I want to stop and address one thing before we move on in this series. The ideas that I share in this series are what has worked (and not worked) for our family. The things that have worked for us may not work for your family. And this is totally and completely normal. All families are unique and it is your job to figure out what works best for your family. Please take the ideas that I offer and use what works for you and your children ignoring the rest.

I attended my first homeschool convention 5 months pregnant. I remember wandering through the endless vendor hall paging through the countless math curricula on display. I was intrigued by programs like Life of Fred (literature based!), Math-U-See (video teaching!) and Right Start (hands-on!). I was overwhelmed! It felt like I needed to make the right decision.

I simply could not envision how I would practically implement any of the programs as a new homeschooler to an energetic rising 5-year-old, a passionate 3 ½ year old and a baby slated to be born in August – right as we would begin our home education journey. To top things off, we were on the cusp of becoming full time entrepreneurs. We had a lot going on in our lives.

I found most math programs to be dry, boring and unimaginative. They were either lifeless single color pages of drill and kill problems or they lacked the hands-on application that I knew would be pivotal to my children enjoying math. Most of the curricula I paged through at that first conference lacked fun and engaging word problems with opportunities to play and problem solve. Others were so complicated that I had a hard time keeping track of the many books and manipulatives. I left that conference empty-handed.

After a lot of online searching, the only curriculum that met my expectations for play, inventiveness and rigor was Beast Academy by the Art of Problem Solving. The problem was that at the time it did not start until level 3 – which, as I understood it, was pretty advanced for the average third grader and better suited for the average fourth grader. 

I had made a deal with myself early on in our homeschooling journey that I would not follow a curriculum, book or ideology that I was not excited about implementing. I knew that if I didn’t like a program, we would not use it regularly enough to justify the expense and shelf space. It would instead make me feel guilty and like I was failing. The curriculum would not be my master.

I had learned this lesson the hard way by purchasing curriculum to “try it out” and then realizing that it was not right for us or that my children were not developmentally ready. In my over eagerness I would purchase resources that I knew deep down would not fix the actual problems we were facing. Other times, we were simply having a bad day or a bad week and I was trying to course correct with a new program. 

So I gave up and instead took a good look at our situation. Matthew had a keen interest in numbers, science, engineering and art. When I looked at the list of kindergarten-readiness math skills as well as the skills a kindergartener was “expected to master”, he already had them down. He had learned everything he needed to know in kindergarten before the age of 5 without a math curriculum or “formal instruction”. I felt that anything we would do over the next year would simply be icing on the cake. This is what I would tell myself on repeat any time that doubt would creep in or anxiety would rear its ugly head.

Around this time, I joined Read Aloud Revival membership. I didn’t know very many homeschoolers and wanted to find support and community in my new profession. In the membership forum there was an extremely active thread discussing natural learning in math. The discussion included several books and resources as well as ideas of ways to make math meaningful. Finding this thread felt like an answer to prayer. It was in this discussion thread that I found the Natural Math community and immediately ordered all of their books.

Between the Natural Math books along with several math picture book lists I found online I felt better able to build a play- and interest-based math curriculum. We began using these books alongside a few manipulatives and games that I had purchased. I also included a great deal of time cooking and baking in the kitchen.

I had embarked on this homeschooling journey to give my kids a unique education, tailor-made for who they were as unique individuals. I wanted to do things differently.

This was not an easy decision. It honestly, provoked a lot of fear and anxiety. To squelch the anxiety, I did what I always do in situations like this – I turned to books. These are some of the books that formed the basis of our curriculum and help to change my own thought process:

• Teaching From Rest by Sarah Mackenzie
• The Three R’s by Ruth Beechick 
• Sonlight Preschool and Pre-K book lists the math- and science-centric books were especially helpful.
• Family Math for Young Children I took this out from the library so many times that I finally bought it!
• Family Math this book is a sequel to the previous book on this list. It includes an incredible number of activities for the whole family including math games, application and play.
• Five In a Row the guides include math application ideas for each book!
• Natural Math books and forums offer many wonderful ideas to add to your math time with your kids, each book covers specific ages and topics of interest. They have a wonderful infographic on their website that explains the books that are best for your children and interests.
• Denise Gaskins books specifically Let’s Play Math for changing your ideology surrounding math education and Math You Can Play for games and play ideas.
• Bedtime Math I absolutely love this series of books and we used it almost every day in our kindergarten morning time.

These resources helped to shape our homeschool in kindergarten through second grade. I leaned heavily on Ruth Beechick’s work when it came to teaching math. Her writing helped to give me much needed confidence to move away from the curriculum and follow Matthew’s curiosity as well as what to cover at each developmental stage.

Last year, in second grade, we bought the Beast Academy level 2 curriculum. We are going through it slowly, as interest and stamina improve. We still implement many of the ideas that I talk about in these posts, as we do really enjoy playing with math versus simply learning about math. I plan to write more about our experience with Beast Academy and how we use it in our homeschool in a future post. If you are looking for more math inspiration, I regularly post videos to my Instagram stories and save them in my Math highlights so that you can see what of this looks like when it is being put into practice in our home.

What does your dream math curriculum look like? In a perfect world, how would you teach your children math?

What did we do instead?

I read to my boys as much as possible. At least an hour per day. We read widely – fiction, nonfiction, nature, science, math, history, poetry, sociology, biography, memoir. Mostly picture books. All living books that were entertaining for both my children and me. 

We went out into nature often, investing in high quality gear for all types of weather. We talked about what we saw. We observed quietly. They ran and jumped and climbed. I tried to say yes as often as possible.

We cooked, baked and assembled food together. I taught my boys to cut fruit and vegetables for dinner as well as their own snacks. I tried to give them as much independence as possible. We enjoyed ourselves and experimented in the kitchen while listening to music, enjoying audiobooks and dancing along the way.

I focused on my own growth as an educator. I referenced reputable book lists like Honey For A Child’s Heart, The Read Aloud Handbook, Beautiful Feet Books, Read Aloud Revival, Sonlight and Ambleside Online. I joined Read Aloud Revival Membership and later the Homeschool Alliance. I participated in the master classes, read books and asked questions.

When my children gave up naps around the age of 5, we bought them a CD player and iPod Nano. I signed up for an Audible subscription and requested audiobooks from the library. My children have adored spending their afternoon quiet times listening to audiobooks while playing LEGO. Oftentimes re-listening to the same stories over and over as they play. Many of them books that Allan and I have read aloud to them. 

To get back to how Matthew learned to read, I read to him a lot, answered his questions about words and continued to follow his lead, as we had done in Kindergarten. A couple times per week I would pull out a BOB Book and he would begrudgingly sound out each word. Sometimes stopping before completing the book, as he grew fatigued.

A few months later we participated in the Read Aloud Revival 31 day reading challenge. We gave the boys a small surprise every weekend of the month to incentivize them to read daily. These were mostly activities that we would have already done as a family, like going out for pizza, ice cream or donuts, buying a new book at the bookstore, a surprise outing to a new library or smoothies at the Natural Foods store.

We completed the challenge again in February, printing off a calendar and continuing to read aloud every day.

At the beginning of the month, Mathew was painstakingly sounding out the simplest of BOB Books and by the end of the month he was reading Frog and Toad books. I would strew books and he would choose the books that he wanted to read daily. Sometimes he would read books to me, oftentimes he would read to Allan in the evenings and other times he would “read” board books that he had memorized while cuddled up with Luke. I didn’t care what he read, simply that he was reading. 

I did not time him to ensure that he was reading for 10 minutes each day. If he read, it counted. We used fun new stickers that he picked out to mark the days that he read. He could “read twice” to make up for days that we may have inadvertently missed because we were away from home on adventures and too tired when we returned.

We made reading fun and enjoyable. He had an end goal in mind and small, incremental incentives to keep him going when things got hard or he didn’t feel like reading. This incentive system is much like what is suggested to adults when we are trying to hit a goal.

This is how I am now teaching Luke to read. He has picked up the letter sounds by the osmosis of a language rich environment and a few Leap Frog toys we have been gifted (like fridge letter magnets). He wants to read because the rest of us are readers. We cuddle up a few times per week and he reads me a BOB book. We work on the same BOB book until he can read it proficiently (I let him lead this and he determines when to move on). 

The struggle to trust the process and your own intuition can be extremely challenging. At times it’s hard to hold back my own excitement about the next step and instead be in the present moment. Making the mindset shift is challenging and even when I think I have things under control, doubts or anxieties will creep in. In a future post, I plan to write more about my own mindset shift including the tools and resources that have helped me along the way.

Tell me, what other questions do you have about teaching your child to read? What is your biggest struggle? What have you learned from the process?

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I tried and failed to teach Matthew to read using three very well respected, systematic programs. Eventually I simply stopped trying to teach him to read. 

Please don’t misunderstand me here. I did not give up on him learning to read. In fact, two years later he is strong reader and has started to pick up chapter books to read on his own. I oftentimes have to ask him to put down a book that he is reading so that another task can be completed.

What I mean is that I simply stopped forcing a systematic phonics program on my sweet, creative and curious 6 year old. He wasn’t ready to read yet. And he was definitely not interested in a methodical curriculum teaching him the ins and outs of reading. He already knew everything that he needed to know about reading: he loved books.

So many of our interactions surrounding the reading curriculum ended in his (and my) tears. I needed to stop putting the reading program ahead of my child’s happiness and our relationship. I knew there had to be a better way!

Here is what I understood: Matthew loved books. From an early age, his favorite pastimes were paging through picture books and being read to – second only to playing with LEGO and assembling puzzles. This kid loved stories. If he wasn’t engulfed in a book he was creating worlds and storylines in his play – figuring out puzzles, solving them and narrating to me along the way.

I knew that he would learn to read and I tried not to be concerned about teaching him to read. I instinctively knew that it would happen out of his own desire to dive deeply into stories unassisted. However, this hunch was incredibly challenging to actually listen to – hence the aforementioned three failed phonics programs all by the age of 6.

I stopped using a reading curriculum. He didn’t like them and I found them uninspiring.

I had many hesitations about making this decision, but around that same time I started listening to and reading a lot of Sarah Mackenzie and Julie Bogart’s work. I especially found solace in this post by Sarah and this post by Julie. I heard them both reference research that all of an elementary education could be taught to a 12-13 year old in a short matter of months because their brains were better equipped to hold on to the information. Their light was on. 

Sarah Mackenzie interviewed a guest on her podcast who referenced research that early reading had no impact on later reading proficiency and frequency. Sarah mentions this research in her book and so does Julie in her book. Let me say that again, early reading and reading proficiency are not correlated.

I read about Scandinavian schools and the Finnish philosophy of education. I dove deeply into researching alternate education systems like Reggio Emelia, Charlotte Mason, Classical, Montessori, TJEd and Waldorf. They all pointed to the hunch that I had experienced to be true: most kids just aren’t ready for academics before the age of 7.

This information helped me feel comfortable teaching reading indirectly while focusing on having wonderful experiences with my boys and reading aloud to them a lot.

Next, we will talk about what I actually did to encourage Matthew’s interest in reading as well as build the skills necessary to read fluently.

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I have been yearning to make an entrance back to this space for quite some time, but have not had the bandwidth. I find myself regularly composing articles and posts for my site in my head, but up until now haven’t made the time to sit in front of my computer undisturbed to put the words to “internet paper”.

But here I sit at a desk in the crowded library, attempting to remember all of the things that I have been longing to tell you.

For the past several years, I have been trying to to encourage and equip you by offering bits and pieces of a whole that I try to string together on my Instagram page. However, that medium so often falls short. I cannot communicate what I would like in the way that I want for you. So I am starting fresh. Here in this space where we have spent together for over 10 years.

You can still find all of the old content from my site on the following pages. All of the recipes are archived. Every post is available for your use. I just found the clutter of the past was getting in the way of beginning again. It was overwhelming me to think about how to fit my current life into the space that I built many years ago. The slate is now proverbially clean, which doesn’t feel that much less overwhelming; however, it is somehow easier to begin with a fresh page.

I am working on a series of posts about homeschooling the early years. Exploring my own transformation when it comes to the definition of education and the beautiful fruit we have experienced as we have waded through this journey together. I cannot wait to share this experience with you, my dear friends.

Please comment below or on an Instagram post to tell me how you have been. Let me know what’s on your heart – your burning questions that need answers.

My expectations were easily surpassed. Matthew and Luke were such hearty workers. They were excited to find ripe strawberries and fill their buckets full. They even outpicked Allan, who spent quite a bit of time taste testing. When all of our baskets were filled, the boys were not ready to go home. So, we filled an extra basket full to surprise Grandma and Grandpa when we picked up Joshua.

The oldest boys were able to each pick a pint of strawberries of their very own to make anything that they wanted. Matthew chose to make mini pies filled with blended strawberries and cinnamon.

Luke cut up 4 cups of strawberries on his own to make Strawberry Shortcakes for our family.

Over the weekend I canned 11 half-pints of Honey Sweetened Strawberry Vanilla Jam (I only added 1 1/2 cups of a lovely local raw honey, which added plenty of sweetness). If you follow me on Instagram, you caught the step by step process in my stories. This was my first time canning since I was very young and canned with Mom and Grandma. It was exhilarating and I can’t wait to do it again soon!

On Friday I cobbled together several pieces of inspiration into a killer Strawberry Vanilla Pie recipe that I am excited to share with you today.

The raw walnut and date crust is divine and does not need to be baked, although, I did brown it up a bit in the oven for a few minutes. The rest of the magic happens on the stovetop in one pot, making this an extremely easy recipe to whip together. Also, the pie freezes and thaws flawlessly, so go ahead and double (or triple the recipe like I did) and freeze a pie wrapped in plastic wrap and foil. Your future self will thank you come January when the overpriced organic strawberries at Costco taste more like dirt than a bite of summer.

How are you today? I’m a bit tired from a busy weekend. On Friday night and Saturday morning I attended the MN Catholic Home Educators Conference at the University of St. Thomas. It was such a nice event and I’m so happy that I decided to go, even though we aren’t Catholic.

Sarah Mackenzie was the keynote speaker and she was just as wonderful in person as she is her blog and podcast. I was so moved by what she had to say that I bit the bullet and signed up for a year long membership to the Read Aloud Revival Community. I feel like the forum will be motivating and give me some accountability. Come and connect with me there!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGP3ZVCh-oG/?taken-by=allanpeters

On Saturday night we went to ARTCRANK, where Allan was an artist. We had a fun time catching up with a lot of old friends and looking at bike posters. Check out Allan’s instagram feed for more pictures.

On Sunday we went out for breakfast at French Meadow and headed to our CSA Farm for their Spring member event. Farmer Pete even let the boys and I pick some asparagus to take home. Luke found this GIANT asparagus and held it the entire way home. Deliveries start the week after next and there are a few shares still available. We can’t wait!

A couple weeks ago I posted the following picture to Instagram and had so many requests for the recipe that I couldn’t hold back sharing. This burger recipe is very dear to our family’s taste buds that we have it at least once per week during the summer. It’s so good that I regularly make it in my cast iron griddle in the winter.

I’m excited to finally share this wonderful recipe with you!

Since we finished our official school year a few weeks ago and all of our activities have taken a spring break of sorts, we have been enjoying some much needed time outside. In addition, work has intentionally been a bit slower in the last few weeks. We have been enjoying a less rushed pace of life. Here are a few of the things we have been up to.

Allan and I have decided that Thursday mornings this summer will be dedicated to getting outside and exercising with the boys. Joshua and I take long walks while he naps and Allan has been hopping on his bike with the Burley filled with older boys to explore our beautiful city. We ordered this bike trailer for Matthew to ride behind my bike so that the whole family can eventually ride together. We considered a regular tag along, but felt that this would be more comfortable for longer rides and long term as we will have several other small children making use of it. Plus it was on sale!

It’s so peaceful strolling along the trails with a little one sleeping in the stroller. Today we walked to the library to return a few overdue books and pick up a huge haul of picture books for the boys and a few (too many) books for me.

Our caterpillars officially pupated and we released them last week. It was such a fun experience and we will definitely be doing it again next year. Matthew found a brand new Ladybug kit at a garage sale a few weeks ago, so we may try our hand at that next.

My North Face rain jacket lining is disintegrating! Has anyone else had this happen to them? When I bought this jacket 5 years ago I vowed it would be the last spring/rain jacket that I would have to buy and apparently that’s not the case. I plan on sending it in to their warranty department to (hopefully) get it fixed!

This little guy is growing by leaps and bounds and (knock on wood) started sleeping through the night reliably this week! Two things that really helped with his sleep were reading this book on sleep (although, we only implemented a night time routine, not the actual sleep training, because Joshua was teething at the time) and this white noise machine. I have committed to dragging myself upstairs by 9:30 PM every night so I can read, get a good night’s sleep and workout before breakfast.

Allan and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on May 19th. He planned a fun trip down memory lane for the two of us – it was SO nice! We visited the spot by the Mississippi River where he proposed, ate outside on the patio at French Meadow in St. Paul and visited the site of our wedding reception along the St. Croix River.

When we arrived at the parking lot of the supper club that held our reception we were greeted by a huge hole in the ground. Only the foundation of the basement remained. Honestly, we weren’t sure what to expect when we arrived because rumors had swirled that a developer bought the property and intended to build condos. The last time we were in town the building was still intact and host to a basement tiki bar complete with real sand on the floor.

Allan and I precariously climbed down into the hole to take a look at the river below and part of the dance floor tiles were still there. Allan popped on the song from our first dance, Fools Rush In by Elvis. and we slow danced right then and there. It was like something straight out of a movie.

I am so excited to start the She Reads Truth Acts study next week. I have enjoyed this week’s countdown to Acts study leading up to the main study that starts next week. With Joshua sleeping longer I have actually been able to spend time in the word every morning. I love having my routing back! What have you been studying lately?

This is a pretty typical supper around here: grilled salmon, diced oven roasted potatoes, roasted broccoli and green beans.

Wowza! Costco has had SO MUCH ORGANIC food lately. With the sheer volume of vegetables and fruit we consume, our budget has been happy that we can buy many of the things we eat regularly in bulk! Also, our cart looks so much different than most people’s carts at Costco. Lots of meat, veggies and fruit.

I have been loving the necklaces that I bought from The Jones Market. I would love to order a few more, as I find myself wearing them even when I don’t have Joshua with me. They are just so flattering!

And that’s it for now. I will be sharing recipes for a versatile Summer fruit salad and my secret burger recipe that got a lot of attention a week ago. Look for those in the coming week.

Any local friends attending the MN Catholic Home Educators Conference? No, we are not catholic, BUT Sarah Mackenzie is the keynote speaker and I am beyond excited to see her speak. She has really opened my eyes to the world and wonders of homeschooling and I am forever grateful for her influence in my life and that of our boys.

In light of that and what we learned while traveling to the gulf coast to work and play this winter, we have decided to cut down on the activities we participate in. It’s not that we were over scheduled before, because we were not. We simply found that we operate best when we have less going on and more time to explore, be at home and be spontaneous.

Also, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have noticed posts in the last few months about my healing journey. I’m not going to get into all of the details today, as everything is still in process as I try to figure out practitioners, a protocol and healing plan. However, I will post more details soon about what has been going on with my health. It’s been a long road and some days I feel wonderful, while others are very challenging.

I was born to tell stories. To write. To share. To help. And I believe that calling extends beyond the walls of my home and into the lives of those around me. So, I hope to begin to cultivate my spirit and use the gifts that God has given me to bless others here in this space.

Homeschooling went really well this year. As a family we finished Sonlight’s P4/5 curriculum a few weeks ago, which we used for Matthew’s kindergarten year. Both Matthew and Luke really enjoyed every story, activity and project we completed this year. My boys love to be read to and some days we would finish a week’s worth of reading in one session cuddled up on the couch. I have such fond memories of doing “Mommy School” with them and look forward to studying Ancient Times and Human Anatomy with them next year.

For the summer we will be focusing on a couple nature unit studies in May, June and July. In August we are planning a family trip to the North Shore area of Minnesota and will be reading several books about the Great Lakes. This is very unstructured, read aloud time with books that we own along with some from the library. I am completely ok if we don’t get to everything we have on the list this Summer.

Right now we have two containers of caterpillars pupating. The boys and I have been reading all of the books we can find about caterpillars and butterflies. Last week we went with my mom to see the film Flight of the Butterflies and we all loved it. I learned so much about butterflies and the story behind the discovery of Monarch migration.

Joshua is doing really well. He is an active, goofy, happy nine month old who spends most of his time chasing after his big brothers. He loves all food and always wants to try more of whatever everyone else is eating. Most days he sleeps well and loves to snuggle with Daddy before nap and bedtime. He has six teeth and is cutting two more right now. We couldn’t imagine our life without him.

This past December Allan decided to leave his corporate job at Target at the InHouse advertising and design department to officially start our own branding and design agency, Peters Design Company. This is a dream we have had since we met 13 years ago and to see it realized has been mind blowing. God’s faithfulness, discipline and wisdom is even more apparent in our lives as we look back on how he has prepared us for this challenge.

The business has been keeping both Allan and I very busy. We specialize in branding and identity work and have had a few opportunities to collaborate, which has been a lot of fun! After working out a few kinks, we have found a way to work well together. It truly is a blessing to see Allan in his element day in and day out, while also helping with the boys as I need it. We are so happy to have him home with us everyday.

I would love to hear from you. Please comment below, on Instagram or Facebook and let me know what is new in your life. Also, I would love to hear about your questions or topics I may have touched on in this post that you would like to hear more about.

A couple weeks ago we attended a beautiful wedding among the country and hills of Wisconsin. There I reconnected with an old friend. While catching up she mentioned that in a couple weeks she was starting a bible study. My heart jumped in my chest and I asked if I could join. It felt like spirit-lead timing.

Last night we met for the first time. We are studying Strengthen Yourself in The Lord by Bill Johnson. Before this I had not heard of Bill Johnson, but after watching him speak last night, I’m excited to read and see more of his teaching. In preparation for this study, which is based on the trials and promotion of David, I have been reading 1 Samuel. Over the years I have become familiar with David’s life, but reading it all at once has been impactful. I’m excited to see the connections that Bill makes in this study and how I can better follow the Lord by examining David’s life.

After the initial excitement about finding a new small group wore off, I began to feel uncomfortable about the new experience. I’m a very outgoing person, but when faced with new situations and people I tend to withdraw. I feel self-conscious and awkward. I tend to listen and not speak much at first, as I absorb the tendencies and personalities of those around me. Feeling everyone out and finding my place in the group. Especially because I tend to be an outspoken, passionate leader; however, I never want to take over or seem overbearing when someone else has been placed in a role of leadership.

I felt myself silently engaging last night and was having a hard time coming up with anything significant to say, even though I have a lot of deep feelings about the topic of promotion and David’s life. I’m 32 years old and it still amazes me when this happens. But I gave myself grace and let myself sit on the couch nursing Joshua and listening intently to the other women speak. Not interrupting and simply observing. I spoke when I had something to say or when asked a question, but just gave myself the time to acclimate, even if it made me seem recluse to the other women. It’s just how I am and I’m ok with it.

Do you have personality traits that make you uncomfortable? How do you deal with these emotions when they come up?

It is only by the grace of God that she has had the strength to get through the grueling workouts and intense diets. It has been an honor to see her grow spiritually over the last year and are so proud of the woman that is shining through.