Homeschool Prep

Homeschooling is a difficult but rewarding job. Difficult because of all the little things that it entails; putting the curriculum together, ordering materials, keeping track of the schedule, teaching, making sure the work gets done, tweaking the curriculum, etc. and it doesn't end at 5 and then you get to go home. Being on a boat can make it more difficult, after all, where do you get all that stuff sent? You don't have a home and address anymore.


There are as many ways to homeschool as there are people on the planet, and the right way for one is not necessarily right for the other. While there is a whole camp of people who "unschool" (what I call a student-led curriculum), I am at the other end of the spectrum, trying to cram in as much structured curriculum as possible in the hopes that I don't ruin my kids education by not teaching them enough. I also use an excellent book, The Well-Trained Mind, which is a guide on teaching a classical curriculum.

A classical curriculum is language and history focused and it's based on the trivium, which is the repetition of a 4-year pattern of study at progressively harder levels.  I like it because I feel that they will learn proper grammar, writing, and world history. Cole likes it because he is a history nut and loves to read all kinds of history books.  At school, I knew that math and science would generally be OK, but do they teach grammar, writing, and world history? Not usually, at least not until junior or senior high. This way I feel they have a better start to their education, and I have no doubt that they will be on target or ahead of their peers when they return to school.  And the other benefit is that I can change what doesn't work for them. That can't happen at a regular school.

Kids everywhere have started school but we are not quite there yet.  I'm a little behind ordering things because of all the traveling we've been doing, but, I do have my list of what I need, I just haven't ordered all of it yet.  I'm not too worried, we've done this before, Cole was homeschooled for 1st - 3rd grade so we know we'll get it done sooner than a normal school and with less hours spent in the "classroom".  The biggest challenge for me this year is now I have 2 kids to homeschool since Cooper is starting first grade. I'll see how that goes, but with Cole in 5th, he should be doing a lot more work on his own now. My finger are crossed!