Homeschool and The Homestead
Homeschool on the Homestead. Your day starts early. You get up and make a steaming cup of coffee (or in my case tea). You let the warmth from the life giving liquid ease you into the waking world. The steam slowly drifts up, you breath it in and your mind carries you off to the day ahead. Your thoughts are interrupted by the chatter coming from your excited children. You give up on your thoughts and sleepily shrug on your farm clothes and muck boots and out the door you go. Children trailing close behind. The animals are calling. Everyone needs to be fed… including the children. Depending on the time of year whether it is Winter and pens need to be excavated from the snow and troughs need to be de-iced or Summer when electric fencing needs to be moved, animals need to be milked and don’t forget about weeding the veggie patch. No matter what time of year it is busy. There is an endless list of demands begging for your attention….once again don’t forget the children…
Despite all the things needing to be done on your homestead you have also decided to add homeschool to the list of things to do…hmm… oh and because anyone can homeschool just one child lets make it more interesting and homeschool multiple children of different ages. Ah. yes. That’s more like it. So my guess is that you are asking the question “How to homeschool on the homestead?” Am I right? How did I know? Well, just like you I too have asked the great and powerful Mr. Google How to homeschool on the homestead. Do you know what pops up when you ask it that question? Homeschool curriculums by the boatloads. Yep all wanting attention, money and time. All of those things as I’m sure you know are in high demand on the homestead. So what are we to do? I’m here to help you figure that out! Yep! That’s right I have a solution that will make you feel so a little less like a crazy person! -insert happy dance - So since time is short and I’m sure you have paused many times already to attend children or go catch an escaped farm animal let’s get right into it!
Number One: Stop trying to public school at home.
Let that sink in. Let those memories of public school come to the forefront of your mind. Now throw it out. This is homeschool. The sky is the limit. You are free to teach whatever your children want to learn. You do not have to do all your learning in a sit down fashion. You can let your preschooler count eggs. You can let your 3rd grader cut, weigh, measure, add and multiply cabbages! (yes we've done this). You can let them read books that suit their interests and it can be done at night when you can’t work outside anyway. Think about how you learn. You talk to people who do what you are interested in learning about. You read books and google, Pinterest and Youtube the subject. Then you do it! Guess what? Your kids can learn the same way! You don’t need to be tested on something you are interested in. Am I right? The test is natural. Did you learn how to care for that animal properly? Well farm consequences are much harder than an “F” on a report card. If you didn't learn well enough usually an animal dies or the crop fails… There are no participation ribbons given on the farm. - This being said I do believe we need to create a strong foundation for the core subjects like math and reading/writing/grammar. Teaching the core subjects is much easier on the budget than any of those costly curriculums and it is time saving also.
Number Two: Routine vs. Schedule
How many schedules have we made? Did you stick to it? Nope. The moment that pig got out or your kids got sick or a windstorm knocked the power out that perfect schedule is out the window. On our farm we live by routine. We do our best to keep a daily rhythm. This means we do the same things most of the days of the week. Our day is more about flow than precise timing. I’m sure at this point you are picturing me this free flowing kind of granola mom…. ya not so much. Do you remember that tv show friends? …ok ok be nice. Let’s just say im not phoebe. I like a clean house. I like to have a plan. mmm hmmm farm life has indeed cured me. Ha! By adapting to a flow rather than a strict daily schedule it allows for animals and children to be animals and children. It allows you to say “yes"! to that extra long hug your toddler suddenly wants to give you. It allows you to spend an hour chasing the chickens out of the garden. It allows for your child to suddenly be interested in reading every book in the house to you! Score!! Routine is flexible.
Number three: Curriculum based vs. project based
Have you as a farm mama purchased that amazing curriculum that comes in a huge box and has all the things? You know all the games, coloring pages, all the fun stuff? Oh ya. I’ve been there. I’ve paid the big bucks. Did it pay off? Um that’s a big fat NO! Why not? We live on a farm! When you live on a farm you make the choice to leave the shinny glittery sparkly fluff behind. You enjoy life. Dirt. Animals. Connection on a whole different level. You no longer need all that extra stuff. The homestead becomes your extra stuff. That must carry over to the homeschooling side of things also. You commit to changing your lifestyle. You let go of having to teach your kids every single little thing you possibly could and it allows them the freedom to explore, learn, grow and imagine on their own! FREEDOM!!! (Can you see the McSquizzy saying that like I can? LoL) When you teach your children to work on a project vs from a curriculum they set the pace, they problem solve and can map out what’s needed to complete the project. There is no unit studies to plan, days to count until the end of the “school year”, or wading through piles of curriculum choices for months on end. ANOTHER BIG WIN! I don’t know about you, but my goal is to teach my children to become amazing adults who can think on their own. I want to set them free with the world at their fingertips. The best way to do this is so let them pick the projects. It ensures no long mornings of whining kids who don’t want to finish their “boring” curriculum. It means they are motivated. Bonus you can help direct them to doing projects on the farm. Personally I enjoy having my kids build chicken tractors for math class much more than sitting down in a class room.
So walk on the wild side with me. Let go of the curriculum, the schedule and doing it like everyone else. Embrace the rhythm and seasons of the homestead. Enjoy letting your kids explore and discover on their own. You can do this. I know it’s exhausting, but you are amazing! You are a farmer after all!!
Happy Homeschooling on the Homestead!
Blessings until next time.
