Homeschooling Day in the Life: Naomi, Homeschooling Mom of Three in Australia

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 Naomi, a homeschooling mom of three in Australia!

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 Naomi

Hi there! My name is Naomi and I live in Melbourne, Australia with my husband and our three children (10, 8 and 5). I never really know how to explain how we began homeschooling. It seemed like such a natural, yet daunting, decision at the time. There have been times when I put way too much pressure on myself and my husband has prayed with me and asked me to step away from Pinterest and the Charlotte Mason books for the night and have some balance, (which I am grateful for). I have seen blessings that I’ve carried over from my long-ago classroom days, but also many things to unlearn and adjust to. Sometimes I have had to create my own village, even when I haven’t felt like it at all. Most of all, even with the doubts and tiredness, home education has been such a joy. I see more and more fruit each year as we put one foot in front of the other, with a bunch of good books, a lot of snacks and even more prayer. I definitely don’t take it for granted that we get to do this life this way with our little ones.

We typically homeschool Mon-Thurs. On Friday Funday the children play or create for longer in the morning while I get on top of the house chores. We typically then go on an outing with friends to the zoo, museum or beach/bush.

Mornings

Our mornings start with Bible time over breakfast at 7am. My husband then leaves for work at 7:30am, and I continue to chat and read to the kids about our current poem, art study or we sing our current hymn/song. The children then get ready and do their morning chores before we walk to the park to get some wriggles out, see the neighbors and practice basketball skills (my older two play in a local team each week).

Literacy

We typically do our literacy in the morning using the following schedule:

• Monday: Mail Monday
• Tuesday: Written Narration
• Wednesday: Creative Writing or Book Reports
• Thursday: Note booking

We also have copy work, handwriting, spelling and grammar woven around this. This is usually done independently by my older two as I read with our youngest. I definitely lean more towards a Charlotte Mason style, whilst also having plenty of room for tangents and exploration of their own interests as they pop up. I love that we can do a short spelling lesson, then I can send them outside to jump their times tables on the trampoline before the next thing.

Math

Our math is pretty open-and-go. The kids are in a good rhythm with getting it done before lunch each day. I’m always nearby to help, and sometimes one will read to the youngest or practice piano while I work with another on a new math concept. It’s definitely been interesting this year, as I have to use my brain a bit more to help my ten year old, whilst simultaneously starting from the beginning with my five year old. We naturally cook a lot together and my son likes to build in the shed, so there’s always some sneaky math going on. 😉

Local Homeschool Group

One of the highlights of our week is our local homeschool group that meet each Wednesday morning. My children complete a few independent things before we leave. While they do this, I load up the car and fill lunch boxes. Then we spend the next few hours learning about different countries together through stories, art and non-fiction books and food. Each child in our group has their own little passport that they fill in each week with a flag and national animal/flower from that week’s country. Starting our group has been such a blessing to not only the children, but me too. They are the kindest bunch of families! We have both a kid and mom Book Club each term, and some of the families are going camping together this week! After co-op I am pretty exhausted! We usually have some reading time then watch a nature documentary to finish off the day.

Science, History, + Art

This year we are also focusing on birds for science as my middle child LOVES birds and bird watching. We are using The Story of The World Book 2 For History, and adding in more Australian history in preparation for some family excursions we have coming up. Australian art is a focus this year too. We are loving this, particularly with so many art galleries in our city! We also have a monthly farm school group that we have been a part of for four years now.

A Note to New Homeschooling Parents

Maybe this is because I am obsessed with quality childrens literature, but I often tell new homeschool parents that if you can find yourself some quality childrens books/bookstagrammers you trust, half of the work is done for you. Workbooks might feel like you’re doing more when they are little, but quality learning starts when they are teeny tiny. It begins when you’re talking to them and they’re talking to you (non-stop, hehe). My youngest’s vocabulary is amazing, not because of a workbook, but because of lots and lots of quality stories, and lots and lots of chats in the car/kitchen (even when this introverted mama maybe didn’t feel like it). Books are woven into our day, whether it’s a chapter of our current read-aloud over morning tea, or our 30 minutes of quiet reading time after lunch. My husband studied film and TV, so we both value and know how quality story can change the world for the better. I also believe it’s important for me to set a good example. If I want my kids to enjoy reading, I make sure they see me reading and enjoying it too.

The end of our day is often spent back at the park with friends, at swimming lessons, or just letting them be kids at home before dinner, stories and bedtime.