We have officially begun our fourth year of homeschooling.
Wow. Let’s take a moment to let that sink in… four years.
When Newt first came home, I did what most new homeschoolin’ mamas do: I tried to recreate school at home. From 10:00 – 11:00 is history, followed by a 15 minute recess… We even started each day with the Pledge of Allegiance. Iff I’d had a little bell, I’d have been ringing it off the handle. If I’d had more than one kid, I’d probably have them line up for recess. I don’t think I would have worn a hairnet for lunch, but *I did have the little trays.
It didn’t take long to figure out that that kind of school-day was not going to work with my family. Since then the pendulum has swung back and forth between too much structure with too little freedom to too much freedom with too little accountability.
Heck, it’s still swinging. But over the years the arc has gotten smaller.
This year, we are easing into a fall schedule, adding in structure where it is needed after the summer, but not trying to cram in too much at once.
This is a rough sketch of what our days are like:

Me only:

• 6:30 – Up and at ’em
• Until 8:30 – Get ready for the day and do some writing

Newt gets up when she is ready, usually between 8:30 and 9:00.

• 9:00ish to 10:00 – Breakfast and daily chores
• 10:00 – 12:00 Study Time, includes:
• Morning Devotional: Scripture memorization, sometimes a song, reading and discussion from an inspirational book.
• Reading a chapter (or two, or five…) from whatever book we are reading together.
• At least a half an hour of personal study.
• Around 12:00 Lunch
• After Lunch – Projects and **Tutoring
• Later – friend time or whatever else she chooses for Newt, additional study and/or writing for me.

This schedule gives us a rhythm to the day, without feeling stifling. What Newt studies is mostly up to her, with some gentle guidance from me.
(I started to write more about how that works, but it got so long, I decided to save it for another post.)
We loosely stick to this schedule every day we are home. There are days when Newt has another obligation, Family History Lessons with Grandma, working at the farm, Girl Scouts or a field trip. On those days, we just work our schedule around them.
And then there are those days where we just decide to do something else entirely. Today was the first cool day in awhile. It felt fallish – which is both Newt’s and my favorite holiday. We packed a lunch, picked up some friends and took a little road trip to the Oregon Garden.

Mr. and Mrs. Pots and Junior

The teeniest-tiniest cutest babyist(?) newt we’ve ever seen

A Hobbit house

Tram tour of the garden

Newt holding another newt

I love the gentle rhythm of our days and the flexibility to take time for adventures. It’s shaping up to be a great year so far.

*I didn’t actually buy lunch trays. They were a gift from a friend.
**I am the tutor. This is for any lessons that Newt needs particular guidance with, from math to cooking.