Our homeschool has looked different over the years. When all our kids were smaller, we used to do a lot of Family Learning together. I cherish those times, and kids actually did learn a lot. It was fun to teach all the kids together at the same time. But as the years went by, and the older kids started doing Dual Credit, I sort of stopped doing it for a while as it was hard to get everyone together at one convenient time; and several days we had to drive them over and pick them up from the community college in the mornings. So it started fading away during those days.
But seeing all the positive impacts, I was determined to bring it back in our homeschool this year, and with God’s grace, it has been going well this year so far.
So what is Family Learning?As the name implies, it is a period of time we all learn together as a family. Most homeschoolers do have a Family Learning time, and it’s most often referred to as Morning Time or Morning Basket, though they don’t probably end up doing it in the morning.
Benefits:There are lots of benefits to learning together as a family.
- 1)It greatly enhances bonding within the family. It is a great opportunity to get involved in teaching your kids first hand, without fear of neglecting the other kids in the family when you are only focusing on one kid otherwise.
- 2)Youngest kids who are not yet of school age, will feel that they are doing actual school, not to mention that they learn a lot from just hearing its and bits!
- 3) It’s a great way to add in a lot of enrichment subjects and to ensure that everyone actually does end up doing it. There was a period of time I had a lot of enrichment subjects on their checklist, but they weren’t following through. This way it’s less work for me to make sure they actually follow through!
Challenges: Family Learning doesn’t come without its challenges.
- 1)The biggest challenge for us for a long time had been to find a suitable time that all can participate, especially with so many kids of different ages and schedules. So to overcome that, I mostly only have my Middle schoolers down participate.
- 2) Kids do find it hard to do one long stretch of Family Learning Time; also for me, I find my energy draining as they start getting more distracted. So to overcome that, we now split the time over 3 shorter times that I will explain below.
- 3) Younger kids can be quite distracted. Although I do encourage all the kids to participate, I sometimes allow the youngest kids to go off and play if it looks like they had their fair share. I also allow them to sit in and just do some coloring or so. Just being present, they are absorbing a lot of information! One thing to keep in mind is to never underestimate the learning potential of younger kids, and so encourage them to stay as much as possible!
- 4)Not all kids may benefit equally. But something is better than nothing, and all kids will benefit to some extent! I usually try to keep a middle level, so that oldest kids won’t be too bored, or youngest kids won’t be too lost.
- 5) Time and Consistency- Sometimes laziness gets a hold of me, and then I struggle to bring it back; or due to time constraints, only some of the intended slots actually happen.
What subjects can be done during Family Learning Time? Pretty much anything, mostly on a supplemental level. Core grade level subjects may not work well if there is a wide age range.
We do a lot of enrichment subjects, as well as subjects that are better off learning together as a group (like Latin). We follow a semi- Charlotte Mason, semi- Classical, Eclectic homeschooling approach. So I incorporate a lot of the ‘extra’ subjects in the Family Learning time, with an emphasis on ‘truth, goodness and beauty’. I also incorporate some basic science, just because I don’t have time to teach individual grade level sciences, but I want to teach some science! By carefully selecting the topics and materials, you can greatly enhance the homeschool experience.
Next section of this post, I wanted to share how we incorporate Family Learning in our family, and what all we do during that time.
A Peek into our Homeschool Routine:
Kids start off with their grade level core, independent work soon as they are awake, starting any time 7:45 am onwards. By around 9 am, after all the youngest kids are fed, changed, kitchen tidied, and after being done with personal prayer, I head up to our homeschool room. All the kids take a pause from what they are doing, to do our morning Family Learning Time, which also includes our morning prayer time. They then continue with their work, and I go ahead and teach anything I am to teach individually. We mostly wrap up all independent subjects and seat work by 11am, when we have lunch.
After lunch, we do one segment of the afternoon Family Learning Time. We then do virtual Daily Mass, and after a short break, resume the rest of our Family Learning. We are then done for the day.
What we currently do for Family Learning Time:
I usually put together my own resources, and save them in one place, with relevant links etc. Videos and content that need to be shown, I usually airplay to the Apple TV from my MacBook.
Morning Family Learning Time (we try to do all these daily)
- Morning prayer time- worship songs, morning offering, scripture meditation
- Discuss any liturgical events and major saints
- The Imitation of Christ for Children
- Baltimore Catechism
- Bible verse memorisation
- Character Study
Afternoon Family Learning -1st segment (we try to do all these daily)
- Latin
- Hymn Study
- Memory work- Catholic songs, prayers, or any other things I want them to memorise
- Read Aloud time
Afternoon Family Learning -2nd segment (We usually do 2-3 from the list a day, and rotate through)
- Music Study
- Composer Study
- Vocabulary
- Picture Study
- Basic Science
- Logic/Philosophy
- Poetry
- Geography
- Astronomy
Though it’s mostly enrichment subjects, it has become a very integral part of our homeschool. In the past, on busy days when we had lot going on outside the house, the Family Learning Time was the first thing I skipped. But now, I try to preserve it as much as possible.
For any family to make this happen, it is important to see where it fits into your day best, factoring into account how many subjects you plan to do together, age ranges, nap times and age of youngest kids etc. It is also good to see how everyone does with one long stretch, or if it is better to divide it into separate time slots throughout the day. I feel the Family Learning has made a good impact on our homeschool, and I hope to continue as much as we can.