Homeschooling Day in the Life: Haley, Homeschooling Mom Who Went From Private School to Homeschooling

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 Haley, homeschooling mom who went from private school to homeschooling.

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.

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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!

Meet Haley

Haley @haley.kindled is a wife and stay at home, homeschool mom to four girls. A recovering serial entrepreneur, she owns her own web design business and has a podcast for Christian women called Kindled.

As someone who was homeschooled herself, she made the classic error of telling God she “would never homeschool.” After pulling out of private schooling mid year in 2023, she began homeschooling and their family has been thriving and absolutely loving their new rhythm.

Morning

We are slow morning people. We eat breakfast together as a family and then dad, who owns his own business and works from home, heads upstairs to start work. Shortly after, the baby goes down for a nap and the older three girls start their independent work.

Once baby is down for her nap, we begin group subjects so I can make sure we get our core group subjects done. Those include Bible, History, Worldviews, a variety of read-alouds (current favorites are: The House at Pooh Corner and Little House on the Prairie.) We’re following a Charlotte Mason-ish approach and also incorporating books about Home Skills, courageous Christians/martyrs, Aesops Fables, Poetry, Tall Tales, James Herriot and more. I love reading these living books with my girls because it’s perfect for their varied ages (11, 9 and 6.) I also feel like I’m learning so much alongside them reading classics I’ve never read before.

Independent Work

Once we are finished with group subjects (or the baby wakes up) the girls shift to their independent work. I will help my Kindergartner while looking after the baby or feeding her a snack, so we often end up at the kitchen counter. I’m present to help the older girls but they don’t need much from me to do their math, grammar and a journal/writing prompt from me (which I make up on the spot.) Sometimes they have to finish independent work after lunch, which is not their favorite, but with a baby in the mix, we make it work.

Playtime

One of the main reasons I wanted to homeschool was so my girls could spend their days building their relationships with each other, so when they’re having trouble paying attention or being extra silly, I’ll send them outside for a 10 minute trampoline break or if it’s cold to the basement to get some energy out. Then they’re usually ready to re-engage or they disappear for an hour and a half. Either way, I usually roll with it. I love how creative they are when they are together. They have a theater “club” called Theater Alive where they choreograph, plan and perform theater performances for us in the basement every couple of weeks. They choreograph the dances, parts, and one of them even uses the light switch to oversee the “lighting.” I can’t wait til our youngest, Sunday, can join in. We’re living a real life Little Women over here.

Lunch

Dad comes down to join us for lunch around 11:30/noon and everyone delights in his presence. One man, 5 women – he’s a hot commodity and everyone wants a piece! Lunchtime dance parties are a regular occurrence. 

Afternoon

After lunch, it’s time for the baby’s second nap. The big girls do 30 minutes of reading, do their chores, and get free time to play and I get to work being productive. I’ll either get some work done for my web design clients, work on the podcast or get a workout in! My goal is to do something HARDER than homeschooling each day. That really helps me stay mentally strong for the hard work of homeschooling and momming. Joey often finishes up work around 3 and will take the baby so I can have a little more time. It doesn’t always work out but when it does, I’m grateful!

Evening

After dinner, we usually play outside or go on a family walk. I am so grateful that most of every day of every week is spent together. Having come from four years of full time private school, I know just how precious all that time together really is and I take none of it for granted. I love that homeschooling makes the sports my daughters want to do (volleyball) less of a burden because we’ve been together all day and it’s not as big a deal to part for an hour (even though I coach one of their team’s and am actually still with them.) 

Homeschooling is not always easy and no two days look the same, but that’s because homeschooling is just parenting with books. It’s not easy – but it’s worth it. Time is so fleeting and we only get to know our children as “kids” for a few short years. I’m soaking every little bit of this season in.