We have two components to our homeschool: required and self-directed. There's required family reading, math, religion, and one "Main Lesson" each school day. The other component consists of screen-motivated self-directed learning options. The required learning takes about 2 hours a day, but it's spread out throughout the day. It really doesn't feel like that much. The self-directed learning might be skipped completely or could take all of the other hours of the day; it's really up to the kids.
How do you handle screen time in your house? I don't intend to limit my kids' screen time, since they often find educational and very interesting things to watch or play. With that being said, I do want to motivate them to do some self-directed learning in some screen-free ways. About once a month, I'll sit down with my school-age kids and fill out a form with each one. We list their daily habits (making the bed, putting away toys, etc.), which each earn them 5 minutes of screen time for easy ones and 10 minutes for harder ones. Then, we have two columns for "educational" things. In one column, we list harder or more time-consuming ideas. For each of these completed, they earn 10 minutes. In the other column, we list easier or quicker ideas, which are worth 5 minutes of screen time. I don't put anything on these lists that my kids don't want on them. I also let my kids change the lists around during the month if they want. For the most part, they're free to do these things any time they choose, but if they need help, they may need to wait until I'm done with whatever I'm doing. The only other rule is that they can use their screen time after 2 p.m., but not during dinner. Overall, this method really works for our family.
Now for those elements that I require. Along with breakfast, we read one question and answer from the Youcat for Kids and half of a story either from the Kids Book of Bible Stories or Book of Saints. One day a week, we read poetry from the Random House Book of Poetry for Children instead. This usually takes less than 10 minutes. As a family, we also read out loud. Each of my kids chooses one picture book for us to read to them, and I also read out loud from a chapter book. We do that twice a day. My kids who can read have the opportunity to read out loud instead of just listening for extra screen time. Reading takes about an hour a day, depending on the books my kids choose. We make regular trips to the library, and they get to choose just about any books their hearts desire.
The other required item is the Main Lesson. I loosely based this off of the Waldorf Main Lesson, but I'm just not very Waldorfy. I tried. I wanted to make school fun for my kids, and I thought Waldorf was the way. It sounds so fun, right? Lots of art, stories, and nature. Long story short, I hated it, and so did my kids. One thing that ended up sticking was the idea of teaching just one "main" subject a day. I'll teach the same subject for a couple of weeks, give or take. We'll work on history or science or grammar or math or whatever else strikes our fancy. This usually takes less than 30 minutes, and I try to keep it fun. No workbooks allowed during this time. The Main Lesson is how I guarantee that I'm teaching all of the subjects that my state requires. If we finish whatever we're working on before the end of a week, we'll spend the rest of the week playing math games during this time. (Can you tell that we LOVE math in this house?) On Mondays, we replace the Main Lesson with art. For this, I paint something from Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools, and my kids can choose to paint it too or paint something else.
I try to keep it minimal and fun. My goal with requiring certain work is simply to introduce the concepts to my kids. I want to give them just a little taste of each topic. If they want to eat the whole bowl, I'll provide them with the time, space, and resources to do that.


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