vote with propaganda. Research has shown that more money thrown at the education system in this country doesn’t mean a darn thing in terms of the results. (Neither does class size, but that’s another blog post!)

Most of the well educated people we think of throughout history spent almost nothing on their education. For example, legend has it that Abraham Lincoln taught himself math with ONE piece of chalk and a slate. Great thinkers like Mark Twain learned from the people and events going on around them, not from fancy and colorful things sold in catalogs.

I have heard people say that homeschooling is expensive – not homeschoolers themselves, but people thinking about doing it.

They start pricing curriculum that costs hundreds (or more!) out of the box and wonder how they’re going to afford it – they’re also likely thinking of the cost of keeping one parent at home to oversee the child’s schooling.

The following ideas are some of the ways I’ve been able to homeschool on the cheap, and a couple of awesome book recommendations for hundreds more ideas.

Decide On Your Budget
Just like anything else that involves your finances, it’s wise to set a homeschooling budget for the year before you begin purchasing supplies. Just doing this one thing might keep you from buying a lot of unnecessary stuff that will end up in the storage closet or listed on eBay.

Know Thyself
Decide on your educational philosophy and be honest about your homeschooling style. This will rule out purchases that won’t work for your child or your family.

If possible, test-drive curriculum and other tools before you start buying. (Ask other homeschooling parents if you can peek at their stuff, or attend one of the homeschooling conferences.)

One of the reasons buying curriculum can be so expensive is because most of the time you’re buying it sight unseen. It may not be right for your child so you end up selling it at a fraction of retail on eBay.

To avoid this problem, get with the other homeschooling parents in your support group. Ask them what they like and dislike about curriculum they’ve purchased and used. Read messages on homeschooling support forums online and do the same. Deciding in advance what your style will be means you can adapt the tools to the method, not the other way around.

If you don’t want to design your own curriculum or go with an eclectic style however, curriculum in a box type programs may be cheaper than obtaining everything piecemeal. Look around at online auctions or other places where homeschoolers are selling their used stuff. You can pick up barely used supplies this way. The Five in a Row books cost less than $20 used, and you can borrow the required books for free at the library.

Buy Used
You can find great deals at swap meets organized by homeschooling support groups. Hooking up with your local group also means group discounts on field trips. To find one, check with your local homeschool association – a simple internet search will likely turn up several in your area. In the small rural town I used to live in, there were half a dozen I could choose from!

Yard sales, thrift stores, eBay, Craigslist, Freecycle, “for sale or trade” message forums for homeschoolers online are some more places to find cheap supplies. Public library sales is another place to find inexpensive books to fill out your family’s bookshelves. A homeschooler’s dollars are probably best spent on a solid home library.

Be Creative
When I was a kid, every child I knew who was homeschooling did Calvert. Calvert is a wonderful homeschooling program but it’s also quite pricey. Nowadays, many parents are getting creative and opt to design a curriculum. I’ve done this from the start. I don’t want to get stuck in a curriculum that I don’t like or that doesn’t mesh with my child’s learning style.

There are so many options for homeschoolers. You can create unit studies, you can go for a “living books” curriculum by making lists of reading material and getting the books from the library. You can print an almost infinite number of free online worksheets (just search for what you need, for example “free third grade math worksheets” etc).

Math manipulatives can be super cheap. Instead of buying fancy manipulatives from the educational catalogs, use stuff you have around your home to teach the kids math – dried beans, dried macaroni, Lego toys, wooden blocks, measuring spoons and cups can teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and basic geometry.

Be a Freebie Seeker
Did you know that many office supply stores host teacher appreciation days once a year around August? These are a source of free and discounted items and giveaways.

This month I attended one at Staples and got a free thumb drive for my trouble. (Last year they gave away a free tote bag filled with stuff.) So far I’ve spent less than $10 and have all the paper, pens, pencils, erasers and colored pencils I’ll need for the year.

Drugstores and large retail stores offer free, penny and nickel school supplies every year. They offer these as loss leaders to get people in the store and it’s a goldmine for us homeschoolers. I’m able to stock up on glue sticks, notebooks, pencils and tons more for just a few dollars. I buy enough for the entire year.

Many larger bookstores such as Barnes and Noble also offer discounts to teachers throughout the year, including homeschooling parents. You just ask customer service for a discount card. They’ll put you on their email list and invite you to special educator days throughout the year with awesome speakers, giveaways, freebies, even free coffee and refreshments from the Cafe!

I got to meet Ron Clark, an award winning educator and author of The Essential 55 at one of these events. (He signed my book for me then when he found out I was a homeschool mom, got out of his chair and bowed to me. ) Barnes and Noble also gives away free books in the summer.

Public libraries are a neverending source of free homeschooling materials. From the obvious – unlimited free books – to educational DVDs, great music on CD, music instruction on DVD and CD, arts and crafts activities open to the public, symphony days, storytime, even continuing education for older teens and adults.

These are the things I’ve always done to save money, but lately I’ve read a couple of awesome books that have given me tons more ideas.

Homeschooling on a Shoestring

This book was written by two homeschool moms whose families couldn’t have been more different. The thing they had in common was an intense love of homeschooling and their kids, and a desire not to let small budgets stop them.

What was interesting about this book is that it spends the first few chapters talking not about homeschooling per se, but about making more room in the budget, period. From saving money on groceries and other budget line items to launching home based businesses, it encourages making wiggle room in the family finances, which is helpful information all by itself.

Then the latter chapters focus on specific ways to educate kids for pennies. It covers everything from the basics of designing curriculum cheaply to enrichment activities like the arts, musical training and sports. It also spends a few chapters on teens and college bound homeschool kids.

The sections on teaching math using everyday items and also the information on teaching a second language were especially useful for me.

This book was written in the 90′s so the information on using computers and the Internet are a bit outdated but overall the book is chock full of useful tips and ideas.

One great idea I got from this book is to think more about bartering. I want my kids to have piano lessons but it’s not in the budget at this time. So, I’m looking around for a local piano teacher who needs a website and offer to build her one in exchange for a few lessons for the kids for me.

Ditto with Spanish “class”. I want to learn Spanish and I want the kids to learn too. I have a few Spanish speaking friends who are not teachers or tutors and have offered to barter or pay them a small fee for weekly lessons. Still working out the details on that. The ideas in this book have really stimulated my creativity.

Homeschool Your Child for Free

This hefty volume, also written by two homeschooling moms, is another awesome resource. Because it was published in 2000, it has many online tools and websites listed in its pages.

This book claims to have 1,200 resources listed for home educators, and I believe it. While the first book deals mostly in principles, this book has more specific recommendations.

It’s organized into the following sections: Curriculum Scope and Sequence; Education Essentials; Language; Mathematics; Art; History; Music; Social Studies; Humanities; Science; Health and then finally Graduation. This makes it easy to find the specific information you’re looking for.

Homeschool Your Child For Free would be a wonderful addition to any homeschooling parent’s library, a reference to pull off the shelf whenever you’re scratching your head wondering where you can find free information for your child on any particular topic.

One of the questions people ask me all the time is, how do you homeschool as a single parent? Obviously I have to work to earn a living too so it’s understandable that I would get this question.

For one thing, I started my business several years ago – and even though it was only part time income for me for much of that time, I still had a foundation laid that made it possible for me to earn a living from home with my business.

Another thing that helps is flexibility. Because we don’t take summers off, we’re able to keep a flexible homeschool schedule. My parents also help. My Dad spends a lot of time with the kids, and my Mom is helping with the 7 and 5 year old’s schooling when she is with them. That is a huge blessing!

I came across this excellent article from a homeschool advocate who has some suggestions for parents who think they can’t homeschool for one reason or another.

photo credit: angela7dreams

Busy, Working Parents — 22 Ways To Homeschool Your Kids

Most home-schooling parents teach their children about two to four hours a day and turn out well-educated kids. So the problem is how to squeeze in about ten to twenty hours a week for home-schooling. Here are some suggestions:

1. Can you change your work schedule so that you can work in the afternoon or at night and teach your children in the morning?

2. Can you work part time, leaving yourself time for home-schooling?

3. Can you find a job in your local neighborhood so that you don’t waste one to three hours commuting every day?

4. Can you work from home? Computers, the Internet, fax machines, and e-mail all make working from home relatively easy. Thousands of companies now offer this option to their workers. You could of-fer to work for slightly less money if your boss resists this arrangement.

5. Can you start a simple-to-run home business that would give you more free time.

6. Can you do all your home-schooling on weekends? If you can arrange concentrated six-to-ten-hour sessions on Saturday and Sunday, you’ll be free to work at your job during the rest of the week. Or you might try a combination of weekday and weekend home-schooling sessions.

7. If you have no other alternatives, home-schooling could be done in the evening, say from 7 to 10 P.M., or a combination of weekday nights and weekend sessions. 8. If you’re married, get your husband or wife to help with the workload. Both parents should be in-volved in home-schooling if possible.

In my book, “Public Schools, Public Menace,” I describe 22 ways that parents can homeschool their children, even if both parents work. Almost a million parents now homeschool their kids, and most of these parents work. You can do the same.

About The Author: Joel Turtel of My Kids Deserve Better is an education policy analyst. He is also the author of “The Welfare State: No Mercy For The Middle Class.”

Any single parents out there who are also homeschooling? Want to share your success tips?