When my daughter was young, we lived in a state that *required* music. I found Hoffman Academy's free lessons (on youtube as well as on their website). They provided several years of required lessons, without breaking the bank. Sometimes I wish we had continued with their lessons (we only went thru year 5 or so), but my daughter is very happy with their foundation.
MOST of the time, we also have not done the recommended science experiments or projects. I find that for those I choose to skip, I can find a nice video on youtube of someone else doing the experiment, and we can watch them. No mess, no fuss, no cost : )
I don’t know if anyone else mentioned this but we don’t finish all curriculum by the end of the school year. In years past I felt such guilt for not completing curriculum, but not anymore. I feel my only is learning and showing progress and that’s what matters to me. Great video! TFS! 😊
I love this. I don’t do co ops. We don’t do every curriculum. I’ve hardly found any “group set curriculums” I like. I have 7 kiddos and one special needs, so the relaxed approach is definitely for us!! Following a schedule is hard due to having so many littles, I’ve found that evenings are best to do anything left over with the olders. From Mississippi ❤
Thank you!!! This is so nice to hear. We don’t start school in the morning(well we rarely start in the morning) our school day starts in the afternoon after lunch. It works for us. I also don’t do music lessons with my kids. We don’t have the finances for it. It is what it is. In order to homeschool, we have to be frugal, and music is not a priority. We do an events group-parties and field trips, but no co-op.
I tried to start in the morning cause I felt like I should. This year, though, I realized that It's okay for us to start later. I am not a morning person, so forcing myself to do school that early just made it stressful 😅
1. We don't go to a co-op. 2. We homeschool in the afternoon and not in the morning. 3. We don't take a long summer break. 4. I have never been to a homeschool convention. 5. I don't wait until my child is 6 to teach reading. I like them to start school earlier than they would in the public school system. ❤ I love homeschooling! Such lovely freedom! ❤
We do not do Morning baskets Sports Music One brand curriculum Busy filler work Set schedule We still do Modge Podge and intrest led curriculum Co-op Explore museums and trails
Thanks for the encouragement for your fellow homeschool mamas! We don't do poetry tea times, or co-ops either. We tried morning baskets, but that went by the wayside, as all my kids just wanted to get their subjects done asap! we do love to do group lessons for TGATB science, and all our children get piano lessons at their oldest sisters' piano studio! We stick to ourselves for the most part, but still get together with friends all the time, and I love going to our monthly homeschool mamas coffee chats for some extra support and boosting! Our kids are very much hands on with life skills, cooking, baking, cross stitching, sewing, woodworking, computer techy stuff, and working in their Dad's shop building stairs.
We don’t do all the subjects every day, week or month. We do History/ Art one semester and Science/ Music the other semester. I don’t read aloud to my kids…we use audiobooks. We don’t start school before 10 am😮.
We don’t do any of these things either - I tried to force piano lessons one year and no one was having it. Another thing I don’t do is “planning” at least not in the sense that it seems most homeschool moms do. Other than putting important appointments and reminders into my phone, once we’ve mapped out our year, we just get it done. It always seems to work out.
I only homeschool one (11) and are only a couple years into homeschooling. We don’t do morning baskets or poetry tea time. My son is new to faith (really our whole household is) and hasn’t picked up the Bible to read or done any Bible study….yet. He does attend the church’s youth night though. We never do everything in our curriculum or finish the entire curriculum by the end of the school year. I’ve tried but it stresses my son out. We will just pick it up after our “break”. We homeschool year around but switch up our style of schooling in the summer. We don’t do state testing as it’s not required in my state. We don’t do extracurricular sports, clubs, or co-ops because he’s just not interested (social anxiety from being bullied at school). We don’t do every craft or experiment either but I let him pick what sounds interesting or fun to him. He hates any online educational game or learning program so we don’t use those. We start our school day after lunch. I go over lessons, ask if he has questions, and let him do his independent work whenever he wants as long as it’s done by the end of the day. We don’t do music or languages but if he ever showed an interest I’d be willing to figure it out. We don’t do any subscription boxes. We tried but he becomes disinterested and they will just pile up. We live in an apartment so gardening/farming isn’t an option at this time. We tried planters but our pets tend to ruin them. Because of our small space we don’t have a homeschool room but we have a corner in the living room. We don’t do homeschool at the dining room/kitchen table. We are more comfortable doing school work on the couch, at the library, park, pool, or local coffee shop. We don’t really do spelling since it comes naturally for him. We don’t do audio books for read aloud. He says he prefers hearing me read (he does his own reading as well). I think that’s all I can think of…lol.
Our homeschool is very similar to yours in most of your points. We are very fortunate to have an amazing Commonwealth school we participate in, but if we lost it for some reason, I love your ideas for homeschooling high school without a group. The major difference in our homeschool is that we do instruments but not sports teams. My kids have never desired to play sports, but love their violins and cello. You really have to choose because you can't do it all. I love being able to pick and choose what we want to do and leave the rest happily behind.
So I’ve been watching your channel for a long time so none of these surprised me. But I realized I don’t do most of these either and I think some of it is because watching you homeschool your way (as well as some other lovely mamas) has helped me realize we can homeschool the way that works for us. The big thing we don’t do like everyone else is traditional morning basket! I know shock and horror! But it just never worked for us.
Thank you for another great video, Ashley! Your channel has helped me above and beyond any other when it comes to home school guidance and confidence to do it! I tell everyone starting out their homeschooling journey about your channel. I really can't thank you enough.
This is important for other homeschool mammas to hear :) We put soo much dang pressure on ourselves it's just insane. Somethings are just not doable. If you got 1 kid versus several that needs to be taken into account. Add on special needs it can get hairy running them to therapy on top of sports, music etc. I agree that you really need to prioritize what is most important to your child and you- let the rest go. For our family that is history. I love history and i feel super important to know but I do not have hours everyday to dedicate to it like so many curriculums require. Love to hear feedback on taking the ACT/SAT. I am having my one son take them because of scholarship opportunities it will provide for him. My other son just graduated Thursday (yay!!) But he chose not to take ACT because he is planning on just doing community College 1st and transfer in that way so it's not needed (or trade school)
Hi Ashley, Pray all is well. I've looked at your playlist and I didn't see any on this so I'd LOVE it if you would, please, would do a reflection video on what to know about/for homeschooling middle school/what you would tell yourself or someone starting out/ do differently now that you've completed it w one kiddo.... any advice or resources on it . Thanks for your consideration. :)
We also don’t participate in a co-op or group right now and never have. My kids don’t play a sport but I have one in music lessons. We don’t have a schedule and I don’t do lesson plans. If I don’t finish a book we finish up lessons as we can. Everyday is not the same as far as what we do!
My son hates music...we cannot even have the radio on in the car or hum or sing in our home. It is a trigger for him so we do not do music. I am a piano teacher which makes it funnier.
I love to hear from another mom about not wanting to do all the crafts. My addition for my family is we don't do poetry teas. It's. not that we never read poetry but it's the least of my concerns. Also my 15 year old boy might have his eyeballs roll out of his head if I suggested it. I know it works wonderfully for some families,just not ours. I really love your channel and your sweet nature. You introduced me to The Good and Beautiful years ago and I will never stop being grateful.
This was so refreshing. I have fellow homeschool moms that keep telling me to do co-op but I just have no interest in it. Everything you listed is what I also do. Haha. Thanks for sharing!
We've been homeschooling for eight years and we don't do morning basket. We've tried a couple times but it just ends up being a huge time suck and momentum killer. We still get all our subjects in and do read aloud at bedtime so I stopped trying to force it. It just wasn't for us.
🙌🏾Great video! This is going to loose the shackles off of some homeschool mamas! 🥳 We don't do co-ops either. Unfortunately I test my kiddos once a year due to state regulations. It's all good though. We don't stress about them.
Thanks for sharing Ashlee, I always feel guilt over not doing a co-op with my kids, but I'd have to drive 45mins one way. The only thing we have locally are play dates.
Lol I don't do all the crafts and activities either. Been homeschooling for a decade and I promise anyone reading this, they absolutely do not need to do every single activity in the curriculum.
Please do a video where you dive deep into your testing thoughts 😂🙌🏼 (and if it’s in the car then it’s a bigger win lol) We don’t spend hooours on school. My kids are young, but even still - under an hour and we’re done. I know it’ll change eventually but loving spending time doing non-workbook things while they’re little!
I have two kids that take piano lessons. I love it and our teacher is a blessing! However it is expensive. I can't imagine paying for lessons for 4 kids. The wonderful thing about homeschool is that there's no pressure to do anything you don't want. You make the rules!
This makes me feel so much better cause I dont do any of these either. It does seem like its expected, but I dont want my kids to have a rigid schedule like they would get with public school.
Seven years homeschooling and I'm so thankful we've never done standardized testing either. We moved out of NY before we had to. 🙌 Your music is our art. Lol. We have done some, but it's just not something we tend to do or take on a lot of. 😮
❤our homeschool life sounds very similar to yours! We get everything done and my kids are thriving. This will be our 4th year with the Good and the beautiful! We love the curriculum! This year we are adding in BJU press for history & science. My older son likes me by his side all day but I need time to work with kindergartener so my son and I decided to implement BJU for a couple lessons that took quite a bit of my time and we will be using videos. I enjoyed your video on how to balance 180 days BJU with another program since TGATB is 120 days! We are in Washington state so while I agree with you on standardized testing we have to test my son starting this year, but I will not look into the scores more than just a number! Thank you for always being so honest and open with your kids schooling!!
Because I am homeschooling my 8 & 7 year old with a almost-3 year old and a 6 month old around, we too don't have set brackets to our schedule. We typically spend about two hours and have certain subjects on certain days but that's it. Two hours is about the max we can do because 1) Naptimes don't last forever, 2) My kids focus usually starts to wane by then, and 3) My energy level drops significantly. We also don't do all the crafts and activities, though my kids definitely love them.
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with some of the things you mentioned in this video. I feel like it can be a bit of a thing where we are gauging where our child "should be" based on the assumption that they need to be where their grade level indicates in order to feel they are hitting benchmarks for learning.
Wonderful video. I don’t do anything together with my kids except our Bible, but I don’t consider that school anyways. So, no morning basket, symposium, or whatever else. It may be I just am really concentrating on them as individuals for now, but it may be in the cards later on. When I watch your videos and you pray and do morning work, I am inspired by how you do it, but it’s stays that way until God calls me to tangle them up and do more together. I am encouraged by this video, thank you.
I’m a fellow pick and choose kind of mom too.😂I find it can make homeschool overwhelming and so much harder than it needs to be if u try to fit in all the crafts, projects etc
Hello, great video! Do you think you could share how you do transcripts? Where you piece your curriculum together and use a variety of things it would be nice to see how you put one together. 😊
We have been homeschooling for over five years. My kids have never done music lessons or been part of a co-op. We never schedule out our day. We just get everything completed by the end of the day. We utilize online videos for math and sometimes history and science. We do yearly testing. It's required in the state I live in.
Yes! We do not do most of those things. I use the crafts and activities in a curriculum as a menu not a must do all the things situation. No standardized testing here either. No music lessons here but we do learn about composers, folk songs and hymns. No co-op here either. And yes outsourcing when you can is very helpful.
Loves this!!!! Well this homeschool mama doesn’t test ( I might ask a few questions from the test to make sure learning was reached or a essay/report is due) but we do have to take standardized tests… its required for the state we live in. And no music for us either. Happy homeschooling
We have never done a drop off group or co-op. And I’ll never do a drop off group for that matter. There are some things I.e. riding horses, art, sports, etc that my kids are showing interest in so I’m considering in the near future adding in potentially. I do teach every subject but with my oldest going to be getting older I’ve considered out sourcing some subjects in a year or so. I’ve never done a morning basket or block scheduling. When my kids wake up naturally that’s when we get started, we keep it flexible. My oldest has done testing when we first started due to state laws but it never sat well with me, in my gut I knew it’s not where the Lord wanted us so we changed it!
Mom of 10, pregnant with number 11… we don’t do formal music, organized sports, formal Bible curriculum, formal karate/tae kwan do, specific schedules by minute/hour, every activity/extension in curriculum, weekly library trips(ohhhh the struggle that is choosing decent reading materials now), co-ops, or momma teaching every subject for every kid! Oh! And no standardized testing yet.
No co-op for us. Or music lessons at this point. We do one extra curricular in Fall and one in winter/spring to keep things simple (and affordable)! No testing in our state either thank goodness. We also don’t do music lessons. I have a music degree, but my kids are only 8 and 6, so there is time lol. Thanks for sharing and for all the encouragement you give 💞
We definitely don’t do all the crafts or extra activities. Our schedule has always been a nice flow that’s become a healthy morning/midday routine, but never a set time schedule.
My state requires state testing starting at 3rd grade and every 3 years after. I do NOT like the testing system. My son took his first test in 3rd grade and he was very nervous and stressed about it being timed. He did "above average", but many of the questions that was asked we never covered in our HS. I don't purchase summer workbooks, we just move right to the next level. The first few chapters of the new curriculum will be a review from the previous year anyway.
Great video! We don't do anything that you mentioned as well except for co-op once a week, but it will only be for elementary years. My soon to be 5th grader is getting bored with it.
I am in a place where my 5-6 graders are bored at co-op as well. My littles still love it!! And ideas on this transition phase? I don’t want to force “group learning” They do well with their school at home, and so great with groups of friends to just “hang out” But they aren’t enjoying the co-op setting anymore Kinda sad about it, but not sure how to move forward
Hi Ashley! 👋 I was wondering if you could do a video on how to make friends as a homeschooling family. You mentioned that you do not attend a co-op, and I was interested in how your kids make friends. Thank you. 😊
Hi! We have neighborhood kids, families we do life with, extra curriculars, youth groups, cousins, CrossFit classes, and church. Those areas all produce “friends” but I’m much more concerned with their relationships with each other.
I definitely don’t teach every subject to my high schoolers. This year I am only teaching one elective, not including Bible and a family book club. We’ve never really done music either, nobody here is bothered by that.
We don't do any of those things either. We also don't always finish a year's curriculum in a year. My third child would be in 2nd grade, but he's at a K/1st grade level. He took over 2 years to finish 80% of the old TGTB Math K. By the time we got to the last unit, I felt like the concepts were too young for him, so we moved onto the old Level 1. Now he is flying through the first unit of that with me combining or skipping lessons. As far as Language Arts, he was very reluctant to learn his letters. I didn't push it, we completed most of the Pre K and K Primer but also played a lot of games and other activities instead of the lessons. We recently started Level K and reading is now starting to click for him. Like I said, he is 8, would be finishing up 2nd grade in public school, and is just starting to learn to read. I'm so thankful to be able to move at his pace and set a firm foundation for him and not worry about grade levels or arbitrary standards. And go as quickly or slowly through the curriculum as my children need.
Thank you for sharing this. My son also would be in second grade but is still in k/1st too. An encouragement for me to learn to play games and take it at his pace. Thank you❤
Good for you to be able to allow your child to grow at their own pace. It will pay off in the long run. Way to go as my son is in a similar situation with TGTB Language Arts old vs new…
Wait, there are parents out there that teach every subject?! Wow, good for them. But there is no way that I could teach every subject to each of our 5 children. I only teach the two youngest everything and then use curriculum, tutors, and videos for the 3 oldest, except for Bible and Critical Thinking, which we do all together. I love hearing about what works for other families. 👍
Hi Ashlee! I asked a question on your previous UA-cam and wanted to clarify your answer. My daughter struggles in math. Do you think she could use TGATB math 6 for 7th grade next year? My plan would be to move her on to Dr. Shormann pre-algebra in 8th.
Kat's Bookstack, I know you didn't ask me, but my daughter struggled so much with math. What finally worked for her was Horizons math. It is colorful, and it has walked her through step by step with good examples of the concepts. Perhaps it could be an option for you?
When my daughter was young, we lived in a state that *required* music. I found Hoffman Academy's free lessons (on youtube as well as on their website). They provided several years of required lessons, without breaking the bank. Sometimes I wish we had continued with their lessons (we only went thru year 5 or so), but my daughter is very happy with their foundation.
MOST of the time, we also have not done the recommended science experiments or projects. I find that for those I choose to skip, I can find a nice video on youtube of someone else doing the experiment, and we can watch them. No mess, no fuss, no cost : )
I don’t know if anyone else mentioned this but we don’t finish all curriculum by the end of the school year. In years past I felt such guilt for not completing curriculum, but not anymore. I feel my only is learning and showing progress and that’s what matters to me. Great video! TFS! 😊
I don’t recall ever finishing a textbook when I was in public school or as a teacher.
I love this. I don’t do co ops. We don’t do every curriculum. I’ve hardly found any “group set curriculums” I like. I have 7 kiddos and one special needs, so the relaxed approach is definitely for us!! Following a schedule is hard due to having so many littles, I’ve found that evenings are best to do anything left over with the olders. From Mississippi ❤
We don't do any of these things either. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you!!! This is so nice to hear. We don’t start school in the morning(well we rarely start in the morning) our school day starts in the afternoon after lunch. It works for us. I also don’t do music lessons with my kids. We don’t have the finances for it. It is what it is. In order to homeschool, we have to be frugal, and music is not a priority. We do an events group-parties and field trips, but no co-op.
We school after lunch too. 🎉
We don’t start in the morning either. I have middle and high schoolers and none of us are morning people. We’re lucky if we start at 2pm lol
I tried to start in the morning cause I felt like I should. This year, though, I realized that It's okay for us to start later. I am not a morning person, so forcing myself to do school that early just made it stressful 😅
1. We don't go to a co-op.
2. We homeschool in the afternoon and not in the morning.
3. We don't take a long summer break.
4. I have never been to a homeschool convention.
5. I don't wait until my child is 6 to teach reading. I like them to start school earlier than they would in the public school system.
❤ I love homeschooling! Such lovely freedom! ❤
We do not do
Morning baskets
Sports
Music
One brand curriculum
Busy filler work
Set schedule
We still do
Modge Podge and intrest led curriculum
Co-op
Explore museums and trails
Thanks for the encouragement for your fellow homeschool mamas! We don't do poetry tea times, or co-ops either. We tried morning baskets, but that went by the wayside, as all my kids just wanted to get their subjects done asap! we do love to do group lessons for TGATB science, and all our children get piano lessons at their oldest sisters' piano studio! We stick to ourselves for the most part, but still get together with friends all the time, and I love going to our monthly homeschool mamas coffee chats for some extra support and boosting! Our kids are very much hands on with life skills, cooking, baking, cross stitching, sewing, woodworking, computer techy stuff, and working in their Dad's shop building stairs.
By the way next year I’m going to be a homeschool teacher at a co-op. It’s Monday and Friday from 9-2 and I’m beyond excited
We don’t do all the subjects every day, week or month. We do History/ Art one semester and Science/ Music the other semester. I don’t read aloud to my kids…we use audiobooks. We don’t start school before 10 am😮.
We don't nature journal. We are out in nature a ton, but we never sketch or draw what we see. We also don't do Latin as a language.
Us either!
We don’t do any of these things either - I tried to force piano lessons one year and no one was having it. Another thing I don’t do is “planning” at least not in the sense that it seems most homeschool moms do. Other than putting important appointments and reminders into my phone, once we’ve mapped out our year, we just get it done. It always seems to work out.
I only homeschool one (11) and are only a couple years into homeschooling. We don’t do morning baskets or poetry tea time. My son is new to faith (really our whole household is) and hasn’t picked up the Bible to read or done any Bible study….yet. He does attend the church’s youth night though. We never do everything in our curriculum or finish the entire curriculum by the end of the school year. I’ve tried but it stresses my son out. We will just pick it up after our “break”. We homeschool year around but switch up our style of schooling in the summer. We don’t do state testing as it’s not required in my state. We don’t do extracurricular sports, clubs, or co-ops because he’s just not interested (social anxiety from being bullied at school). We don’t do every craft or experiment either but I let him pick what sounds interesting or fun to him. He hates any online educational game or learning program so we don’t use those. We start our school day after lunch. I go over lessons, ask if he has questions, and let him do his independent work whenever he wants as long as it’s done by the end of the day. We don’t do music or languages but if he ever showed an interest I’d be willing to figure it out. We don’t do any subscription boxes. We tried but he becomes disinterested and they will just pile up. We live in an apartment so gardening/farming isn’t an option at this time. We tried planters but our pets tend to ruin them. Because of our small space we don’t have a homeschool room but we have a corner in the living room. We don’t do homeschool at the dining room/kitchen table. We are more comfortable doing school work on the couch, at the library, park, pool, or local coffee shop. We don’t really do spelling since it comes naturally for him. We don’t do audio books for read aloud. He says he prefers hearing me read (he does his own reading as well). I think that’s all I can think of…lol.
Our homeschool is very similar to yours in most of your points. We are very fortunate to have an amazing Commonwealth school we participate in, but if we lost it for some reason, I love your ideas for homeschooling high school without a group. The major difference in our homeschool is that we do instruments but not sports teams. My kids have never desired to play sports, but love their violins and cello. You really have to choose because you can't do it all. I love being able to pick and choose what we want to do and leave the rest happily behind.
Hi there I cannot find the link for night zoo keeper I would love to sign my boy for it thank you❤
So I’ve been watching your channel for a long time so none of these surprised me. But I realized I don’t do most of these either and I think some of it is because watching you homeschool your way (as well as some other lovely mamas) has helped me realize we can homeschool the way that works for us.
The big thing we don’t do like everyone else is traditional morning basket! I know shock and horror! But it just never worked for us.
We definitely don’t do a timed schedule as well!! 😅 I can’t follow one.
Thank you for another great video, Ashley! Your channel has helped me above and beyond any other when it comes to home school guidance and confidence to do it! I tell everyone starting out their homeschooling journey about your channel. I really can't thank you enough.
This is important for other homeschool mammas to hear :)
We put soo much dang pressure on ourselves it's just insane.
Somethings are just not doable. If you got 1 kid versus several that needs to be taken into account. Add on special needs it can get hairy running them to therapy on top of sports, music etc.
I agree that you really need to prioritize what is most important to your child and you- let the rest go.
For our family that is history. I love history and i feel super important to know but I do not have hours everyday to dedicate to it like so many curriculums require.
Love to hear feedback on taking the ACT/SAT. I am having my one son take them because of scholarship opportunities it will provide for him. My other son just graduated Thursday (yay!!) But he chose not to take ACT because he is planning on just doing community College 1st and transfer in that way so it's not needed (or trade school)
Hi Ashley,
Pray all is well. I've looked at your playlist and I didn't see any on this so I'd LOVE it if you would, please, would do a reflection video on what to know about/for homeschooling middle school/what you would tell yourself or someone starting out/ do differently now that you've completed it w one kiddo.... any advice or resources on it . Thanks for your consideration. :)
Love this video, all about what you don’t do!! This is actually a great encouragement as always Ashlee. ❤️
We also don’t participate in a co-op or group right now and never have. My kids don’t play a sport but I have one in music lessons. We don’t have a schedule and I don’t do lesson plans. If I don’t finish a book we finish up lessons as we can. Everyday is not the same as far as what we do!
We do not do a morning basket.
My son hates music...we cannot even have the radio on in the car or hum or sing in our home. It is a trigger for him so we do not do music. I am a piano teacher which makes it funnier.
I just read the comments for ideas.
I thought your lighting was beautiful by the way and I appreciate you trying to encourage Mom’s with this video.
I love to hear from another mom about not wanting to do all the crafts. My addition for my family is we don't do poetry teas. It's. not that we never read poetry but it's the least of my concerns. Also my 15 year old boy might have his eyeballs roll out of his head if I suggested it.
I know it works wonderfully for some families,just not ours.
I really love your channel and your sweet nature. You introduced me to The Good and Beautiful years ago and I will never stop being grateful.
I’m so thankful to know that!
I got a good laugh at your son's eye rolls
This was so refreshing. I have fellow homeschool moms that keep telling me to do co-op but I just have no interest in it. Everything you listed is what I also do. Haha. Thanks for sharing!
We've been homeschooling for eight years and we don't do morning basket. We've tried a couple times but it just ends up being a huge time suck and momentum killer. We still get all our subjects in and do read aloud at bedtime so I stopped trying to force it. It just wasn't for us.
🙌🏾Great video! This is going to loose the shackles off of some homeschool mamas! 🥳 We don't do co-ops either. Unfortunately I test my kiddos once a year due to state regulations. It's all good though. We don't stress about them.
As it should be!
Thanks for sharing Ashlee, I always feel guilt over not doing a co-op with my kids, but I'd have to drive 45mins one way. The only thing we have locally are play dates.
No condemnation mama!
Lol I don't do all the crafts and activities either. Been homeschooling for a decade and I promise anyone reading this, they absolutely do not need to do every single activity in the curriculum.
Thank you for this video
Love this. Resonates so much with me!
I don’t worry about socialization! Haha inside homeschool mom joke:)
Hahah me either!
Please do a video where you dive deep into your testing thoughts 😂🙌🏼 (and if it’s in the car then it’s a bigger win lol)
We don’t spend hooours on school. My kids are young, but even still - under an hour and we’re done. I know it’ll change eventually but loving spending time doing non-workbook things while they’re little!
I have two kids that take piano lessons. I love it and our teacher is a blessing! However it is expensive. I can't imagine paying for lessons for 4 kids. The wonderful thing about homeschool is that there's no pressure to do anything you don't want. You make the rules!
This makes me feel so much better cause I dont do any of these either. It does seem like its expected, but I dont want my kids to have a rigid schedule like they would get with public school.
Seven years homeschooling and I'm so thankful we've never done standardized testing either. We moved out of NY before we had to. 🙌 Your music is our art. Lol. We have done some, but it's just not something we tend to do or take on a lot of. 😮
❤our homeschool life sounds very similar to yours! We get everything done and my kids are thriving. This will be our 4th year with the Good and the beautiful! We love the curriculum! This year we are adding in BJU press for history & science. My older son likes me by his side all day but I need time to work with kindergartener so my son and I decided to implement BJU for a couple lessons that took quite a bit of my time and we will be using videos. I enjoyed your video on how to balance 180 days BJU with another program since TGATB is 120 days! We are in Washington state so while I agree with you on standardized testing we have to test my son starting this year, but I will not look into the scores more than just a number!
Thank you for always being so honest and open with your kids schooling!!
We do not do any of these in our homeschool either! Glad to hear we're not alone 💓
Because I am homeschooling my 8 & 7 year old with a almost-3 year old and a 6 month old around, we too don't have set brackets to our schedule. We typically spend about two hours and have certain subjects on certain days but that's it. Two hours is about the max we can do because 1) Naptimes don't last forever, 2) My kids focus usually starts to wane by then, and 3) My energy level drops significantly. We also don't do all the crafts and activities, though my kids definitely love them.
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with some of the things you mentioned in this video. I feel like it can be a bit of a thing where we are gauging where our child "should be" based on the assumption that they need to be where their grade level indicates in order to feel they are hitting benchmarks for learning.
Wonderful video. I don’t do anything together with my kids except our Bible, but I don’t consider that school anyways. So, no morning basket, symposium, or whatever else. It may be I just am really concentrating on them as individuals for now, but it may be in the cards later on. When I watch your videos and you pray and do morning work, I am inspired by how you do it, but it’s stays that way until God calls me to tangle them up and do more together. I am encouraged by this video, thank you.
I’m a fellow pick and choose kind of mom too.😂I find it can make homeschool overwhelming and so much harder than it needs to be if u try to fit in all the crafts, projects etc
Hello, great video! Do you think you could share how you do transcripts? Where you piece your curriculum together and use a variety of things it would be nice to see how you put one together. 😊
We have been homeschooling for over five years. My kids have never done music lessons or been part of a co-op. We never schedule out our day. We just get everything completed by the end of the day. We utilize online videos for math and sometimes history and science. We do yearly testing. It's required in the state I live in.
Thank you for sharing! Like you said great to know you don't have to do all the things!
P.s. love the video length
Yes! We do not do most of those things. I use the crafts and activities in a curriculum as a menu not a must do all the things situation. No standardized testing here either. No music lessons here but we do learn about composers, folk songs and hymns. No co-op here either. And yes outsourcing when you can is very helpful.
We only do standardized testing because we have to in 3rd, 5th and 8th grade in PA. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother either! Thanks for sharing!😊
Loves this!!!! Well this homeschool mama doesn’t test ( I might ask a few questions from the test to make sure learning was reached or a essay/report is due) but we do have to take standardized tests… its required for the state we live in. And no music for us either. Happy homeschooling
We have never done a drop off group or co-op. And I’ll never do a drop off group for that matter. There are some things I.e. riding horses, art, sports, etc that my kids are showing interest in so I’m considering in the near future adding in potentially. I do teach every subject but with my oldest going to be getting older I’ve considered out sourcing some subjects in a year or so. I’ve never done a morning basket or block scheduling. When my kids wake up naturally that’s when we get started, we keep it flexible. My oldest has done testing when we first started due to state laws but it never sat well with me, in my gut I knew it’s not where the Lord wanted us so we changed it!
Mom of 10, pregnant with number 11… we don’t do formal music, organized sports, formal Bible curriculum, formal karate/tae kwan do, specific schedules by minute/hour, every activity/extension in curriculum, weekly library trips(ohhhh the struggle that is choosing decent reading materials now), co-ops, or momma teaching every subject for every kid! Oh! And no standardized testing yet.
No co-op for us. Or music lessons at this point. We do one extra curricular in Fall and one in winter/spring to keep things simple (and affordable)! No testing in our state either thank goodness. We also don’t do music lessons. I have a music degree, but my kids are only 8 and 6, so there is time lol. Thanks for sharing and for all the encouragement you give 💞
We definitely don’t do all the crafts or extra activities. Our schedule has always been a nice flow that’s become a healthy morning/midday routine, but never a set time schedule.
We are the same with all of these. We do a co-op but I’m not pushing it for next year.
My state requires state testing starting at 3rd grade and every 3 years after. I do NOT like the testing system. My son took his first test in 3rd grade and he was very nervous and stressed about it being timed. He did "above average", but many of the questions that was asked we never covered in our HS.
I don't purchase summer workbooks, we just move right to the next level. The first few chapters of the new curriculum will be a review from the previous year anyway.
Great video! We don't do anything that you mentioned as well except for co-op once a week, but it will only be for elementary years. My soon to be 5th grader is getting bored with it.
I am in a place where my 5-6 graders are bored at co-op as well. My littles still love it!!
And ideas on this transition phase? I don’t want to force “group learning”
They do well with their school at home, and so great with groups of friends to just “hang out”
But they aren’t enjoying the co-op setting anymore
Kinda sad about it, but not sure how to move forward
Hi Ashley! 👋 I was wondering if you could do a video on how to make friends as a homeschooling family. You mentioned that you do not attend a co-op, and I was interested in how your kids make friends. Thank you. 😊
Hi! We have neighborhood kids, families we do life with, extra curriculars, youth groups, cousins, CrossFit classes, and church. Those areas all produce “friends” but I’m much more concerned with their relationships with each other.
@GraceandGrit Thank you! I love that you are more concerned with your kids' relationship with each other. Beautiful said. ❤️
I definitely don’t teach every subject to my high schoolers. This year I am only teaching one elective, not including Bible and a family book club. We’ve never really done music either, nobody here is bothered by that.
Same on all 6 points!
We don't do any of those things either. We also don't always finish a year's curriculum in a year. My third child would be in 2nd grade, but he's at a K/1st grade level. He took over 2 years to finish 80% of the old TGTB Math K. By the time we got to the last unit, I felt like the concepts were too young for him, so we moved onto the old Level 1. Now he is flying through the first unit of that with me combining or skipping lessons.
As far as Language Arts, he was very reluctant to learn his letters. I didn't push it, we completed most of the Pre K and K Primer but also played a lot of games and other activities instead of the lessons. We recently started Level K and reading is now starting to click for him. Like I said, he is 8, would be finishing up 2nd grade in public school, and is just starting to learn to read.
I'm so thankful to be able to move at his pace and set a firm foundation for him and not worry about grade levels or arbitrary standards. And go as quickly or slowly through the curriculum as my children need.
Thank you for sharing this. My son also would be in second grade but is still in k/1st too. An encouragement for me to learn to play games and take it at his pace. Thank you❤
Good for you to be able to allow your child to grow at their own pace. It will pay off in the long run. Way to go as my son is in a similar situation with TGTB Language Arts old vs new…
We do art and music AT co-op so I don't have to teach it :) No standardized tests for us yet but our state does require it in grades 3, 5, 8 :(
Wait, there are parents out there that teach every subject?! Wow, good for them. But there is no way that I could teach every subject to each of our 5 children. I only teach the two youngest everything and then use curriculum, tutors, and videos for the 3 oldest, except for Bible and Critical Thinking, which we do all together. I love hearing about what works for other families. 👍
I don’t do the same things. :) I am also a pick and choose mom as well! 😂
Hi Ashlee! I asked a question on your previous UA-cam and wanted to clarify your answer. My daughter struggles in math. Do you think she could use TGATB math 6 for 7th grade next year? My plan would be to move her on to Dr. Shormann pre-algebra in 8th.
Take the assessment on their website! I can’t say since I don’t know what she’s capable of
@@GraceandGrit thank you!
Kat's Bookstack, I know you didn't ask me, but my daughter struggled so much with math. What finally worked for her was Horizons math. It is colorful, and it has walked her through step by step with good examples of the concepts. Perhaps it could be an option for you?
Your lighting is a bit dark today.
It was cloudy. Can’t control nature 🤙🏻
@@GraceandGrit I know what you mean. 😉