Home Schooling in BC Canada

Part 1 in the series of what it looks like for me! A day in the life of a Mom home schooling in BC.

“I have taught 4 of my children to read. It’s been thrilling, rewarding, its almost a feeling I can’t describe. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing the fruit of all your efforts pay off and them reading.” Jennifer Schell

A day in the life of a home schooling in BC – I’m so excited to be writing this post about my typical day in the life of a home schooling Mom. My name is Jennifer, I am a large family Mama of 7 amazing kids, Ages 12 down to 20 months. I’m a homebody living in Logan Lake BC and I always describe myself as a unlikely home schooling Mom. We can get into that another time,  For now lets go over my day. In the future I can write more posts further about how I keep babies and toddlers busy. Snacks and easy meal ideas for busy families and how I stay on top of the laundry, dishes and keep the house mostly presentable. All that said, I hope you enjoy your peek into our day!

Meaningful Mornings When Home Schooling in BC

Ordinarily we wake up pretty much the same way every day. For the most part a couple kids have crawled into my bed in the night. I haven’t started setting my alarm clock yet. Due to having recently just had a baby (almost 2 years ago) I usually just let myself sleep as long as possible, Getting those precious and few and far between winks of sleep before our mornings get rolling is important for me right now. I do want to do just a simple post on my daily routine. So for now we will keep this pretty home school focused. As I was saying, after we wake up, eat our breakfast, brush teeth and dress. We start in on our morning!  Please keep in mind I have 2 pretty independent learners. I am able for the most part to have been able to create a simple daily schedule for them to follow. With that in mind, coffee in hand, it’s time to get a jump on my day in the life as a mom home schooling in BC.

A Quick Note For Home Schooling With Toddlers & Babies

Homeschooling with a toddler or a baby. They are delightful little people who love being right in the thick of it. I have home schooled now while having a new born or toddler for the last 6 years. It can be a juggle and even some days a struggle. In reality, I find the best way to set yourself up for success is filling their cups up first. So, first thing in the morning I like to play or read with my little ones. Really make them feel special and “full” of you. Then usually they can get into their independent play a lot easier, or down for a morning nap. We love to use busy bags, Lego, Pre-School TV programs, and we load up on snacks to keep them happy and satisfied. I can go over more of how I do this if it interests you. Let me know? Stay tuned!!

First Things First

8:30 – In the morning we always start out with  our morning basket or what others call “Circle Time“.  If we are all learning about a subject together we will read on that, then usually break. The older children will go write out an encouraging verse and 3 things they are grateful for, for the day to focus on then draw a picture. This is usually when I’ll start reading to my littles. We read more books about how to handle the issues of life in a right way. We read about our behaviors, our feelings and we might even sing. This is a time to find encouragement and a positive, happy start to our day.

A Day In The Life Of A Home School Mom & Math

9:00 – Then we jump right into math for the big kids. I find that helps just because focus is fresh and I like to give ample time to teach and understand new concepts, go over corrections and build mastery. We do use “manipulatives” in our math. I do love the hands on aspect for sure. We do take our time, mastery is my focus, not rushing ahead to each new concept. I want to be able to make sure that they are able to teach the concept back to me. Here’s the link to the math program we have been using from the start.

Day In The Life Of A Home School Mom Reading & Writing

I definitely have a more vintage vibe in our literature, reading and writing. We enjoy living books and reading out a loud. I tend to get pretty dramatic when I read out loud, with voice deflections and even action moves. The kids also get a huge kick out of it. I think definitely “one room school house” is our learning style. My kids practice reading and writing from there McGuffy readers. I do have the kids practice there cursive every day also. What can I say, call me old fashioned but I do still think its important to be able to read, and write in cursive. With our McGuffys, we read the short story, take a piece to copy in printing then copy a piece in cursive. I then have the kids write out the spelling words. More on spelling in the next paragraph. 

Day in the life Of A Home School Mom & Spelling

In addition to the copy work, this past year we really slowed down our spelling. And really focused on memorization, It was a lot of fun, I used a different take on the old spelling test and would just quiz the kids on what they knew basically, without the context of pass or fail. Keeping it fun. Spelling out loud. Carving out that time for connection and seeing where they are actually at. Spelling “tests” take on a much more like and airy approach. What I am mostly going for here is repetition of writing down the memory words. Subsequently  there’s nothing quite like the feeling of satisfaction of teaching a child to read. During their copy work from Monday to Thursday, they would also just copy out the spelling list one in print and the other in cursive. In addition, the big kids would then buddy up with my emerging readers and they would play flash card games. 

Learning How To Read In 100 Simple Lessons – Pre-K & Kindergarten

I have taught 4 of my children to read. It’s been thrilling, rewarding, its almost a feeling I can’t describe. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing the fruit of all your efforts pay off. We have used a few different curriculum in this area. My favorite way to teach a child to read is basically as follows… step 1 – get child, step 2 – snuggle up on the couch step 3- read with child. But if I had to choose one curriculum that is my all time favorite way to teach someone to read, I love using the book How to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. We do the short lesson, read the paragraph and write out the letters. This usually takes 15 minutes, which I find is just the perfect timing for little ones with shorter attention spans and usually suffer from cases of the wiggles.

Fridays We Take A Different Approach

Let me just say I love Friday! Its the day where we take different approach to school and educate in a different way. Instead of working on our McGuffy readers. We Nature Journal  . If it’s cool out. We usually use encyclopedias and spend a good hour or more writing out facts, drawing our study subject and maybe even water color painting. If its warm outside we take our books outside and hunt for our subjects. After that, we spend maybe a good hour in Science. Either finishing up loose ends from our book work or doing a science experiment. This sometimes gives us enough time to get baking. We like to bake something quick as a group. And gear up for poetry tea time or carve out a larger chunk of our read a loud. I can’t make everyday look like Friday. But between watercolor and baking banana bread and cuddles and snuggles while learning is my absolute favorite! I love the pure, simple down to earth flow of our Fridays.

Afternoon Activities

After we break for lunch, the kids and I will do a quick tidy up of our chores. In the afternoon homeschooling takes a more quiet and independent learning approach. The children all get a break and get to do quiet time. It’s honestly so lovely because they can decompress and play with their special toys. Catch up on independent reading. Work on writing stories. For my older kids, this is when they usually work on there Science note books. Or maybe they get creative and work on some fun crafts, or projects such as making the best slime, or setting up sensory play spaces for the little kids. I like to rest and then make time for outside play. Small nature walks and especially make time for reading out loud. It can be on the couch or in the van while you wait for appointments.

In Closing

If this was something that you want to see or learn more about, Follow me on Instagam @Jen.Schell.7 and you can see in my Instagram stories more of my day in the life as a home schooling mom. I post our activities in real time, how I feed the family an all the rest of the stuff that Kyle Schell and I get into with our mega crew! If you or someone you know is planning on homeschooling don’t hesitate to reach out and connect! And if you think this post would be helpful to someone please share! 

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