Homeschool Tour and the Cabinet of Curiosity

Painted as Maori Warriors for one of our Story of the World units

I’ve been wanting to do a homeschool tour for awhile but was intimidated by all the typing and pictures that a post like that would entail. So I decided instead to do some videos and give you a tour of our home school set up and show you how we do things. I had to break it up into several different parts in order to get it to upload, but they are each short. We are not perfect by any means, and are always learning new ways to do things. I just wanted to share because I know I learn so much from other homeschoolers when I see what they use and how they set up their homes to encourage learning.

The videos are a bit chaotic and I am not going to win any awards for cinematography, but I wanted to give you a quick overview of our homeschool set up. I also made it a point to leave our cupboards how they are most days, a little messy and random. I wanted to keep this real because I know I get easily discouraged by homeschool blogs that make it looks like everything  in their house is organized perfect and their kids love everything, because I don’t think that is true for anyone.

Also I can talk really fast (I’m gifted that way) and so sorry about being a motor mouth. I think I was worried about getting everything in before the memory on my phone got full! Hopefully though something is helpful, and I’d love to hear more ideas or suggestions you have.

The first part goes over our morning routine and our homeschool binders

The second part goes over what curriculum we have and are using, and what I’ve liked and don’t like

The third part goes into our “white cupboard” that has our manipulatives and things for the pre-schoolers

The Fourth part has two parts because we got interrupted, but they are each short.

So that is what we do… mostly. We are actually going to start school again next week. My kids have been begging me to do school again (always a good sign) and we pick up our homeschool order tomorrow, so I think we’ll just dive in. Here are some of the things I ordered for this next year.

For Asher (3rd grade)

Draw the USA (I think we will do a postcard swap this year and try to get cards from people in all 50 states. He also has a coin collecting map for all the state quarters that we will try to fill up)

Homeschooling Boys – Library Based Curriculum Journal: 60 Day Plan – For Active and Adventurous Learners (I’m hoping this is as good as it looks. Asher is a super reluctant reader and so I’m hoping the format of this book will get him interested in reading more. I’m thinking it will be the backbone of most of what we do next year.)

Doodle Adventures: The Search for the Slimy Space Slugs! (Another sneaky way for me to get him to read and write without knowing he is doing it)

Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time (She isn’t going to read it but I’ll pick books from it and we’ll read them together. I am actually really excited about this one)

Ages 6-9 Fun-Schooling Journal – Do-It-Yourself Homeschooling 1st – 3rd Grade (This is a book similar to the one for Asher. I really like this laid back approach to schooling because I’m finding that is what works best for us. I’m not investing in lots of work books this year because it seems like I spend most my time arguing with kids to get them to do them. It seems to work best when I just help them get excited about a project or a topic and then learn about it.)

Eggspert (This isn’t specifically for Rose but I’m am excited about it. I LOVED buzzer games as a kid and was really good at them. I’m anticipating some good showdowns over spelling words and history facts with this thing.)

The thing I am most excited about though is our cabinet of curiosity! I’ve ordered a rock polisher and some insect pins and display boards and I plan on working on filling this up with treasures.

I’ve had this dream in my heart for the last few years of finding a cupboard (or something of the sort) to put in our garage as a “cabinet of curiosity.” The very first museums were just people collecting things they found interesting and cataloging them. Awhile ago we read this book from the library and ever since I’ve dreamed about how wonderful it would be to have our own little museum to store all the treasures my kids find. I’ve been looking for a long time and hadn’t found anything.

Then last week I drove home a different way then I normally do and this old dresser was on the side if the road for the garbage truck. I just about went crazy with excitement because it was exactly what I had dreamed of. We painted the mirror (which was unusable) with chalkboard paint and it now holds all our treasure, with lots of space for more! It makes me so happy. All last year I doubted if homeschooling was the best thing for our family. We started because Jon and I felt strongly that is what God wanted us to do, but whenever it gets hard (like this past year with a tough pregnancy) I start questioning that confirmation I got years ago. But then something like this happens and it is like God is telling me “Yes Heather, I see you, Yes I care about your children, Yes you are doing the right thing, and don’t forget I’m helping you in this.” Sometimes it astounds me how well he takes care of me.

I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions for home school ideas or what you are planning for this next school year!