Episode 2: What Modern Homeschool Actually Looks Like
You’re listening to Episode 2 of Modern Homeschool and we’re diving into what people think homeschool looks like, what modern homeschool actually looks like, a real day in our homeschool, and why it works for us. My mission is to help modern families homeschool with structure, flexibility, and a life they love, so let’s get started!
Episode Highlights:
1. What people think homeschool looks like
2. What modern homeschool actually looks like
3. A real day in our homeschool
4. Why it works for us
Resources Mentioned:
FREE Homeschool Weekly Planner: https://www.chantymacias.com/weeklyplanner
Getting Started With Homeschool Guide: https://www.chantymacias.com/guide
Connect with your podcast host:
https://www.instagram.com/chanty.macias
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Hey, hey! Welcome to Modern Homeschool, the podcast where families thrive together by learning how to create a life of freedom, connection, and education that actually works. If you're curious about homeschooling, thinking about starting or already in the thick of it, and wondering if you are doing right by your kiddos, you're in the right place.
I'm your host, Chanty Macias, and here. We talk about real life homeschooling for modern families, flexible routines, working parents travel, learning, raising confident kids, and creating a life around your family first, because homeschool isn't just school at home. It's a whole new way of living and learning. Let's do this!
Hey. Hey friend. Welcome to episode two of Modern Homeschool. If you listened to the last episode, you heard our story, how we went from public school to choosing homeschool, but today we're answering the question that usually comes next. What does homeschooling actually look like? Like what do you do for real every day?
Yeah, because let's be honest, most of us have a picture in our heads, right? And it usually looks something like desks at home, a strict school schedule, a parent standing in the front, teaching all day, an elaborate dedicated entire homeschool room in your house, decked out with educational posters and a ton of crayons. If that's what homeschool really looked like, a lot of us would probably say, yeah, that's not for me, but here's the truth. Modern homeschool looks very different, and today I'm gonna show you exactly what that looks like in a way that feels really simple, flexible, and very doable.
But first, before we get into what a homeschool is, let's talk about what it's not. A lot of people assume homeschooling means recreating school at home, because that's all we really know, especially most of us that came from a public school system background, right? That's how we were raised. We think it means following a very strict seven -to- eight hour schedule teaching every single subject every single day. Exactly like a classroom. And honestly, I'm gonna tell you because I learned this the hard way. That's one of the fastest ways to burn out because homeschool isn't meant to copy school. It's meant to be different. So what does that look like instead?
Modern homeschool is really built around three things, flexibility, intention, and real life. So here's what that can look like. Most homeschool days don't take all day at all. In fact, for a lot of younger kids, especially like elementary kiddos, focused learning can happen in one to three hours, sometimes even less, especially if you break it down into different blocks because you're not managing a whole classroom. You're teaching one child or a few of them. Learning doesn't just happen at a desk. It happens during conversations while we're cooking, when we're on our walks, uh, through play, through real life experiences.
Okay, now you might have a loose routine, a few core subjects, um, consistent rhythms, but you are not tied to a rigid schedule. If your kid needs more time on something, then you take it, and if they're ready to move on, girl, move on. There's no need to stay on something just because somebody says you need to.
So this is one of the biggest shifts, right? Following your child's pace. This is one thing that I don't see of enough, even in the homeschool world. Instead of teaching to a classroom standard, you are teaching your child. Their strengths, their challenges, their own individual interests. No one is telling you what to teach, when to teach, or how to do it. Do we follow curriculum and a scope and sequence? Yeah, most of the time, but not because I'm told to. It's because I want to. It's your choice. So let me give you a realistic example of what a real day in our homeschool can look like. And I wanna be clear, this isn't a perfect day. This is just a normal real life flow. Like this is the real, real delio. Take it or leave it. Okay? This is not like, oh, our Disney days, here's what we do, and we go have fun. Like, yeah, it's fun, but no, I'm gonna give you the real deal, normal, real life flow. Okay?
We usually start our mornings slow. There's no rushing out the door, no packing lunches, no dreaded early drop offs. Right? Once. We're ready. We've woken up. We've got our morning routines done. Brushing your teeth, get ready, have breakfast. Once we're ready, we ease into learning, we might start with a simple creative play activity to warm up. That can look like Play-Doh or slime, kinetic sand, some art, some painting, anything that's creative, just to get the conversation going. Then we'll go into our reading and our phonics block. We do our workbook activities. From there, we do our lesson of the day. We wrap that up. We read our book of the week 'cause that's part of our, our curriculum. We then move on into a writing activity. It could be a journal of the day, it could be a homework that we have from our online writing class. It could be something else. And then we go into our online apps. So we have an app for creative writing. We have one for science and social studies, and we have other extracurricular activities also like playing the piano or doing some artwork. Now, we don't do all of these every single day. Sometimes we'll break them up and sometimes in some weeks we'll even throw the schedule or the routine out the window, and we'll just be like, what do you feel like doing today? What do you feel like doing this week? You know, to kind of give a break so we're not constantly in a learn, learn, learn, go, go, go mode, because that's why we chose to homeschool in the first place.
Then on Math Days, she has an online math class that she takes on Out school, which is an online marketplace for academics and educational courses, and she does really, really well with that. Now for hands-on learning or reinforcement of certain concepts like in math that she may be struggling with, we'll go ahead and use some math manipulatives like a physical clock, multiplication pop it, or a division bingo game and plenty of others. Sometimes it's structured and like I said, sometimes it's more just hands-on or game-based, and then we're done with our core learning for the day. We follow that with our chores, and that's it.
Now one quick note. We do typically do our chores together, like we body double this because we both seem to be more productive when we use this strategy. So I do mine and she takes care of hers. That way if she needs help, I'm usually just right around the corner or working on something anyway, and I can jump in if she needs it.
But she's still practicing doing these chores independently. We'll talk more about her chores in the future episodes, but if you wanna know more or have any questions, let me know. I love to hear your thoughts. The rest of the day might include TaeKwonDo, playground or park time, running errands together, outings, more creative play, life skills, or just being home together. And some days. Things don't go as planned, and that's okay because homeschool gives you the flexibility to adjust. Now, I'm not saying you can't do that in school, but it's a lot harder when you're having a tough day in the morning and you walk into school and you just have to go, go, go with the flow. I understand building resilience and of course we're working on that too at home, but it's not the same you having the time, the patience, the kindness, the grace, the ability to just be, take a few minutes to yourself or as long as you need, and work on your interpersonal skills so that you can be the best version of yourself when you are surrounded by your family, people that love you, or you know, a teacher that loves you too, but you have all these other things going on around you that you really can't take the time for yourself, and the train just keeps on moving.
So homeschool gives you the flexibility to adjust and go on as needed, and that's one of the things that we really love about it.
Now you might be thinking, okay, this sounds great, but how do you actually make it work consistently? Like how does this really keep going? So here are a few things that have made the biggest difference for us.
I will die on this hill rhythm over schedules. Any day. Yes, my hands are up. I am praising Lord. This is what we are known for. We follow a flow, not a strict timeline. And there's many, many, many, many reasons for this. I have done a lot of videos about this on my Instagram. I will continue speaking about this in future episodes, but rhythm over schedules. Yes. A thousand percent, yes. Another thing we do that makes the biggest difference for us is keeping it simple. You don't need 10 subjects a day. You focus on the basics. Reading, writing, math, and any meaningful learning experience that is important to you, your child. That's it. The third thing that's made a really big difference for us is having a system.
This is huge when everything lives in your head. I know this from experience. I know you know this from experience. It feels so overwhelming and we need to get it out, but when you have a place to organize your plans, schedule your priorities, everything feels lighter, you can be the better version of yourself. And that's exactly why I created something that's been such a game changer for us. It's called the Modern Homeschool Command Center, and it's a free tool designed to help you organize your week, map out your learning plan, keep everything in one simple place, and reduce the constant feeling of what on earth should I be doing right now because I, I don't remember, there's too many things going on because we don't want homeschool to feel chaotic. We want you all to truly build a life you love. You can download it using the link in the show notes.
If this episode shifted your perspective even just a little bit, I want you to hold onto this. Homeschool doesn't have to look like school to be effective. In fact, it works way better when it doesn't. You have the freedom to create something that actually fits your child and your family, and that's what modern homeschool is all about.
Thank you so much for being here with me today. In the next episode, we're gonna continue this conversation with my favorite girl, my daughter, Ari, and go even deeper into what this can look like for your family. Make sure you're following along so you don't miss it. I hope you're pumped for all the exciting things happening here. And if you have any special requests or just wanna say, "Hey!", hit me up on Instagram @chanty.macias or TikTok @chantymacias, and let me know what you love to hear. All right. That's all for now.
Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I truly love creating this space to support you on your homeschool journey. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love to connect with you. Come say hi on Instagram or TikTok and tell me what resonated and what questions you still have. I read every single message and your stories help shape future episodes. And if you know another parent who's considering homeschool or needs encouragement. Share this episode with them so we can support more modern homeschool families together. Remember, homeschool doesn't have to look like school at home. It just has to work for your family. See you in the next episode!