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Homeschooling Day in the Life: Sarah, Former English Teacher, and Homeschooling Mom of Four

Day in the life Sarah

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 Sarah, former English teacher and homeschooling mom of four children.

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 Sarah

Sarah @homeschoolglue is a homeschooling mom of 4 in Minnesota. As a former English teacher, she loves teaching with living books, and incorporating things like poetry, hymns, picture study, and composer study.

Sarah is an early bird that loves coffee, planning, and all kinds of systems!

Working + Homeschooling

Working and homeschooling

Is it possible to work and homeschool? Many homeschooling families rely on two incomes to make ends meet. I’ve worked in many capacities since I began homeschooling. Here’s a few things I’ve done to make money while homeschooling.

  • Watch extra 0-5 year old children all day, multiple days a week.
  • Watch extra school age children before and after school, and on no-school days.
  • Run print-on-demand Etsy shops.
  • Run social media for a business.
  • Online business (selling own products, adsense on YouTube, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, etc.)

I have friends who work and homeschool in many different capacities and have talked to so many homeschool moms online who work alongside homeschooling. It IS possible! Here are some other ideas to make money while homeschooling.

  • Sell baked goods with a cottage food license (my husband does this too!)
  • Teach out of your home (instrument, tutoring, extracurricular, etc.)
  • Freelance jobs (graphic design, bookkeeping, writing, data entry, etc.)
  • Watch children in your home–one family, multiple (daycare), off hours, etc.
  • Provide a service (hairstylist, photographer, pet sitting/grooming, virtual assistant, fitness training, etc.)
  • Work outside the home, opposite spouse’s schedule (nights or weekends)

Think outside the box! Most people believe they can’t homeschool if they can’t live off just one income. But the truth is, with the internet, tons of job opportunities, and some creativity, it truly is possible to homeschool and work. There are many single parents homeschooling as well.

Time Blocks of Our Homeschool Day

No two days are exactly alike, and these time blocks can flex and bend as needed, but this is *generally* the routine we follow. We fit a lot into one day and I wear a lot of hats throughout the day, and these time blocks are what allow that to happen!

Homeschooling With Littles

Homeschooling with littles Sarah

I’m not going to lie–homeschooling with littles underfoot can be really hard! However, with some patience, playfulness, and some activities up your sleeve, it doesn’t have to be as hard as it seems. Here are some activity ideas.

  • Sensory bins
  • Play with water
  • Polly Pockets
  • Beads + pipe cleaners
  • Listen to Yoto card with headphones
  • Look at fun “looking books”
  • Sort different colored objects
  • Colored blocks
  • Matching games
  • Legos or Duplos
  • Paint with water
  • Cut up magazines and glue
  • Get them involved in the homeschool lesson
  • Look at objects under a microscope
  • Playdough or slime
  • Stamps
  • Cars and tubes
  • Tracing letters
  • Morning menus
  • Puzzles
  • Color on whiteboard
  • Magnetic dolls
  • Stacker toys

When I was having a really tough time with my youngest daughter during homeschool time when she was two, I did many things to work with her, but the thing that changed everything for us, was implementing activity bins.

Every month I would make new activity bins filled with random things we already owned. I pulled them out only during homeschool time and she learned to play independently. It was a game-changer! I created a resource called Lessons With Littles with tons of tips for homeschooling with littles underfoot and 60 activity ideas.

How to Have Smoother Days

Smoother days Sarah

While most homeschooling moms won’t get up at 4am like I do, trying to set aside even just a few minutes at the start of the day for quiet and filling your own cup can do wonders for your mindset and how your day goes!

  • Making just one bulk freezer breakfast every week for a month means you have four homemade breakfasts you can pull out of the freezer each week. This makes mornings so easy for us!
  • Because we are so busy during the week, we do chore time on Saturday mornings. But either way, just having a routine for chores makes it less work for mom to have to keep track of, and helps kids learn systems.
  • While it’s not everyone’s favorite way to homeschool, implementing family-style lessons whenever possible has saved us lots of times, brought us closer together, and has been SO fun for all of us.
  • To save time and fit in more reading, we often listen to extra audiobooks during lunch on our Yoto player, or save a reading we have the audio version for to listen to then so we can have more time outside in the morning.
  • I find it helpful to always have a deadline that we stop homeschooling by, whether we finish our lessons or not. This allows us time outside, and a break. I will often save things for later in the day, or move it to a different day if I packed too much into one day.
  • Even when I don’t have any napping children, we will likely still implement a quiet time every day. It allows me to get some work done, and enjoy some quiet. It allows my kids to have some free time and pursue their own creative interests at a slower pace.
  • I don’t use a homeschool planner because every year I develop a rhythm where I assign certain subjects to certain days. This means I don’t have to reinvent the wheel every week or spend a lot of non-homeschooling time figuring things out. It’s worked super well for our family.
  • I don’t have a strict cleaning schedule, but I do have rhythms I follow for weekly tasks. I start a load of laundry every morning, and aim to at least finish that one by the end of the day. Normally I will be able to throw in at least one more. I plan my week on Tuesdays. I meal plan on Wednesdays. I pay bills on Fridays. Routines and habits are my favorite sanity-savers!
  • While I don’t have a homeschool planner, I couldn’t live without my planner for everything else in my life! I basically assume I will forget everything, so I write anything and everything down that I need to remember. I spend about 30 minutes a week writing everything down for my work, family, appointments, random homeschool things that pop up, etc. I also set tons of alarms on my phone to remind me of time-specific tasks such as “bring library books back” if I have that planned after homeschool lessons that day. Having it all written down allows me to not stress about it!
  • Once a month I spend an hour or two prepping for the next month. I started doing this when I was getting behind on requesting books we needed for different subjects, scheduling appointments, etc. There are lots of little things that need to happen on a regular basis in homeschool and motherhood, so spending some time once a month has really helped!
  • Since many days I’m home all day, it would be really easy to roll out of bed and just look like that all day. I find I’m so much more productive and ready for anything if I take a little bit of time to get ready, look presentable, and care for myself. I also think, subconsciously, it’s telling my kids that I view my role as their mom and teacher as incredibly important. No shame to anyone that doesn’t do this–it just has helped me!
  • Now that my oldest are 10 and 7, they’ve really been wanting to help, especially with making meals. So lately, my oldest has been making breakfasts, and my seven year old has been helping with lunch. Having the time to say yes and walk alongside them has saved a lot of time in the long run.
  • Being home all day can really take a toll on our homes. I’m not the best at cleaning constantly, but what I do make sure we do is tidy up as we go–clean dishes, surfaces, and sweep floors after meals. We also put things away as we transition to a different room or part of our day. This keeps our home relatively tidy all day.
  • Lastly, the most important thing I do for a smoother day, is to remember the bigger picture. When I remember why I’m doing all of this, and start to see the world through my children’s eyes, my heart is softened, and I’m filled with gratitude. I find this is the best place to mother and homeschool from, and it’s something I work on every day.

Thank you so much to Sarah for sharing your family’s day with us!

Day in the life Sarah

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