I know that you’re just dying to know the answer to life’s big question: “What is that woman’s homeschooling plan, anyway?”

Ok, maybe not. However, I feel rather inspired to share with y’all the low-down on the Buck Academy. If you found your way here, I sure hope it helps or encourages you in some way. If you have any questions/curiosities, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

Step #1:
Tame the Information Overload

I’ve spent the last week liberally unsubscribing from Facebook feeds and email lists. What was once helpful, I now find overwhelming and mind numbing. I’m heading into my fourth year of homeschooling and I’m finally getting to where I feel like I might know what I’m doing. Maybe. ;)

I still Google a lot, and I do have my favorite “mommy” and homeschooling blogs that I visit regularly. I just don’t need the stream of info coming to me. I’ll go to it.

Homeschool planning is like financial budgeting. Your budget is a plan for your money based, in part, on how things went last month/year. My school plan for the coming 12 months, is going to be largely based on where we’ve been, what we’ve been doing, and where we want to go.

In my first year, I had no clue. If this is your first year – don’t sweat it. Take it slow. Pick one subject and just dive into it: researching curriculum, choosing and trying it out. If all is well, add another topic/subject a few weeks later. A slow build is considerably less stressful for you and for your kid(s). I wish I had done it that way in the beginning!

Step #2:
Accept My Functional Homeschooling Positions

I’ve noticed that our approach to homeschooling has gotten more eclectic over time: Traditional, Charlotte Mason, and Unschooling. I’m learning to be ok with this. My personality is squarely in the “all or nothing” category, but homeschooling just cannot exist like that. At least, it can’t in our home.

I’ve decided that Science, for example, is going to be largely taught in an unschooling fashion. I want to start encouraging the children to explore what they want to learn, and this is the easiest area for me to let them branch out and discover. They ask the questions; we provide the resources. (I say “we” here, because this is where my awesome husband often steps in with impromptu and super detailed lessons.)

The other bit I’ve had to adjust to is that my kids cannot be classified into any grade level. We just don’t have grade levels anymore. It’s a little scary for me, but I’m learning to be OK without that progress marker. After all, there are other ways to measure progress.

If you’re a newbie, I highly, highly recommend this video on the Five Flavors of Homeschooling. Spend some time discovering what your homeschooling position is. The quiz in the video might surprise you.

Step #3:
Cover the Bases
What’s the Basic Plan?

In Texas, we are required to have these 5 subjects: Reading, Spelling, Grammar, Math, Good Citizenship

Have I mentioned I love homeschooling in Texas before? I really, really do! Those 5 subjects are so easy to cover, it’s silly. I don’t want to overload our school with too many subjects, but I cannot go with less than what I consider to be basic subjects, which is more than “required.”

Our Main Subjects:

1. Religion – Bible, Hymns, Scripture Memory (good citizenship)
2. Language Arts (reading, grammar, & spelling)
3. Math
4. Science
5. The Arts (music, poetry, and art) *weekly
6. History (good citizenship)

Homeschooling happens outside of curriculum plans all the time. So, I include them as part of the plan.

Our Extra-Curricular Activities:

• Piano Lessons *weekly
• Cub Scouts (good citizenship)
• Church Activities (good citizenship)
• Weekly (ish) Library Visits
  they each have their own card (good citizenship)
• Minecraft – yes, it’s a thing
  logic, programming, creativity, math, spelling… seriously, you’d be amazed at the things covered in this game
• Weekly Social/School Time Co-op
  sharing their lesson work with others, playing chess, having Pokemon battles (math skills!), and so much more

Step #4:
Curriculum Choices

Once I kind of figured out the biggies, I started to drill into what’s been going on these last 12 months. I especially looked at these
four big ideas:

1. what worked
2. what didn’t work
3. what didn’t work even though I wanted it to work — Can you hear that infernal “Let it Go” song in your head? I do. *sigh*
4. what do the kids want to do (what do they like)

You want details, right? If not, skip ahead to step #5.

I’ve gone through each subject and picked out some new things to try, and I chose to keep the things that are working. The kids are really enjoy working on the computer. So, I created this School Time page to serve as their lesson launching homepage.  I’ve added a few new items like BrainPop and Veritas to our curriculum in that regard, and we’re all excited to get that going.

In addition to those online resources, we will be utilizing the following:

• AOP Lifepac Math, Grades Kinder – 2nd
• Veritas History Cards
• ETC Workbooks
• Mobile Apps
  • Squeebles Spelling
  • BrainPop
  • Starfall
  • MyPlayHome (Original, Stores, and School)
• Nova specials
• SimplyCharlotteMason Resources
  • Copywork Workbooks
  • Scripture Memory System
  • Picture Studies
  • Hymn and Poetry Study resources
• NotebookingPages.com Resources
• Bible, ESV
• Children’s Museum
• Houston Museum of Natural Science
• … and whatever else we can find!

Step #5:
Schedule it Out
Get Organized

I use Simply Charlotte Mason’s Online Organizer. It’s a little expensive, but so very worth it! My favorite part is that I see what’s on deck for today, and I can glance ahead at tomorrow. All lessons not completed automatically carry forward. There’s no month or week view, because all you need to worry about is today and just a little while longer. This planner reduced my stress levels tremendously! There’s a 30 day trial. Nothing to loose! (No, that’s not an affiliate link and I don’t work for them and I wasn’t paid to type this up… I just love that SCM Organizer!)

For paper resources, I have a small file box organized by subject. I keep everything we’re currently working through in there. I also have a drawer system for containing finished work until I can slap the best bits into their student binders for keeps.

Step #6:
Relax!

I have to tell y’all… I loved writing out this blog post! Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m doing a good job at this whole homeschooling gig. I often ask myself, “Am I doing enough?”

I look at this page and want to slap myself. Seriously. Good grief. I do WAY more than that state requires, and my kids are learning even more than I plan for. Just the other day, my 8 yo son schooled me on the new classifications for Tornadoes. Wow. I cannot tell you guys how much I love homeschooling.

Thank you God for the ability and the privilege of homeschooling my three amazing Bucklings!

If you’re a homeschooling mama or papa too, take heart and enjoy the journey!