Homeschooling Day in the Life: Alicia, veteran homeschooler, and founder of Learning Well Community

A homeschool day in the life looks different almost every day, right? Over on our Instagram page, we love to give you a peek into lots of homeschool days regardless of how they change day to day.

Today, we’re going to give you a peek into the homeschool day in the life of Alicia, veteran homeschooler, and founder of Learning Well Community!

We can all learn and be inspired by one another, regardless of our homeschool approach. It’s not about looking good for social media, it’s about the connection going on inside our homeschool walls and sharing with others what works for us.We might all homeschool a little differently, but we can always look for ideas from each other that inspire, encourage and equip us in our own homeschool days. So each week we create blog posts for you to access later of each of those “days in the life”. We hope you keep coming back for more inspiration. Keep going, mama! These days at home are so worth it!

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Meet Alicia

Alicia @overatalicias is the mom of four kids and has been homeschooling for 16 years. She has successfully graduated her oldest from their homeschool and is currently homeschooling three others (12th, 10th and 5th grades).

Alicia lives in Minnesota and loves reading, homemaking, walks, lifting weights, and setting a pretty table. She is the founder of both Learning Well Community and Learning Well Journal, a quarterly print magazine to encourage and inspire the homeschooling mom.

Good Morning!

Getting up early has never been easy for me and with teens who sleep later, it’s even easier for a night owl to let morning routines slide. But this year I’ve tried to be more disciplined to get up earlier and get some things knocked off the list right away and feel a wee bit productive before we even begin school. Before I wake the kids for school I try to:

• get ready for the day

• start laundry

• spend some time in the Word

• answer emails/small work tasks

• prep breakfast

• quick walk

Doing School As a Family

One thing people ask me a lot is whether or not we still do school together with high school kids. We do and I think it’s really important. A natural inclination for a teen is to pull away and forge their own identity separate from his or her parents. This is good–they’re becoming adults! But also, one of the biggest benefits to homeschooling is the time to nurture family relationships.

Today my senior is working–he works for a general contractor once a week–so it’s just the girls and I. But most days we are all here around the table, starting our. day.

We do any mix of the following: Bible, catechism, logic game, idiom-of-the-day, read aloud, World Watch News.

Just to encourage you when your teen undoubtedly will push back on doing things like this together, stay the course. It is good to start the day with Scripture no matter the age of your kids. They will want to take their books and go off by themselves. That’s okay, but do start the day together. Keep nurturing those sibling relationships. Have the oldest pair off with the youngest for a bit to help the younger one with whatever skills they’re working on. Ask your oldest to share their thoughts, so it’s not just you talking all the time. Stay the course, it is worth it.

Curriculum Choices

Because I know homeschool moms love to see what others are using for curriculum, here is a rundown of what we’re up to this year:

My 5th grader:

• Language Lessons, cursive handwriting, spelling
• Math: Saxon and Multiplication/Division Facts that Stick
• History: Ancient Times with History Pockets, Homeschool in the Woods
• Science (next semester!): Apologia Zoology
• Art! Watercolors, mixed media, classes

My 10th grader:

• Geometry
• Biology
• British + World Literature
• Literary Terms and Research Writing
• Antiquity
• Latin

My 12th grader:

• several PSEO (college) courses
• British + World Literature
• Antiquity
• Latin

Extra Curriculars

We’re not big “extra curricular” people. Sorry to tell ya, but the whole socialization argument that many nay-sayers have about homeschooling, is a very misinformed one. Homeschoolers have a plethora of extra-curricular activities at their fingertips. And if they don’t, they have the flexibility to create their own things.

Over the years, I’ve gotten much better about guarding our time and saying no. “No” to so many really good things too! Ugh, it’s the hardest sometimes! But I’ve also learned, that even too many good things on the calendar can steal the peace in a household because no one is every home. Family meals become less and less. And communication and relationships strain.

My kids all have music lessons, some of which they do in big groups, which is really fun for them. We’re in some other smaller group activities too. But mostly, I like to keep the calendar open for spontaneous things like lunch with friends, play dates, art projects, walks, a quick trip to the nature center–whatever we really want to do!

Pray Instead of Fret

My Senior will doubtfully make an appearance in this DITL…we keep missing each other. He left his Bible right by the door on his way to Bible study. Like mother, like son. I had to go back to my house TWICE today when I went out to run errands. I text Jack pictures of his Bible study papers and my girls were very gracious with me for forgetting everything today.

My kids are 21, 18, 15, and 10. I think a lot of young parents have a lot of thoughts on, “I will never do THIS or THAT” when their kids are small. But the biggest thing I’ve learned about parenting is to stay humble.

As kids grow, they fill into their own shoes. You’ve shaped them, but they will start to make their own decisions and become the adults God intended them to be. We have a lot of influence, but ultimately, nothing is completely in our control. They’ll make decisions as young adults that make us cringe, make us proud, make us nervous. But we have to trust that God is with them. That He is watching over them, guiding them, and marking their paths.

They will stray, struggle, flounder, and question. And they will likely turn to you for advice and guidance.

To pray instead of fret, to guide instead of takeover, and to be patient with the process–these are the hardest things I’ve done in parenting so far. I’ve not been great at this. But I try to continue to show up each day for all my kids and parent them where they’re at.

Prayers for all of you, mamas. This is the hardest job there is, but my goodness, it is the best one too.

Ending the Day

It’s been such a great day, spending time with you! Before I end the day, I always like to do a few things so it’s easier to have a successful next day:

• tidy the kitchen–what a drudgery to wake up to dirty dishes!
• tidy the main spaces
• fill in the kids’ assignment notebooks
• set my clothes out for the next day
• look at my menu for tomorrow
• take magnesium, read, and have a good sleep!

Thanks for following along, friends!

Thank you Alicia for sharing your Day in the Life 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.