Hi, we are the Holt family!

Mom works 3 home businesses, home schools, and loves to paint.

Dad helps out around the house and he actually cooked dinner tonight while Mom finished up her work.

There are 6 of us kids! We are:

• Bubba, who is DD and Autistic, age 18
• Beans, age 16
• JD, age 11
• Ricker, age 10
• and two of us, PR & PD, who are 8 years old! Yep. Twins!

We have 4 dogs, 3 rabbits, 2 very friendly roosters, and a parrot. Also, we have 2 neighbor hens who think they belong at our house even though they are the neighbors’ hens (but we don’t mind).

We are excited because we are on summer break now! We love family movie nights, Shakespeare in the parks, cooking and walking our local river walk together on nice days.

Our Morning:

Today, we got to sleep in. Dad was up early doing his Bible study and sermon notes. We slept in, and Mom wasn’t feeling well so we let her sleep in too! 😁

We had toast and eggs for breakfast this morning, then we cleaned up and did our chores before playing outside in the beautiful sunshine.

A typical school day is getting up and making breakfast. Then we get to work. We usually work together at the dining table on our basics. We go out for walks on nice days for PE and on bad weather days, we work out indoors. We love science and art. We especially love it when other families that homeschool get together for projects and special events.

We are on summer break but we still do fun learning things and Mom loves Timberdoodle. She gets supplies, smelly good pencils, and our MiniLuk books that only Timberdoodle has.

Our Afternoon:

We ate chicken salad wraps for lunch made from leftovers.

Then we played indoors (taking a break from the heat). We played Legos, video games, and arts & crafts while Mom worked. No school work today but we did also read a few books too. We LOVE to read!

Then we went back outside for more sunshine play!

Our Evening:

This evening we had pork chops, fries, 2 different salads and veggies. Yum! Dad cooked some of it on the BBQ!

Mom was still working. She works very hard even when she doesn’t feel well.

It was a very good day. No low points (unless we can count having to take a sun break 😁). Our winters are long and get cold so we love being outside when we can be. It’s been very hot here and Mom and Dad don’t want us to get sick or sunburned.

We washed up, cleaned up and watched a show on TV together.

Then we got ready for bed and played a board game. It’s almost bed time now. Ready for sleep and looking forward to another fun summer day tomorrow!

Just for Fun:

We mostly like to play in the yard, go to the park, sometimes play dates with our friends, water play at one of many lakes or our river when it’s shallow and safe.

We like ice cream, popsicles, fruit, and water with ice cubes. We are looking forward to the VBS events coming up at some of the local churches. Those are always a lot of fun!

Hello! I am Jackie, a new home schooling mom of one very energetic 4-year-old, who loves books and learning anything new. He has a love of animals and enjoys gardening and cooking with me. I truly have a little partner.

My husband is very supportive and loves to take breaks from working at home to take part in our activities. Although, sometimes we make it a little more challenging for him to work from home. We try our best not to, but life happens…

Our Morning:

We start each morning with my little one getting a water, and me my caffeine fix in the form of coffee. We read a couple of books while we wake up and eat a light breakfast during our read. After a couple of books we go to the kitchen table to start our school work.

Our school work consists of workbooks on writing, numbers, and phonics. We spend 45 minutes to an hour on those and finish with a numeral dot-to-dots worksheet for number recognition. After that we get ready for the rest of our day.

Our Afternoon:

After we finish our school work we get dressed and either go to the zoo, aquarium, children’s museum, library, playdate, LEGOLAND or run errands.

One day a week we have a pajama stay-home day and we stay home and either bake, do some science experiments,or play and do puzzles.

On the days we go out after school work, when we get home we will read books, do puzzles, play games, build with play mags or the like.

Our Evening:

After all the fun and activities of the day we then have dinner, bath and time for bed.

Just for Fun:

We do ballet and swimming as well.

Hi! We’re a family of four from Eagle River, Alaska. Dad is a financial controller, Mom is a Certified Natural Health Professional working from home while homeschooling Elle and Kia, our two girls.

Ellie is 6 and loves exploring our great outdoors on her dirt bike or 4-wheeler, making up stories, and practicing being an artist and a ninja.

Kai is almost 4 and is SO excited to learn to read like big sister. She is also practicing riding a two-wheeler, and loves helping Mom and Dad with all their projects.

Today, after social studies, language arts, and math at home we’ve taken a field trip to downtown Anchorage for Music In The Park. Wednesdays are our favorite days!

Our Morning:

Mornings usually begin with Mom getting up at 6:30 for some quiet time.

Then she wakes up the girls around 7:00.

We all work together to make breakfast and clean it up and usually start on school immediately after. Some days we have field trips so school waits for later.

We use Timberdoodle curriculum so the girls are usually excited to see what they get to do for school each day!

Our Afternoon:

We usually break for lunch around noon, and the girls help Mom make it and clean it up. Sometimes we watch an educational show while eating, sometimes we just take a break and have a relaxed lunch, sometimes we’re on the go from field trips for lunch.

After lunch we’ll finish up whatever remaining school is left over then the girls do their chores (clean up, dishes, laundry, etc) while Mom gets some work for her natural wellness business done.

Once school, lunch, work is done, if there is time we all meet in our home gym for some exercise!

Then it’s either errand running or time to prep dinner depending on the day.

Our Evening:

We usually try and cook only every other day. We keep it clean with Whole Foods, limited sugar and processed foods and always make enough for at least one day of left overs!

After dinner we try and get one household task completed… in the summer this could be tending the garden or yard, in the winter this could be shoveling fresh snow, or keeping up with home repairs.

Then we all usually settle in for either a family movie or a family game before bed.

Just for Fun:

Our local homeschool charter school has a ton of support and resources and we do all kinds of field trips and classes with them!

We also love independent field trips to the local pool to practice swimming, the zoo, the kids science museum, and spending time hiking outside!

We also attend a homeschool co-op for gym time, additional classes and field trips.

Our favorite field trips have been ice skating, the Performing Arts Center, and the National Weather Service!

Field trip/activity days can be a challenge! It works better if we can keep them scheduled to days we don’t have to cook dinner! Sometimes we have to double up on schoolwork and work work on none-activity days to fit it all in!

Hi, everyone! I am Britt, stay-at-home mom, wife, gardener, reader, baker and current teacher for 2 of our 4 young boys- initials L.A.M.A. 🙂 We spend our days reading, exercising, building, playing, arguing, apologizing, and enjoying time with friends. My children like to walk our dog, Mae, and to chase after our cat, Leetah. We love spending time with Daddy and going to the zoo, park, and pool.

Our Morning:

Today began like normal: L.A.M. got up at 6:00 am and looked at books and played Tigglys on the tablet.

I slept in until 6:30. A, the baby, slept until 7:30.

Once we were all up and moving, we had a quick breakfast of fruit and oatmeal then headed to swim lessons. On days we don’t have swim, we start off the day with schoolwork.

Our best time for school is 7:00 am to 11:00 am, making the rest of the day easier for everyone involved. 🙂 We use the Timberdoodle K and Pre-K curriculums, customized elite versions. My husband and I were skeptical last year of the curriculum so we chose to do basic work for the Pre-K and preschool programs last year. After seeing the fantastic results in our children, we decided to jump in full force this year for the kindergarten and Pre-K curriculums.

We are about 2 months in to the current year, and we love it. L and A ask to complete school work, and M asks constantly for “his” school work, too. School is a lot of play for L and A, and unless we get out the books, they don’t even think about school being work!

Our Afternoon:

After lunch- and naps- it is whatever we didn’t accomplish in the morning. Outside play, garden, pool, games, books, Legos, or the dreaded art and science. (I am not fond of mess…or cleaning it up.) The boys are responsible for cleaning up what they get out, and the house must be cleaned up before dinner.

Our Evening:

We usually eat between 5:00 and 6:00. Tonight is spaghetti, bread, broccoli, and fresh fruit, a family favorite.

Clean up, bath, books, and bed complete our day by 8:00 pm. We had a special trip to the bookstore today to buy some new books that L.A.M. enjoyed very much.

I ended the day with balancing the budget, folding laundry, and reading until I fell asleep. Then we get up in the morning to do it all over again!

Just for Fun:

We currently attend swim lessons right in the middle of school time, which makes it harder to do school every day.

We also participate in an unofficial homeschool group weekly that we are hosting.

In the fall and spring we do community soccer.

Anything that happens in the morning interferes with our schedule and it is difficult to get back on track the rest of the day. My solution is a giant monthly calendar on the wall. I can look at our week, plan what mornings we will be home longest, and plan the long or difficult parts of homeschooling on those days. That way we accomplish our weekly goals and still have plenty of time for the rest of life. An example: science is usually on Fridays. We work hard to get everything done Monday-Thursday, then complete several science experiments throughout the day on Friday. I only have to clean up one day a week, and the boys have a tangible, enjoyable goal.

I am Julie. My family lives on the west coast.

Our Morning:

Since it’s summer, I usually wake up at about 7:00 when my husband leaves for work. I go out to the living room or school room to catch up on a little Facebook or watch some Youtube and have some quiet time before the kids wake up. Sometimes I doze off. lol.

I tend to wake up to the sound of my 13-year-old son raking through his Lego bins. He builds every chance he gets.

Pretty soon, 9-year-old Sister is up and she always likes to read. Right now she’s working on The Magician’s Nephew. We remain as quiet as we can so as not to wake up 4-year-old Little Sister. She’s pretty demanding and we like our quiet mornings.

Once she wakes up, around 10:00 or so, we slowly get ready or sometimes we do school work in our pajamas. Again, since it’s now summer, we do our school work slowly, not worrying too much about distractions or any appointments.

We joined a home charter specialty program that meets two days a week for a full day. Those days we get up, rush around packing lunches and rush off to class. It’s fantastic because the kids get to swing on swings, build cool stuff, have music and art, be involved in their community all in a safe place where teachers know them and their potential limitations and strengths. Parents are present so there’s no bullying or other school politics among the kids.

We stop for lunch sometime between 11:00 and 1:00 or sometimes we just have lunch first and then start school later. Generally lunch is leftovers. Sometimes we’ll have chicken nuggets or fries.

Our Afternoon:

The bulk of our school work is done in the afternoons.

I do school with the 4-year-old, which is a very brief time of reading a couple of books and maybe a craft and then a game. This goes a long way to help reduce interruptions with the older kids later. Meanwhile, the 13- and 9-year-old are doing math and spelling.

Then we start on our joint subjects: history, Bible, map work, vocabulary, art, music appreciation and read-alouds.

Our Evening:

Dinner tends to be a pretty regular rotation. Gluten-free spaghetti on Mondays made by 13-year-old Son. Taco Tuesdays. Wednesdays are whatever I can throw together. Sometimes it’s zucchini lasagne. Thursdays are more of the same and Fridays tend to be pizza or In-N-Out while parents have a quick dinner out.

Then we come home and the kids and dad watch old school Batman episodes and “camp out” with dad in the school room.

Just for Fun:

All the girls are involved in American Heritage Girls! 😀 This is our family’s 7th year and we love it. This fall, the 4-year-old will finally be old enough to start after a couple of years of begging to go to meetings. Our 19-year-old aged out at 18 but she jumped right back in as a leader in training. My 23-year-old daughter even mentioned she was thinking about becoming a leader since she’s really good with kids and it’d look good on a resume. lol.

Last year the three youngest began attending the home charter specialty program with full day classes twice a week. It makes for some crazy days since we also have AHG meetings on one of those nights.

My 9-year-old had ballet once a week and she loved it. This fall, the 4-year-old will resume ballet. She took a year off because she wasn’t behaving in class. I’m hoping she’ll behave herself now because she loves ballet and is actually pretty good at it when she listens to the teacher.

My 13-year-old son also has therapies. Two speech therapy sessions: one in person and one virtual one provided through the home charter school. This year, he also added specialized academic instruction in math, reading comprehension and writing. He was supposed to get OT once a month but someone dropped the ball in the special ed department and we only got one therapy session this year.

Hello, I am Laura. I have been homeschooling my one kiddo, Tae, for 7 years.

We are a busy family. My husband, Thadd, works as a floor manager at a printing company. I work as an office manager at a taekwondo studio and as a office/billing manager for a gymnastics studio . In addition to me working full time, Tae does school, and we take care of our animals which include 5 chickens (Lulu, Juno, Tiny, Necky, and Lorp), fish tank (Mr. Fishy and his friends), 2 cats (Moo and Serious Black), and a dog named Happy!

We spend all our time as a family doing things together. Family is important to us. Sometimes we go to one of our family farms and enjoy grandparents and great-grandparents.

Other times we bike ride or just sit outside and be with all the animals. And sometimes… we are in separate rooms enjoying or own hobbies because you know sometimes space is good 🙂 HA!

Our Morning:

Our morning is most always slow. I am up by 7:00 because I need coffee and quiet. After 30 minutes or so I get breakfast ready for myself and the kid.

Husband goes to work between 6:00 and 6:30 so we don’t see him in the morning.

After breakfast we either go to the local gym and work out, get started on our Timberdoodle curriculum, or we have a no power day.

This summer we are trying something out; no power days. Tae can choose if he doesn’t want to do school but that also means he has to do without any type of screens or electronics for the whole day! Imagine that: a whole day with just your own brain. Crazy!

Our Afternoon:

If it’s a school day, school is always done by 1:00 pm because our afternoons can be busy. I work from home while Tae does school. I’m lucky because its a job I can do from anywhere and on my schedule.

We eat lunch while we do school. Most of the time its just sandwiches and chips with juice.

Once school is done we either play with the animals, get ready for afternoon at taekwondo, or visit one of our family farms.

I work at a local taekwondo studio as an office manager in the afternoons during the week. Sometimes Tae comes with me and takes classes as well as train as junior instructor. He received his black belt last year after over 3 years of training! We are so proud of him.

Our Evening:

Evenings are a lot like mornings except I am working and the husband is home.

My boys spend time together watching movies, taking care of the chickens, making dinner, or playing games. Being together and having a good relationship with each other is very important to us.

Bedtime is early. We love our sleep! So I would say a normal time for lights out is 9:00pm but that varies if we are having fun with extended family or we are super tired from a hard day.

Just for Fun:

Since our day is built around an ideal of being stress-free and positive our fun is creating memories we cherish. We go camping, head to the bookstore for browsing, take lots of walks, and lots and lots and lots of bike riding. We love 20+ mile bike rides.

One our most favorite things to do on a Sunday is drive to Newport, Oregon and visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium and Hatfield Science Center. The kiddo wants to be a scientist when he grows up so we spend loads of time on the coast.

We are the Wamuhius. We are half American and half Kenyan.

My name is Sarah, I’m the mom, teacher, household manager, chore assigner and toddler chaser.

My husband Billy, drives tractor trailers by night and sleeps during the day.

Benji is about to start second grade. He loves science, math and engineering and can be found reading a book, building an Engino creation or coding on Scratch when not doing school or riding his bike.

Abbie is 18 months old and loves doing anything her big brother does.

Our Morning:

I usually get up around 6:00 or 6:30, spend a few minutes reading my Bible and exercising before Benji and Abbie get up.

Once they are up its chore time – make beds, unload the dishwasher and get breakfast made.

We sit down for breakfast once Daddy gets home from work.

After that, it’s clean up time and Benji gets started on school once the table is cleared. Abbie gets to play.

With his workbook assignments done we read together, go outside, go to activities away from home or get started on the day’s main subject – either History, science or geography. Before we know it it’s time for lunch,

Our Afternoon:

During lunch Benji gets a short amount of screen time and sometimes Mommy does too.

After lunch Abbie takes a nap and we get some more school work done or work on our own projects. More reading aloud, some journaling or playing outside.

Abbie gets up at 3:00 and Daddy usually gets shortly after. Once Daddy is up he and Benji work on projects in the garage or go for a bike ride. I usually finish up any house chores that didn’t get done and get supper started.

Our Evening:

We follow a two week cycle for supper but the best night is Wednesday when we get pizza and either watch a movie or play games.

Benji clears the table while I clean up the supper mess.

After that we have family time, often watch Jeopardy and get ready for bed.

The kids head to bed as Daddy heads to work. I plan for the following day, watch a TV show or read s book before heading to bed.

Just for Fun:

Last year Benji was in PE on Tuesdays, AWANA on Wednesday nights, and either had a book club or a field trip most Fridays.

We will be doing some different things this coming school year but extra activities definitely change up our routine. Mornings are busier if we have someplace to go or we have to eat supper faster and get ready for bed quicker if there is an evening activity.

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My name is Carolina of New York City. I’m a wife to David (a chef) and a homeschool mom to Cecilia (6), Anna (5), Danielle (3) & Abby (1).

We love the city we live in and exploring it, especially with the subway.

Cecilia and Anna love ballet and music, while Danielle and Abby are fans of play and mess!

If we are not outside on an adventure then we are home crafting, cooking, baking and watching cartoons!

Our Morning:

On a typical weekday my hubby and I wake up before the girls to read our Bible and get some coffee in our system! Often Abby joins us before the rest of the gang.

The big 3 normally wake up right around the time we’re done reading. In their PJs, they each drink a chocolate milk (that’s what my family did every day so it just naturally passed down to the next generation) and ease into our day playing with figurines and castles.

Once the hubs and I are dressed we have breakfast: yogurt or eggs.

We keep weekdays simple and repetitive for my sanity, and send daddy away with kisses. Then the rest of the gang gets ready!

Then a little clean up time: Cecilia and Anna clear off the table and do dishes (they are the apartment dish washer) and then we clear of the floor enough to be able to walk around.

The big girls head to the hallway and grab their school bins. Cecilia can read and is able to start on her own. We take all the assignments out and as we finish, put them back in our green cube bins. While Cecilia is doing stuff that doesn’t need my help I work with Anna and work on reading and writing.

Cecilia is exclusively doing Timberdoodle curriculum. Anna also uses Get Ready for the Code.

Now we also have two tinier people that like to get involved. Danielle has a lot of Timberdoodle things to keep her busy at the table, but she has freedom to come and go as she pleases. Abby is a little bit more needy and when she is done being patient with school Anna switches to things she can do on her own: mazes, art (most of the time) and other things that her big sister can just read the instructions for.

Our Afternoon:

We live in a small apartment: our kitchen and living room and dining room are really all just one room. So when lunch is approaching we put our bins down on the ground and as nicely as possible make a pile of what’s left to be done.

Our favorite lunch is PB&J with lots of strawberries. Then another quick clean up of the table and dishes.

Now this is where things go crazy! Our state doesn’t require anything until age 6, so we are a little spontaneous. If we got a good amount of schoolwork done we head out on an adventure, which basically means catch the train and explore something in the city. Our favorites are outdoor art exhibits that change over the seasons.

If weather isn’t nice, then we will stay indoors and try some new recipes or craft ideas! Clay has become our newest favorite!

Our Evening:

We try to finish off left over assignments and then get everything back onto our hallway shelves.

This is when the girls play! Dress-up or crafts are the go-to. Everyone gets along if I supply paper, scissors and stick glue.

Once dinner is ready (our family favorite is Tuna Pasta Salad) we clear stuff from the table (again) and dinner is served.

When Daddy gets home we normally spend some time in Long Story Short for family devos and then girls have bath time and PJs.

After lots of crazy play with Daddy and lots of kisses we have our night time chocolate milk and send the girls to bed.

Abby likes to hang out with Mom and Dad as we chat and talk about whatever and just enjoy each other a little.

Then get ready for bed and snooze to start everything over again!

Just for Fun:

I am still taking piano lessons myself while the girls are getting ready to begin violin lessons. We try to keep lessons on the same day each week just to prevent rearranging.

The kids are also involved in a Go Ye Kids class at church that teaches about missionaries around the world.

And we try to meet up with another homeschool family once a week.

We try to keep most things to ‘after school’ hours just for simplicity in planning. And just try to get things organized Sunday night for the week, so that we don’t get lost in the crazy of schedules.

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Our Estate on Crescent

Hello, I’m Jennica, a stay-at-home mom, and my husband is in the military currently serving in Tunis, Tunisia.

I have three kids, Elizabeth-4, Emma-2, and William-2 months, and we have two fur babies Charlie (a brown Heinz 57) and Daisy (a black and white shih tzu).

Until Daddy gets back in September, we are staying at Grandma’s house and keeping busy with a new baby.

Writing about yesterday (June 27):

Our Morning:

Our 2-year-old engineer is usually up first around 6:00 am and gets herself dressed before she lets anyone know she’s awake. Don’t worry, she’ll probably change her clothes and into/out of pajamas at least six more times today. I get up to supervise and our 4-year-old quickly joins. We have toaster waffles and strawberries for breakfast.

We have been doing some school work with our 4-year-old for about 2 years. At this point, we are just building a foundation for learning so we school year round as our schedule allows. After breakfast we head to our school room and spend about an hour “doing school.” My 4-year-old begs to do school any chance she gets. We use a mixed bunch of things from the preschool and pre-k curriculum kits with some additional supplements directly from Critical Thinking Co. My 2-year-old looks through a few of her favorite books and starts stacking blocks from sets like “Day and Night” or “Smart Fellow Pegging”

We were able to spend some extra time doing school this morning because Baby Brother is sleeping in. He doesn’t get up until 9:45, just in time to eat before swim lessons.

Our Afternoon:

Today we packed a picnic for after swimming lessons. Nothing fancy. We had peanut butter sandwiches, baby carrots, string cheese, and of course you can’t go swimming without goldfish crackers. After lunch, we headed home for naps.

With everyone sleeping, I headed outside to clean the garage.

As the girls woke up they played with the hose and colored with sidewalk chalk until it was time to make dinner.

Our Evening:

We grilled brats for dinner and then headed to a friend’s house to go swimming before bed. The weather was perfect for spending a lot of time outside today so that’s what we did.

It was a busy day and when we got home we had snacks, showers, and stories for bed.

Just for Fun:

With three little ones we like to visit the library for story time and go on bike rides.

During the winter we did gymnastics and this year is the first time my 4-year-old tried soccer and swim lessons.