Homeschool Mom Spotlight #3
Meet Katie
We’re starting something new here at Patterns for Life: every month we will be highlighting an individual homeschool mom through a written interview in order to encourage and inspire our readers. We know it can be helpful to meet — whether virtually or in real life — other mothers who are in the trenches with us here and now, and can relate to our daily struggles and joys.
This month we are pleased to introduce Katie, homeschool mom of 6. Enjoy getting to know her a bit!.
1. Tell us about yourself and your family.
My husband, James, and I have been married for seventeen and a half years. We grew up in the same neighborhood and were married the year after I graduated from high school. Since then we've been blessed with six children — five boys from almost sixteen years old down to four, and finally a girl in 2023! We lived in various parts of Ohio most of our married life, but moved to the Ozarks in 2022. That has been an adventure full of both beauty and trial. God willing we'll be moving closer to a larger parish (and a children's hospital) in Kansas City, Missouri in 2025.
2. How long have you been homeschooling and what motivated you to start in the first place?
We have homeschooled from the start. Our oldest son spent preschool in his aunt's integrated special education classroom, but we always knew we wanted to be the primary influence in our children's lives. I also just couldn't imagine sending my children away most of the day for five days a week! That being said, I have always wanted a flexible community school option. Something that would allow our kids to spend time with other Christian children and take some of the educational load off of me, but that would not require our children to be away from us most of the week. Thankfully, with our upcoming move to the larger parish, such an option will soon be a reality for us.
3. Describe a typical homeschool day in your home.
The ideal and the reality tend to diverge significantly on any given day (Are we surprised? No, we're not. Haha.). Because of health issues and special dietary needs, a lot of my time is taken up by the need to cook nearly everything from scratch. Whenever possible I try to do the brunt of whatever chopping, dough preparation, etc. that I can the night before, but inevitably, at least a couple of days per week, I need to spend more of the morning cooking than I would like. I try to be up by 6:30 or 7. Sometimes it is later though, if I am especially tired or had a long night with our youngest. I am trying to develop a better habit of taking a moment to pray on my own as soon as I get up. Typically my oldest boys are already up and working independently on their lessons and doing morning chores like emptying the dishwasher, feeding the sourdough starter, laying out supplements, and starting a load of laundry. If the younger kids are not up by 7:30 or 8 then we go ahead and wake them. Most mornings we immediately begin morning prayers and read the scriptures and some of the lives of the saints. Then it's off to the races trying to get through breakfast, juggle lessons with the 7 and 10 year-old, keep the 4 and 1 year-olds busy and out of trouble, and still have something ready for lunch at a decent time. On a "good" day the littles' lessons are completed by lunch and they can be sent outside to play or given learning games on a tablet, play dough, etc. (basically whatever keeps them relatively quiet) so that the baby can take a nap. The older boys clean up the kitchen, if I haven't gotten to it yet, then continue with their lessons. This is the time that I check in on them, go over their work, and do whatever I need to be prepared for dinner later. Lately, a few days each week I try to carve out an hour during nap time to listen to something interesting or edifying while I do calisthenics. If I was unable to get through all the littles’ lessons earlier in the day then I will try to complete them sometime between lunch and dinner. The older boys have the option of taking a break to play or going on a walk if need be throughout the day and may end their school day at 4pm if they haven't already completed everything. The rest of the day is basically dinner, clean-up, free time, and then evening prayers. Two days per week they go to Tai Kwon Do and that can make it challenging to get through school, dinner, and evening prayers, but slowly we're settling into what feels like a healthier rhythm than perhaps we have had in the past.
4. What is your favorite part of homeschooling?
Definitely just being with my kids! Does it get a little loud and overwhelming for this introvert mother at times? Yes, sometimes it does, but I love to hear their thoughts, see them learn and develop, have conversations with them, and have the flexibility to just drop our normal school load and do something else if that seems like the best choice for the day.
5. Does homeschooling affect the way you parent? If so, how?
I can't see how it could not. I am not a patient or gentle person by nature. I like things finished yesterday and I have the next month planned out in my head and maybe on paper too! Being with my kids all the time forces me to constantly evaluate my own strengths and weaknesses and constantly put down my desires for efficiency, order, and quiet and instead learn to parent with cheerfulness and patience. Is there anything more humbling?
6. What is your least favorite part of homeschooling?
The noise and lack of time to myself. I love to work on projects, to design garden systems, learn new instruments, read, and so on. Before motherhood I was the type to spend a day so focused on a project or acquiring a new skill that I would neglect to eat or drink (among other things, haha). I often find the pressures of meeting all the same demands of cooking, cleaning, and educating everyday to be stifling and overwhelming. In the past I have often been guilty of neglecting academics and instead dragging all the kids outside to plant a garden, or to acquire some other skill, or attempt a craft or project that interests me, or just spend all day discussing an interesting topic. In that regard, the hybrid school at our new parish looks to be a good fit for our family since there are elements of both formal schooling and academics, homeschooling, and handicrafts, all within an Orthodox community.
Homeschooling is also extra difficult when you have special medical or other needs that take up time and energy and in that sense, the greater load on the individual family is something I dislike.
7. What have you found to be the most humbling aspect of parenting/homeschooling?
I kind of hit on this already, but it's just having to put up with myself! All my shortcomings and failures and then get back up again, repent, and keep going for the sake of Christ and my family.
8. Looking back to the beginning of your homeschool journey, what are some things you wish you had known? What would you tell your younger self as she was just starting out?
Goodness, so many things. Don't worry if it takes some of the kids until 9 or 10 to read well. Be patient, but also consistent — a little bit each day adds up to a lot over a year. Get up just a little earlier for a few minutes of quiet and to get a little head start, but at the end of the day, stop. Actually stop and rest. Don't try to go at things day in and day out, and don't expect everyone else to do the same. Hold those littles as much as possible, involve them in as many things as possible because they'll be less bored (and driving you nuts) and you'll be sad when one day they are 12 or 15 and the time is almost up. Maybe most of all, don't be so hard on yourself. Get up, learn, repent, persevere and trust that God will mercifully fill what is lacking.
9. How does your faith affect your homeschooling?
It's everything. There is no way I could undertake this simultaneously glorious and beautiful, but also consuming and often martyric effort without God's help.
10. What are some of your favorite homeschool resources?
Certainly Charlotte Mason and Patterns for Life for inspiration, and the Lives of Saints so I don't get too bogged down by modern ideas about education and distracted from what most matters.
On the more practical side, AmblesideOnline has often been helpful as a basic guide. I don't use it exactly as given. Primarily I use the history, literature, and poetry, but it helps me keep in mind the other subjects I would like to cover at each grade level. One of my absolute favorites is probably Cathy Duffy's website since I can read reviews on just about any book or curriculum available.
11. What do you consider to be the most rewarding aspect of homeschooling?
Ooh, that's tough. Aside from getting to live everyday life with my children, it is probably knowing that despite all my stumbling and feeble efforts I have done the best that I knew how at any given time to bring my children up to love God and not be lost to the world. May God be merciful to all our children and fill our shortcomings with his grace and light!
12. Anything else you'd like to add?
Much love to you all and may the Lord bless our efforts.
Thank you for sharing with us, Katie! May the Lord indeed bless our efforts!