My kids have been expected to do a fair amount of chores and household responsibilities on a daily basis since they were around 7-9 years old. I used to spend a lot of time and energy trying to keep my kids on-task and stop them from playing when they were supposed to be working. Mostly, this looked like me nagging and getting annoyed: "Kids, focus!" ... "What are you supposed to be doing?" ... "Stop playing and get your stuff done!" Does this sound familiar to you? Or am I t

If I had to sum up our homeschool routine for high school in one word, it would be f.l.e.x.i.b.l.e. With high school comes many scheduled classes and learning opportunities, more time spent with friends, plus changes such as kids driving independently, getting jobs, taking dual credit classes at the university, and more! Our routine has needed to flex every semester, and sometimes even every week, in order to accommodate the plethora of things going on. Our homeschool routi

Having a homeschooling routine gives us a framework in which to build our educational lives and relationships. Our routine give us a predictable rhythm, with plenty of time for work, learning, play, and rest. My kids are currently 13yo and 10yo, and our general daily routine for the last few years has looked like this: Our homeschool routine is not a mandate; sometimes I let it go completely to support my kids in following their own interests and passions. However, most of ou

If I could recommend just one daily routine for families, it would be Quiet Time. Being able to stay home with our kids is a true blessing, but it can also lead to burned-out parents and kids who don't know how to keep themselves occupied. For families whose kids go to school, Quiet Time can still be a good routine to implement during school breaks and weekends. The benefits of Quiet Time include the following: Children learn self-sufficiency and how to be at peace with being

I purposely use chores to teach my kids how to work hard and have good work ethic. Through chores, my kids also learn valuable life skills that will help them for the rest of their lives. Chores also ensure that the household workload is spread more evenly so that I'm not stressed out. Some of these chores are done independently, and others are done as family work and/or sibling work, working alongside each other. Especially for young children, working together is an import

I wanted to share a snapshot of what our homeschool days are looking like right now. Because our days can vary pretty widely, I decided to share two consecutive days from our life, so you can see some of the ebb and flow that happens in a typical week. Currently, my daughter Alina is nearly 11-years-old, and my son Ian turned 8-years-old last week. I follow the Leadership Education model, and that means that I don't require or coerce my kids to do schoolwork. Instead, I focu

A few years ago, I banished snacking. No more snacks, ever! Well, not quite... But I was tired of having my kids sometimes eat poorly because they had been snacking between meals and weren't particularly hungry at mealtime. Yes, our snacks are fairly nutritious, but they are in no way a balanced meal replacement. I was tired of hearing, "I'm hungry, what should I eat?" and I was tired of the crumby mess in the back seat of our car. I had read Karen Le Billon's French Kids Eat

Having routines for homeschooling and housework helps our lives run more smoothly. Sure, there are weeks when the routine gets thrown completely out the window, but most of our weekdays follow a routine which is fairly predictable. Using a routine helps ensure that my kids have minimal resistance to doing housework, because they know what to expect and what is expected of them daily. Our routine also makes our exploration of academics more effective: because my children kn

Chores are an integral part of my homeschooling and parenting philosophy. Over the last few years, I have endeavored to teach my children to do more chores and make them a part of our daily lives. Through chores, my children learn: that there is meaningful work for them to do which benefits our whole family, the values of working hard and doing a good job in the work they do, life skills which will be valuable when they have their own households as adults, and that through w

I am an early riser. Although I never set an alarm, I generally awaken every morning between 5:30 and 6:30am. I stay busy most of the day, and indeed I am a person who thrives on staying busy. But every afternoon: I take a nap! Daily napping started as a survival mechanism about 7 years ago in the midst of mothering an infant who slept very poorly, but now both of my kids sleep well and I usually sleep 7-8 hours per night. Yet, I still take a nap every day. And I don't plan

Reading aloud to my children is an essential part of my parenting and homeschooling. Through reading aloud: I am able to introduce my children to new ideas, cultures, and places. We can immerse ourselves in other loving households, in the triumph of overcoming struggles and challenges, and in the wondrous fantasy of fairy realms. Our family is able to have some of our most important discussions, leading to the foundation of good character, integrity, responsibility, and ki

This post is the second in a series on Once a Month Cleaning. The first part of the series is here. In the previous post, I discussed how Once a Month Cleaning can reduce stress throughout the month and make sure that no cleaning tasks slip through the cracks. Some planning is definitely involved in making Once a Month Cleaning a success. Plan Ahead for Successful Cleaning Days Make a list of all the cleaning tasks you want to accomplish on Cleaning Day. This list should i

I admit to being a bit of a neat freak, but I feel agitated when my house is in a state of disarray. Once my first baby was born, keeping our house clean started to feel a bit overwhelming. This only increased once I had a second child and started homeschooling in earnest. I did an okay job of keeping our home clean, but a few things kept falling through the cracks, like scrubbing the bathtubs. And I always felt like I was running behind. About a year ago, I read a blog post