A Day in the Life of Homeschool Mama Molly

A Day in the Life of Molly, Homeschool Mama of Five

Hi! My name is Molly. I’m a homegrown homeschool, homestead mama raising five little wildlings on our little farm. If you can’t tell, I love home and am a bit of a homebody. But we love to adventure and hike and spend most of our time outside, exploring, and reading good books. Our kids are 10, almost 9, 7, almost 6, and 4. You can usually find us barefoot in the garden, trying to pet our calf Eustace, or collecting eggs before our dogs gobble them up. I’m so excited to share a glimpse of our homeschooling journey with you all!

Good morning, friends!

Welcome to the day in the life of @thecleeclan. We’ve been homeschooling for…5 years? 6? I’m always bad at counting that kind of stuff, but my oldest is in the 4th(ish) grade and we’ve been doing this whole homeschool gig since the beginning. Just winging it as we go. Our days start a little later than maybe most do because my kids (and me!) like to sleep in. I used to try and wake them up and it was just miserable for all of us. I also used to be a little embarrassed by this, that I wasn’t some early riser to do all the things before my kids wake up, but one mama on here talked about how her kids drag her out of bed in the morning and it was just the permission I needed to relax a bit and be ok with it. So now, I’ve started to wake up a little bit earlier around 8ish, and wait for my kids to come down when they’re ready. The little boys (4 and almost 6) are usually up first and find their way outside till it’s time to do chores and make breakfast. We are more of a routine kind of family rather than a set schedule. I like to flow through our day, not be directed by a clock. It just works better for us. I feel kinda funny sharing our day as though I know what I’m doing, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask!!

Outside to Do Chores

After they all mosey on downstairs, they usually head outside until I tell them its time to do the animals. We have horses, cows, chickens, and dogs. We used to have pigs and goats which made it nice and easy that each kid had their own animal, but now they just work together. After the animals are done, we head inside for breakfast. While we eat, we do devotions and then while I clean up, they brush their teeth and pull out their math books.

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I try and do “school” Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday is our nature group day with our friends and Fridays we have LEGO league and trail life/heritage girl in town. But seriously, our life the last few months have been so busy that we just kinda go with the flow. We don’t always pull our school books out, but we are always learning. Some days the kids do most of the cooking, some days we do a lot of snacking. Some days we get a lot “checked off” and some days we don’t even make a list.

For so long I thought homeschool had to look a certain way or use certain curricula or be a constant set thing. Our days look very similar sometimes and sometimes they are completely different from one day to the next. Either way, we’re together, we’re learning, and we’re enjoying building this little farm of ours

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Tablework Time

We dive into math first. I don’t know why, but we just always have and it seems to flow nicely. We use math mammoth and since my older kids can read, they mostly do it on their own. Sometimes I check their answers and sometimes they compare notes. My oldest two are 16 months apart and do the same level math which makes it simpler for me, then we do copy work and language arts from Simply Charlotte Mason.

Then we kind of rotate reading/reading lessons using The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. I always recommend this book to people who are starting out. We love it so much! While I’m working with one, the other two are reading to themselves or reading out loud to the little boys.

We use Beautiful Feet for history but haven’t done it consistently. That pretty much sums up our “structured” school, although we do oral and written narrations after read alouds.

My little boys are 4 and almost 6. The youngest one is usually glued to my hip and we play games while everyone works. When the 6 year is done with his workbook, they go off and play. We are usually done by lunch time, so they have the rest of the day to play, read, explore or whatever they want

Importance of Reading + Play

This is one of my favorite scenes. When I’m consistent with the “read for 30 minutes” rule, I usually find them more likely to pick up a book and read on their own. But when I let it slide, reading is usually the first thing they stop doing on their own. Some like to read more than others, but we are trying super hard to raise readers and free thinkers and kids who think outside the box.

That’s why we have so much time allotted to playing outside and unstructured free time. They grow exponentially when allowed to come up with their own games and work things out should problems arise. I have a few sayings we use around here a lot. They are: “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit”, “it’s ok to be disappointed, it’s not ok to pitch a fit”, “your sibling is more important than [xzy…be it a toy, a turn, etc.]”, “I’m not a referee”. That last one I say a lot.

My ultimate goal in all of this is to raise compassionate, hardworking humans who stand up for themselves and others. I care more about relationships than rules and character over curriculum. And each day, they prove that if we stick to growing and guiding them through the hard stuff, math and grammar figure themselves out

Raising the Next Generation

We’re raising the next generation here, folks. And that task can seem daunting and impossible and yet it is so incredible and honorable. We chose to homeschool to fiercely protect the magic of their childhood…they only get one. We get to advocate for them. To fight for them. To learn alongside them. We get to inspire, encourage, and involve them.

I don’t want to get lost in the “buts” or “what if’s” or “maybe I should be doing…” We don’t have time for that! I see it in myself and I see it in mamas across the board. We compare what other peoples days look like and think we should change. And for so long I did that, too. I tried to change our family to fit a curriculum or style, instead of using that curriculum to enhance our already special and unique family. Because curricula is only a tool. A means. Not the teacher. Not the end result.

Instead, I would love for us to listen and learn and glean from other mamas. To take bits and pieces and adapt it to our own lives. And to pass up things that don’t fit. This strange little app can be a tremendous resource if we let it: a smorgasbord of women further ahead in the journey with hard earned wisdom and newbies with fresh perspective. We can take it or leave it, ladies!

And gentlemen for all you homeschoolin’ fellas. It’s wise to re-evaluate how our days look, but we should be wary of our intentions…are we doing it because we sense a shift and need a change? Or are we doing it because we feel like we “have to” or “should be. Hold true to your why and the rest will follow

Well, That’s a Wrap!

We tuck our babes in bed around 8ish and then each night I tell myself I’m going to go to bed at a decent hour. My husband has been in training since September and the kids and I have been flying solo for most of it since then. But the end is in sight! And hopefully so is the pbjs and nachos for dinner.

To all the mamas out there doing this magical, sometimes mundane, gig with grace and grit, you are a rockstar! We are living the dream, y’all…even if strong wills and tantrums and constant mud make us want to think it’s a nightmare. Your work is not going unnoticed and you truly are making a difference. So here’s your permission to make YOUR homeschool journey what it needs to be to fit YOUR amazing family. Quirks and all. Goodnight, friends!

Thank you so much to Molly for sharing your family’s day with us!

If you want to see more Day in the Life photos and videos, be sure to check out our Instagram profile. There are highlights of each takeover at the top.