Organic homeschooling

So many ways to homeschool - am I right!?

Which is what is so cool about homeschooling! We get to choose and redefine everything.

For our lifestyle I usually land on unschooling. The word unschooling is okay but organic homeschooling? I could get down with that!

Organic homeschooling is naturally wholesome & fundamental.

Which is why I was attracted to unschooling. I knew I did not want to replicate traditional school at home.

Which leads me to this - our schooling doesn’t stop when summer hits. My kids do not know what a “school year” is or what that looks like. My children don’t know to stop learning and relax on the weekends.

This 100% has to do with the main homeschooling parents mindset - of course. This is my thinking. I believe rest is something other then taking a nap and I believe there is no off switch for learning.

Conversations, experiments & curiosity have no shut off button when in a flow. An idea hits and we run with it.

Now I’m sure school doesn’t end for a lot of folks in the summer - it just looks different. Maybe considered more play than learning? Even though play through learning is top schooling in my book. I wonder if this switch in thinking will peel away some of that stress during the summer months.

I asked my daughter this question…

What have you learned this summer?

How to grow our own food! Besides our big family garden area - I have my own! Mom had some extra cucumber plants that she gave me and I made a spot by the fence so they could climb and I planted them there. I made them something to climb until they can reach the fence - out of sticks and string.

Swimming! Summer is the season where I love to swim! If we go anywhere during the summer it’s usually by water and I can practice swimming as much as I want. Practicing a lot is how I learn.

Making pancakes! The other day my mom set me up with pancake mix and measuring cups and I was able to figure out how to double the recipe and all the ingredients! Mom turned the burner on but I wiped the pan with butter and put the batter on and waited until I saw bubbles and I lifted the pancake up to flip - then I waited for that side to be done. I only had a few bites but I kept making them because my sister kept eating them!

- Ryleigh age 8

This is organic homeschooling! This is life being lived!

Wholesome learning through all the senses.

We learn through life more than a curriculum.

& for those wondering we do use a few curriculums that I only picked out when I knew what the next step was for learning. We have had 100 easy lessons for reading for a few years now! We do a lesson whenever the mood strikes. Same goes for our other curriculum - The Well Trained Mind Level 2 book. Great resource for learning nouns, pronouns, verbs, & poem work.

Nothing is forced. We crack open the book when we feel called. I don’t stress anymore if all we do is a few hours of book work a week because they are surrounded with so much LIFE & CONNECTION.

I hope this has eased some stress and worry for those heading into homeschooling for the first time.

Homeschooling doesn’t need to look like traditional school at home.

Just being alive and experiencing life is enough. My favorite type of learning.

If you're looking for more resources - check out my blog post with my top recommended books.

xoxo