Our Homeschool

A frequent question that I receive about our learning style here at Rockin' Granola is "What kind of homeschoolers are you?" 

I hesitate to put a label on our learning, as we are not 100% strictly any specific type of homeschooler.  


A favorite blog that I used to read (sadly, no longer online) was written by a woman named Lucie.  She described her family's particular mix of homeschooling as a "smoothie."

The main fruits, or influences, in our homeschool smoothie are:
  • Waldorf, mainly in our daily and weekly rhythms and observing festivals
  • Charlotte Mason, especially her thoughts on nature study and "twaddle-free" books
  • some Montessori elements
  • seasons of life where we are very relaxed homeschoolers
There are also seasons of life where we are more "out of the box" homeschoolers and I use pre-written curriculum and there are also seasons where I write our own lessons and we forge our own paths.  My goal in homeschooling, and in life, is peace not perfection.

We go with the flow, although our days and weeks tend to have the same basic rhythm.  We like to be outside.  We also like to curl up on the couch with stacks of good books.  We visit the library often.  We try new things.  We get messy. We take our time.  We go on lots of field trips.  We have a lot of fun!   We learn together.

This is what works for us. 

Much prayer and thought goes into our homeschool planning. I pick and choose what works the best for our family at any given point in time.

I don't believe that pushing early academics is good for kids, but I have discovered that having planned activities for my preschoolers and toddlers helps the day go smoother for all of us, so I do take care to balance the days with some structure as well as plenty of free play time. 


2011 - 2012: Fourth Grade and Kindergarten
This, along with our library card, should be able to take us pretty far in the 2011 - 2012 school year.
Our Resources:
    I try my best to credit all the resources I use in the individual homeschool and life learning posts that I write when I document our days.  I don't document everything that we do, but you can get the general idea by reading the posts with the following tags:


    Please Note:  Due to time constraints and practicality - and in some cases where my children have specifically asked me not to share their work - this blog is not a comprehensive documentation of everything that we do in homeschool.

    Just as a recipe I share here does not equal the only thing we eat all week, the projects and main lesson work I share on this blog are merely a portion of the actual work done. Please, do not assume that the slice of life I write about here is a complete representation of our homeschool experience in its entirety.  Thank you.


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