Welcome back to the How to Begin Homeschooling series!

Did you miss anything?

See Part 1: Getting started with homeschool or

Part 2: Determine your teaching method and your kids’ learning styles!

Part 3: Curriculum planning with multiple kids

Finally! Part 4: Homeschooling as a lifestyle

When we began homeschooling Elizabeth, it was a temporary solution to a birthday problem (Liz’s birthday is in October and the Kindergarten cutoff was September 1). I was pregnant with Victoria and couldn’t find a teaching job in our new city. Since Liz would have entered Kindergarten and then turn 6 in about a month, we never enrolled her and never looked back.

Now we know it was God slamming all those doors and pointing us in the right direction!

In my discomfort over such a new concept as home education, I recreated the school model that I had used as a classroom teacher. We sat at the kitchen table and did lessons every morning and afternoons were for rest/naps/quiet play. I compartmentalized our schedule almost to the minute! When Victoria and Katherine joined our family, it became more and more difficult to keep up the schedule and appearances of success. It sorta worked for a while, but eventually God nudged me since He was feeling left out.

My sterile home environment was my idol. All homeschool materials and toys were out of sight when not in use. The house was clean and organized well. When Dad came home from work, everything had to be in its place. Evenings were for adults. Kids went to bed early. It worked for a while, but eventually I broke from the strain of trying to maintain that. Part of it was that I am an only child and my home life growing up was very different from having my own four active kids.

We realized that we had to make our own family environment our own way, with God at the center. We read parenting and homeschooling books and prayed and read the Bible, as a family and separately. We held up church doctrine against the Bible to decide what we felt was right for our family. We detest legalism. We are conservative, but we embrace love as Jesus teaches. We re-evaluated our church.

We want our children to grow up to be radical, world-changing Christians, loving everyone and forgiving everything.

{Tweet this!}

Homeschooling is now our entire lifestyle.

We are constantly and persistently learning and loving. Looking back to those early years, I can see how far we’ve journeyed and I rejoice to see the heart change in myself, my husband, and our four children. We’re now on the right path, with God leading us.

Some of favorite parenting and heart training tools:

• Shepherding a Child’s Heart
• Lead Your Family Like Jesus
• The Ministry of Motherhood
• Parenting is Heart Work
• You Can’t Make Me
• Take Back the Land

See a theme? Heart training is the basis for a healthy, happy relationship with your kids. Check out my Parenting Pinterest board.

Our purpose is to teach our children gratitude and to serve others cheerfully.

So, what about the more practical homeschool lifestyle issues? Sure, we have bad days {weeks…}. Organization and scheduling are key, but don’t let those dictate everything. Leave room for spontaneity, ice cream, playing with bubbles, field trips, fun!

Organizing

Everyone has a different house, a different method, different personalities, learning styles…you have to find what works best for your family! And then the season changes and back to square one.

We really like the idea of workboxes. We use a modified cube system that works for us. Google it for oodles of ideas and free printable labels to make a system that suits your family’s needs. I’ve even seen work folders and files for small spaces or older kids that work well. Ikea apparently has some cool systems too. I wouldn’t know since I’ve never been to an Ikea. I know. Hush.

Since we move every 2-4 years with the military, we have to recreate our organization solutions with each house! Fun. Not really.

Scheduling

I am terrible with lists, checklists, schedules, meal plans, calendars…I love the idea, but the implementation often gets lost in translation. I use a modified Tapestry of Grace planning page that suits us and helps me see what we need to do each week. See how I plan a homeschool year.

Here are some of my favorites for when I am proactive and the pages do work for us!

Some Favorite Homeschooling Printables:

• Donna Young lesson plans and more!
• Homeschool Creations editable homeschool planner {not free}
• Money Saving Mom planner pages
• Homeschool planning lists
• Notebooking Pages (some free. We have a membership. Love it!)

Meal Planning:

• eMeals has lots of great plan to choose from!
• Mom’s Tool Belt – Homemaking planning pages (an amazing resource. not free, but so worth it!)
• Money Saving Mom meal plan printables
• Free Homeschool Deals meal plans
• 100 Days of Real Food plan {one of my favorite food sites!}
• 140 weeks of meal plans list

Blog Planners:

• Great Planners
• My Planning and Printables Pinterest board

A key to a homeschool lifestyle is to have the whole family involved in everything.

All the kids help with the garden and chores and planning and scheduling. I want them to be an active part of it all so they learn what it takes to run a successful household. We try to eliminate entitlement issues and encourage cooperation.

We’re teaching strong, old-fashioned work ethics!

Elizabeth babysits and earns money for her needs and wants. She’s generous to buy little gifts for her siblings. Another example: I brought home an old school desk for Alex that I found at the thrift store and he was ecstatic and he’s so proud of it! The kids express gratitude because they’ve been taught gratitude and values.

God is our center.

Education is our life.

Gratitude is our purpose.