Recently, some ladies asked me about my homeschooling day. I thought I would share a little here with those who may be just beginning to homeschool, or who may be needing a change in their homeschool, and for those who are teaching Torah or learning Torah.
Over the years my school day has changed many times. Our calendar has changed, our core subjects have changed, and life has changed. But one thing that has remained is our desire to train up children to be Kingdom Builders for Yehovah God. More than anything we want our children to love Yehovah with all their heart and to desire to learn more each day, serve more each day, and trust in Him more each day.
My school year starts new every year at the end of Sukkot (Feast of Tents). The reason my school year starts over this week is because the Torah reading cycle that many believers use starts over that week. I base our school lessons on the Torah portions every week. Week one of the school year always begins at the BEGINNING!!!
Even though our school year begins around the first week of October, my kids don’t get a long summer break, because we school all year round. But some seasons of schooling look different than others. I thought I would share our daily schedule for those who may be interested.
No matter what season we are in we start the day with our own personal quiet time in our bedroom. I encourage all my children no matter their age to start the day thanking the Father for a new day to learn, love, and serve. It is their choice what they do for personal time. Then we eat breakfast and do morning chores. Morning chores include feeding animals, cleaning up the kitchen and main rooms of the house, laundry, and hygiene. The goal is to sit down together no later than 10 am. At ten, we come together everyone who is in the home no matter their age, and we do a family devotion, Bible, History, Character, and calendar. We study together for one hour. Then at 11 am, in the spring and summer months little kids go outside, and big kids are free to work or study whatever they choose. This is when I try and connect with the little kid (In the fall and winter this becomes alpha phonics and brain gym time). At noon, we eat lunch and do lunch chores. At 1 o’clock in the spring and summer months, we do reading time. This is when little kids are read to or practice reading to someone else. We all take turns reading or listening until everyone has done both listening and reading (In the fall and winter this is when we do our actual reading and language arts lessons, and little kids copywork). Then from 2-4 we work on the homestead. (In the fall and winter when it becomes too cold to work outside this is when we do individual academics, grammar, math, copywork, etc.) At 4 o’clock we do what is called JOB ZONES. This is home economics at its finest. Each child is assigned a area in the house that they must clean and maintain each day. Windows, walls, bathrooms, playroom, bookshelves, etc. At four o’clock this is the time that they are to do those jobs. Once they have their jobs done they are free to work on anything they need to do, shower, train their dog, catch up on copywork, etc. Unless it is their nigh to help with supper. We eat supper at 6 each night, and at 7 each night we have family school again for one hour. We do Bible, science, seasonal lessons (unit studies), geography, and timeline. At 8 oclock the little kids get ready for bed and go to bed at 8:30. But the high school kids do an hour of copywork from 8-9.
Before 9 am and after 9 pm, our high school and adult children are free to study and do other hobbies or activities. But they are not to be online unless they have permission for a school assignment.
SO the core classes of education that go on all year round are Bible, Character, Hebrew, History, science, timeline, geography, and unit studies done as a group. We also do copywork all year round. But individual studies are done in the fall and winter for math, grammar, etc. Writing and arithmetic, so to say.
In the spring and summer, and the early fall, we spend at least three hours a day outside working the land. We hope that in a few years our work will yield not only lessons of hard work, but actual produce.
NO matter how you do school. The most important thing you can as a teaching parent is to love your children and love being with them. Make school fun for everyone. I like studying and learning with my kids, so learning in a group setting works for me. But for some that is overwhelming. So, find what is fun and works for your family.
Remember to always take it one day at a time.
Shalom
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We are Bible believing, scripture only people. We love to learn about the Hebrew roots of our faith. We believe it is important to not add or subtract from the Divine Word of God. The compiled scriptures that agree with one another and have no contradiction is the 66 books of what is commonly referred to as the Christian Bible, or the Holy Bible.
These writings were originally written by men inspired by God. They were written in the language of the writers and readers of the original documents. Many of the original documents have been lost, but God’s Word is eternal and remains. Therefore, it is important to us to study, learn, and consider the culture, history, and language of the original writers of the scriptures.
In our studies we have learned that the true name of God is Yehovah, and His son, our Messiah, is named Yeshua. Therefore, as you read our posts we will use the Hebrew names of God and our Messiah.
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