Homeschool Day in the Life: Nichole, homeschooling mom from toddler to teen

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 Nichole, homeschooling mama living in Florida, with kids from toddler to teen!

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 Nichole

Nichole @the.homely.homeschooler is a mama of three, from toddler to teen! She and her family are from Puerto Rico, but are now living in Florida. They own a food truck, and spend every night and weekend at the baseball field. 

Homeschooling became a thought for their family three years ago, and even though Nichole wasn’t in love with the idea then, she now sees what a huge blessing in disguise it was. Nichole describes her homeschool as 100% eclectic! They do what works for them without leaning towards any one particular style. She believes all resources are useful, just not for everyone. And life skills are not only important, they’re necessary!

Our Homeschool Journey

Good morning Learning Well Community! I’m Nichole from @the.homely.homeschooler and I can’t tell you how honored I feel to share a glimpse of our world with you today! I’ll start by saying that I’m NOT a morning person, so please bear wear me as I warm up to get ready for the day.

A bit about our homeschool journey…our two boys went to a public charter school that I absolutely loved until they graduated from fifth grade and kindergarten. I was heavily involved in the school, to the point of having been President of the Parent-Teacher organization our last two years there. The decision to homeschool didn’t come easy, but I trusted and jumped in with both feet. I went to a homeschool convention, visited three close friends who had been homeschooling for a while, and read all the books to prepare myself for the task.

The time came to begin (this was three years ago) and I naturally started replicating school at home. As the days progressed I watched all of my homeschool dreams go down the drain. But after lots of coffee, prayer, guidance, and not quitting, I can tell you today that homeschooling was such a blessing in disguise. We now have a system (note that I didn’t say rhythm) that allows us to enjoy everything that homeschooling has to offer. If you want to hear the full story, I invite you to visit my profile and view my highlight labeled “homeschool”.

We don’t follow any one particular homeschool style, but I do try to incorporate a little bit of everything into our schooling. The boys are not into a lot of “fluff”, so we keep things simple, interesting, and to the point. I promise you that my three year old daughter’s homeschool will look very different than the boys’, and that’s ok! Besides NOT trying to replicate school at home, another piece of advice I can give you is NOT to try to replicate anyone else’s homeschool.

Our Schedule

About our schedule…no two days are alike for us, ever! The boys do baseball daily, so I like to let them sleep in a bit. I do get up a bit earlier to enjoy some quiet time and get breakfast ready. However, I’m a night owl and all of my productive time comes after everyone else goes to bed, so I don’t usually sleep enough. My husband is the complete opposite and gets up before the birds. He starts prepping early to get the food truck out for the day.

The boys will usually help their dad until he leaves around 10:30am. After that is when homeschool lessons begin. Does this sound unconventional? A little all over the place? I think so! But this is the season that we’re in right now, and honestly, I love that the boys get to experience first hand what it’s like to own a business and work hard for what you want. And yes, everything they do to help with the business counts as school!

Homeschool Space

Homeschool space… we don’t have one!

We live in a 1,200 sq ft home with just enough living space for the five of us. There’s no extra space for anything, so I’ve had to get creative with our setup and organization. What you see here is the latest addition to the boys’ room, a giant thrifted table that serves as a desk for two. Beside it is the homeschool cart that houses their curriculum. Is it nice to have this? Yes! Is it necessary? Not at all!

We used to do school at the dining room table, and sometimes we still do, but I really wanted the boys to have a space of their own. This is where the boys spend the bulk of their time working independently. The toddler usually naps around this time, so I’ll also get some time to take care of household stuff and work.

School Planning

I love planners (and all the organizational things) and could buy them all, but for some strange reason I just can’t make the best use out of them. I start filling them out, get overwhelmed, cry, and then push them aside until the next planner shows up. It’s been like that for years!

Well, I’m breaking the cycle. I refuse to continue to feel inadequate or like an incompetent homeschool mom just because I can’t replicate what other homeschool moms do. You’d think that three years into this would’ve been enough for me to understand that we homeschool to do our own thing, not to replicate someone else’s.

This single sheet of paper works perfect for me and my kids. Continuing to try to change a perfect system only does a disservice to all of us. So I will embrace it, love it, and be forever grateful for having found such an amazing resource.

So fellow homeschool mama that’s reading, if you find something that works for you, stick with it, even if it’s not the most beautiful or popular. Let these squares be of inspiration to you. Don’t let them define what your homeschool style should be or what your day should look like. ❤️

Homeschool WINS!

I could tell you about all of my frustrations and disappointments these past three years we’ve been homeschooling. But why focus on the negative? Yes, homeschooling can be challenging, frustrating, and tiring, but so is baseball, and my kids can’t get enough of it!

This journey has certainly transformed my heart and that of my kids, in the best of ways! At the end of the day, it’s not about what curriculum we use, or how many hours we spend working, or what co-ops we go to. What’s most important is, how are we equipping our kids for the future? What kind of values are we instilling in them? What kind of memories are we making? How healthy are our relationships?

I don’t pretend to know it all, but I’ve learned enough along the way to know that what really matters is not what I thought mattered when we started three years ago. I GET to be home with my kids, I GET to contribute to their formations, not someone else. And that is priceless!

So, thank you for tagging along our very unconventional and unscripted day. I really hope that if anything, you can walk away feeling encouraged and with some simple tools that will help in your journey. And I hope that we can connect long term over at my main account, @the.homely.homeschooler!

Thank you so much to Nichole 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.