I just have to share this quick tip that’s completely changed the way we homeschool.
My girls are 5 and 3, and right now, I really believe the focus should be on reading together, letting them have lots of free play, and spending as much time outdoors as possible. We typically spend about 30 minutes each morning on “school” work. (I say “school” because, as I tell my girls, the world is our school! We learn everywhere—from baking in the kitchen, to building a treehouse, to practicing our letters.) My 5-year-old and I work through The Good and the BeautifulPre-K language arts curriculum (we love it) and sometimes add in a math activity.
But the game-changer? Having a specific focus of the week. I know this sounds obvious, but for me it wasn’t. Up until this point, I felt like reading everyday and doing our curriculum was enough. (And for some it might be!) But we needed some excitement in our week- more purpose!
It all started with our excitement for Spring. As the cold winter days started to fade, I knew Spring would be the perfect time to dive into more focused activities around this beautiful season. Each week’s topic sparked so much excitement for us and gave our daily routines a bit more energy. I truly saw my daughters light up with enthusiasm for the budding new season of learning.
Here’s a glimpse of the topics we’ve focused on this Spring:
- Nature
- Trees
- Backyard Birds
- Gardens
- Bees
- Butterflies
I write the focus of the week on our whiteboard, which we hang up above our kitchen table. We add pictures, things we’ve collected (owl feathers, leaves, etc), and our words of the week. This visual anchor helps all of us stay on track with what we’re learning. Plus, it’s become a great way for my husband and me to connect with the girls about their learning. Here’s how it’s been a game-changer for us:
Conversations Focus
You know how people always ask kids what they’re learning about in school? Having a weekly theme gives us specific topics to talk about. For example, when we learned about rain and the water cycle, my husband (who works in stormwater) brought home materials from his job and shared cool details with us. Also, my mom has a backyard that’s like a bird paradise, so we spent some time with her learning about all the birds, what they eat, and what sounds they make. It’s been amazing to learn from other family members too!
Library Focus
I’m obsessed with the library—it’s one of my favorite places in the world. We go every week to pick out books about whatever we’re learning that week, and of course, we always grab a few extra books just because! (Hello, Fancy Nancy!) The best part? The girls get SO excited when we find a book that connects with what we’re studying. “Mom! I found a book about cheetahs!”—makes reading so much more fun!
Outdoor Focus
I love nature-based learning because it’s hands-on, and I think it will benefit the girls tremendously- both now and in the long run. I try to incorporate nature whenever I can. It’s so much more impactful to study actual trees, for example, than just read about them. Even when trees aren’t the focus, we still talk about them on our walks, review what we’ve learned, pick up acorns or crab apples, and chat about what’s inside those seeds. Our learning extends into everything we do, and it’s these little moments that make me so grateful to be learning alongside my kids.
Craft Focus
Before we started this weekly focus, I felt like I was always scrambling to come up with crafts. Now, I have a clear anchor for my creative energy. Instead of searching “crafts for toddlers,” I can just search “moon phases craft” and feel like I have a clear idea of what I want to do and how to connect it to what we’ve learned.
Field Trip Focus
I like to plan field trips around what we’re learning that week or month. Sometimes, I even build a whole unit around an upcoming trip. For example, we love the zoo, so we each pick an animal to learn about before we go. It makes the trip more meaningful! And when we visited nearby wetlands, we checked out books on local animals before going, which made spotting the two Great Egrets on our trip so much more exciting!
Technology Focus
There’s definitely a place for technology in our homeschool. For our space unit, we watched a video about the planets and learned a new planet song from YouTube. The girls love asking Alexa questions too—“Alexa, what’s the biggest planet?” It’s a fun and interactive way to learn.
Here’s a list of some of the topics we’ve covered:
Summer Unit: Weather
- Tornadoes & Severe Storms
- Clouds
- Rain
- Rainbows
- The Water Cycle
Fall Unit: Space
- The Sun
- The Moon
- Planets
- Stars
And some random weekly focuses (To connect to our field trips)
- Wetlands
- Zoo Animals
- Sunflowers
Having a weekly focus has really brought a new level of excitement and purpose to our homeschool days. Have I mentioned how much I love homeschooling my daughters?