I’m so excited to have my friend Domonick sharing her vision of homeschooling in this blog party! This is Domonick’s very first year of homeschooling!

How We Focus on the Vision of Homeschooling

Tell us about you, your family and your vision of homeschooling.

Hello, my name is Domonick and I am a kingdom building, homeschooling, wife, and mother to four amazing angels ages 9, 8, 2, and 6 months. I love long walks on the beach, holding hands… just kidding! OK, so I do love the beach but my passion is children and teaching I have always loved teaching in high school I was a member of the future GA educators.

As a child I always wanted to pretend school and be the teacher and had bears as my students when my friends were not around. It seems that this home school thing would have been a no brainer to me but when you grow up and live outside of God’s will we tend to stray and do things that are not necessarily wrong but wrong for us. As you can see I eventually found my way back have taken my hands off the wheel and have allowed God to lead our family in the way He would have us to go. We follow His vision!

How long have you been homeschooling?

This is our first year, YAY! The Lord spoke homeschooling into my spirit when our oldest was finishing pre-k at a private school that did not fit us. However, because we had no experience with homeschooling I didn’t think it was an option for our family. We went 3 yrs. In public school and through much prayer and God’s strength here we are now slowing easing into our first year.

Tell us about your homeschooling approach.

I can’t really say that have gone with one approach or the other as I have been learning more about the different approaches I would say we use what we need when we need it. I love the idea of Charlotte Mason and I have adopted tips from her method, as well as unit studies. I believe in building on my children’s interests and developing their gifts through our journey.

Year-round or traditional calendar homeschooling?

In the beginning of our decision making process it was definitely traditional but we have decided that we are going with year-round just because that will give us more flexibility throughout the year. We are a pretty easy going family and love the holidays so it only makes since to schedule that time with the bare minimum; reading and math, in addition to spring break off and going easy again during the summer months.

 Tell us about your homeschooling routine.

Right now we are in transition/deschooling everyone, our plan was to start in August but when I realized that we needed to do some deschooling and the kiddos were super excited we decided to start slowly in the summer months.

  • Our morning begins after I have finished my morning tasks, then the older two are up and we have breakfast and devotion together. I usually don’t wake the littles this early but if they are up then they join right along.
  • After breakfast and devotion it’s cleanup and chores then school. I have a block of time set but I don’t limit or rush them; if they need more they use it, if we need a break we take it. I like to start with the read-aloud and group work because it gets them motivated and sets the pace for them to do their independent work.
  • If you guessed it, you are probably right, next is independent work time. This is just pages from their summer workbook that covers all subjects which means they are not working on the same subject every day; unless they need additional help then we focus on that area.

vision of homeschooling

Complete the sentence: Our homeschooling happens mostly at…

Our homeschooling happens mostly wherever we feel comfortable. We start in the dining room but usually travel around the house before the day is over it just depends on what we are doing that day and where we feel comfortable doing it.

What have you picked for your curriculum next year?

There are still some details that have to be adjusted but because this is our first year we are sticking to the basics and focusing on the transition and the vision…

  • Devotional- Adventures in Odyssey and Girl Talk both are devotional books
  • Math- Free math program.com
  • Science – Apologia
  • Social studies-African American History
  • Kahn Academy
  • Encyclopedia Britannica
  • Reading/Language Arts-Charlotte Mason reading list and Grammar Galaxy

List the books about homeschooling that really impacted you.

7 P’s in a Pod by Crystal Twibell
• The Holy Bible NCV

Your family is going on an unplanned trip, not much time to pack, you must home school the kids while traveling and you can only take 5 of your homeschooling resources/books with you. What would you take?

1. Bible
2. Reading books
3. Phone
4. Paper
5. Coloring box (pencils, crayons, markers, etc.)

If you had the chance to start homeschooling all over again today with the knowledge and experience you have now, what would you do differently?

Although we have just started, I can say this is not the beginning. If I would have had all of the knowledge that I have today about 4 yrs ago we would have home-schooled from the beginning. However, I know that everything is in God’s time and now I know that through his strength we can do this. I have learned to give myself grace and be patient with process focus on the small milestones and not on the mistakes. To learn from everything we do right or wrong and have fun in this adventure we call life just as God intended.