New Homeschool Schedule + The Day That Marked Us

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This morning felt different. I was up before my 4am alarm (thanks Hatch!) and got a lot of work done before the kids were up, which just made my day so much less stressful!

The kids woke up at 6:30–a new thing we are trying, because I for one, have gotten so tired of night school, when we’re not able to finish school until my work day is done, meaning teaching well past dinner time.

So we’re trying something new, trying to eat the frog and restructure our day.

They gobbled up their breakfast (chocolate oatmeal) with ten quiet minutes to spare before the school day began. We started with Charlotte’s Web, each of us taking turns reading aloud. The light was soft, and everyone seemed settled, present in a way I haven’t felt in a while.

At 7:40, we switched to Swahili time, watching a short story and singing a number song together. Then we went outside for Bible. Asher, who had prayed the salvation prayer with Avery on Saturday, turned to me mid-lesson and said, “But Mom, Tyler didn’t pray that prayer.”

I told him, “Well, Asher, that’s a good reason to tell Tyler what it means, that’s part of being saved. It’s sharing the good news and helping others pray that prayer, too.”

So he did.

Right there, under the morning sky, he led his little brother to Jesus. And as I listened, I knew: this is what we’re really doing here. Not just homeschooling, not just building routines — we’re shaping hearts for eternity.

The rest of the day flowed easily. They did an art class on YouTube, we read Leif the Lucky for history, they practiced copywork, and started our new ELA curriculum — Learning Language Arts Through Literature.

I’d been fighting through finishing the last of The Good and the Beautiful, from last school year, but finally let it go. It was too much fluff, too many distractions. I realized I don’t need a subject to try to do everything. We have a separate art study, a separate geography study — I just wanted language arts to be language arts. And that’s been my discontent with TGATB for a while, there’s so much in it, that you lose the pace for what you really need out of it.

If you’re interested in a full review, please leave a comment down below. I’d be happy to share why we’re transitioning out of it after 5 years of use.

By 12:00, we were finished. I settled in to finish my work day while they did their independent lessons, and later, we’re gonna head to the park for a well deserved play date.

It was a great day, not because everything was perfect, but because God was in it.

It was the day they were marked, and I think I was too.