Hey! I wanted to take a moment to say welcome to my blog and to introduce myself to you guys. I’m a busy homeschooling momma, and business owner. Maybe you found my blog from my business Bekah Brown Photography, or you found it because you are a homeschooling momma as well and love learning how other mommas do things when it comes to school. I wanted to start this blog for several different reasons, to share our busy lives, to share my love for photography and to document our lives for memories.
Often times I’m asked about our homeschooling journey and what our day to day life looks like with me running a photography business. Well, to be honest each day looks completely different and nothing is done the same way each day. Some days we start with math, where as others we start with writing. We approach each day with grace knowing that not everything will get done. Laundry may not be folded, beds may not be made, toys scattered throughout the house, and lots of late nights and early mornings for this momma, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
We (my husband and I) decided before our oldest was born that we wanted to approach schooling different from what we were accustomed to. You see we both went to public school and graduated. But, we wanted something different for our kids. We wanted more than what we felt like a public school could provide. We knew the days would be long, and some days tougher than others but it was something we had to try. When it came time for our oldest to start school we heard all the remarks you could think of. They won’t be able to socialize; they won’t have any friends, are you sure you can do this? Truth is I did doubt myself daily for months, and there are times that I still think “am I doing the right thing?” The moment the light bulb goes off and it clicks, all the self doubt and second guessing fades away. It’s in that moment that I know I’m doing the right thing, because I got to hear them read for the first time. I got to watch them write their letters, and then their names. Not some random stranger. It’s like a good friend of mine said, “Who taught them to talk, who taught them walk or to eat? If you can do that, who better to teach your kids?”
Our family is part of a local homeschooling co-op in our area. The co-op is designed to support each other, for our kids to have friendships, and us parents to be able to bounce ideas off. Honesty, without this group I’m sure I would have given up long ago, but here we are five years into our journey and I don’t see us stopping any time soon. The group has given me someone to talk with that understands the struggles, the daily fears and questions. We meet semi weekly to weekly throughout the school year and the summer months because honestly if you talk to us moms, we have learned to turn every moment into a teaching moment. The meetings range from PE days for the kids to run off some energy, hands on science lessons that each parent plans and brings the supplies for, and other days we go on hikes. Other times we go on field trips. We even have a mom’s night for the moms to come together and talk about what we are struggling with, plan meetings and activities, and let’s face it, we like to have an adult conversation. I’m not sure about the other mommas, but I leave our meets pumped and motivated to keep going.
Once you have made the decision that homeschooling is the route you want to go with your family, you may have tons of questions and may even feel over whelmed. I know I did when we started this journey. I have a list of questions that a sweet momma sent me who is considering homeschooling her girls when they are old enough. A couple of the questions she asked were where do I start? And what curriculum do I use? I thought these questions were a good way to end this blog. You see I was in the same boat, where do I start? How do I know this is where I need to start? What curriculum is the best? Well the truth is, each state is different on what they require. In our state (KY) school is not mandatory until age six. When I started homeschooling our oldest I started with preschool activities and story hour at the local library. I would check out books that dealt with themes I wanted to cover. For example, the whole month of November, I would focus on pilgrims, Indians, the first Thanksgiving, and why the leaves changed colors and fell off the trees. I would tie in the different colors and numbers with our crafts. I also did tons of lap books and hands on items and play time. After we made it into Kindergarten, and school was mandatory I sent in our letter of intent and we started our school year. A letter of intent is required two-three weeks before public school starts, you are basically telling the school that you are not enrolling your child into their school system and are enrolling them into your private school. Here in the state of Kentucky we are required to name our home school and we fall under the category of a private school. Once our school year started we started focusing on letters more and placing sounds together to form words. With the help of abeka’s curriculum my oldest was reading within a few short months.
So what curriculum do I need to use? No curriculum is a one size fits all. Some families home school with a literacy approach and a math curriculum. Others home school with a one set curriculum, all from the same company whereas, others use a different curriculum with each subject. I, up until this year, used the same curriculum for every subject; I switched it up because a part of it was not working anymore. You should know pretty quickly if something isn’t working, if it isn’t don’t be afraid to change curriculums until you find what works for your family.
Looking forward to sharing more of our busy lives, from homeschooling, our travels we have taken, and my love for photography. Until next time I have included a few family photos.
Bekah
