A Day In Our Life of Homeschooling…

In this vlog I share about what a day in the life of our homeschooling looks like and answer a few of the many questions I get about homeschooling. #womenlivingwell #homeschooling #vlog #homeschoolQandA

Welcome back to Q & A Wednesday!

Questions regarding my homeschooling come in regularly.  Here’s an example of a few of the questions I will answer in today’s video:

Dear Courtney,

I homeschool my children as well. I’d love to hear you share about how you choose your curriculum, and specifically what you do and have done in the past for Bible for your kids. I know you started classical conversations a few years ago; I’d also love to hear how that is going for your family!

****

Hi Courtney,

Just wondering, do you have any plans or thoughts about when your kids might go to mainstream school? If so, would you like them to go to a Chritian school or public school?

***

Dear Courtney,

What curriculum are you considering for next year? I am praying about a big curriculum change for my kids, focusing more on character, service, and Christ-Centered learning.

Here’s a picture of our first day of school…

first day of school (1)

And here’s our last day of school (last week) with Grandpa.  Grandpa comes every Friday for lunch and he teaches Apologia Science and a Saxon math lesson.

Last day of homeschool year with dad

Our Bible curriculum is done through Word of Life.  The kids completed the Conqueror and Champion Quiet Time books this year.

Alex reading his Bible

My son earned a scholarship to the Word of Life College for his faithfulness in his quiet times, completion of 6 years of memory work (around 100 verses) and 6 years of service projects (around 60 projects).  This was a part of the Steadfast Award.  We are so proud of him!

My daughter has also begun color coding her Bible using the GMG Coloring chart!

Lexi Color Coding Bible

We have a wonderful community that we attend one day a week from 9am-3pm.  It’s called Classical Conversations.  This is the main part of our curriculum and it includes our history, science, latin, grammar, writing, geography, math, music and art.

CC pledge

My kids have always participated in public school sports.

My son played tackle football this year and my daughter was a cheerleader.

FootballCheer Collage

This video includes:

-a look into a day in our life of homeschooling 

-my plans for next year

-my thoughts on public and private school and…

-one regret I have from this year

{If you can’t see the video >>>> click here to see the video!}

I mentioned in the video above, I have 6 other videos about our homeschooling. These videos include why we homeschool, the benefits and challenges of homeschooling, our curriculum choices over the years and details about our homeschool group.

If you have not seen them yet – I invite you to click here and watch my entire homeschool video series.

**Chime In**

Do you homeschool?

What curriculum have you chosen and what’s your daily life like?

Walk with the King,
Courtney

53 Comments

  1. I loved the video, Courtney!! I have homeschooled since our oldest was 5. She completed her homeschool last year. Our son just completed 7th grade and our youngest daughter just completed 4th grade. I’m going to be checking into Saxon Math. I’ve wanted to change, and from hearing you talk about it, I’m definitely checking it out! We use Apologia as well, and we love it! My kids read and study from the Adventure Bible.
    Thanks Courtney for all you do with Women Living Well and Good Morning Girls!!

  2. I’ve been homeschooling my 2 girls for the last 2 years. The oldest is finishing off kindergarten. We have been using math u see, and all about reading/spelling. We use grapevine studies for our bible time. I’m really looking forward to next year when we will start some more social studies and science activities. We are very flexible in our homeschool which I really need, especially since we live 2 hours away from family.

  3. Courtney,
    I am wondering if you have ever found the Word of Life devotionals to be full of public school scenarios. I find it difficult to find devotionals for my homeschooled kids that don’t have stories and examples relating to situations that would happen in a school setting. Those type of devos are great and much-needed, but just don’t usually apply to most homeschoolers. I’ve never used Word of Life materials. Are these books more like an inductive Bible study, a life application devo, or just a Bible study calendar & prayer journal? The samples online are limited. So, I just can’t quite tell. Thanks for the suggestion!

    1. Hi Jamie,

      The Word of Life devotional questions are very Bible centered. They read a few verses for the day in their Bibles and then answer a few fill in the blank questions or do an activity based on the passage like a crossword puzzle, word find, word scramble or drawing. They are applicable to homeschool kids and public school kids 😉

      Hope that helps!
      Courtney

  4. Hi there,
    The Word of Life program looks great. Would it work just using it as a family, or our two boys alone? My boys are doing Bible study but I’d love something that helps them establish a daily quiet time. I’ve really enjoyed watching your kids grow up. You really are doing God’s work. Thanks, girl!

    1. Hi Emily,

      We do it with our church family but the devotional books are great and could be done alone. Thank you for the encouragement. <3

      Lots of Love,
      Courtney

  5. Hi Courtney,
    Would you mind sharing what type of Bible your daughter has? It looks like a wonderful option for kids! Thanks!

  6. I love hearing what other people are doing in home school! Thanks for sharing.
    I have been homeschooling my oldest son for three years now. (Wow I can’t believe it has been that long! ) we started in preschool and I used a letter of the week program that I found involved too much sitting and then created my own curriculum for kindergarten based on what the public school system was teaching kindergarten children that ended up being way to easy for him in areas like science and history and social studies.
    I looked into lots of curriculum choices after that and found KONOS. I love it. For first grade we really enjoyed all the fun activities, and I found it to be very flexible when it came to extra things like library books and supplies needed for the lessons. We used Singapore math (I can’t say enough good things about that either), and will continue to use it. I also added in spelling words from a 1st grade list I found online. Reading workbooks I found at Walmart and target, chapter books for family reading time and book reports when we finish any of the chapter books. Konos provides bible lessons and memory verses but my son was in sparks this year so we added in the sparks memory verses as well.
    The best part about this curriculum for me is that if I have a particularly busy week with the younger kids or my husband or things outside the home I have the freedom to drop the activities listed in konos and just keep the basics shortening and simplifying our school schedule, and then pick back up on it the next week without feeling like we are behind.

  7. I am praying now about joining CC. Just stinks that I’d have to pay for my 5 yo to attend too when I only want it for my older two right now.
    I use Teaching Textboooks and Horizons for math.
    Explode the Code, Easy Grammar and Spelling Power for Lang.Arts.
    I have Institute for Excellence in Writing that we have to buckle down and use. I love your idea of using the portable DVD players! I might need to do that!!!
    I bought My Father’s World 2 years ago so still working through their US history.
    Science is sporadic and more child-led.
    Geography is taught using placemats! My kids quiz eachother and their dad all the time. LOVE meal time geography!
    We are also part of a HS co-op that meets 1/month for presentations. We just shared on our town for our “Local History Fair”. We’ve done science fairs, author’s tea, art day, etc with this group.
    I like your idea of leaving work at the table for the kids too. I really need to do that as they are more independent.

  8. Hi Courtney! I’ve been looking for a devotional book my boys can do this summer. Obviously, you like the Word of Life curriculum. Are there any others you recommend? What appeals to you about this curriculum? I love that Lexi is coloring in her Bible, that is awesome!

    1. Ingrid,

      I don’t have any others to recommend since this is the only one I have experience with. What I like about it is there is an assigned Bible passage to read every single day – 7 days a week and a little activity that requires they actually read the passage. So it gets them into the word – my only goal. 😉

      Courtney 🙂

      1. Thanks Courtney! I am at the point where I realized they are struggling to make time each day for devotion/reflection. That is my goal, to teach them daily. They have so much Bible knowledge and my 9 year old and 13 year old listen to Odessey stories every night still. They are hearing God’s principles daily but I want to do a better job at teaching them the discipline of taking time daily. I still struggle with it. Thanks for being a great example. I CANNOT wait to see you in November. I hope we can find a few minutes to chat. I plan to attend your workshops.

  9. is the word of life devotionals available elsewhere than on their site? They do not have a secure checkout.

  10. Loved your video, Id love to homeschool, I stay home with my daughter shes 3 almost 4 and my son is 6 in kindergarten, I believe that if it ia in Gods will for me to homeschool than it will happen but not this season, keep on praying!!
    Id love to chat with you about child training in little ones!! If in your busy day you have a chance!
    Blessings, Laura

  11. The Wilderness Center in Wilmot has some monthly homeschool programs during the school year. I take our kids to the summer programs. It’s so nice that we have something like that in our community.

  12. HI Courtney,
    Thanks so much for your video. I really enjoyed it and I think we are slightly cut from the same favbric. I have been homeschooling my kids for 6 years now and I am a super organized person with everything ready for them to go in the morning and a plan in place. I am also not flexible and felt we were missing out on opportunities and trips I could be giving my kids since they were not tied down to the public school schedule. About 3 years ago I decided I needed to change this and since I was a planner I planned 4 days of book work and 1 day of extras and I am so glad I did! This is about as spontaneous as I get but by doing just a tiny bit more each day in dividing my lessons up into 4 days a week we had a whole extra day to be together but it isn’t a free day. I plan ahead and we either do a field trip, a project day or a friend day. Field trips might be a complicated as going to the zoo or as simple as going to the farmers market. Project days have run the range of things including the kids planning, shopping and preparing dinner, or we do a sewing project together, or we figure a special craft to make for someone else. Our friend days always include searching and preparing a special snack for when the friends are over. I think you get the idea that the days are planned ahead. I am so so so glad I did this as the notation of homeschooling is you have all this extra time with your kids but you know that you really don’t and by the end of the day you are all burned out to add anything more to your schedule. Time is so short with our kids that if I didn’t actually schedule my fun with them (yep, gotta plan) the time would slip away and I wouldn’t have made all these experiences part of our time together. Just my two cents how you might do it. Or just try blocking off one day a month but for me if I don’t save that day once a week intentionally, it will slip away.
    Christel

    1. Christel,

      I love all the things you are doing – that is exactly what I’m hoping to do – thank you for sharing how you implement it into your homeschool schedule. What you said is exactly right – we think we have all this extra time with our kids for the fun stuff – but by the time I finish schooling them and doing my homemaking chores (and blogging) I’m tired and not up for one more thing on the calendar. But time is flying by and I don’t want to miss out!

      Thanks for sharing this.
      Courtney

  13. Hi Courtney,
    Thank you so much for sharing about your homeschooling. I also home school. We are completing our 5th Year. We have used My Father’s World and have really enjoyed it. Next year my 6th grader will be switching to Saxon. We’ve used Singapore up to this point. I have a question about your son playing sports with the public school. Have the public school children made him feel accepted since he is home schooled. My son has played with a city league for about 4 years. He hasn’t made a lot of friendships with the other children as we really never see these children any other time. I was just curious. Thanks again for sharing.
    Blessings,
    Debbie

    1. Hi Debbie,

      Alex fits in with no problem (he is a bit reserved so he does not try real hard to connect) but the friendships usually last only during the season. A few of the kids have invited him (or the entire family) over to their homes. But since they are not in school together they don’t last outside of the season and we have not nurtured these friendships simply because of time constraints. But I’m pleased with the relationships he has formed during the season and am thankful for the kind families we have met through their involvement in sports.

      Courtney

  14. Courtney,
    A couple of comments. First of all, we homeschooled our boys till they started 9th grade here at Hoover High School, and they both did great upon entering, both academically and socially, so whatever you decide, it will go well. Also, we put our daughter in the public school here in first grade (she really wanted to go to school), and now in 4th grade, she is doing really well too. I guess all that to say that whatever you choose (through prayer) to do educationally for your children, they will do great, I’m sure.
    Also, in response to your comment about flexibility and field trips, etc….don’t feel too badly. You are already getting the kids out every week to CC, and that is a huge commitment. I found whenever we did a co-op of some nature, it was hard to lose another day out of the week to do a field trip, so I totally understand that. Another idea is to do some of those field trip ideas during the summer, so that in the school year, you can feel more focused on academics. Or, plan, once a quarter or so, to do one major field trip, so you have them planned, but still have your time to focus academically. I really like how you have a very regimented schedule; kids really need that, and I don’t think I’d change that. However, as to your never skipping a lesson, give yourself some freedom there, and know that the public school teachers skip things all the time to fit all that they need to fit into a school year. If you could see how much wasted time there is in a day of public or Christian school (I am subbing in several Stark Co. schools, so I see it all the time), you would feel great about all that you are accomplishing. Anyhow, we skipped several things as we went along, and my boys entered 9th grade getting straight A’s (the older one), and A’s and B’s (the middle child – not as focused 🙂 ).
    I just wanted to encourage you to keep pressing on and allow yourself some freedom to skip things here and there. Sounds like you all are doing a great job!

  15. Great, great video! You’re so responsive to the different abilities and needs of your kids and that makes a huge difference in their success!
    I started homeschooling my now 2-yr old at 18 mos and while he knows many important concepts that are pre-K standards, most of our learning is just living life. We’ll eventually incorporate curriculum but right now, it’s real simple.

    On a side note, your camera was focused well on the background setting, like the flowers and jars, but you were slightly fuzzy. Just thought I’d share! You might want to put something tall in the place where you’ll be sitting as you focus the camera to get an idea of how sharp you are coming in. 🙂

  16. Hi Courtney! I wanted to ask what is the good bible(I know there are special bibles for kids, but I’m not sure which one to get) and devotional for a 9 year old boy and 5 year old girl. Thank you!

  17. Hi Courtney,

    Thanks for video. we started homeschooling this year – 4 girls…1 yr old, 7 yr old, 9 yr old, 12 yr old. Started with 9 yr old 1st by removing her from public school at the end of last year. Loved h.s. so much with her we brought our other 2 daughters home. My husband & I are both social butterflies and pretty much loved our public school experience so this was really a call from the Holy Spirit to just be present in our girls’ lives. We didn’t feel as though we were when they were in school. Glory be to God for impressing this gift of homeschooling upon our family.
    We use switched on schoolhouse for 3rd grade up (history/geography, science, Bible)
    Abeka for 2nd grade (I could use more of relaxing on getting every lesson complete myself 🙂
    Teaching textbooks math – switching to Saxon this coming school year
    Advance Training Institute for all grades language arts. The books are all grammer and writing lessons with God’s character woven through. Our entire family’s behaivor has benefitted from these rich character qualitites God teaches us in His Scripture.
    We have an amazing CC group here but God’s calling for our family has been so direct & clear about our decisions with schooling so far and he just hasn’t called us there. Like you, we are just trusting God with each year.
    We school M-Th – we’re all cooked by Friday! We catch up on chores & usually try to have Fun Friday at least a couple times a month. We live in Western NC so there is always the beauty of God’s creation calling our names to come & enjoy!
    You’re a blessings to many! …..journeying with the King in NC…. 🙂

  18. Hi Courtney- Thanks for sharing. We are just starting off. I wonder what it was like when your kids were my ages (4 and 6). I feel like it’s crazy chaos even though I’m trying so hard to have structure. My kids just want to play together all day. I also am struggling in how to fit in cooking and cleaning and relaxing. I really like your fun ideas of school at Panera. We do plenty of fun activities for the ages of my kids, but I am looking forward to when they start reading and become independent. I’m a little worn out!! Homeschooling is a lot of fun and I’m glad God called me to do it. I look forward to next year with new things we will be doing like music lessons. We use a smattering of different curriculums that make up a good day for us.

    1. Hi Shonda,

      Yes, we definitely had a bit of craziness at the start. I typically went between the kids -so I did 30 minutes of math with one, then 30 minutes with the other – then a break. Then 30 minutes of phonics with one, 30 minutes with the other -then a break. Sometimes they both sat in on each other’s science and history lessons (I started out with separate lessons for each kid based on their age but now they do the same history and science – that is SO much better.)

      Hang in there – it does get easier – promise. 😉
      Courtney

  19. I homeschooled two of my oldest kids through 7th and 8th grade. I loved Saxon Math. I am looking forward to homeschooling my younger two. They are 1.5 and 3.5 now. I am thinking about starting my 3.5 year old next year. Do you have any suggestions for a preschool curriculum?

  20. Courtney,
    Just wanted to pop in and affirm your decision to add in some fun and flexible moments to your homeschooling. My hat is off to you for being so structured and detailed; some of the memories I love most after 17 years (I still have 4 at home!) are the days we spent just as you said : schooling at Chick-fil-A with our biscuits or exploring a museum or field trip. And Bible. <—Hands down my favorite memories are of our Bible time together. We also use Saxon and Apologia and I've had 2 already graduate into medical school and nursing school It was a fine foundation! Blessings to you as you write and teach and do all the rest!

  21. And a P.S. for my comment above — the only reason I tell you about my two oldest is because I often heard rumblings that Saxon and Apologia are weak and there are so many other things out there better. Just wanted to let you know they worked well for us!

    1. Lisa, thanks so much for your post about Apologia and Saxon. I have three kiddos and my oldest will be going into 6th grade next year. We have always done Horizons math but I am seriously thinking about making the switch to Saxon this upcoming school year. We too are part of a CC community that we love. We haven’t been consistent with Science and to be honest I really don’t know which curriculum to choose. She did BJU in third grade, Apologia Astronomy in fourth and Apologia Human Anatomy in fifth (which we are finishing up). My boys who are in 1st and 2nd grade do the Apologia with us. There are sooooo many different choices out there. I’m starting to wonder if I need to put them in there own individual science book for heir age or if I should continue with Apologia. I am really scared of gaps in the science education. Since Apologia is immersion based, I feel like my daughter will have missed some stuff. Also how do you implement Apologia with multiple kids. It is very hard for me. Thanks so much!! I could really use some direction.

      1. Keri,
        My older 2 didn’t have a whole lot of structured, systematic science in elementary and early middle. Apologia Elementary wasn’t even around for my first. We did a smorgasborg — co-ops, our own studies, science projects for science fair and — my favorite — delight directed science projects. We helped fuel their curiosity with a shelf of field guides, projects, etc. My oldest really started structured science in 8th with Apologia biology but went onto AP biology by 10th and then into college classes for 11th/12th. So you are doing great! The younger years (IMO) are for discovery, exploration and feeding their natural love of God’s amazing creation.

  22. Thank you, Courtney, for sharing! And as always, for your transparency. I have dabbled in some homeschool pre-school, but this fall I will officially begin homeschooling my daughter for kindergarten. I’m really excited 🙂 We have joined a CC campus, and I’m planning on using All About Reading and Spelling and Saxon Math. I’m very thankful for friends (including you 😉 ) who have offered advice. I appreciate the tips on what has worked for you, as well as what didn’t work/what you would’ve done differently.

    I also have a 3 y/o daughter and an 11 y/o son who is finishing up his third year, 5th grade, in a classical Christian private school. My husband and I have learned so much about classical education over the past 3-4 years, and we are completely sold! I am so intrigued, and actually feel cheated in my own education. I’m looking forward to learning the things I missed out on right along with my kids! So the bottom line is that we hope and pray that we are able to provide a classical education for all of our children, whether it be at home or in a classical Christian school.

    I do have one more question for you…do you “completely” break for the summer or do you have like a skeleton schedule that you follow?
    Thanks!

  23. Thanks so much for the video! We just completed our 3rd year with Classical Conversations. I have 7 kids. 5 are in the program, one graduating college next week, and my youngest is 2. My husband taught Challenge B and I taught Challenge A. This upcoming year I will be taking on Challenge 1, while my husband will continue at B. Being self employed has allowed my husband to tutor and oh how he loved teaching Mock Trial. We love this program and do hope that we get to hear about your experiences through the Challenge years 🙂 You will definitely see the benefits of all you learned in Foundations and Essentials…. all the geography, diagramming sentences and memorizing Latin endings will come in handy your first year of Challenge. Looking forward to reading more about your family’s journey!

  24. We also use Classical Conversations and am very intrigued with your mention of an app for memory work! Can you share what you use?

    1. Hi Aubree,

      If you do a search in the app store for “Classical Conversations Memory Work” the apps for cycle 1, 2, and 3 will pop up. Check them out there!

      Courtney 🙂

  25. I like your ideas! I had never thought of getting the Saxon DVDs before. What do you use for grammar and phonics worksheets?

  26. My daughter who is 6 is desperate to start the colour scheme for her bible study. Clearly she is still too young so I showed her the photo of your Lexi and now she understands she needs to be a big girl! Your daughter is all I’ve heard about today. She wants to know everything about her! She’s at the age when older girls just fascinate her! Lol x

  27. Our state allows for homeschool students to participate in public school sports at the discretion of the principal. Needless to say, our kids don’t get to play. Discipline issues and grades are usually brought up as concerns. I’m curious if the schools require you to provide weekly, quarterly grades; sign a consent form…. Help.

    1. Hi April,

      In Ohio, legally (these laws just changed 2 years ago) – homeschool kids can participate in public school sports through 12th grade. I provide my superintendent a report of our curriculum for the year and an assessment of my kids written by a certified teacher once a year and that’s all they require.

      Each state is different. 😉
      Courtney

  28. I have a 2 year old and a 9 month old. I looking at homeschooling them when they get to preschool age.

  29. Hi Courtney,
    Thanks for sharing. I have enjoyed reading about your family’s homeschooling experience. Could you give me more information about Word of Life? How would I go about acquiring this curriculum? Thank you! Pamela

  30. Hi Courtney,
    I have a daughter named Courtney 🙂 She is starting kindergarten for homeschool with k12. I know you used to do k12. Do you use it anymore? Do you have a good review on it? Thanks so much

  31. Do you use the DIVE videos for Saxon or the Teaching Tape Technology videos? I’m looking into doing this.

  32. I was also wondering this too. Which one do you use if don’t mind sharing? There are basically four tutorial products that support Saxon math books. They are DIVE ($50 + Shpg), Saxon Teacher ($89 + Shpg), Teaching Tapes ($145 – $245 + Shpg), and Mastering Algebra – John Saxon’s Way ($49.95 – Free Shipping) The last two products are actual DVD “video” tutorial programs with teachers.

    It sounds like you might use the Teaching Tapes since you mentioned I think they are DVD’s that you use. I’m pretty sure the Saxon Teacher is a CD.

  33. Hi Courtney! Thank you for sharing what you do with us all, I am considering homeschooling my daughter who is in Kindergarten.

    I have heard good things about Classical Conversations and thank you for sharing about Saxon math and Apologia. Do you think all of these are appropriate for a 5 year old? I’ve heard good things about Sonlight curriculum but this is all new to me. Thanks in advance for your response… also, I am new to northern nevada and just started a GMG group to start the upcoming Acts study – this will be my second time this year going through acts with other women, it’s such an exciting book! Thanks for encouraging us (me) to walk with the King!

    In His Love,
    Kristin

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