April 10th is National Sibling Day, something I only remember when people post photos of their siblings on social media every year. This year, it encouraged me to reach out to other families for their stories and experiences, and reflect on my own experiences educating multiple ages at once. The truth is, if you ask 100 families how they home educate siblings, you will get 100 different answers. On the surface, many of them may look the same. However, as each family is unique

No matter what style of homeschooling you subscribe to, strewing is an effective means of engaging your children in self-directed learning and discovery. Strewing is the art of casually leaving items around your house for your kids to pick up, engage with, and discover. An assortment of seashells with a magnifying glass, a history or current events magazine, a book of paintings, a small glockenspiel—all of these are perfect examples of things to leave out where your child mig

“Mama, when can I get Minecraft? All my friends have Minecraft!….” (pause 5 minutes) “What about now, can I have Minecraft NOW????” Sound familiar? That was the soundtrack of my life for a couple of years. Before the pandemic, computer time at my house was strictly limited and computer games were only educational. My daughter’s pleas to add Minecraft to the mix were non-starters – monsters, mayhem, and unsupervised internet interactions were 100% off the table. While mayhem a

What does fluency mean and why is it important to actively teach it to readers? If someone is a fluent dancer, he can move with grace and ease. If someone writes fluently, she can use her language easily and with accuracy. The same smooth flow of fluency is essential in reading, not only for equipping a student to read volumes of material as they move to advanced content, but for comprehension even at the most basic level. By shifting the focus to the whole rather than the mi

s a homeschooler, I didn’t always know I wanted to go to college. Actually, I spent most of my grade school career studying classical ballet (something you don’t really need to go to college for). In other words, I didn’t spend my high school career chasing awards or internships for my college resume. From a young age, I’ve had a passion for storytelling, in any way, shape, or form, and once I was able to, writing became one of my favorite mediums for it. With the freedom of

Building stronger critical thinkers in my children is the goal I have for my family. I am an analyst, and it is often hard for me to turn off my critical thinking and examination and simply enjoy a book, movie, art, music, etc, without considering the history and experience of the artist that has made it. I seek to know, to understand, and to address my ignorance of the space in which it originates. What I am often not careful of is my framework and bias. Am I framing my inte

My kids and I have embarked upon our first year of homeschooling. The journey actually started in 2018, when my son’s health began impeding his ability to attend school consistently. Since then, I have traveled through the five stages of beginning to homeschool. It’s been fun. Join me, won’t you? Stage 1: No Way In early 2020, when Covid was still a thing in another part of the world, my son was hospitalized and missed six weeks of school. I started to consider homeschooling,

What grade are you in?” It is an innocent question that frequently reminds us our choice to homeschool is not the same choice the majority makes. It is a question that can fill you with doubt and fear if you let it. It is a question that makes us cringe when we’re feeling insecure and smile when we’re feeling confident. Why does this seemingly harmless question, and others like it, have so much power? They trigger the homeschool comparisons. There are three types of homeschoo