Homeschooling Day in the Life: Shannon, Former Public School Teacher and Homeschooling Mom to 3 Teenage Boys
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 Shannon, former public school teacher and homeschooling mom to three teenage boys!
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 Shannon
Shannon @homeschoolboymom is a homeschool mom to 3 boys ages 16, 14, & 12. They are finishing up their 9th year of homeschooling. She and her husband of 18 years are both former public school teachers.
She grew up in NH and moved out to Arizona after college looking for adventure! They currently live in the Phoenix AZ area where they love to get out into nature and go for a hike.
Their homeschool has always been quite eclectic. Shannon likes a little Charlotte Mason, a little classical and she picks and chooses from a variety of curriculum to try and customize her boy’s education. Right now they are in a transitional phase, figuring out how to homeschool high school and balance the rigor with the wonder which she’s finding to be a challenge!
Starting Our Day
Good morning @learningwell community! (or good afternoon to those of you on the east coast). I’m Shannon, wife of 18 years to Travis, and mom to 3 fast-growing boys. We live in sunny Arizona and are wrapping up nine years of homeschooling. Back in 2013-2015, our oldest did two years of public school while I pondered, researched, & day dreamed about what homeschooling might look like. Originally, it was my husband who strongly encouraged me to give homeschooling a try (at the time he was a public high school teacher), but I felt very unsure of my ability to handle the responsibility of “school” on top of the dishes, the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, the errands, etc.! It’s an ongoing challenge as you will soon see.
Well, I obviously decided to give it a “try” and it’s been one of the things I am MOST thankful for: the time, the flexibility, the freedom, the memories, the great books & field trips. “You’ll never regret the years spent homeschooling your children” – this was something every veteran homeschool mom I spoke to would tell me when I was trying to make up my mind about what to do. I’m SO glad I did! I love to encourage other moms to jump into the adventure of homeschooling and I especially have a heart for raising boys in an environment that helps to encourage & support their natural, God-given strengths & abilities.
We start most days with a walk outside. We get up and out of the house by 7am and walk for about an hour (2-3miles). One big motivator for this is our 105lb, 2 year old male Rhodesian Ridgeback who really needs it, but so do our boys of course (and us!). I highly recommend getting boys (of all ages) outside and active in the mornings if at all possible! So, we go for a family walk before my husband heads off to work.
Chores + Bible Time
When we get home from our walk, I usually start a load of laundry & get the coffee going. Our boys run a mile and 1/2 on Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. Then, while I have coffee time with my husband (and dog), the boys take care of home & hygiene things, which include their morning chores (empty dishwasher, sweep floor, take out trash). After they finish this they are supposed to start their day with personal Bible time. I say “supposed to” because they still need to be reminded as this is a habit we just started with them this past year. My husband has done Bible readings with them together throughout the years (and still does) but since they are growing quickly into young men I really want them to have established this daily habit in God’s Word on their own before they fly the nest!
Once they finish with their Bible time, they can start their individual lessons which my older 2 will do, while my youngest, who is 12, will often play, read, or tinker with something until after breakfast/brunch.
Brunch + Read Aloud
This is my favorite part of our day! And it’s the only regular part of the day anymore that we all sit and learn together. This occurs anytime between 10:30-12:00 depending on the day. We always have a “fun” read aloud going on, right now it’s The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett. We are really enjoying it, it’s a great one for boys! Today we were able to read 2 chapters (since we have no out of the house plans for the rest of the day) and also spent a little time online looking up some of the places mentioned in the story, which was interesting.
Brunch took us about 45min today. Then we clear the table and the boys get back to their individual lessons.
Individual Lessons + Extra Activities
After brunch, I sit with my 12 year old and I oversee and/or help with his math & writing. Today he did a little math and some copywork. His copywork today is the Cadet Oath for @civilairpatrol which he recently joined. He needs to memorize this to earn his first achievement.
When he is done, he’ll read some of Ch. 1 in “Learn to Lead” – (also for CAP) as he has to pass a test to be promoted. I’ll have him narrate what he read and ask him some questions about it.
All our boys are involved in Civil Air Patrol as they have interest in military futures. My oldest, specifically, is working towards becoming a Marine Corps fighter pilot. 🇺🇸(My husband is a Marine Corps veteran, so that is where they get their avid interest from). Besides CAP, all our boys all do jiu-jitsu. I love Wednesdays in particular because we do not have any outside activities scheduled!
Other Daily Duties
After the boys finish their individual lessons they usually have some other duties to take care of: today it was a workout, clean their bathroom, and train the dog. While they are busy doing that, I put some laundry away, and now I’m off to freshen up & tidy up before I start prepping dinner (beef & cauliflower rice bowls) and my husband gets home.
My plan is to make some sourdough sandwich bread dough after dinner tonight- it needs to rise 10-12 hours. While I do that, my husband will do a Bible reading with the boys. AND That’s our day in a nutshell!
Thank you Shannon for sharing your Day in the Life with us!
