Homeschooling Day in the Life: Raimie, Veteran Homeschooling Mom Who is Passionate About Creativity in Learning
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 Raimie, veteran homeschooling mom who is passionate about creativity in learning.
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 Raimie
I’m Raimie, forty-something wife on the beautiful Nebraska Prairie. I’m mother to 3 at home, 2 grown & flown (+ son in law), and 3 baby twinkles in Heaven. We are expecting the most precious surprise baby in August. We keep our home cozy, homeschool year-round, adventure, and host a lot.
I’m passionate about hospitality, community, creativity, literature, and writing. Here’s a glimpse of our personal journey of finding joy and meaning in creativity and Christ.
Slow + Sacred Mornings
There may be seasons for consistent early rising, and some days it’s necessary, but a difficult pregnancy in my forties means prioritizing rest for now. We do better with a slower start. The current youngest often crawls in with me for cuddles and a couple stories to wake up. Then I’m headed for coffee, protein, and my Bible.
Ready for the Day
I throw in a load of laundry while the coffee brews and my troupe starts to appear. They do their 7-up (our family’s catchphrase for simple morning habits we’ve been using for years) while I sit down for my quiet time. Everyone gets their own breakfast (they are 16, 12, and 8).
Independent Rhythms
Ready & fed, they all move into their daily basics. Independent math & language arts and then do their assigned chore cycle for the day. I work on my own household admin tasks, event plans (today is finalizing plans for a book club), and grab a few minutes to write in between working with the youngest on her lessons and anyone else who needs help.
Reading Lunch
I put out lunch and gather our main lesson (we rotate subjects for home-days unless we are doing a longer unit study or deep dive). We start with our book basket – Bible, Nature, Tales, Poetry, Virtue.
Main Lesson
Today’s group content subject is history. We are in the Middle Ages. I read the spine (Story of the World) while my listeners notebook the chapter using their own drawings & copywork or written narration according to age. Followed by map work and timeline entries in their Book of Years.
Open Afternoons
I try to keep our lessons short and allow plenty of time for personal projects, creative interests, reading (audiobooks are almost always going around here), outside time, and play.
Evening Reset
We do a PM pickup to end the day on a tidy note. Screen time is limited to a possible short window before supper (if everything else got done) unless we have a family movie night planned. I take my sunset walk and do my short daily workout while listening to a podcast (more research for book club) before making supper.
Different Days
Our days don’t all look the same. This is the general scaffolding of an average home-day. Major activities or projects take place some days. There are spans of time where things go off the rails for a bit. But we fall back into the familiar rhythms and always seem to circle back to the main habits of home.
Resist Rushing Around
I’m not fond of the word “busy” or the feeling of constantly being in a hurry for the next place we have to go. We don’t live in town so going means lots of driving. We’ve intentionally chosen minimal extracurricular activities that require going multiple places for multiple kids every day. We homeschool for the reason of having TIME so we have to say no to many options (some really great ones, even) to hold space for that freedom. The fruit of that shows in constant passion projects, time to specialize, more interest led reading, and strong sibling relationships.
Keeping the Main Thing, the Main Thing
For us, the focus is on our faith, forming strong healthy connections, cultivating a love of learning and creativity, reading great books, having lots of conversations, and extending hospitality. So we prioritize participation and serving with our church and small town, being a village to those in our community, leading book clubs, hosting in our home, engaging in community theatre, homeschool nature & social groups, and choral music.
Our Own Brand of Home Education
After being homeschooled myself, almost 22 years of motherhood, and a lot of nerding out on homeschool resources and books, we’ve picked bits of many methods that work for us – Charlotte Mason, Classical, Wild & Free, Bravewriter, Waldorf, Tidal, Unit Study, and Un-schooling, and sometimes a little of just our own thing.
We aren’t the most orthodox household, I’m the only adult on deck most days with a loving husband who travels for work full time. I have to choose how to use energy and time wisely. But I’m a planner, a joy finder, as well as a creative free-spirit who somehow still loves organization, so I’m pretty happy and content with the mix of life learning, flexibility, and checklists we have going on. God knows I need Him daily, every hour.
Teens Are Magic
I really love teenagers. It’s such a fantastic stage watching them get ready to fly and seeing who they’ve become while still being able to talk thru lots of things and continue fostering warm, kind, loving relationships before they leave home. But it also means a change of pace, giving them more autonomy, less time where we are all together at the table. It’s takes a lot of prayer and grace to handle the transition well.
Today our 16yo did part of his daily things in the morning, worked at his carpentry apprenticeship in the afternoon, auditioned for a local play, helped my parents with some yard work, and when he gets home he will finish his school & chores, cat go up on the history he missed, and assemble the bookshelves he’s putting in his room. It’s an amazing stage, I promise!
Bed Time
After supper I make sure the house is ready for bed and encourage the 7down. The boys read or play LEGO quietly in their room while I settle the youngest. I take some creative recharge or reading time after the kids are in bed. This is my solace and therapy after a full day that seems, most often, to end on a note of gratitude for this one, most precious, beautiful life we’ve been given.
