Create a life you LOVE!
You don't have to live on a homestead or move to the English countryside to live a slower-paced life.
I believe that by shifting our mindset and making intentional choices, any woman can create a life of joy and fulfillment right where she is.
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I am in CA, with a charter, and they will buy the curriculum, just not the teachers guide.
Can give a list of field trip you took or would have liked taking during each unit? I will be using this curriculum this year and I want to take lots of fields trips 😊 Thank you!
Nice idea mam. Keep rocking ❤
Thanks
@@lifeinthetrenches ❤️
We lived in New Zealand for 5 years and it was so amazing!!!
I bet! My bff lived there to do post-grad work, and she loved it. Convinced me and another BFF to come visit her!
I can’t love this video any more! 💖 I so appreciate your perspective and topics you’ve been sharing through your videos lately. We also homeschool through a CA charter, and between 2 back to back pregnancies/newborns in the last 3 years, we’ve ended up schooling through the summer to “catch up” or finish our curriculum. It’s so hard to get the public school model out of my head. Where we are in northern CA, temps have been 105-115° this summer which isn’t uncommon. While watching this, I realized that we really should be utilizing our break time during the spring and fall since we literally will burn if we spend time outdoors. 🥵 Your content and calm demeanor are so encouraging to me while I lose the rigidity that I hold myself. 🫶🏻
You're not alone! It has taken me years to get to this "relaxed" mindset, and I still feel like I need a lot more work. BUT YEAH, take advantage of the nice weather when you get it! Even though we homeschool through a charter that has a traditional school calendar year, it doesn't mean we have to keep to their schedule. And thank you for your kind words and for continuing to watch my videos! I love getting comments like yours, as it reminds me that I'm not just talking to myself and that there are people out there I am impacting in some small way. 💝
@@lifeinthetrenches YES! Please continue speaking into us fellow homeschool mommas! 🩵🩵🩵
I struggle with this topic as I want to homeschool In a rigorous Way but doable so relaxed!!! I like a hands on approach as well!!! I often switch up when we do certain things!!! I refuse to do long hrs of instruction and we focus on depth!!! We love rabbit trails!!! In Aussie history textbooks the 1st ppls aren’t mentioned, I don’t agree with that personally!!! One of my kids does masterbooks math and they encourage math outside the textbook!!! We do more discussions than essays!!! My older kids call them papers as they have to write a few for their classes but I think they write enough!!! We have to keep a portfolio but I doubt it will be a binder per kid!!! I reflect a lot!!! We are classical homeschoolers but I want to do it in a relaxed way!!!
I love how you homeschool! Your kids seem to be getting a good mix of both worlds. I'm sure your years of experience have helped you find the right balance for you and your family.
I think for myself, focusing on consistency is providing rigor for my kids💕love your videos lately!!
Love that! I agree, consistency is key!
We find a discussion is a good marker but sometimes I have to ask certain questions!!! I backwards plan and I’ve taught my older kids to backwards plan!!! We have a mix of curriculum and kid led research projects and deep dives!!! Public schools focus on in and out but I agree on skill development!!! Our homeschool room is a storage room and we homeschool in different places!!! The woman you didn’t kno I remember hearing it from Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography audiobook!!! We are planning on visiting the Bondi aboriginal places that still exist in the spring or summer (September to January)!!!
Oooooh, we need to check out that audiobook!
I’m a first time viewer here. I have to just say I love listening to you. You just talk like you’re talking to a friend. I love your personality and your comments. You’re so honest. I’m subscribing. “It’s not all about the kids.” Haha yes. Love it.
Thanks for subbing! I'm so happy to have you be a part of my world!
My son was homeschooled for 3 years, but I outsourced everything because we constantly argued throughout it all. It wasn't worth continuing and ruining our relationship. Now I'm homeschooling my daughter (5) and my biggest fear was not being qualified to teach her to read. We do use a curriculum. it's an open and go style. She's reading like a champ. We have surpassed my expectations by leaps and bounds. I'm glad that there are people out there (like you!) who say don't cut yourself short.
Our relationship with our kids is so much more important than academics. And hooray for reading! We're all so much more capable than what our inner critic likes to tell us.
May I ask what how you are pacing this? How long is each lesson if you were to do all the things listed? Would this be too much for a 7th and 4th grader, my 4th grader?
I use it more as a reference or spine than as a traditional curriculum. But I think you should be able to use it with both of your kids with no problem. The book has a suggested scope and sequence, but you can move at your kids' pace.
@@lifeinthetrenches thank you,
Thanks for sharing. This looks great and not at all overwhelming to me. When you talked about other history curriculums in this video, may I ask what is ‘history of the world,’ I haven’t heard of that one, would you mind linking it for me? X
Maybe I meant Story of the World! History of the World is that old Mel Brooks movie. I sometimes get names mixed up.
I love curriculum but we sometimes don’t bother!!! We don’t use a geography curriculum unless my kids ask for one!!! We addat curriculum!!! Rabbit trails are awesome!!! I have 3 kids doing write by numbers in a class now!!! One of my twins was sitting in with her bother and asked me to enroll her so I did alongside her twin brother!!! My older daughter is doing a year of research for a social studies credit (Japanese culture, geography and history) she wanted to do it!!! Reflection is key in education especially home education!!!
I love the year of research! That's such a great idea. I love curriculum, too, but I realized my kids prefer to follow rabbit trails.
Love this style of video. My son is in mainstream school here in Australia but I’m strongly leaning towards homeschool for next year (ex teacher here too). It’s amazing how many teachers homeschool their kids!
Thanks! I try to make videos that I'd actually like to watch 😂 But I think all these former teachers homeschooling their kids definitely says something about our current school systems.
The whole family got burned out apart from my older daughter but she’s only researching Japanese history and culture and geography!!! We travel to different countries so it’s more travel schooling!!! I saw travel schooling is any homeschool that travels in any way!!! I love to buy a curriculum to adapt to our needs so we have a guideline!!! Homeschool classes helped me to pull out my kids as I knew I’d struggle in certain areas to teach!!! Homeschool is completely different than school!!! The mean mum had to come out recently but I have teenagers who don’t listen!!! We don’t use summer books but we homeschool year round!!!
Yes! I love using a curriculum as a guideline or spine, and not as a strict plan that we must follow to the letter. Road schooling, travel schooling, world schooling - they're all the same in my book!
@@lifeinthetrenches hey 😊
Thank you for sharing your family adventures. ❤ This was an enjoyable video to watch. I love how beautiful California was at this time of year. Once I realized how much our fam life is being weighed down by trying to keep up with the curriculum's pacing, I finally took the hint in spring just to slow down. And we got to enjoy, too, Southern California's natural beauty. Just watching this makes me already miss it! 🥲 Didn't get to finish any curriculum in my first year of homeschooling 🤷♀️ but that's okay because I also remember having teachers that didn't either.
Yes, I love spring in California! Even if my allergies don't feel the same 😂 There's a big misconception in the homeschooling world that you need to finish a curriculum in order to have a successful, productive year, but that is far from the truth. Like you, I vividly remember not finishing a curriculum in school, both as a student and a teacher, and my life didn't lack because of it. And I just love, love, love how you took note of how keeping up with the pacing affected your family, and then you made the decision to slow down and embrace the season. You're totally rocking at this homeschool thing! 🙌🏼
Thank you for the kind words! Learning to slow down and taking more mental health breaks were valuable lessons. But I still feel burned out at the end. My health fell apart last month (part of the reason I struggled finishing curriculum 😅) and now I am recovering and starting to catch up cleaning and organizing and fixing family routine again. And I know I have no mental capacity at the moment to open any curriculum to do "light schooling" for the summer - that is not the treadmill I need to be on. It is my time for much needed self-care, so I am in a better position for next school year. I really love reading your newsletters. I haven't commented or liked them yet but I want to let you know I do enjoy them.
We end the yr at Easter so we just did a Easter unit and went to New Zealand for a few days with my older kids so we could jump off the sky tower!!! My younger kids stayed at home with their grandparents!!! We had an event at home and then had some time off and New Zealand is a quick flight for us!!!
Nice! That sounds like a good time to end the year. I love New Zealand, but still haven't been to Australia even though I had an Aussie exchange student live with me for 6 weeks. One day I'll make it out there.
You have been such an inspiration to me. I have been going through the motions for the last year. I've been nothing but overwhelmed and easily irritated. Now, I just need to talk my husband into letting me do some life changes so we can slow down, too. Thank you. ❤
I'm so touched by your words and glad you found inspiration here. I think it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the constant pressure to meet certain societal standards, whether it's about productivity or how we choose to educate our kids. Remember, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to homeschooling or living a fulfilling life. Each family is unique, and what works for one may not work for another. It's all about finding what resonates with your family's values and pace. And I think it's awesome that you're going to talk about your overwhelm with your husband. I had a client who recently did the same with her husband, and they've started to make some changes so homeschooling becomes sustainable over the long haul. Mom burnout and homeschool burnout are REAL, and people in our circle need to be aware. You're doing an incredible job recognizing your needs and advocating for a slower, more intentional life! 💝
Thank you for this. It really eased my mind❤. I often wonder “but what if I ‘m not teaching what they need to know or enough of something”? Got to take it step but step 👍🏽
I'm glad it helped! I think it's normal for us parents to worry that we're not doing enough.
Is this book cover complete geography of America 🇺🇸?? Kindly answer mam
It does cover all the states of the USA, but what is your definition of complete?
Woohoo!
I hope anyone new to homeschooling listened to Xuan's advice at 17:04. I wish I didnt overdid the curriculum research last summer when I first started. 😅 Xuan, thanks for the little extra video footage (like the June Gloom weather) you added to this book haul. I too have kits I would like to finish this summer before the start of the new school year (when we may end up with surprise more subscription kits) but I am still trying to take it easy this summer since I am just getting over a health scare last month. How do you go almost no curriculum in a public charter school situation?
Thanks! Our independent study charter school is one of the more flexible ones in California, and we don't have to use a curriculum if we don't want to. We do check in with our homeschool teacher every 20 days to go over what the kids learned and submit one work sample. She checks off what standards they met based on what they learned. When my son gets to high school, he’ll have to submit a work sample for each subject every month. We also do benchmark and standardized testing so the school can keep their accreditation. I think it helps that the majority of the homeschool teachers and admin at the charter are homeschoolers themselves, so they understand how different each homeschooler’s needs are.
@@lifeinthetrenches Wow your charter is the opposite of mine! I think my charter is run by type A admins who want to make sure we don't risk losing our charter, so they are little more strict. But that makes me stress out too 😅 Edit: I just asked if the charter will let is go no curriculim, I got a big no.
We are in Lima so it’s mega hot!!! My stepdad went to the mountains and said it was cold tho!!! We heard the season depends on elevation!!! Our homeschool room wasn’t ever used apart from storage so not having one isn’t a problem!!! My older kids are in their own hotel room next to ours so they have their own space!!! Individual learning is awesome!!! We had a week of food technology on a cruise and it was awesome!!! My older kids went on their own to their room for the classes!!! The ocean book looks awesome!!! The vlogs are awesome!!! We love the Clark the shark books and my older kids will read them for extra phonics practice!!! Nothing wrong with rolling over curriculum!!! We love Easy Peasy, it’s free and online!!! This year we watched a movie of a book instead of reading it!!! We where learning about a famous athlete who refused to run on a Sunday!!! I was an early years teacher so we could be more creative!!!
So nice that your older kids have their own space!
Thank you for this review!
My pleasure!
I don’t fold laundry but we hang it up!!! For family subjects I do the same thing!!! My high schooler is included as well as my 8th grader doing high school credits and I let her do high school level!!! History is different for my 16 year old at the moment due to my kids hating it!!! We’ve been doing food classes for everyone in our community so it’s been fun and my kids are doing different classes to us adults!!! I learned to braid bread!!! Still got a lot to learn!!!
Cooking classes are so much fun!
I LOVE YOU! So real and beautiful ✨
Thank you, that means more to me than you know 💝
We have stopped homeschooling on comp days as my kids love to watch them!!! I love the kneading process of baking bread!!! I’m trying to teach my kids the separation of work and life!!! I love working in bed as well!!! I plan trips for work as I used to be a travel agent!!! We still have seaweed left from Japan!!!
Kneading bread is so therapeutic!
I used to do heatless curls like that!!! I was a kid so I’d forgotten how k did it!!! It’s awesome that ur finished your course!!! I’ve never made lemonade but often buy cloudy lemonade as it’s a made form Lemons!!! I’ve been making sure laundry is done before we move locations even if I did it the day before!!! My kids have been eating too much Mac and cheese but I’ve allowed them as a treat!!!
Super smart to do laundry before you leave locations! I try to do the same when we travel.
Homeschool is definitely a lifestyle of flexibility!!! We love the travel life!!! We are about to leave the Caribbean for a team building cruise!!! We are doing online classes!!! I don’t like makeup!!! My girls are obsessed tho!!! Nothing wrong with having kids late!!! I have to use reef sunscreen!!! We bought tons in Hawaii and then wen we went back home at Easter!!! I love shark bone birth powder in smoothies!!! I don’t assign books so that my kids can read what they want!!! I do encourage certain books but they don’t need to read them!!!
It sounds like you have an awesome job! I think my oldest son will be doing more online classes next year.
Thanks for sharing! I am going to have to remember to save the idea of making a time lapse video to get my kids to clean when they are older. 😂 Also, your costco haul looks similar to my usual shopping haul. I wish they have better kimchi but they started to have better options for frozen Asian foods which makes my life easier on hard days when I don't have time to cook.
I'm thinking of having my kids timelapse themselves everytime I ask them to clean. 😂 Frozen foods for challenging days are the way to go! Have you tried Weee!? That's my new go to place for frozen Asian foods and more.
@@lifeinthetrenches Wow! I have never used Weee. And it seems like something I should try since I never seem to have the time to drive all the way to the Asian markets with the little ones. Shopping at my usual 4+ stores is already intense for me. 😮💨
I need help with my public school narrow mind. How do you get through the curriculum in a school year without doing every subject everyday?
I hear ya! It's hard to let go of how we were told schooling should be. I had to deschool myself by not using any type of formal curriculum for 6 months. We just read, played board and card games, went on field trips, nature walks, etc. But I know letting go like that is challenging for most of us. As to how we get through all the curriculum we do use - we just don't complete them by the end of the year. I go at my kid's pace, not the recommended scope and sequence of a curriculum. Those are just arbitrary timelines the companies use. Some subjects my kids zoom through, and some my kids want to dive deep. Once we spent 3 years on Ancient Egypt and Greece. I think what a lot of parents don't realize is that the topics kids learn in history and science are repeated at a deeper level in elementary, middle school, high school, and college. So it's okay if you don't get through a history or science curriculum. Currently our school week includes math, reading, and writing daily-ish, history and science on Fridays, and enrichment classes interspersed throughout the week. But I think it's important to remember that your kids aren't going to remember everything they learned. What they will remember are the projects they worked on, the field trips that they took, the friends that they made, and the time they spent with you. I hope this helped!
❤❤ Love this!
Thanks!! 💝
Nice music in this one! (And soy sauce eggs is a go-to for me too! 10/10, would recommend.)
🙌🏼 So yum!
Love all the resources! Any ideas for elementary Ancient history? I'd love yo piece together vs buying the year long curriculum.
I would probably look at all the book lists that they publish on curriculum websites like History Quest (Pandia Press), Beautiful Feet Books, etc. I would also utilize Teachers Pay Teachers for unit studies or lessons on topics that your kids show interest in. It's much more economical than buying a whole curriculum. I believe there's a website called Ancient History for Kids that was useful. We also loved reading the Rick Riordan book series when we studied different ancient civilizations. For resources, I would use DK Smithsonian or Eyewitness books and the Where Is? series. I hope that sorta helps! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for these ideas! It does help. I think History Quest is going to be too wordy for my 9 year old. We'll use a bunch of books from BYL. I think I find it more satisfying piecing things instead of buying the "all in one package". Thanks again!
Cousin, this was beautifully made. It made me tear up and smile! Love you!❤ And ps. Nico and Ari soooo need to help you with the dishes😂😂😂
Haha, right?! Love you, cuz ❤️
Hey Uncle Davis how come you don’t comment on any of my videos Also how about you do our dishes Instead
Love this! It makes me want to put together my own videos for memory keeping. I would post it online but the state of my home is not instagrammable. 😂 thanks for the encouragement for having a self care system in place. It is something I am still working on.
Yay, I'm glad I've inspired you in some way! Don't worry too much about having an "Instagrammable" home-real life is imperfect, and that authenticity can really resonate with folks. I think I gained over 100 subscribers in the past two weeks by just showing my life as it really is. Plus, focusing on memory keeping is such a beautiful way to celebrate your everyday moments. Too often, we keep all our videos stuck on our phones and never really look at them again. And it’s fantastic that you’re working on your self-care system; it’s a journey, and every small step counts. Looking forward to seeing your videos if you decide to share them! 🌟
@@lifeinthetrenches You're right! I have a lot of memories buried on my phone. If I collate it like you did with these series, it would be a beautiful way of framing these homeschool memories. I live in a very small and old apartment in a big city right next to a very large tourist destination (you made a video where you came where I live 🥰). My videos would so give away where I live and my secret quiet spots I found away from tourists. 😂 But since I have one year left to live here before my apartment building gets demolished, I might have to considered posting online. 🤔
Thanks so much for doing this video! I purchased this second hand with everything out of order so this saved me hours of organizing!
Glad it was helpful! I hope you and your family enjoy it.
Followed for homeschool content, but stayed because we’re a slow-living family ourselves and your approach to homeschool resonated because of it. Hope to still hear about homeschool stuff from time to time but also looking forward to the new direction!
Thank you! There will definitely still be homeschooling content, but not the normal talking head type of presentation. And thanks for sticking around! 💝
Did you end up liking this curriculum? I have a 6, 7 and 10yo and I'm debating about using this one or the 4-6 level (or both!)
I like to teach to the highest level, and then scaffold down for my younger kids. So maybe go with the 4-6 level, but look at the reading list for this one (it's on their website) so you know what books to use for the littles.
😂😂Xuan!! I like my self-care to include fluffy stuff like skincare😅, but I also really love to bake, read, go on bike rides, and walks. It truly does take me to another place when I'm outside. Clears my mind from all the nonsense and things in the world I think I need to keep up with. How do you embrace slow living with homeschool? Do your kids need to meet certain standards with their school to move forward? I really don't know how that works. Well I'm enjoying these videos and I'm glad you'll still be sharing some homeschool content with this new journey. As always, thank you!!
I like fluffy self-care, too! At least the skincare. I'm not much for bubble baths and getting my nails done. And yes, we do have standards to meet with our independent studies charter school, but they are not as strict as in other states. As for slow homeschooling, I do not overschedule myself or the kids, we work at my kids' pace rather than a curriculum's scope and sequence, and we enjoy the coziness of home. Thanks for tuning in and always commenting!! 💝
I’ve been doing checklist type plan on Trello where I have subjects and a checklist of planned lessons and books I want them to read. I did get a paper planner, but I’m undecided if I’m going to use it for planning or a record what we did Thing. I’m watching this in may and we are planning to start our new year in June as we go year round.
That's a good idea to use Trello as your checklist! I prefer recording to planning, because nothing ever goes according to my plan 😂
@@lifeinthetrenches after way too many planners wasted and plans not going the way I want every day I’ve learned I have to accept that won’t happen ever unless there’s a blue moon. I like the checklists because then I can see how far we’ve progressed.
I really enjoyed watching this. I love how you embrace slow living but also balance slow living with not having to make all your family meals from scratch. Also, I wish I could try all the yummy Japanese snacks.
Thanks! Your words mean a lot to me 💝 I would say 75% of our meals are from scratch, but there are just some days when you need to rely on convenience. My kids aren't going to die if I save my sanity by preparing frozen meals.
My older kids are in a new writing class and they use writing by number!!! One of my colleague’s dad teaches the class!!! He uses it to preach!!! We need to do more beach schooling!!! We did at home but we don’t on our travels yet we are often in beach locations!!! I love the idea of getting smoothies after the library!!! I remember eating some of that food in Japan!!! We never used our air firer but love our small countertop oven!!!
That's so awesome! I can't wait to start using Write By Number with my younger two. My oldest is kinda my homeschool experimenter. I try all the new curriculum on him before I use it with the others 😂