this is how we homeschool - 2025
With what feels like a million options available for us today as home educators, I often find myself feeling overwhelmed or questioning my choices. Too Charlotte Mason-ish? Not enough tech? Maths curriculum not rigorous enough? Too much structure? Not enough structure? We can tie our beautiful brains up in knots… but we mustn’t. At some point we need to make some informed choices, stick to them for a bit, and lean into our decisions with a restful mind and a peaceful heart.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
It almost feels silly to make a list, as it often feels like so many of the things we do are intertwined, rather than separate subjects. PE and nature and stories and art are sometimes so woven together that it’s hard to separate each subject.
So below is what we aim to do for 2025. We hold some loosely and are open to shifts and changes. I won’t bore you with all the details of everything we do, like basketball training, swimming and hikes with friends. This list is by no means cause for you to rethink what you have chosen, it’s simply because I love learning from others and seeing how we all do things differently. Maybe you’re the same? May it help you as you embark on this beautiful new year with your kiddies.
Literacy -
We do ten minutes of spelling each day (currently using Dash into Learning Spelling).
Made With Mama guides every few weeks (I designed my picture book guides to incorporate many subject areas for all three of my children, including reading and writing).
Copywork (this can be a quote from our current read-aloud, our memory verse, or the lyrics to a favourite song).
Mail Monday (sponsor children, grandparents, penpals…).
Notebooking: On Wednesdays the children write a draft copy about something we have been learning about. This week it was the history of the London Zoo. On Thursdays they write a good copy out, fixing up any mistakes as they go and adding beautiful illustrations.
Reading: I read to the children as they eat morning tea or draw, we have book corners in every room, the big kids read to Miss 4, there’s a designated independent reading time each day, and we listen to audiobooks in the car. Oral narration is a big part of our days too. Ambleside Online, Brighter Day Press and Blossoming Through Books have some lovely (free) book lists that I’ve found helpful.
We have used The Good and The Beautiful for Language Arts in the past and have enjoyed it. We still pick and choose from this beautiful (and free!) curriculum, but only once or twice a week these days.
We are trying a resource from Memoria Press later this year for my son. It is a companion for the book, ‘My Side of The Mountain’.
Book Clubs with friends.
Music -
The kids enjoyed using the (free) Hoffman Academy video lessons over the last couple of years. Recently my husband started having 20 minutes of piano with each of the children from 5pm-6pm on the one day he works from home. He is a drummer, so this is all new for him too… but proof that we can learn alongside our children! It’s just not possible to pay for all the lessons and things sometimes, so this has been a creative and fruitful solution.
Maths -
We have been happy with The Good and the Beautiful maths, and pair it with Maths Seeds (an Australian online resource) and, of course, lots of real-world things like building, cooking, elapsed time and games.
History - We are onto the second Story of the World book, which we pair with lots of living books, art and excursions.
Geography -
Just over a year ago I started a homeschool group with a focus on geography. It has been a lot of work, but honestly, one of the best decisions I ever made. The community is just beautiful, and the parents have learnt along with the kids about many countries we knew very little about. We read a story from/about a country, draw it’s flag and national animal/bird/flower in little passports, then we do an art activity. This month we’re creating Persian tiles and Persian tea as we learn about Iran!
Again, LOTS of books!
Made With Mama guides include activities which stretch our knowledge of different countries such as Kenya and Spain.
We have enjoyed receiving Letters From Afar for the last year. We eagerly anticipate the next letter, then read it over dinner as a family with our little World globe on the table.
Geography Puzzles.
Nature Study/Science -
This year I really wanted to focus on Australian flora and fauna after feeling like many beautiful homeschool resources are quite Northern Hemisphere-focused (not a bad thing, but I just wanted to mix it up). I found a lovely year-long companion from Nature Study Australia to go with the book, ‘A Bush Calendar’ by Amy Mack.
We have recently really loved the Nat Theo podcast and aim to sign up for the membership in the near future. Eryn has created such a beautiful and informative resource for families.
You guessed it… BOOKS!
Wild Wednesday - after a busy morning at co-op we all settle down on the couch to watch a nature documentary! This is then sometimes the chosen topic for a child’s weekly notebooking page.
There are fun tangents where learning takes off and explodes, and days where the plan doesn’t quite go to plan at all. There are wonderful days where we thrive and days that you question everything and need a hot tea and a good cry to Husband. At the end of the day, the research I do and the resources I create are wonderful, but it is often in the moments of boredom or imaginative play with their friends where I see the most learning take place… and that’s when I know I’ve given them a gift better than the perfect curriculum choice.
“Wise and purposeful letting alone is the best part of education”. - Charlotte Mason
