Homeschooling Day in the Life: Secret, Homeschooling Mom to Three Kids With a Passion for Art + Nature

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 Secret, homeschooling mom to three kids with a passion for art and nature!

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.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!

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Meet Secret

Secret is a mama to three cubs {11 • 7 • 3} and the creator behind @Liberty_Lions_Academy homeschool + shop. She enjoys cultivating a love of learning in the hearts of her children while creating resources aimed to fan the flames in others’ homeschool as well.

With a passion for art and nature that is fueled by her faith to see God’s beauty in all things, Secret shares their lessons and adventures as she journeys through this crazy-beautiful pilgrimage called motherhood.

Good Morning!

Good Morning, 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮! My name is Secret <—𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥. I’m excited to share our day with you while also getting to know you, too.

I thought I’d share a few of the basics in this post to fill in some of the blanks:

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜?

I’ve been homeschooling my eldest since the preschool years. He’s now 11yrs old and in 6th grade. 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯?” We’re nearing the end of our 8th year of learning at home together.

𝙒𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙙? 𝙄𝙛 𝙣𝙤𝙩, 𝙝𝙤𝙬’𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡?

I was never homeschooled nor did I think I’d ever be a home educator. When we began this journey, the original thought was to only homeschool for a year or so and then transition our son into “building school” (a term I came up with in lieu of the cringe term “real school” or having to say Public/Private/Charter School). Along came my middle son and soon our “plans” began to shift as our hearts felt the 𝘵𝘶𝘨-𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮-𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 to trust the Lord and lean into homeschooling long-term.

I still remember those bumpy early years and how lonely & hopeless I felt. Finding a beautiful online homeschool community was such a breath of fresh air and just the encouragement my heart needed. In 2018 I opened the public account @liberty_lions_academy as a way of connecting & encouraging other homeschool families. After 4 years of hesitation, I finally took the leap to launch our shop where I share the resources I create for my cubs with families from all over the world. It’s been a true honor & humbling experience.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙮𝙡𝙚?

We are year-round homeschoolers who enjoy Family-Style learning with a lot of Interest-Led & Hands-On lessons. Loop scheduling combined with schooling year-round changed the game for us by relieving the constant crushing feeling of “falling behind”. These two methods opened up the doors to our family to keep our foundational goals intact. Cultivating a love of learning is the core we build upon.

We love unit studies, field trips, science experiments, and collect many nature treasures to add to our curiosity shelves to study together. If I had to put a term to our style it’s eclectic homeschoolers that are inspired by multiple homeschool philosophies, approaches, & programs. Tailoring our children’s education based off of their individual learning needs is one of my favorite attributes of homeschooling.

Schooling With the Seasons

Here in Georgia there is a small window of “fully pleasurable” days outdoors before the smoldering, humid heat hits you in the face like a sack of bricks. We take full advantage of these lovely Spring days which means LOTS of outdoor schooling and activities. This also means that some of our table work might not begin until later in the afternoon whereas I typically like to aim to have all of our lessons wrapped up by 1pm.

𝙒𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙛𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨.

While the morning dew dries, I like begin the more challenging lessons for each student. You know— those that they need to be at their freshest (mentally) in order to fully focus and complete without a hitch in their giddy up. Tired cubs + challenging subjects = lots of tears for everyone—We avoid that at all cost. For my eldest it’s math and for my middle cub it is handwriting practice & phonics.

Impromptu Lessons

This can be intimidating to some — veering off schedule. If I had to speak to the fear or daunting undertones that can surround this approach, I would say this:

Fan those sparks, mama!! Don’t be afraid to break from the daily routine in order to fan the sparks of curiosity. These sparks have the potential to ignite the flames that fuel our passion for pursuing knowledge! It doesn’t have to be daunting. Sometimes it just takes a childlike perspective to see the wonder in the world around us.

Today our science lesson was guided towards studying ants because our yard is currently prime real-estate for all the ant nests. While we were pulling weeds from our flowerbed, my children and I were frustrated at the anthills that seem to pop up overnight (It’s the fire ants that are the biggest nuisance). My eldest decided we needed to study the habits of ants in order to help find a nontoxic solution for deterring these little insects.

I’ll let you in on a little secret that I’ve come to appreciate through nature studies in particular:

The more we learn about an animal, the less scary or irritating they become. We are often fascinated by how intricately designed they are by the Creator. They hold so many benefits, which helps us to appreciate them. An example: Ants are good for the soil for multiple reasons. They help aerate the soil with their tunnels which allows air and water to flow through easier. The organic materials they store underground also contribute to conditioning the soil by providing rich nutrients. And did you know that some ant species, like the weaver ant, can even keep away unwanted insects from crops?! Unfortunately these aren’t the ants near us—BUT now I feel less urge to move to Antartica (ironically the only continent that doesn’t have ants except for in its name).

Veering off the path can help broaden our perspectives while cultivating a life-long habit of actively pursing knowledge. Maybe this still seems impossible to incorporate in your homeschool routine. If so, try “planning” for the curiosities that are naturally brought into the homeschool. Leave a day or window of time open each week to explore the new interests that were sparked during the school week. Often our impromptu lessons evolve into unit studies. This means we have to make arrangements to gather resources outside of our home or the internet.

Homeschool Spaces

I’m glad I still have photos that I took of our newly setup homeschool space over 8 years ago. It keeps me grounded when I feel like {FILL IN THE BLANK} should have immediate results. That’s not realistic. Most things (especially those that matter most) take time to develop. Just like the visual reminder the 𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘕 & 𝘕𝘖𝘞 photos give us, our child’s education is a journey that builds with each moment.

If you’re feeling the pressure to hurry the process— deep breath, mama. Don’t forget to put your blinders on and keep your focus on those little wonder-filled eyes that are staring straight at you. This moment—each moment— is invaluably precious.

Thanks For Following Along!

We bid you a sweet adieu, 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮.

Thank you for hanging with us today! As I mentioned in stories, one homeschool day rarely (if ever) looks like the next. Plus, it’s simply impossible to fully capture or communicate ALL that a 16-18hr “awake” day holds without having cameras everywhere like the Truman Show (who remembers that movie?) Nonetheless, I hope you found some sort of encouragement in following along. You are always welcome to hangout with our little lion pride over @liberty_lions_academy to connect with us further.

It’s been a true honor & pleasure.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO SECRET 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.