Homeschooling- There are as many ways to do it as there are homeschooling families.

What does your day look like? What's working for you and what didn't work? What "style" of homeschooling do you use? Send us your input to bethcarson@hotmail.com, and we'll post it to the web.

Here's what some people are doing...

What's worked well for us . . .

With each of my 3 older boys, the hurdle of reading went smoothly enough simply using "Bob Books" and "Pathway Readers" after presenting each vowel according to the "Writing Road to Reading". We made up silly stories about why "a" says "a, ay, ah"--we practiced writing the vowels saying "a, ay, ah" or whatever.  I never incorporated the rest of the book's approach, but I did find this introduction of all the sounds together for each vowel greatly demystified the reading process, giving them greater confidence early on. They could "try on" each of the vowel sounds in that order to see which one "fit". Despite very different learning styles, they've all quickly "taken" to reading.

We've enjoyed simply doing the 3 R's a little each day:

--a daily read aloud time w/ history picture books from the library or character stories
--a quiet read alone time w/ science or other library books ("rest time")
--narration (where they informally tell me something from what they've read--foundation for good writing)
--some math drill and/or lesson from math textbook
--handwriting practice in workbook
--copywork and/or journal or correspondence

We've tried a variety of grammar, spelling, phonics, etc, over the past 8 years, but it has been this core routine that has shaped my children's love of history, science, language and learning in general; and I've found that this more than covers the basics especially in the first 2-3 grades.

Since we homeschool primarily so that our children will grow in an environment which cultivates the love and fear of God (beginning of wisdom), we practice a daily prayertime, Scripture reading, Bible story and reading the lives of saints together:  Since I feel this aspect of our homeschool is most important, we do prayertime before breakfast, then older child reads a picture Bible story to the younger ones while waiting for breakfast, and we have Scripture reading during breakfast (on audio tape or older child reads), and they are usually eager to go "draw their picture" as soon as their breakfast cleanup chore is done--basically I have them draw and narrate/write something related to the story. This way, no matter what happens with the rest of the day, we've done the most important things.

We also have a time for "spiritual reading" around bedtime where the older ones read "The Millers" books or other inspirational stories, and I have tapes for younger children to listen to as they drift off to sleep. This time proves very formative, since we often reflect throughout the night on whatever was contemplated at bedtime. The best tapes for the younger ones seem to be the ones we've made ourselves. I keep handy a portable tape player, used solely for recording, with a "You 'n Me tape" perpetually in progress, and cued so I just "press play" when the moment arises. We might complete one every week or month--but a fresh supply of new tapes is guaranteed this way. I can always record a Bible story or saint's life or interesting read aloud passage or Scripture reading, throw in a few cute songs or hymns we sing on there together, let the little ones tell their joke on the tape, or record Daddy telling a story.  Anything I want memorized, I put on one of these tapes, and it's learned effortlessly. The little ones listen to these tapes at rest-time and bedtime. And I can use one for the older children to help them "rise and shine" in the morning.

Aside from the basics we just have fun--puzzles, cooking together, cleaning together, music tapes, playdoh or clay, drawing, trips to the YMCA, sports, etc. And the annual achievement scores keep reassuring me that we're on track--though our writing is getting more practice this year, (Institute for Excellence in Writing). I've also enjoyed the addition of Story of the World to our read alouds. I am moving toward  more structure as my oldest enters his teen years--and I'm considering something like Tapestry of Grace for the basic format.

But I mostly try to keep obedience and character issues priority--pray often--and try to faithfully do a little of each thing every day. We have miles to go, but we're enjoying the process, and trusting that God will be faithful to direct our steps.

Julie Thorp
ds '92
ds ''96
ds '98
ds '00
dd '04