Homeschool Day in the Life: Mackenzie, family herbalist, and homeschooling mom to three in Rhode Island
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 Mackenzie, family herbalist and homeschooling mom to three, living in Rhode Island.
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 Mackenzie
Mackenzie @twigsandsage is 30 years old and resides in Southern Rhode Island with her husband and children. She and her high school sweetheart have been married for almost ten years. They have three children on earth, and one in heaven who they lost this year to a missed miscarriage. Mackenzie is passionate about home education and teaches her children with a Wild + Free and Charlotte Mason approach to learning. They also really enjoy unit studies.
Mackenzie and her family enjoy bike rides, going to church together, and reading books. Mackenzie is also a Family Herbalist and is passionate about wellness and natural living. She loves to share about motherhood, homeschooling, homemaking, natural living, and hope through grief.
Good Morning!
Good morning Learning Well Community! I’m Mackenzie @twigsandsage and I’m really excited to share here today!
I’ve been up since about 5am (which is a little early for me) and I had my own morning time, consisting of reading my Bible & current book while drinking some tea.
By 7:30am the kids were up and we started morning time & breakfast! Morning time is really simple right now. We listen to a song on the Hide ‘em In Your Heart CD to help us memorize our weekly scripture (which is currently Matthew 19:14). We discuss it’s meaning and take turns reciting it.
For breakfast, we usually have a combination of pancakes, yogurt, fruit, bagels and/or eggs.
I hope you enjoy following along here today!
Our School Room
The kid’s morning chores are done, and they have been outside playing!
This is our homeschool room! We haven’t always had a designated room for school (our homeschool journey began while living in a camper!) However, about two years ago we were blessed with the opportunity to build our own home, and we designed it around this space!
Somewhere between 9:30 & 10:00am I’ll be calling them inside to begin our formal lessons, starting with nature school! We do a lot of our learning together, around this table that my husband built for us.
After nature lessons, I’ll get my oldest daughter started in her language arts lesson, my middle daughter started with her kindergarten lesson, and my son started with his preschool. I go back & forth between who I’m helping. We have play dough, paper & crayons, blocks, and a few other activities for them to do independently if they are waiting for me.
This is usually the rhythm for this time:
✨nature school
✨snack break
✨language arts/reading
✨math
✨loop subject
Play-based Learning
We just finished up our formal lessons (which lasted from about 9:45am-12:15pm with a snack break in-between).
We do a lot of play-based learning, singing songs/dancing, art, and reading aloud. My preschooler used play dough to shape his letters, my second grader and I played store for math, and my kindergartner sang some songs to practice letter sounds. We do some book work also, and my younger two especially enjoy worksheets.
Play is a child’s meaningful work. When they are free to imagine, explore, use their hands, and get out of their seat (and go outside especially) they have the opportunity to discover, form interests & develop work ethic.
Read Aloud Time
Yes, we have a book upside down, oops 😆.
One of my favorite parts of our day is cuddling up together on the couch for read aloud time. I schedule this every afternoon after playtime. After they’ve been off playing for awhile, I like to join back together for some snuggles, stories, & quality time.
Sometimes we read our current chapter book. Other days, picture books that complement that week’s science or nature topic. Other days, they all just run over with their favorites and we read those. Today we read some fall favorites for the First Day of Autumn! 🍁
✨”…reading to our kids teaches them to think, make connections, and communicate. Reading aloud doesn’t just open windows. It flings wide the doors of opportunities far outside the scope of language and literature.”
✨ “I read aloud to my kids because I know that my years with them are short. Because I long for a deep, soulful, real connection with each of them.”
✨”When my head hits the pillow each night, I want to know that I have done the one most important thing: I have fostered warm, happy memories and created lifelong bonds with my kids…”
All quotes from Sarah Mackenzie, from The Read-Aloud Family
Daily Rhythm
This is the daily rhythm we followed today! The times weren’t always exact, but we follow this order. It helps us all know what’s coming next and to have some consistency to our days.
🍁I hope to get up at 6am each morning to stretch, read, and begin the day for an hour or so before the kids are up. This morning, I was up by 5am.
🍁Around 7, the kids will all be up and they can play until breakfast.
🍁Following breakfast we will do our morning chores (dishes, make bed, brush teeth & hair, and get dressed).
🍁The kids play for about an hour before we start school.
🍁Formal lessons are scheduled from about 9:30-11:30am. Today was more like 9:45am-12:15pm.
🍁12pm is lunchtime.
🍁12:30-2:30pm is playtime again.
🍁Around 2:30pm we will read aloud together. After the kids have played a lot, I loved this time with them for stories & snuggles.
🍁Quiet time is after story time, from about 3-4pm.
🍁4-5pm is blessing hour (clean up our home & prepare dinner).
🍁 5:30pm or so is dinner.
6:30pm baths.
🍁Bedtime stories from 7-8pm then lights out.
The Beauty Right in Front of You
Thanks so much for hanging out with us today! We had so much fun giving you a glimpse into our day!
A few words to leave you with–
✨Create a beautiful daily rhythm but don’t be afraid to not follow it to seize an opportunity.
✨Teach your children, but let them teach you too.
✨Work hard, but pause for a moment when a little one wants you to pick them up and snuggle.
✨Stay up late sometimes to see the stars (or play with LEGOs like tonight).
✨Cancel all plans one day and go on an adventure.
✨Don’t be so busy that you miss the beauty right in front of you.
I’d love to have you follow along over at @twigsandsage 💕 Stay in touch friends!
Thank you so much to Mackenzie 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.
