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Wildflower Ramblings

Home education resources and encouragement for moms & caregivers

  • Homeschool
    • Kindergarten
    • Charlotte Mason Method
    • Reggio Emilia Approach
    • Montessori Learning
    • Waldorf at Home
    • Classical Conversations
    • Early Literacy Stages Series
    • Curriculum choices
      • Tot School (2 years)
      • Preschool (3 years)
      • Pre-Kindergarten (4 years)
      • Pre-Kindergarten (4 years – 2017)
      • Preschool (5 years)
      • Kindergarten (5 years)
      • Kindergarten Homeschool: a gentle and slower year
      • kindergarten secular curriculum suggestions (free printable)
      • First Grade (6 years)
      • Charlotte Mason Schedule: Year One
      • First Grade in our Charlotte Mason Homeschool
      • Charlotte Mason Homeschool: Second Grade Curriculum
      • Third Grade Homeschool Curriculum
      • Third Grade in our Charlotte Mason Homeschool
      • Charlotte Mason Homeschool: Fourth Grade Curriculum
      • Fifth Grade Homeschool Curriculum
    • 12 Months of Sensory Dough
    • Sensory Play
    • Bible Crafts & Bible Cards
    • Practical Life Ideas
    • Before Five in a Row – ISH
  • Baby
    • Montessori Baby Room
    • Treasure Bins for Baby
    • 21 Activities for One Year Olds
  • Tot School
  • Preschool
    • What is Number Sense?
    • ABC Felt Animals
    • Preschool Alphabet Book
    • Our Preschool Notebook
    • Preschool Circle Time Schedule
    • Free 24 Preschool Chants
    • Free Preschool Songs
    • Our Preschool Plans
  • ABC
    • Letter A
    • Letter B
    • Letter C
    • Letter D
    • Letter E
    • Letter F
    • Letter G
    • Letter H
    • Letter I
    • Letter J
    • Letter K
    • Letter L
    • Letter M
    • Letter N
    • Letter O
    • Letter P
    • Letter Q
    • Letter R
    • Letter S
    • Letter T
    • Letter U
    • Letter V
    • Letter W
    • Letter X
    • Letter Y
    • Letter Z
  • Toys & Resources
    • 20+ Tools for Hyperactivity
    • What is Sensory Processing?
    • Best Workbooks & Readers {Ages 2-5}
    • Essential Preschool Tools
    • Essential Craft & Homeschool Tools for Mom
    • Best Art Utensils for Kids
    • Bible Resources for Kids
    • Our keeping and recording memories series
  • Health
    • Online Safety Resources & Safe Links
    • Herbal Remedies
    • The home birth of my son
    • The water birth of my daughter
    • her waterbirth
    • When your baby has a fever
    • Example of Hospital Birth Plan {free printable!}
  • Books
    • My Book Store
    • Free Phonics Readers
    • Early Literacy Stages eBook
    • Books for Children
    • Pop! Squirt! Splash! eBook
    • Learn with Play Book

how we homeschool

Mother with daughter read a book in the park

I taught Kindergarten before becoming a stay-at-home mom and have an M.A. in Elementary Education.  I am extremely passionate about early literacy and number sense and have developed an ever-evolving homeschool schedule for my children.

I started out sequencing my children’s curriculum choices by age: tot school, preschool, pre-kindergarten, and beyond into grade school!

Lately, we are really just living our days.  Enjoying one another.  Being intentional some days.  Reading every day.  Learning through play always.

I homeschool my children because I want to be the moral and spiritual influence in their lives.  I want to “take control” — I wrote about this at hip homeschool moms in a series by teachers turned homeschooling moms.  We focus on Jesus morning, noon, and night, and I try to be very intentional with this.  Our God is a loving, and very historical, God — and there is so much to learn!

I also believe that I know my children the best, so I can be the best teacher to them.  This is to establish strong reading skills and math cognition.  Every child’s learning needs is different and my son (and your child!) will need constant adaptation to receive optimal learning!

As far as homeschooling, I have a lot to share and a lot to learn. Here are the basics for what we do and believe, and I will be adding to this page over time as we progress through our learning!

{Click on the pictures to get you to that section in the blog.}

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Some baby highlights include: Treasure baskets for baby, our Montessori baby room, and 21 activities for one year olds.

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Next, when my son was about two and a half, we initiated a fun and explorative tot school.  We were excited to get posts done from A to Z and you can can see them all here.  We also got involved in a lot of Montessori learning; to include practical life opportunities and sensorial play.  More recently, my daughter, who is now two, is enjoying various tot school activities.

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We are currently loving our sensory dough series, which we are involved in with a handful of other wonderful bloggers.

We have now adopted the Charlotte Mason educational philosophy, so I am adding posts about our journey.  You will see many different types of education explored on my blog!  I love learning!  I did an entire series on Charlotte Mason’s teaching reading philosophy and also share my top favorite living books for learning to read.

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I am always learning and adapting.  The foundation of my homeschool teaching has been classical education.  We want our children to be edified by beautiful and historical knowledge, based in the trivium and quadrivium — now adapted in the Charlotte Mason educational style, but still focused on classical topics.  See our Classical Conversations books lists for Living Books, Usborne Books, and pairing with other curriculums, such as The Good and the Beautiful.

We have also looked into the Waldorf educational philosophy. I love the emphasis on natural materials, art, movement and no screens! We have incorporated several aspects of this into our homeschool. Here is how we have incorporated Waldorf principles into our Charlotte Mason Homeschool.

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But in the early years, I also want my child to lead his learning toward what he is interested in.  He, for example, loves imaginative play, so we can center some learning around that.  I have created various math and literacy provocations for him in our Reggio Emilia inspired learning.

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And where we are now.  Our preschool days.  This started with understanding and connecting with my preschool son.  What does he need?  Our preschool plans have adapted into a more natural-based homeschooling days.  We read books and make felt animals based on our letter, and read bible stories in a sequential order.  Other than that, I try to stick with child-directed learning, though I am intentional with his learning, be it through organized inquiries or project based learning.

Here are more tools to help you on your own journey:

  • Best Workbooks for Early Childhood
  • Teaching Early Reading without overwhelming beginning readers
  • 10 Phonics Readers for Early Reading
  • Free First Phonics Readers
  • 5 Important Ways to Teach Language to your Child
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We also incorporate various Montessori principles to both our home and our learning.  We favor using natural and beautiful tools.  We desire our children to become independent learners through hands on free and structured play. Here are some key language arts posts:

  • Montessori Alphabet Box
  • How to Use the Montessori Alphabet Box
  • Creating three letter words with moveable letters
  • Rhyming with moveable letters
  • Matching letters
  • Three period lesson with learning letters and sounds
  • Learning sounds with alphabet objects

Curriculum Choices:

See many more of our yearly choices organized by school grade and year here! I’m just finishing up many videos and blog posts to catch you up on what we have chosen to use over these past couple years!

My blog also offers over 50 free printables for helping children learn. Thank you so much for visiting!

If you are still wondering where to start, I have some resources that may help with the overwhelm:

  • Learning Essentials for Starting Homeschool
  • Giant Free Homeschooling Resource for just getting started!!
  • Secular Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum

how we homeschool



Comments

  1. Ashley says

    at

    Its great to know about your methods of homeschooling. They are really awesome, and thank you for sharing your homeschooling methods and experiences. This serve as a guideline for most of the homeschooling beginners.

    Reply
  2. Barbara says

    at

    My mother remembered hymns until her death. She loved reciting many nursery rhymes also. What we learn as children is retained as older adults.
    Thank you for your teaching/remembering items.

    Reply

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Amy is a former Kindergarten teacher, M.Ed., turned homeschooling mom. Sharing her imperfect life and her love of teaching & learning, reading, herbal remedies, parenting and more.
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I heard about Wim Hof “Iceman” from a convention last June. Simple and free ways to improve my health, yes please!
Happy Monday friends! I'm so glad I can brighten your Monday with another giveaway!
Who else is enjoying the beautiful snow?! My son found Narnia! ✨ #snow #childhood #family
Did you know that we have a FULL tab dedicated to alphabet resources? This is a gold mine for any parent who is ready to start teaching the alphabet. There are plenty of articles on teaching techniques and activities for every single letter! Head over to the blog and click the ABC tab today!
Happy Monday friends! I'm so excited to share a copy of this lovely book with one of you.
Art is not something I’m familiar with. Growing up, I thrived in theater and music, but never art. Unfortunately, I always felt like “I wasn’t good” or “that’s not my thing.” I’m sad about this! Since homeschooling my children, I’ve come to realize that I’m indeed a wonderful artist!! I can draw plants and bumblebees and even an octopus! I just need a bit of time, good materials, and a good teacher.

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Unless otherwise stated, all words and photos on this blog belong to Wildflower Ramblings. You may pin from my site, but do not use a photo, or any text, without my permission. All content is copyrighted. This is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links on the sidebars and in posts. I only share products that I love and enjoy with my family. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, I receive a small commission. Occasionally, I will receive products free of charge and share them here.  Words and opinions expressed will always be my own. Please email me with questions or comments. Thank you for visiting. Amy Smith, M.Ed. wildflower ramblings @ gmail . com

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I heard about Wim Hof “Iceman” from a convention last June. Simple and free ways to improve my health, yes please!
Happy Monday friends! I'm so glad I can brighten your Monday with another giveaway!
Who else is enjoying the beautiful snow?! My son found Narnia! ✨ #snow #childhood #family

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