Homeschool Day in the Life: Hayley, homeschool mom of multiple grade levels

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 Hayley, photographer, wife and homeschool mom to five children and multiple grade levels.
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 Hayley

Hayley @hayley_ryan1 is a California girl that has been living in Tennessee for the last 8 years. She has been married to her college sweetheart for 15 years and they have five children (ages 11, 9, 6, 4, 2). Her husband was homeschooled k-12 and when they started seriously dating, the question of how they would educate their children became a topic of discussion. Hayley grew up going to a private school and had never considered homeschooling as an option for her own kids. She is now in her 7th year of homeschooling! She teaches three different grade levels, along with a preschooler and toddler in tow. It’s a lot to manage in this season of life, but she truly loves it.
Hayley has learned so much about the beauty of education. She cherishes seeing her kids’ eyes light up as they learn. Some days teaching her kids feels hard, but she believes it is important to do hard things and to allow her kids to see that being modeled. There is beauty in the journey, and she doesn’t want to miss out on some of life’s greatest treasure by only doing what is easy.
She has embraced finding grace for herself and her children as she teaches them, reads to them, listens to them, and plays with them. It’s all of these little moments that in the end are the reason Hayley has chosen this hard yet beautiful journey in the first place.
Good Morning!

Good morning friends! I’m @hayley_ryan1 and I’m excited to share with you what a Day in the Life looks like in our home. I’ll be sharing details of how I try to balance five kids with three different grade levels, while keeping up with my four year old daughter and a busy two year old. I hope I will be able to give you some new ideas and encourage you in your own journey of homeschooling.
An important part of my day is to be able to start by reading the Bible. I have struggled for years trying to get up before my kids to have the time to read. I can’t seem to be disciplined enough to get out of bed before 6:30am when everyone is asleep. If I do manage to get up earlier it seems that inevitably one of my kids wake up just as early. So instead, I have embraced allowing our school day to start a little later in order for me to have time to read. Most of the time I end up with my littlest in my lap but at least I know where he is while I read! He’s the one who will find a pencil from the hidden places. To him the world and our home is his canvas! ?
Reading Aloud

Part of our school day includes reading aloud to someone else for 10 minutes. This is separate from the reading curriculum we are working through. It’s just another way to encourage them to read more. I find it a great benefit that the little ones are often being read to and it doesn’t always have to be done by me.
In a recent article from Sarah Mackenzie at the Read Aloud Revival it showed that a MRI can actually see the difference in the brains of children who are read to and those who are not. With a big family I can’t be everything to everyone, but the benefit is they can learn and grow from each other. So take advantage of those older readers and let them read to your little ones.

Last week our yard was covered in eight inches of snow and today it’s 70 degrees outside! After putting my little ones down for a nap we headed outside to do our read aloud. I’m currently reading to them The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. While I read I let them whittle, color or stitch. It took a little time to teach them how to stitch and to safely whittle, but they enjoy these handicrafts and it helps them to be engaged while listening. Also, there’s nothing like a warm day after a cold winter storm.
Combined Subjects

Our science curriculum is one of the subjects we do all together. We are currently studying astronomy and we are using the Apologia curriculum. I purchased the activity box with the curriculum so that I would have everything I needed for the projects.
Today we used balloons to make a replica of our solar system. However, the balloon representing the sun would have had to have a 300 inch diameter in order to be to scale. When I explained how large the sun balloon would need to be they couldn’t believe how big it is.
Even though I have a significant age gap, they can all learn. I have a workbook to go along with our science that is more challenging for my 6th grader. Some of what we are learning is harder for my youngest but it’s amazing what she absorbs.
It Is All Worth It

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you so much for following along with my Day in the Life. I really enjoyed hearing from so many of you. I’m so thankful for such a wonderful community with like-minded mamas! To all you mamas with toddlers just remember it’s just a season. It is hard, it is exhausting and it’s a balancing act. I believe we will look back at the hard and we will be assured it was worth it.
Thank you so much to Hayley 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.
Aah I can only imagine how difficult home schooling your own kids would be – a really commendable job!!