I love blogs. I discovered blogs when I was pregnant with my oldest boy back in 2004, and I’ve been such a fan ever since.
More specifically, I love pre-Facebook blogs. Are you familiar with those? They’re pretty old-school.
For those of you not old enough to remember, blogs used to be very conversational. The content you would read on a daily blog was similar to what someone would now post on Facebook. A blogger would post for the day and the comments section was alive with conversation. It was so lovely.
Perfect pictures weren’t required, and blogs had a personal tone that is often missing from newer blogs.
Besides a forum (Am I showing my age? I’m pretty sure I am…), the thing I loved most about a blog was their blogroll.
Yes, the blogroll.
I found so many wonderful new places to read and gain information from that beloved list of favorites. It led to hours of rabbit trails where I would get lost reading about the topics I was so interested in at the time.
Keep in mind that I didn’t have any children at the time, so I had plenty of opportunity to read for pleasure and interest!
Well, today I am not bringing back the blog roll, although that did occur to me. However, I am sharing 5 bloggers with you that will become invaluable resources as you educate your children at home.
Different Perspectives on Homeschool Schedules
Over the past many months, I’ve gotten to know a small group of homeschooling moms rather well. While we mostly talk blogging, we sometimes talk about homeschooling, since we have all been in the homeschooling game for a long time.
And if you’re a homeschooling mom, it’s a topic from which you can’t really get away since it infuses most every aspect of life!
Since I’m talking a lot about schedules this week, I thought it would be helpful to offer some different perspectives on scheduling. While I teach a crew of kiddos from 3 years old up to almost 15, I know that many of you have different circumstances.
I admire each one of these homeschooling moms and how they fiercely love their children. As veteran homeschool moms, I knew they would have a wealth of wisdom to offer. And they didn’t disappoint!
So pretend it is 2005 again, sit with a cup of coffee, and take a few minutes to read through my 2020 version of a blogroll as we talk about homeschool schedules.
Better yet, find a post that looks interesting to you, take a few minutes to read uninterrupted, and leave them a comment.
It’s very old school, but so fun!
Sara from Classically Homeschooling
The tagline for Sara’s blog is ‘Education at the Kitchen Table’, which is just perfect, isn’t it? An enormous amount of academic teaching and life lessons take place around the kitchen table in millions of homes. I love that image.
Sara is the working homeschool mom of 6 children, two of whom have graduated and are attending college. In her 15+ years of homeschooling, Sara has gained been-there-done-that wisdom she can share in regard to finding homeschool balance and staying on track.
Need help in scheduling, prioritizing tasks and subjects, or creating a well-run homeschool? Stop by Sara’s and take a few moments to read these posts now or pin them for later.
Create a Daily Schedule for a Well-Run Homeschool – Step-by-step instruction for creating a daily homeschool schedule, including margin and down time.
How to Create a Homeschool Schedule That Works – “I’ll walk you through the entire day because the schedule isn’t just when I homeschool my kids. It also includes how I organize chores, activities, and meals.” YES. This is a must read, and is applicable to any homeschool mother, regardless of her children’s ages.
The Easy Homeschool High School Schedule You Need – Read through the four easy parts to Sara’s high school homeschool schedule. She lays out step-by-step how to schedule the week and tips she uses with her high school kiddos. The concept of “office hours” is ingenious.
31 Days to a Well-Run Homeschool – Sara has 31 different posts to help you get your homeschool act together if you’re floundering in that area.
Sara has also written Building Your Perfect Homeschool in Just 13 Weeks, and You Can Do This: 21 Days of Encouragement for the Weary Homeschool Mom.
Sallie from A Quiet Simple Life
If I need a dose of calm, beauty, and quietness, I head over to Sallie’s blog. While Sallie writes on a variety of cozy homemaking topics, she also writes about her homeschooling life with her twice-exceptional gifted daughter. While there are many bloggers in the homeschool world that write about teaching several children at the same time, Sallie helps fill a gap of much needed resources for moms that are homeschooling an only child.
If you don’t have time to read through Sallie’s scheduling posts now, make sure you pin them for later. Sallie’s posts are instructional, gentle, and encouraging, so do make sure you take a few minutes to look around.
Creating a Cozy Homeschool – If you’re feeling unsettled or unhappy with the flow of your homeschool days, this post is for you. Sallie helps you take an honest, critical look at your homeschool day and find the places that aren’t bringing your family joy and peacefulness.
Creating a Mom Friendly Homeschool – “Yes, we will make sacrifices when we homeschool and that is a choice we all choose to embrace when we make the decision to home educate. But homeschooling should not become our entire life.” This is a much needed reminder, as it’s so easy for homeschooling to overtake everything. This post has very practical tips and guides the reader in thinking through curriculum and philosophy, homeschool atmosphere, and a homeschool rhythm.
This is one of those posts you need to bookmark and read several times throughout the school year, and especially in February. 😉
Daily Life and Priorities in a Homeschool Family – When we talk about homeschool schedules, it doesn’t only mean scheduling certain subjects per day or how to make time for each child. While it can involve those types of planning ideas, homeschool scheduling also involves understanding your priorities as a family. In fact, that seems to be a primary issue and the scheduling comes after.
Read about Sallie’s creative family and how that shapes her homeschool schedule. Then hop over and read why she homeschools in the afternoon. Fascinating concept.
Lastly, make sure you take a look at Sallie’s beautiful homeschool planners, which are brand new for the 2020-2021 school year. I have thoroughly browsed through her planner, and it is laid out so logically. It is adaptable to any size homeschool family, which is a plus for moms of onlies and moms of many.
Ginny at Not So Formulaic
Ginny is a Catholic mom of 3 gifted/2e children and provides amazing support, encouragement, and practical resources for moms trying to understand their gifted and/or 2e children. Ginny hosts The Zelie Society, which is an online support for Catholic and Christian moms that are parenting differently-wired kiddos.
Having differently-wired children can be lonely and isolating, and Ginny offers a much needed refuge while offering practical help for moms. Make sure you hop over and browse, and pin a few posts if you don’t have time to read right now.
Want the Truth About Homeschool Schedules? You Don’t Need One at All – Not only is Ginny a homeschool mom, but she has the added benefit of having experience as a classroom teacher. If you’re struggling with creating a homeschool routine, make sure you read through this post on how NOT to create a routine that mimics traditional school.
This is a great exercise in challenging one’s mindset in creating a homeschool schedule! A must read.
How to Create a Visual Schedule for Your Homeschool Day – Some children thrive with a visual schedule, and it has the added benefit of mom not having to repeat herself a million times. 😉
Executive Decisions: A Practical Guide to Re-Ordering Your Family’s Heart, Head, and Home – “This 32-page resource will help you
–Find the root of the clutter – and cut it
–Quit nagging and still raise responsible, focused kids
— Create a house full of peace instead of disorganized chaos.
Executive Decisions is a faith-based, practical guide to restoring executive function skills, the set of mental processes responsible for organizing your family’s interior and exterior homes.”
If you struggle with Executive Function skills as a homeschool mom, this would be a wonderful gift to yourself.
Dianna at The Kennedy Adventures
My dear friend Dianna is a Catholic mama to 6 children, from preschool to adult. Poor Dianna…when I was trying to make a million and one decisions about buying Memoria Press cores, I Voxered Dianna all of my questions and she so faithfully and patiently answered them. I will always be grateful for her willingness to take me under her Memoria Press wing. ❤
While Dianna writes about a variety of topics on her site, she’s not one to write about homeschool schedules. So unfortunately, I don’t have scheduling posts to share. However, she has some other gems you’ll want to spend some time browsing through:
Our Memoria Press Homeschool – Dianna is loaded with posts on Memoria Press, so if you have questions, these posts are the ones to search.
Resources for Catholic Moms – If you’re a Catholic homeschool mom, you’ll enjoy Dianna’s monthly Book Basket posts, as well as her posts on celebrating saints.
If you like to use Catholic coloring pages or activity pages, Dianna has a variety of those in her shop.
And that’s it for the blogroll!
I hope you’ll take the time to find some new-to-you blogs to read!
Do you have favorite blogs that you read faithfully? I’d love to take a look, so please share the links in the comments! ❤
Sample Schedule for Homeschool During Difficult Times
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