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Homeschooling Day in the Life: Bonnie, Homeschooling Mom to Three and Digital Content Creator

Day in the life Bonnie

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 Bonnie, homeschooling mom to three and digital content creator!

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 Bonnie

Meet Bonnie

Bonnie @dwellinglogs is a Jesus lover, farmer/mechanic/pilot’s wife and second generation homeschool mom of three. She juggles homeschooling with working from home and pours creativity into educational resources for the online homeschool community.

Our Homeschool Approach

Our homeschool approach

My kiddos are 9, 7 & 4 and are the treasures of my life. They all have vastly different personalities and strengths and it’s my greatest joy to raise them!

Get the 6 Secrets to a Simpler Mom Life

Our homeschool approach is very eclectic, and it changes and morphs with each passing season! I started out quite traditional (I was homeschooled in a fairly traditional way). However, I’ve been heavily influenced by Charlotte Mason’s fostering love for learning and the outdoors, Montessori manipulatives, Waldorf adventure and play, Moore’s servitude and lack of testing…I could go on!

I’m completely inspired by what I see in the homeschool community here on Instagram. I’m an advocate of the fact that there are so many right ways to homeschool! My love and admiration for all of this sometimes puts me in FOMO mode 😂, but we do our best to use what works for us as we custom tailor our kiddo’s education and lifestyle! We mostly use the following:

  • Unit Studies–we LOVE learning together and this is one way we cross over subjects, regurgitate at our own levels, and retain a lot because the topic is steady and can go deep!
  • Individual Math & Grammar–these are two workbooks my kids are all at a very different place with. If we have these, we can bounce around from resource to resource for all the other subjects and interest led learning without fear of leaving math and grammar behind.
  • Outdoors–both intentional and organic learning and play
  • Local Library–ours is tiny, but we still get to take home handfuls of books!

That about sums up the academic side of what we use around here!

Time Outdoors

Time outdoors Bonnie

Our family and farm are in the prairies of Manitoba, Canada around the 52nd parallel. This is just under the border of the Boreal Forest where it turns into Boreal Plains.

Country living hours away from the nearest small city with lots and lots of nature and wildlife around is our favorite! We farm grains with a few chickens on the side in a family-style sort of way with my husband’s dad, uncle, and cousin. We all own our own lands but work together to get everything done!

A small river that runs through our backyard fuels our play on the water with canoeing and paddle boarding. We do lots of quadding meals out to the field during farm season and snowmobiling during our long snowy winters. You’ll also find us warm and snuggly a lot during the winter months with lots of warm drinks, twinkle lights & couch-schooling.

Springtime is gearing up now and we’re prepping farm equipment for the season as the snow begins to finally melt away. Garden seedlings are started, and our doorway is a collection of both winter gear and muddy rubber boots as we transition from snow to that green grass we’ve been waiting for!

Working From Home

Working from home is such a blessing, and something I never want to take for granted! I’m a watercolor artist, digital illustrator, & resource creator (mostly inspired by what my kids want to learn about!)

I’ve made resources for our home for a few years, but it was only about a year ago I opened an online shop and started to really put more effort into making beautiful printable lessons other families could share in too. I was inspired by my friend Monique who encouraged me to contribute to a mega bundle for the first time last February. I’ve been loving resource creation, illustration and lesson writing ever since!

Art is a big part of my life both for work and leisure. I’ve been a hobby watercolor artist for a long time. In 2019 I tried digital and a whole new world of opportunities opened up! I worked with a great team at Gather Round Homeschool for about a year and a half, and have done multiple projects since then with other writers and creators as well as my own stuff. Right now a lot of my work is for a Nature Study Club that is amazing. I love painting for it, using it with my kids, and working with the amazing team behind the scenes. Doing art for someone else always has its ups and downs, but I love it and I mostly can’t believe that’s my income.

Whether it’s for pay or not, homeschool moms who take on home life, jobs, extra work, volunteering, etc., it’s both tiring and rewarding. I totally empathize with the commitment load and priority juggle!

School Day Wrap-up

Wrap up

The ideal day around here wraps up Math, Grammar and topical studies by noon. The afternoons can be for chores, further rabbit trails, free play, special projects, whimsical things like painting and poetry or items we loop so that we can fit them in somewhere.

Not every day goes perfectly though! Monkey wrenches like out-of-house-plans, appointments, attitudes, etc., can get in the way of a productive morning and leave you with a pileup of to-do’s in the afternoon. Some ways we combat this:

  • double math: our goal is always two math lessons a day (as long as they’re not having trouble with the concept) on the good days in order to make room for those days when one lesson has taken all the brain power or when we need an off day.
  • switch up the plan: if we’re doing the bulk of our lessons in the afternoon, I know feet (including mine) start to drag. Sometimes we will totally go off-book and dive into topics that the kids want to learn more about instead of what I had in mind. Their interest and thirst for learning info will be much better retained on a topic they lead the way on, than me teaching to glazed eyes.
  • tea & snacks: I’m always blown away how a warm drink and a candle or a plate of easy snacks can ease the push of finishing the school day. It seems to cheer us all up and enhance community around the table as we finish together.
  • work alongside: my kids love it when I work through pages with them. They love taking turns with me doing math problems. They love how quick the work goes when mama keeps us on task! I try to squash “drill and kill” by linking arms and being the lead learner rather than the instructor all the time.
  • call it a day: my desire is to instill good work ethic but I also know when we’re having one of those weeks where my kids are starting to think every school day is a drag. If I find we’ve been in a bit of a funk, sometimes calling it a day BEFORE the attitude battle begins is key! An early dismissal with no guilt, extra play, and maybe even an ice cream date could be just what we need.

Thank You!

Thank you Bonnie

I’m so grateful to be able to come and share with you all today! This online homeschool community is such a special and precious corner of the internet! It’s absolute fuel in my life. I’m excited for the upcoming mamas doing takeovers here at @learningwell too! If you enjoyed today, and if you found some things we have in common, let’s be friends! I’ll be over on my @dwellinglogs account.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO BONNIE FOR SHARING YOUR FAMILY’S DAY WITH US!

Day in the life Bonnie

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.

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