Choosing Homeschool Curriculum (that you won’t regret buying!)
Have you ever excitedly purchased new homeschool curriculum only to find yourself trying to re-sell it at a significant loss a few weeks later? Or maybe you find yourself wanting to try something new every few months because what you have just doesn’t quite work as well as you’d envisioned. Maybe you dread having to make a curriculum selection due to the cost and unknowns of how effective it will actually be for your child.
Whether you love to buy homeschool curriculum (hello Facebook Group Guru, knowledgeable about all things Media Mail Shipping and PayPal!) or the idea stresses you out, these tips can help you save time and money.
7 Tips for Choosing the Best Homeschool Curriculum
1. Start with the big picture. Our free homeschool planner has some pages to help you with this. Think about what you’d like your child to know by the end of their elementary, middle school, and high school years. What strengths do you hope they’ll have? Do you want them to have any specific biblical knowledge? Track their learning across these big ideas to make sure time doesn’t slip away without them learning those things that you most value.
2. Think about your child’s learning style. If you’re not sure what learning style best fits your child, check out our Homeschool Learning Styles Quick Guidehere. Choose curricula that will fit well with your child’s learning style.
3. Think about your capabilities realistically. Sure, in a perfect world, you can teach every subject thoroughly with passion and insight. But what can you truly do well in addition to all of your other responsibilities? If you have young children, how much time can you realistically devote to direct instruction in a day? If math was not your cup of tea, should you be the one teaching your child Calculus? Take an honest assessment of your life as it is now, not as you’d like it to be, then make your decisions based on that reality.
4. Talk to other homeschool parents, especially those whose kids are at a stage ahead of yours. But don’t just talk to any homeschool mom or dad! Try to find one whose kids inspire you. You know the ones I mean, the kids who make you say, “I hope my kids turn out like that!” What curricula did they use? What subjects did mom/dad emphasize?
5. Take note of how much time is needed each day for a particular curriculum or instructional model. How much hands-on mom time is needed? How much of the child’s time should be spent on this curriculum in a day? In a week?
6. Read reviews looking for the positives. What do people like about this curriculum? In what ways have they found it to be beneficial? Think about what they’re saying and how their reactions fit with your personality and that of your child. Do the things they like about the curriculum sound like they fit your lifestyle?
7. Read reviews looking for the negatives. Note that not all negative reviews should deter you. Is the review negative because the method employed by the curriculum clashed with that family’s schedule or that child’s learning style? If so, it may be that the curriculum wasn’t a good fit for them but may be a good fit for you! Or perhaps you’ll see that the people who didn’t like the curriculum were actually seeking the same thing you are, and you should steer clear.
With thoughtful planning, you can choose the best homeschool curriculum for your child.
There is no way to guarantee that you’ll love the curriculum you choose, even if your best friend says it’s the best thing ever. But, with thoughtful consideration and a smart game plan, you can set yourself up for a successful year with homeschool curriculum that you love!
Visual learners are those that learn by seeing. Charts, diagrams, and graphs are especially helpful to visual learners. They may also enjoy learning through videos or lectures that utilize visual aids. Using colorful highlighters to mark up text or creating mind maps may help them learn better.
Your child might be a visual learner if s/he:
is artistic and likes colorful imagery;
Spends time really looking at pictures, whether in books or on walls;
Remembers many details about what they’ve seen;
Is Good with directions because they remember where they’ve been and what they saw on the way to get there;
Likes to doodle; or
Daydreams often.
There are some great options of video-based curricula for visual learners across a variety of homeschooling methods including classical, traditional, and eclectic approaches to learning.
If you prefer parent-led instruction, there are also a variety of homeschool curriculum options that are great for your preschool, elementary, or middle school visual learner.
In this post, we’ll cover the best curricula and instructional models for your visual learner as well as ways to support your visual learner with any curriculum, parent-led, and video-based instruction.
The Best Curricula for Visual Learners by Subject
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Reading & Writing Curriculum for Visual Learners
Phonics
Abeka is a great Christian curriculum for phonics instruction. In many ways, they’re the gold standard for teaching young children to read. Abeka Academy offers video instruction that can benefit your little visual learners. You can purchase the entire academic program (all subjects), videos by subject, or pay for a specific number of hours of video instruction. With the latter option, you can incorporate a mixture of parent-led instruction and that of the videos. Be warned that this is an expensive curriculum model, but you get what you pay for! Abeka’s methods have produced many successful readers.
Explode the Code is another popular phonics curriculum that will work well with visual learners. A nice feature of this curriculum is the ½ levels available for extra reinforcement of skills between levels. Parents can teach this curriculum, or there is video-based instruction available.
Another good phonics option for visual learners are the LeapFrog videos. Currently, these are available for streaming on a few different apps, so there’s a good possibility you already have access to them. Letter Factory is a great starting place!
Spelling
Spelling-You-See from Demme Learning is a great option for your visual learner. This program utilizes color-coding to break words into chunks. Then, rather than memorizing a list of words (which research has actually shown isn’t super effective), students learn how to spell specific word patterns in context.
English/Grammar/Writing
Well-Ordered Language (Classical Academic Press) is a good grammar option for your visual learner. This curriculum does a fantastic job of sequentially teaching grammar through sentence analysis and eventually diagramming. Your child gets to see how a sentence is constructed, which will help him/her write grammatically-correct sentences themselves.
BJU Press’s English series combines writing and grammar. It incorporates colorful (yet not overwhelmingly so) pages and a variety of charts, diagrams, and text boxes in addition to the text. A nice feature is that they also provide space for students to draw pictures to help them remember what they’ve learned.
The Writing & Rhetoric series by Classical Academic Press teaches kids how to annotate a text as a regular part of their instruction. It also does a nice job of tying in history and interesting literature pieces to help students learn about various mechanisms of writing.
Reading
BJU Press’s Reading series does a nice job appealing to visual learners with illustrations, diagrams, and other text features that help students understand the concepts being taught. Another selling point for BJU Press’s curriculum is the emphasis the newest editions have placed on incorporating diversity into their texts.
Abeka’s Reading Comprehension Skill Sheets incorporate the use of pictures to help visual learners master lesson concepts. They also provide opportunities for students to draw pictures to help them remember what they’ve learned.
For older visual learners, Classical Academic Press’s Walking to Wisdomseries may be a good fit. These books emphasize text annotation and incorporate journaling and essays to help students deal with complex texts by C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Dorothy Sayers.
Mathematics Curriculum for Visual Learners
Singapore Math (I prefer Dimensions, Primary Mathematics U.S. Edition, Primary Mathematics Common Core Edition, etc. over Math in Focus) relies heavily on number bonds and bar modeling, which will appeal to your visual learner. This is especially true as your child gets into word problems. The visual models they’ll learn to create help them better understand what a problem is asking them to do, and complex processes become much more manageable. Note that Singapore Math is a challenging program, and the levels typically run about a year ahead of most other curricula. Be sure to utilize their placement tests…and then actually follow the recommendations! I know I fall into the trap of thinking I can help bridge the gap for my child. It really is much better to just “go back” a level with this program, though.
Math-U-See is another great option for your visual learners. There are videos for each level that include about 10 minutes of instruction. Mr. Demme is a great teacher, and older students (upper elementary through high school) get a kick out of his instruction. Parents of younger children should probably watch the videos themselves to learn how to instruct their children (or perhaps determine if the videos will work directly for their child). With a heavy emphasis on manipulatives, Math-U-See allows students to really see how math works. In the youngest levels, children combine the use of manipulatives with visual representations of the math, perhaps strengthening the visual approach even more.
Argo Prep has some great review books for visual learners. There are two series for math- Math! Grade __and ___ Grade Common Core Math (multiple choice and extended response). The Math! series contains short instructional pages at the beginning of each chapter which is great for review or a quick reteach. Both series have video explanations for every question, so your visual learners can watch a teacher demonstrate how to solve any problem they get wrong.
Science Curriculum for Visual Learners
For science, YouTube has a lot of great videos if you follow a more eclectic approach or are able to curate your own program.
If you don’t have the time or interest in doing that, or you want something more structured, CrossWired Science is a great option for your visual learners. This program can be used across many different ages, and it utilizes great videos for instruction. Students also draw pictures, create charts and graphs, and write throughout the program. Another great feature- perhaps the best one!- is how unapologetically Christian this program is. There are devotionals included for each day. Many of the videos also take an explicitly Christian perspective. A goal of the program is to generate awe and wonder for our Great Creator, so many fascinating facts are incorporated throughout the program. They run great promotions, too, so you can get the entire program at a very affordable price.
Apoogia’s elementary science textbooks and journals are also appealing to visual learners and can be used through middle school. My son couldn’t put the textbooks down! If students read each textbook in the Exploring Creation series, they will get a very comprehensive overview of science including life science, earth science, physical science, astronomy, botany, chemistry, and physics. Disclaimer: my son LOVES the elementary series. He does NOT love the 7th grade text.
History/Geography Curriculum for the Visual Learning Style
To Every Nation is a homeschool curriculum you may not have heard of before, but it is one you should consider. It combines history and geography with missions, studying the lives of influential missionaries from around the world. This book ties in with the popular Christian Heroes: Then and Now series. Not Consumed (the publisher) has all 12 books from the series available at a discount- the best price I’ve seen for them, too. To Every Nation incorporates copywork (ESV and KJV), drawing, and extension activities that will appeal to your visual learner.
Mystery of History’s supplemental materials include resources and activities that will appeal to visual learners. If you snag an older copy of the curriculum used, these activities may be included in the textbook. They are separate from the newest edition (a beautiful and decidedly more durable hardback) and available as a download, on a CD, or as a hard copy if you find them new or recently purchased.
Story of the World is another popular homeschool curriculum with an activity book that can appeal to visual learners. This curriculum has been used for years by homeschool families following a variety of homeschool methods (classical, traditional, eclectic) and is definitely worth consideration.
If you’re looking to save home, YouTube is a good resource for your history instruction for visual learners. Also, if you have Amazon Prime, The Most Dangerous Way to School has been a favorite of ours.
All Subjects Curriculum for Visual Learners
If you’re looking for something more comprehensive or cohesive, some options for video-based instruction across all subjects are:
BJU Press– BJU Press also follows a fairly traditional Christian approach, though the textbooks have a more modern appearance that Abeka does. BJU Press uses a modern translation of Scripture, and the textbooks are designed in a way that will really appeal to your visual learner. The video instruction for some of the grade levels feels dated, but it’s a safe assumption that they are in the process of redoing their video instruction as they are rolling out new versions of their textbooks.
Abeka– Abeka is pricey but follows a traditional Christian approach to educating your child. This is a solid program that has been proven to be effective. Note that Abeka uses the KJV Bible, so if you use a modern translation, you’ll have to adjust accordingly. Abeka also places a heavy emphasis on structure, from ensuring your child is sitting with correct posture to encouraging respect and focused attention during the videos. For some families, this is exactly what they’d want. For others, it may be too rigid.
Ways to Support Visual Learners with Any Curriculum
Anchor Charts
Before we get into some specific instructional models and curricula, let’s spend just a few moments on a homeschool tool that will likely be a game-changer for your visual learner. Anchor charts! Anchor charts are charts that “anchor” your child’s learning. Think simplified notes pages hanging on your wall. If you don’t want them taking up precious wall real estate, you can always put them in a binder or create interactive notebooks with them. I personally prefer to keep them on the wall (just one tablet that I flip through as needed) so they can provide visual cues even when we’re not actively studying that topic.
Anchor charts capture the important learning for a topic. It’s best to create them with your child, meaning as part of your direct instruction if parent-led, or by pausing video instruction in order to create them as you go. Alternately, you could create them from your child’s notes or after instruction for older students. These colorful (though you control how much color and busy-ness each chart has!) charts are like posters that house those nuggets of information you don’t want your child to forget.
Interactive Notebooks
Interactive Notebooks are another thing parents can add to any curriculum to help their visual learners. These educational tools are simple to make and can be adapted to suit any child. Using a regular notebook (I prefer a hardback composition book), students capture important learning. On the right side page, students record notes and important facts from the lesson. On the left page, students respond to that content creatively. They can free write or` draw pictures, diagrams, charts, mind maps…the sky’s the limit!
Parent-Led Direct Instruction for the Visual Learning Style
If you prefer to provide the instruction to your child, there are some great ways to appeal to his/her preference of visual learning. Many parents utilize a whiteboard (a large one like this for the parent, and perhaps some smaller ones for the child(ren) like this for direct instruction.
At first, that’s what I did, but I soon realized that my Apple devices are GREAT for my visual learner. Now we do a lot of our instruction from the couch. You can learn more about how I’ve hacked my Apple devices for homeschooling here, but in a nutshell, I use my iPad, Apple Pencil, and AppleTV to do any direct instruction with my child. I take a picture of my son’s textbook and project it onto the tv. I refer to my teacher’s manual as needed and use my Apple Pencil to annotate the text.
Choosing the Best Homeschool Curriculum for Visual Learners
There are a lot of great options for parents wishing to provide a Christian homeschool education to their visual learners! We hope this overview has been helpful for you.
Now that you have an idea of some of the great options available, use our Curriculum Guide to narrow down your search!
Knowing your child’s learning style can help you teach them more effectively. It can also help you choose an instructional model or curriculum that will best help him or her learn.
This Homeschool Learning Style Quick Guide will help you understand the different learning styles and how to know which one(s) best describe your child.
Learning Style
Learning Style Description
Characteristics You Might See in Your Child
Visual
Learn by seeing
Respond well to charts, graphs, diagrams
Think in pictures, imagine what they’re reading (movie in their mind)
Enjoy using highlighters (perhaps colorful) to emphasize important parts of a text
Plan for Homeschool Success with our Free Printable Christian Planner
For some of us, homeschool planning is the fun part. For others of us, not so much. But, no matter how we feel about it, homeschool planning is important! As they say, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
We moms keep a lot of plates spinning at one time. There are so many things to keep in mind, and it seems like there are so many balls we could drop.
That’s where these free Christian homeschool planning pages can help! We’ve covered (just about!) everything, from planning your year, to planning in 6-week stretches, to planning your month and week. Plan your week’s meals and activities, and track prayer requests and answered prayers on these cute, free printables. Print planning pages for your kids, too. Choose from 9 cute designs available in both 5-day and 4-day week formats.
The best part? These free homeschool planning pages keep Christ at the center!
Begin your planning with these long-term homeschool planning pages.
Focus on the big ideas you want to cover in the elementary, middle school, and high school years. As the saying goes, “The days are long but the years are short.” In the busyness of the day-to-day, time can sneak past us. Don’t let those important ideas that you want to cover well with your kids slip through the cracks. By looking at the big picture of elementary, middle school, and high school, you can make sure you hit key focus areas well.
Once you’ve planned for the long-term of elementary, middle school (or junior high!), and high school, take a look at this school year. This free printable includes yearly planning sheets for both the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. Set goals for mom as well as the kids, and record important dates for homeschool reporting to your school district.
Plan for 6 weeks at a time with our 6 Week Planner. This one-page homeschool planning printable lets you track big ideas for each subject. Then, use our free printable 6 Week Reflection homeschool planner to pause, evaluate, and make changes as needed.
Prayer Request Tracking for Mom and Kids
Use these free printables to keep track of God’s faithfulness throughout the homeschool year by writing down prayer requests and answered prayer. There are pages to match all available themes for mom and the kids.
By writing down prayer requests and recording the ways God answers those prayers, you can keep Christ at the center of your homeschool year. You can also help build a legacy of faith for your children as they begin to track God’s faithfulness in their own lives.
Print our blank calendars in color or black and white to plan for each month of your homeschool year. Add the year at the top and fill in each day. These calendars are blank so you can use them from year-to-year.
Weekly Homeschool Planning for Mom
Moms, plan for a successful homeschool week with these weekly planning pages. Track the week’s activities, projects, to do lists, and meal planning. Focus on personal and spiritual growth by recording what you read and key takeaways as well as goals for the week.
The Homeschool Planner Comes in Several Cute Themes
Mom’s pages come in a pretty pink floral pattern or a black and white version to save on printing costs.
The children’s planning pages come in two scheduling options- a four day homeschool week or a five day homeschool week. Subjects are kept blank so you can tailor them to your curricula.
Let each child choose their own cute theme, selecting from nine different versions of the planner.
The Kids’ Homeschool Planner consists of a two-page layout for each week. Record the week’s Bible verse and set a goal for the week at the top, then record assignments below. Add notes of things you want to remember about the week, adjustments for the future, etc. on the right.
Putting Together Your Printed Homeschool Planner
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Ready for Your Free Printable Christian Homeschool Planner?
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Sometimes I’m totally on my mom-game, and I wake up an hour or two before the kids. I enjoy my coffee and quiet time then have plenty of time to write down the day’s homeschool assignments. I feel prepared and refreshed for when the kids wake.
These days trick me into thinking that every day will be like this.
Every day is not like this.
Sometimes someone wakes waaaay earlier than usual and my “alone time” becomes “together time”. Sometimes the baby needs me all night long so I am dragging myself out of bed in the morning with the kids.
I’ve learned that I can’t rely on my morning time to organize for the homeschool day.
Which leads us to this post’s one overarching principle: the best homeschool days start the night before.
We’ve all heard that we should lay out our clothes the night before in order to have a smoother morning, but I wonder if we’ve all thought about how this simple practice could lead to a better homeschool day. By organizing our homeschool day and any necessary materials the night before, we can have a much more smooth and efficient morning.
Better Homeschool Day Tip #1: Plan for tomorrow’s activities and homeschool day tonight.
I used to try to plan the whole week out ahead of time, but I found that life would happen and we’d need more time for a certain subject than I anticipated. Or perhaps the opposite would happen, and what I thought would take two or three days only takes one. It invariably led to a weekly homeschool planner with lots of scratch-outs and arrows. I quickly learned that I should just plan a day at a time while keeping the overarching idea of where we’re headed in mind.
So each night I take a few minutes to preview the day ahead. I consult my calendar (and my husband’s since he is working from home these days) and think about how I’ll need to adjust our typical routine to accommodate for meetings or appointments, grocery pickups, etc.
In a nutshell, our homeschool routine is both structured and fluid. The day starts with our Family Bible Class which incorporates our family prayer time. Next comes instrument practice (it will NOT happen otherwise!), then math and grammar classes, which are pretty hands-on for me. Independent work, lunch, and a break come next in whatever order makes sense based on the time. Then, while the little ones nap in the afternoon, we do any other subjects that will require mom to be hands-on for the day.
During my evening planning, I think about what portions of the following day will require specific attention from me, and which things can be done without me. If the homeschool day will be interrupted by an appointment, I may adjust what activities we do or in what order we attack the day.
I fill out the next day’s list for my son so he knows what he will work on throughout the day. I add notes to the subjects in which he will need to see me first rather than attempting to do the work on his own, and I add little circles next to each item (not subject) for him to check off when completed.
Once the planning for the following day is complete, I prepare all my physical materials.
Better Homeschool Day Tip #2: Organize materials for the day ahead before you go to bed.
Not only should you make sure you have the next day’s activities planned, but you should lay out everything you will need for the day. This may seem unnecessary to you, so let me explain.
In education, we spend a lot of time talking about smooth transitions and how important they are to an effective school day. Time lost from disorganized transitions very quickly adds up, and entire days’ worth of learning can be sacrificed.
I think the same thing applies to homeschooling. Have you noticed how much time you spend looking for this book or that worksheet? It can be a major time suck in my day. Then, invariably, while I’m looking for what I need, someone will wander off or get distracted. Then, I have to spend another few minutes corralling them back to where I need them! Before I know it, it’s lunch time and we have not accomplished what I’d planned at all!
Enter: organizing your materials ahead of time.
Now I make two piles (or more if they get to be too tall as my son is getting older!). I pile up all of my son’s required materials. Soon, I want to transition this so that he is gathering up his own materials the night before, but that’s next-level, and we’re not there yet! I place them next to the binder with the day’s plan so that he can quickly size up what his day will look like.
The second pile consists of all of my materials for the day. It’s not just a straight pile, though, which is probably what you’re picturing. (You may also be thinking that here I am talking about time sucks and am telling you the most basic of basic ideas!)
You see, I have several little children in addition to the big one I’m spending the most homeschooling time with, so I can have lots of little interruptions if my husband is in a meeting or the kids are especially needy that day. So, just having my teaching materials in a pile isn’t enough. I lose time finding the correct page, snapping pictures with my ipad, and answering a little’s question/changing a diaper, etc.
Now I find the pages I need the night before. I bookmark them so that I can immediately turn to the appropriate place. I also make sure that I’ve taken pictures of anything I want to project and mark up on the TV so that I am ready to go. Now, instead of my son and I both flipping through trying to find the right page, or getting a better pencil, ruler, math manipulatives, etc, I can quickly grab the toddler a drink or change a diaper while he does what he needs to do to transition to the next subject. When he’s ready, I pull the book off the pile, open it and my ipad, and we’re ready to go.
→ Side note: the iPad is a crucial part of our homeschool instruction. Check out how it has made my instructional time MUCH more effective here.
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In addition to setting out all of the necessary books, notebooks, and binders, I also try to get out any special markers, pens, or math manipulatives that we’ll need. Similarly, I make sure the DVDs are ready to quickly pop into the DVD player if needed.
If I’m creating an anchor chart for a topic or verse I want to focus on, I also do that ahead of time. If you don’t use anchor charts, they’re a great tool that you should strongly consider! Learn more about them here.
If you decide to make anchor charts a part of your homeschool instruction, this is a great option.
I purchased these command hooks to hang my charts on, and they’ve worked great for two years now (and haven’t fallen off the wall yet!).
These markers have worked really well for us, too, and don’t bleed through. The purple one is a great color!
Better Homeschool Day Tip #3: Set up your personal time the night before.
As mentioned before, I am not always able to wake up before the kids. And even if I do wake before they do, there is no guarantee as to how much time I’ll have before a little buddy joins me. Again, the principle of doing whatever I can do the night before to eliminate transition time the following day applies.
The very best thing I do for myself is set the coffee maker up the night before. Yes, I recognize this may be a no-brainer for you, but when I first learned of it, it blew my mind. Coffee is critical to my mornings. And there is nothing better (other than perhaps having a coffee maker that is programmed to start on its own) than waking up and starting my coffee with just the press of a button. No measuring, no cleaning, just brewing.
While it brews, I get my mug and quick breakfast ready. I don’t do big breakfasts first thing and- thank God!!- married a man who likes to cook breakfast. So every day of this Covid time, I have had something more filling once everyone is awake.
I also make sure my Bible, journal, and pen are ready to go so I’m not wasting time looking for them.
These simple steps allow me to more frequently have personal quiet time before little people are awake and needing me.
Having a Better Day Requires Discipline
These tips are not earth shattering. What it really comes down to is thinking through your day and doing anything that can be done ahead of time, ahead of time.
But at an even more important level, the best homeschool days really require discipline. You don’t necessarily have to have consistent routines though having at least a few helps. And you don’t have to treat your homeschool day like a typical school day (and you probably shouldn’t!).
What you do have to do is perhaps even harder. You must have the discipline to set yourself up for success. My hope is that consistently doing these three simple tasks will give you a much better homeschool day so that you can focus on the really important things with your little blessings.
Do you have any tips to add to our list? We’d love to hear them in the comments!
We homeschool parents are always looking for some fun ways to mix things up and help make those math facts stick. In fact, we often spend a small fortune each year buying new curriculum or the hot new math game we think will benefit our kids. And if you’re anything like me, they end up collecting dust on your shelves.
What’s a mom to do? We need fun activities for the kids that help them learn without breaking the bank. Even better, we need activities that use what we already have in a new and creative way. Enter: playing cards. Remove the face cards, and you have a set of math games waiting to happen! The best part? Each game can be customized to meet your child’s needs!
5 Math Games You Can Play with a Deck of Cards
I’m going to share with you five math games you can play using the deck of cards you probably already have. It doesn’t even matter if some of the cards are missing! These games can take your child through all of their elementary learning and provide a lot of review and extension for your middle school kiddos, too. From the early skill of making ten all the way to using exponents and roots, these math games can add some fun to your family’s learning time.
Play these Math Games a Variety of Ways to Learn Math Facts
All of these math games can be played in several ways.
Individually: Every game can be played by just one player. Players can try to beat the clock or their last high score.
Collaboratively: Players are on the same team, working together to solve the math problems. This is good for learning new games.
Collaboratively: Players compete against the clock, working together to solve as many problems as possible within a specified time. This is a good option if a child is shaky on their facts or becomes easily discouraged in competition.
Competition: Player v. player. Players take turns trying to earn points. This provides competition but removes the stress of racing against each other.
Competition: Player v. Player. Players work at the same time, trying to eliminate all of their cards before their opponent does. Alternately, the first person to call out the correct answer wins that round/point.
Regardless of what way you play, players should always announce the operations they’re using so the other can confirm their math is accurate.
Setting Up the Math Games
There are two main ways in which we’ll set up the cards for our math games. The Simple Setup will be used for
Here is a video modeling each math game.
Now for the games, ordered according to their complexity.
How to Play the 5 Fun Math Games
Make 10
In this simple addition game, players try to make 10 with their cards. Because children playing this game are typically younger, the parent will usually handle all setup and the adding of new cards. Use the “Simplified Setup” for this game.
Object: Play as many cards as you can using two (or possibly more) to make ten.
To play:
Lay five cards in front of each player.
Lay three cards face up between players (or in front of the player if only setting up one hand).
Players try to make 10 with one card from their five and one of the discard pile cards.
Players should always have five cards in front of them until less than five cards remain. As cards are played, refill their spot with a card from the draw pile.
WAR with a Twist
This two player math game is super easy to play, and you can use as many variations as you’d like!
Object: Correctly solve the problem first to collect the cards. Player with the most cards at the end, wins!
To play:
Split the deck between two people.
Each person throws down a card.
Add, subtract, multiply, or divide the numbers depending on whatever your child happens to be learning in math.
For division, players can make fractions (and take it a step further by reducing them to simplest form).
Variation:
If your child is working with negative numbers, red cards can be negative while black are positive. This can get confusing, so be sure to establish a position one and position two! Also, I’d recommend that you stick to only one sign at a time. For example, go through the whole deck with addition, then tackle subtraction, etc.
Important Notes:
It’s best to play this game in rounds. For example, round 1: go through the entire deck with addition; round 2, entire deck with subtraction, etc.
To avoid confusion when subtracting with negative numbers or dividing, be sure to establish a position one and position two so the minuend/subtrahend or numerator/denominator are consistent.
Evens and Odds
This math game helps your kids identify even and odd numbers more fluidly.
Object: Find more even or odd numbers than your opponent (or find 10 of each, beat the clock, etc.).
Players each get a designation: evens or odds.
Set up cards using the Simplified or Spit Setup depending on preference.
The even player should attempt to make even numbers with their cards and the discard pile cards, while the odd player tries to make odds.
Spit (or Solitaire)
This game is a lot of fun, but a little more complicated to set up. Play this individually or with a partner, working together or competing against each other.
Object: Using any operation you can (including multiple operations at once to play more cards), be the first to play your whole hand.
To play:
Divide the deck in half. Give half to each player.
Using the Spit Setup (see video and/or image for help), lay five cards in front of you in a row as follows:
First Card- face up.
Next four cards- face down.
Place a card face up on the first face down card, then three more face down cards, one on each remaining pile. You will now have five piles as follows:
Position 1- 1 card, face up
Position 2- 2 cards, top face up, other face down.
Position 3- 2 cards, both face down
Position 4- 2 cards, both face down
Position 5- 2 cards, both face down
Repeat beginning with pile three, one card face up, then a face down card on piles four and five.
Continue with remaining piles. You will end up with piles as follows:
Position 1- 1 card, face up
Position 2- 2 cards, top face up, other face down.
Position 3- 3 cards, top face up, others face down
Position 4- 4 cards, top face up, others face down
Position 5- 5 cards, top face up, others face down
Place the remaining cards in the middle to form a draw pile.
Players try to get rid of all the cards in all five of their piles. There should always be five cards face up at a time until less than five cards remain. So, when a card gets played, the card beneath it should be flipped over or moved from a different pile into the open position. Additionally, a card can be slid into position one so that there are always five piles.
Players get rid of cards by “making” the number on the discard pile using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
If neither player has a move to make, flip over another card from the draw pile.
Variations:
For older children, use multiple cards to capture multiple operations.
Card colors can also be used to denote positive (black) and negative (red) numbers. For this variation, it may be better to set up seven piles rather than five.
Make 24
This game is again, very simple to set up and understand. However, it can be quite challenging to execute! It will require solid knowledge of all four operations- addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. You can even use exponents and square roots if you’d like.
Object: Make 24 using any combination of operations you can.
To play:
Shuffle cards.
Lay top four cards in a row. You may lay up to 16 cards in four rows, so you have four columns and four rows of four cards each.
Using a string of operations, try to make 24.
When someone figures it out, clear those cards and lay out four new ones. If competing, the player who first figures out how to make 24 keeps those cards. The player with the most cards at the end wins!
A Few Last Thoughts about Math Games
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I don’t know about you, but I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that we must plow through the math textbook. I get caught up in worrying that I won’t get through all the content I “need” to- even though deep down I know that the most important thing is that my child really understands and retains what I teach him. As I often remind myself, teaching isn’t teaching unless someone is actually learning. Otherwise, all I did was present some information. These math games can be a great way to slow down and focus on retention. Additionally, occasionally spending a day playing math games instead of doing book work can be a great way to break up some monotony while brushing up on important skills.
Hopefully, this has shown you that there are a lot of options when it comes to using playing cards to play some fun math games! My hope is that these games provide you with some fun ways to sharpen your child’s math fact retention without needing to spend a dime! But, if you don’t have playing cards, these waterproof cards are great! Alternatively, Dutch Blitz cards can also be used (and it’s a really fun game to own!).
Looking for more homeschooling ideas? Check out these related posts!
How Your Apple Devices Can Make Your Homeschooling More Effective
If you’re slightly addicted to Apple devices like I am, you likely have everything you need already to get rid of the bulky whiteboard and move to digital homeschool instruction.
We’re still new-ish on our homeschool journey at halfway through our second year. In another life, I was a middle and upper elementary school teacher so direct instruction (aka “teaching”!) is not new to me. But I knew it needed to look and feel different in a homeschool classroom.
For one, my son wasn’t going to be fooled. He knows this isn’t school- he’s been there, done that- so I couldn’t make my instruction too “school-like”. It wouldn’t ring true.
Secondly, while I’ve loved homeschooling, I don’t want it to take over my house. In other words, I don’t want a giant whiteboard hanging in my dining room, and I don’t have a room dedicated to homeschooling other than that common area.
Finally, we really like to be comfy. We have the blessing of large windows with pretty outside views and a gas fireplace that makes the living room a desirable spot for schooling. But again, I don’t want to hang a chalkboard or whiteboard up to show that off!
Recently, I discovered that I have an amazing tool right at my fingertips that I can use to make our schooling effective and comfortable: my iPad! I have an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil that I use for my worship team ministry, and we love our AppleTV for all the many apps it contains.
VOILA!
Meet our new chalkboard.
Let me tell you, this has been a GAME-CHANGER!! Even subjects that used to draw resistance from my kids have become more fun. Using two built-in apps, I can project anything I need onto our TV while my kids sit on the couch (or floor or chair or whatever makes them comfy!) and follow along.
Not only does this make our homeschool instruction time more comfortable and enjoyable, but it reduces the amount of paper waste and clutter we have. Now THAT is a mom win!
Using the Apple Notes App to Model Homeschool Instruction
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Ok, the Notes app is amazing for homeschooling! It allows you to either type or write using an Apple Pencil.
For newer devices, swipe down from the top right corner. On an older device, swipe up from the bottom center of your screen.
Click on “Screen Mirroring”
Select your device.
Sit back in comfort and get ready to teach!
Then I begin my instruction. I use my iPad to write or type out the notes I want my children to copy. I prefer to write with my Apple Pencil rather than type, especially because we often use this for our math class. I can write down whatever problem I’d like to model for my kids or have them work out. They can copy it down and get to work!
This is where clipboards or lap desks become great tools. If you aren’t using at least one, I’d definitely consider purchasing one for the quite minimal expense! Here are two that I like.
Michaels has some great lap desks for cheap, too, if you have one near you!
Using Your Apple Device’s Camera to Model Homeschool Instruction
This hack is even better than using the Notes app! The camera on your device (iPad or iPhone) is an AMAZING homeschooling tool. I use it to take pictures of my children’s books/worksheets/etc. Then I project the image onto our tv.
While in the image, follow these steps to unlock a fantastic way of modeling your homeschool instruction:
Click on Edit.
Click on the three dots.
Click Markup
Select a color that will pop on your tv screen. I find that all the colors work well, but it seems to depend on the time of day. When the room is brighter, the green and yellow pens look very vibrant on my tv. Later in the day, the blue or red is great.
Now, using your fingers to pinch and expand the picture, zoom in on the section you need. We use this a ton with both math and grammar (diagramming sentences).
Using this tool, I can model for my kids how to solve a problem or analyze a sentence while s/he follows along in her/his book.
Other Homeschooling Uses for your AppleTV
The AppleTV is great for homeschooling. As mentioned, mirroring my device screen is a huge win. There are also a ton of great video streaming apps available for the AppleTV.
You can use the AppleTV to project various video instruction and music videos. We like to use ours to project worship music that my children can sing and sometimes dance along to (why hello there, PE!!). YouTube is great for this. We recently discovered Orange Kids Worship (check out this playlist), and my younger kids have been really enjoying it!
Another reason why I prefer the AppleTV to some other streaming devices is because I can get the RightNow Media app on it. RightNow Media has been awesome for homeschooling as well as my own personal spiritual growth. If you’re not familiar with it, RightNow Media is a Christian streaming platform that many churches offer. If your church doesn’t offer it, it’s likely that a larger church in your area does and will give you an account for free. Also, because of the pandemic going on right now, RightNow Media has made some of their content available for free. So if you can’t get a full subscription for free, this might be a good option for you!
RightNow Media has a lot of kids programming that is great for Bible class. They have worship videos for your littles as well as Bible cartoons that even your bigs will enjoy. There are also a ton of different Bible studies by many great teachers covering a variety of topics. For instance, because Black History Month is right around the corner, my son and I will go through Matt Chandler’s “Race and the Gospel” teaching series. There are also one-minute apologetics videos that could be great conversation-starters or writing prompt generators. And really, I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s available with this quick blurb about it. The best thing for you to do is get an account and start exploring!
Other Homeschooling Uses for Your iPad
Of course, there are a million different apps that can be used on your iPad. Right now I’m only going to focus on one use that I discovered this year and really like.
CrossWired Science is a new science program that is AWESOME.
First of all, it is completely and unapologetically Christ-centered. Each day’s lesson has a devotional incorporated with the theme or topic. The author also emails out great devotionals regularly that connect science to our awesome Creator.
Second, it is designed to be used across multiple ages. In other words, one video, all your kids learn something. Though the videos are mostly the same, there is leveled “book” work for different ages. I say “book” work, but really they’re a printable ebook. This is another place where my apple devices come into play. I uploaded the ebook into iBook (free with an iPad or iPhone), and my son uses the Apple Pencil to complete the exercises. Another win with less paper waste and clutter.
Third, it incorporates really well-made videos, many from the curriculum creator himself. These videos teach really well, are high-quality, and elevate God to his rightful place. Well-made video instruction is a huge mom win because with kids of multiple different ages, it’s not practical to provide all instruction myself.
If his program sounds like a good fit for you, definitely check it out!
Other Homeschooling Uses for Your Apple Pencil: Music and Art
There are two other things that I really like to use the Apple Pencil for- music and art.
For music, I prefer the Forescore app. I can easily add music charts and digital sheet music to Forescore. Within the app, the music can be rearranged to eliminate the need to go back and forth at repeat signs, and you can use the Apple Pencil to mark up the music with reminders. This is great because it eliminates a lot of paper waste and clutter. I love that this is a greener option for my family, and I REALLY love that it can eliminate some of the papers that would otherwise pile up around the piano.
The Apple Pencil is also really cool for art class. Though it takes some getting used to, it’s really fun to doodle with. Again, you can just use the free Notes app that comes with your device. You can select any color of the rainbow and rotate between drawing with a pen (of varied widths), pencil, or highlighter. This is great because you can draw with the marker then color in your object with the highlighter. Repeated strokes of the highlighter make the line less opaque, so you can have fun with variation. The best part is the undo feature. You can just hit the back arrow and immediately eliminate a stray mark or error. The lasso tool is also really great. You can use it to select only part of your drawing and move it to another area. I’ve round this to be helpful with drawing faces. Eyes too close together? Too far apart? BAM! Easy fix. Very cool.
We could go into a lot more depth about using these devices for art and music, but that’s a bit outside the scope of this post. Hopefully this has given you some ideas and gotten your wheels turning, though!
Your Apple Devices Can Make Your Homeschooling More Effective!
As you can see, there are a lot more uses for your iPad, iPhone, Apple Pencil, and AppleTV than you may have realized. These devices can be amazing tools for homeschooling that help minimize paper waste and clutter and maximize comfort.
Parenting can feel like a rush from one activity to the next. Sure, we have conversations with our kids and try to guide them in a desired direction, but sometimes it feels like we’re just surviving it, doesn’t it?
Parenting should be about more than just surviving.
Have you ever met someone truly exceptional? Such people are few and far between, and if you meet one, it sticks with you. I had the privilege a few years ago to meet a family that had several (really all) children meet that criteria. Had I just met them briefly or had only a few interactions with them, I probably wouldn’t have had any idea how this came to be. I’d likely have chalked it up to DNA or God’s plan that was specific for them. And sure, those things play a role. But I was able to get to know their parents well.
It immediately became clear that they were the most intentional parents I’d ever met. Parenting was their passion. It was a huge part of their purpose. And they didn’t just let their kids grow up. They molded their kids. They molded the opportunities presented to their kids. They had thoughtful and intentional discussions with their kids. They had firmly established family routines. They parented on purpose seemingly at all times.
I started to think about my kids and who they would become. I thought about my parenting practices. Was I intentional? Did I view each day as an opportunity to mold them into who God wanted them to be?
I found that my parenting was much more reactionary than I wanted it to be. Perhaps you’ve noticed that about your own parenting.
In education, we talk about beginning with the end. We start with what we want our kids to know or be able to do, and work backwards from there. Once we know what our students should know or be able to do, we think about what topics or skills we must cover in order to reach the end goal.
This same principle can be applied to raising our children, whether that’s through homeschooling as I am now doing or through our parenting in general. If we begin by thinking about who we want our children to be and what we want them to do as adults, we can work backwards and become much more intentional about our parenting practices.
We can choose the few most important things and go deep in those areas rather than “spraying” our kids with a million different techniques and experiences and hoping the results we want will stick.
The 3 Cs of Intentional Parenting are based on this thinking.
Casting Vision
Crafting a Family Mission Statement
Creating a Parenting Plan based on the Vision and Mission
In this post, we’ll share how to cast vision for your kids, craft a Family Mission Statement, then create a Parenting Plan that addresses the vision and mission you developed to help you parent more intentionally. First, I’ll share what this looked like for me. Then, I’ll share a free download we created that you can use to make your parenting more intentional, too.
Casting Vision
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Proverbs 29:18, KJV
Casting Vision: The Big Picture
To become more intentional in your parenting, the first thing to consider is who you want your children to become. What is your vision for the future? Thinking through your vision for the future and working backwards to what you must do today to reach that vision are important parts of intentional parenting.
Here is how this process looked for me.
One of the first things that came to mind for me as I tried to parent more intentionally is the idea that I want my children to have a disciplined lifestyle. I’ve spent quite a bit of time studying leadership and the practices and traits of successful people, and discipline is a regular theme. Laziness is not a trait of a successful person! In fact, the most successful people rarely binge-watch shows, fritter away their hours on social media, or sleep in till 10am (though wouldn’t that be wonderful!?!). Instead, successful people have typically spent their lives learning to deny themselves of their vices, focusing instead on their larger and more important goals. They are responsible and driven.
It was also important to me that my children grow up to be adults that act responsibly in terms of God’s creation. I want my children to take care of the earth. I want them to recycle and use the materials God has given us responsibly. If they eat animals, I want them to care about how the animals have been treated and raised. I want them to avoid pesticides and toxins as much as possible, and I want them to learn how to treat the earth and environment with respect. I want them to honor their Creator in their approach to his Creation.
I desire for my children to grow up with a love of learning. I want them to read lots and lots (and lots) of books. I want them to empathize with people of vastly different life experiences, across cultural and ethnic lines. I want them to learn the many ways humans have harmed each other and broken outside of God’s design so that they may not repeat some of the horrible aspects of our history. I want them to recognize the importance of minority voices. My desire is that my boys will grow up to value women, and I want my girls to know their worth. I want my daughters to be strong and independent, while also enjoying rich and deep, meaningful relationships with their future husbands.
My goal is for my children to be adults with varied interests and hobbies. My children will Lord-willing grow up to be interesting people who can engage with others and find areas of commonalities even in cases where it would be much easier to find differences. If they develop a love of learning, they’ll continue to grow as spouses and parents. They’ll be able to build meaningful and lasting relationships based on strong emotional intelligence. They’ll be good employees who grow in their respective fields as they continue to learn new best practices and research related to their work.
As I parent intentionally, I desire that strong and lasting friendships will be in my children’s future because they will be good friends. I desire for them to be loyal, faithful friends who have clear boundaries that allow them to be healthy adults. I want them to be secure in who they are and were created to be so that they don’t lower themselves to engage with those who will ultimately hurt them or lead them down paths that aren’t for their overall good.
It is extremely important to me that my children grow up to be men and women of integrity. Again, the theme of knowing themselves and who they were created to be arises. I want them to be secure in themselves and know from whence their true value comes. If they know that their worth isn’t found in their perfection or accomplishments, they’ll be more inclined to admit their mistakes. They’ll be men and women of their word, people others can rely upon and trust.
I want my children to grow up to be service-minded. I want them to be servant-leaders. They should recognize the many blessings in their lives and share their wealth- whether monetary or otherwise- with those around them. I want them to be generous with their time and resources. If they see a need they can meet, I hope they will act upon that ability.
Finally, and most importantly, I want them to have a genuine and life-long love for and awe of God. By exposing my children to high-quality curriculum and literature that points them to Christ, I hope to make faith a thing of permanence in their lives.
Casting Vision: The Specifics
With the context for the vision thoroughly thought out, I boiled it down to a series of important points to incorporate into my intentional parenting. I desired for my children to have or value:
A disciplined lifestyle
A strong work ethic
Responsible, green living
A love of learning
Empathy
Knowledge of diverse perspectives
Friendship
A strong knowledge of self/healthy boundaries
Integrity
Service
Generosity
A sincere love for and awe of God
Crafting a Family Mission Statement
Once you’ve cast vision for the future, crafting a family mission statement can help bring lifestyle implications into clearer focus for you.
Again, I’ll share my process so you can see what it might look like for you.
I had the vision for who I wanted my children to grow into as they became adults. The limited amount of time I truly had with them was not lost on me. (If you’re not keeping tabs on how much time you have to influence your kids, this app is a great help!) I knew if I wanted to parent intentionally, I needed to craft a mission statement that was kept right in front of me daily so I wouldn’t get caught up in life’s twists and turns and forget the desired destination.
With this in mind, I reviewed the vision for my kids and pulled out themes or broader categories that I could capture in a Family Mission Statement.
I wanted my kids to Learn, Serve, Live, Give, and Love.
A disciplined lifestyle (Live/Learn)
A strong work ethic (Live/Serve)
Responsible, green living (Live)
A love of learning (Learn)
Empathy (Learn/Love/Live)
Knowledge of diverse perspectives (Learn/Love)
Friendship (Love/Serve)
A strong knowledge of self/healthy boundaries (Love/Live/Learn)
Integrity (Live)
Service (Serve)
Generosity (Serve)
A sincere love for and awe of God (Love/Learn/Serve/Give)
Can you sense how these categories worked with the vision?
Next I thought about the how- or what adverbs I’d want to describe the key words. These adverbs helped to solidify the vision and capture it succinctly in a Family Mission Statement that I could glance at quickly.
Learn enthusiastically– about God, his world, other people/cultures/beliefs
Serve faithfully– the Lord, other people, their communities and circles
Live responsibly– with strong work ethic and sense of teamwork, with regards to creation and crunchy/green/holistic living
Give generously– of their time, talents, and resources
Love freely– God, others, themselves
Now it was just a matter of putting it together in a simple statement.
Our Family Will:
Learn enthusiastically
Serve faithfully
Live responsibly
Give generously
Love freely
Creating an Intentional Parenting Plan based on the Vision and Mission
The final step in intentional parenting is creating your parenting plan for the day-to-day. This is where the hard work comes in of living out your vision and mission.
Parenting is a complex and multi-faceted thing. Creating a plan does not mean you are creating a lesson plan of sorts, with steps 1, 2, and 3. Parenting is about putting out fires as they crop up. It’s about long conversations and quick responses. It’s about word choice. It’s about choosing activities. Bedtime routines. Meal choices. Education. Friendships. Dating. And a million other little (and big) things.
With that in mind, here is what creating a parenting plan looked like for me.
I clearly couldn’t create a plan for every possibility or eventuality. But I could create a plan for my approach to whatever life throws at us. I could create a funnel through which decisions could be filtered.
I found that there were five areas that needed to be filtered through our vision and mission in order to have a parenting plan that would be successful.
Our activities, discussions, educationalchoices, mornings, and bedtimeroutines needed to be carefully thought out.
Activities
I’ve learned to be much more intentional about my family’s activities. Therefore, our Family Mission Statement became the funnel through which potential activities are evaluated. As an opportunity is presented to us, I look to see if it fits within one of the categories I identified.
Does this activity help us learn more enthusiastically? Serve more faithfully? Live more responsibly? Give more generously? Love more freely?
Not only must the activity fit within one of those categories, but it should give us quite a bit of “bang for the buck”, so to speak. I don’t want to overload our calendar or lives with a ton of activities. I’ve seen the benefits of a more simple and slower lifestyle, and I want to protect it. I want to choose the activities that I feel best help us fulfill our Family Mission Statement. I can do this by asking a few simple questions:
Under which category of the Family Mission Statement does this activity fall?
How closely does it fit with our family goals?
What discussions might I be able to have with my kids based on this activity?
What life lessons might my kids learn?
How important are those lessons?
Can they learn those lessons elsewhere in a better way?
If an activity seems to fit well with our goals, then I add it to the calendar.
A note of warning/ encouragement- this isn’t a perfect system, and your calendar doesn’t have to be perfect either. Make the best choice you can as an opportunity presents itself to you, then learn from it. Don’t hold yourself to an impossible standard or place too much pressure on yourself to make the most of every moment. This is just a guide to help shift your mindset about activities.
Parenting intentionally doesn’t mean parenting perfectly.
Discussions
Discussions with my children are also impacted by the Family Mission Statement. By keeping my goals for them at the forefront, I can use discussions with my kids to parent them more intentionally. I try to use my words to point back to the mission and vision I’ve established.
I think: What can we learn through this discussion? Can I tie it into being more service-minded? More generous? More responsible? Can I use this discussion to help my children learn how to love someone better or more freely?
Of course we’re always doing this as parents, but having these more narrow categories can lend more direction for conversations with my kids. Open communication with my kids is really important to me, so I try to make sure I don’t sound too much like a lecture during these discussions.
I am also honest and open with my kids about my own failures and life experiences as much as is appropriate and pertinent. My hope is that my being open with them will encourage them to be open with me, even when life gets more complicated and messy for them.
Educational Choices
I always thought my kids would go to public school. It never occurred to me that they’d be homeschooled, and I thought I’d die before I sent them to a Christian school. Turns out they’ve never gone to a public school, spent several years in a Christian school, and are now homeschooled. Sometimes I think God must get a chuckle out of our “certainties”, knowing the ways in which we’d veer so widely from them!
I was pro-public school. I taught in public schools, I loved public schools. I loved the diversity of the students. I loved the needs that were found there and the ability to make a difference in my small corner of the world.
Then I became involved in Christian schooling and fell in love with the opportunity to integrate my faith into my interactions with my students as a school administrator. As a parent, I loved that my kids got exposure to believers with different doctrinal stances than I had. We were blessed to be in a very diverse setting, so they encountered people of many different ethnicities and experiences. My children had access to a variety of mentors whose interests could appeal to them. Most importantly, my kids got to learn from people who were dedicating their lives to serving Jesus.
As my kids were moving through their elementary school years, I began to think about how to parent them more intentionally. Time was going so incredibly fast, and I realized my years of influencing them were passing much more quickly than I wanted them to.
Around that same time, I met some homeschooled adults that were influential in my thinking about intentional parenting. First of all, they were brilliant. I mean, so obviously very smart. They were knowledgeable about a wide variety of topics. They weren’t any more unusual than the average person, and I found the ways in which they may have been a little odd to be desirable and engaging. These individuals seemed to really know who they were. They were articulate and knowledgeable. They could listen and debate in productive ways. They knew God’s Word exceptionally well.
I was intrigued.
I never thought I’d be a homeschool mom. To be honest, prior to these encounters, I’d met a lot of *odd* homeschool kids, and I knew I didn’t want to be party to making my kids that way. I loved school as a child (and as an adult, too!). Learning is probably my favorite activity. I love lecture-style presentations from an expert and feel like I could drink up just about any wisdom they’d care to throw my way. I didn’t want my kids to miss out on that experience.
But I began to feel the homeschool itch.
As I’d send my bigs off to school, I realized how much I missed them. Even though they were going to a Christian school and I was so grateful for the lessons and exposures they had there, it felt like too much of their life was spent being influenced by others. Not that I wanted them to be in a bubble. I just wanted to have more control over their eventual exposures, at least while they were younger.
This is really what prompted me to first articulate my vision for my children and then craft the Family Mission Statement.
As I thought of my desire to raise kids that will
Learn enthusiastically;
Serve faithfully;
Live responsibly;
Give generously; and
Love freely;
I realized that homeschooling was the best decision for this season. By homeschooling, I could choose every piece of their instructional materials. I could expose them to perspectives and people groups that I thought were important. I could work to develop and hone the skills that were most important for them to have the kind of future I desired for them. I could build in opportunities for them to serve others and love freely. It just made sense.
Homeschooling makes sense for my family as I try to parent them intentionally. I recognize that it might not make sense for you, though! The point here, again, is to use your Family Mission Statement to choose the best method of education for your family. What type of schooling will help you reach the end goals you have for your kids? What must they learn? To whom and what should they be exposed?
Mornings
One of the best things that has come out of this Family Mission Statement is an intentional morning routine. Let me back up and say that I am not a morning person. But having these goals so clearly outlined and prevalent in my mind has helped me focus my mornings better. It’s helped me make time for myself before everyone else wakes up.
On the best days, I wake up at least an hour before my kids do and I have time with God’s Word and my coffee all by myself. BLISS! But even on the days when that doesn’t happen, I still have a morning routine with my kids that I have been able to faithfully stick with.
I’m going to venture outside of conventional wisdom a little bit and say that in my experience, while it is best to have my alone time first, it is not necessary for a good day with your kids. I used to feel discouraged or defeated if I didn’t mom “right” by waking before my kids. In practice, I’ve actually found that the most important thing is making sure I start my kids’ day right. Even if my morning didn’t start the way I wanted it to, I can “fake it till I make it” with regards to my kids’ morning. Even if that means our morning routine starts later than I’d like. Even if that means I’m drinking my coffee during our morning routine time. Even if it means I’m not yet dressed for the day.
It seems to me that the most important thing is that it happens.
What’s been working for me is what I call “Family Bible Class.” We homeschool, so this works well for us. If you don’t homeschool, you’ll likely need to tweak this. That’s ok. This isn’t about you replicating what we do exactly. This is about you developing something that fits your values and priorities based on your vision and mission statement.
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Here’s what we do.
We do some little kid worship because I have littles and bigs right now. I recently discovered “Listener Kids” and have really loved what they produce. They have a YouTube channel that has a playlist that I can just let run for a few minutes. We ended up enjoying their music so much that we purchased the album. Sometimes we do this worship first thing. Lately I’ve been moving it to the end of Bible Class so that my bigs can get started on other school work. They don’t get a ton out of the baby Bible songs anymore, so I think this is ok.
We read a Bible lesson from one of two books- TheJesus Storybook Bibleor Leading Little Ones to God. These books are great because there’s a short reading selection that fits pretty well with my littles’ attention spans yet they are written in engaging enough ways that my bigs enjoy them too. Plus it gives my bigs the opportunity to demonstrate some leadership and help the littles. It’s important to me that my bigs can help mentor my littles because I believe it will help everyone grow.
We pray together as a family. Right now my husband is working from home, so he joins us for this each day. For the first maybe five weeks of this school year, we’ve added about four index cards with names or topics for prayer requests to our list so that now we have a pretty thick stack. We pass them out (this is one of the littles’ jobs to do) so that each person has one or two cards. We get through the entire stack in a week. We’ve been working through our prayer order as either ACTS or CATS. I debate back and forth about which order is best, but I think it’s important that all happen regardless. For those unfamiliar, ACTS stands for:
Adoration- a time of verbal worship, praising God for who he is
Confession- confessing our sins. My husband and I try to model specific confession rather than blanket statements. Our hope is that this will help our kids learn to be vulnerable with the Lord and also feel less shame over their mistakes and not try to hide their imperfections from God or others.
Thanksgiving- thanking God for who he is and what he’s done
Supplication- asking God for our needs (or really the needs on the index cards of the day)
Many days we also read from a book that will help us grow in a particular area. So far this year we’ve been reading Kisses from Katie which has been great for my bigs. The littles typically leave to go play before we read this book because it is way over their heads. Another book we’ve read from and will definitely finish is Make Your Bed. This is especially good for boys.
Again, mornings are not my jam. But having my goals clearly outlined has given me greater passion for and discipline in the mornings than I ever would have thought possible. I now look forward to getting our day going.
Bedtime Routines
It is pretty much undisputed that a bedtime routine is good for kids, especially when they’re little. Thankfully, my husband is a rockstar bedtime routine guy.
In addition to the typical things- bath, pjs, brush teeth- my husband does a quick devotion with the kids. Right now he uses this one. It’s quick and simple for our littles. Whereas the topics it covers look more like discussions and real life applications for our bigs, this book helps facilitate such things at an appropriate level for our toddlers.
Another thing he does that is so important and beneficial is that he spends a few minutes intentionally praying with and over our kids. If he’s sinned against them in any way during the day, he genuinely apologizes for it. He makes sure they know without doubt that they are loved and accepted as they are, and he prays for who they will become.
I think this is probably the most important thing about the bedtime routine- using it to clear up any junk from the day and help our kids feel really secure in our love.
Sometimes it’s hard to do because let’s be honest- our days have had some junk in them too! Sometimes we just want the day to be over. Ooooover. It’d be so easy to just brush teeth and get the kids in bed so we can have a few minutes to ourselves.
But this stuff is important. I think the bedtime routine is some of the most important work that we can do as parents if we approach it in the right way.
My hope is that this is a routine the kids will continue in their own lives, working out the “junk” of their day with their Heavenly Father so they can feel completely secure in his love.
The Benefits of Intentional Parenting
Parenting intentionally of course benefits our kids. By casting vision for their lives, crafting a Family Mission Statement, and then making choices that align with our parenting plan, we can set our kids up with a better future. But the benefits don’t end there. Intentional parenting requires great discipline of us. We have to lay our own desires aside as we choose what is best over what feels good in the moment. Intentional parenting also requires us to rely more heavily on our Heavenly Father. We can’t do it alone. Striving to parent intentionally makes us need him more, for it is too big of a task to do on our own.
Putting it All Together
One of the most important parts of living out your Family Mission Statement and truly intentionally parenting is to make sure you don’t forget about it all! Life gets so busy, and if we’re not careful, we’ll find ourselves completing exercises like this every few years without any follow through.
I knew I didn’t want this to happen to me this time around. I bought a large chalkboard to hang in my kitchen, and I wrote the Family Mission Statement on it. It’s right in the hub of all our family activity. I see it while I drink my coffee. I see it while we homeschool. I see it at dinner time. There is no escaping it!
To make sure it doesn’t just become a meaningless piece of decoration, I remind myself regularly to revisit it. I read it line by line to help me remember those things that are most important to me as I parent, and I try to live out the mission statement with intentionality each day.
Intentional Parenting is not easy, but it is worth it!
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How do you focus on intentionally parenting? We’d love to hear about it below!
