I have developed a calendar on what and how I plan to homeschool my children ages 4 and 2, in Asheville NC. It will be hands-on/play-based learning broken into small chunks.

Taking a Charlotte Mason approach, I have a “habit of character” we will focus on each month, like listening. I don’t plan to “teach” on the habits of character but I do plan to create activities that are centered around the discipline we’re working on.

There will be a subject for the month that I teach on. I plan to break each subject into 4 weeks of specific topics and break each topic into five styles of learning; music, a craft, a field trip, physical play, and cooking/baking. I’m not looking to teach for hours or force my children to “get ahead” but to produce a love of learning and a better relationship with my kids.

My actual teaching time will be roughly 40 minutes broken up into 10-minute segments. The first ten minutes will be the liturgy of the day, the current month, the day of the week, the weather, and what each kid will be focusing on that day. The next ten minutes will be the letter and the sight word of the week for Mariela and the color and shape of the week for Auden. Then we’ll move on to an activity that will allow Mariela to practice her math while Auden does play-based learning on observation, sorting, etc. The last few minutes will be our subject of the day which I’ll teach with our learning style of the day. For example:

If we’re learning about seasons then I’ll teach on the season of the week through one of the following: Music Monday, Craft Tuesday, Wander Wednesday, Theater Thursday, or Food Friday.

We will end our day of learning by reading books out loud focused on our subject and/or our habit of character for the month.

Here is an outline of what I plan to teach this school year:

• September: feelings/emotions + all about me; community, family, etc.
• October: following directions + the seasons
• November: sharing + native Americans, pilgrims, immigration, etc.
• December: problem-solving + advent
• January: apologizing/forgiveness + places (our country, state, city, home address, etc.)
• February: respect + black history month
• March: participate/stay on task + plants life cycle (plant flowers)
• April: self control + lent
• May: listen/ask questions + intro to continents and/or other cultures. Maybe “trip around the world” (?) not 100% sure yet

Here is an outline of what my kids day will look like:

• 7:30 – 9:00: The kids wake up, make their beds, get dressed, eat breakfast, and play outside.
• 9:00 – 9:30: Cosmic kids yoga.
• 9:30 – 9:40: Liturgy and topics of the day.
• 9:40 – 9:50: Letter/sight word for Mariela and color/shapes for Auden.
• 9:50 – 10:00: Math (hands-on/game).
• 10:00-10:45: Subject of the day and segway into music, craft, theater, or food.
• 10:45 -11:00: Reading time.
• 11:00 – 11:15 on Mondays and Thursdays: Write with Mariela
• 11:30: Lunchtime
• 12:00 – 1:00: Playtime.
• 1:00 – 3:00: Rest time and nap time.
• 3:00 – 4:00: TV and snack time.
• 4:00 – 5:15: Outside time and family time.
• 5:30: Dinner time.
• 6:00 – 7:00: Bath, family walk, reading, brush teeth, go to sleep.

On Wednesdays, we will pack a lunch and leave the house in the morning to go on our “field trip”. My hope is to have friends join us every Wednesday. After our adventure, we will go grocery shopping since we’ll already be out.

Here are some places we will visit on Wednesdays:

• The Biltmore: walking trails, petting zoo, garden, etc.
• The Nature Center
• The Zoo
• Hands on! Children’s Museum
• The North Carolina Arboretum
• Craggy Mountain Line
• Asheville Museum of Science
• Mountain Play Lodge
• Hickory Nut Gap Farm
• Blue-ridge Parkway for hikes
• Other local hikes for scavenger hunts/nature walks
• Public Library
• Twin Field Flowers
• The Never Ending Flower Farm
• Stepps Hillcrest Orchard, Justus Orchard, Grandads Apples…
• Others depending on COVID.

Feel free to send me any resources you love, Asheville homeschool suggestions, craft ideas, hands-on learning/playful learning, etc. I am excited to enter the Asheville homeschool world and I hope to update you on our journey.

For those curious about Jude and/or how I plan to work while I homeschool here is what I have:

My teaching hour is during Jude’s morning nap time. I know that come Spring, his morning nap will likely drop and he will only have one afternoon nap but he’ll be old enough to play alone with different Montessori styled activities.

I plan to wake up and start my day at 5:30 am which gives me roughly 3.5 hours to have a quiet time, work-out, eat, get ready, and do my admin work like answer emails. I plan to edit photos, do house chores, etc. between 12:00-4:00 every day.

Alex goes into work later on Thursdays so I could take newborn sessions on Thursday mornings and family sessions will be in the early evenings or Saturday mornings now.

I’m sure our homeschool schedule may change a little after we get into the rhythm of things but I thrive with structure and I know if I want my home life and my business life to thrive, I need to have a planned outline for our day and our school year.

I’m excited for our family!