There are several reasons why homesteading makes homeschooling successful, and I can’t wait to share with you how I’ve noticed it already!
Our daughter is currently only three months old, but we plan on homeschooling her on our homestead from day one. In fact, we’ve already purchased the Rod and Staff curriculum we plan to use!
Our 80-acre homestead in Pelkie, Michigan, all the way up in the Keweenaw Peninsula, currently has chickens, turkeys, rabbits, our two border collies, and hopefully sheep very soon! Even though our daughter Harmony is still so young, we have still noticed the countless ways that homesteading and homeschooling together makes complete sense.
There are so many things to learn on the homestead! In fact, it teaches me life lessons every single day.
After high school, I went to college and graduated in three years Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts Business Administration degree with emphases in Management and Nonprofit Management and a Pre-Law Minor. I thought I wanted to work in the corporate field but after three years in my career, I found that there was nothing I liked about it.
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Now, I feel so incredibly blessed to stay home with our daughter and run our homestead while my husband works from home! Raising her and caring for our animals bring me so much joy!
Homesteading and homeschooling is the career field I love and am thankful to have the opportunity to do both of them. It has been a dream come true for our family and only possible because of God’s faithfulness.
Let’s check out how homestead and homeschooling work together, making homeschooling successful…
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Why Homesteaders Should Homeschool
The first reason that homesteaders should homeschool is that the environment and life you live as a homesteader are set up perfectly to homeschool. In other words, the lifestyle makes sense!
The life of a HOMEsteader starts at home. And the same goes with HOMEschooling.
When you homeschool, you actually save time driving into town to bring your kids to school and other activities. You have more time to raise your animals, tend to your garden, and work on your endless projects.
Plus, you don’t have to do it alone. Your children are right there with you helping and learning as you go.
Homeschooling brings children closer to their parents, but when they are also homesteading, I think it takes it to another level. There is so much to be done and so much that can be done together.
Nature studies and science aren’t necessarily separate classes. Instead, they are just things your child will naturally learn day to day as they spend their time outside and around your homestead land. What you do on a day-to-day basis is the most practical knowledge a child can learn!
There is no set schedule when you are homeschooling and homesteading. If your animal is about to give birth, you can drop everything and tend to them. Or, if you want to enjoy the nice weather one day, you can make your homeschooling flexible to do just that.
How Homesteading Makes Homeschooling Successful
The first reason, and maybe the most important, is that it is a supply of constant hands-on experience and learning. Your child will learn valuable life skills!
I grew up going to private school and I never learned about how to grow my own food, raise my own livestock, or survival techniques. Instead, I learned about calculus, chemistry, and art – none of which I am using today.
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The truth is that systems can fail and the government can fail. We need to know basic life skills to survive when things might not go as planned in the future.
But beyond that, homesteading makes homeschooling successful because it teaches other intangible skills that just make a well-rounded human being in general! I’m talking about time management, problem-solving, and responsibility.
Next, homesteading makes homeschooling successful because it teaches your children how to learn what interests them and how to make a living off of it.
We have a farm stand that does quite well and our eggs are usually sold out by noon! Our children can learn as much as a textbook could teach them about running a small business by operating the farm stand.
Our children will also see us using math on a daily basis, but not the useless math a textbook teaches. Instead, they see us learning how to calculate the amount of meat we need to raise between our different farm animals. Or, they see us taking measurements when we build a new item.
The schooling our children can learn on the homestead and practical and realistic!
It has been shown that you learn more and that you learn quicker when you practice what you are learning. Homesteading is the best hands-on experience to learning just about everything you need to survive in this world.
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How To Do Both: Homesteading And Homeschooling
I think the biggest thing to remember when it comes to homesteading and homeschooling is that it is not too much, even though it may seem overwhelming in your head. In fact, it is just the opposite.
When you homeschool and homestead at the same time you are free to do whatever you please, whenever you please!
There is no sure way to homestead and homeschool at the same time because it looks different for everyone! Perhaps you want to get all your homeschooling done before noon and then the afternoons involve homesteading activities. Or, perhaps each day looks different for you!
Remember that with all this freedom, you can help your children really focus on what they enjoy learning about! Are they interested in the Roman time period? Find a Latin tutor! Is their favorite animal a horse? Teach them how to earn money so they can purchase their own, then it is their responsibility to care for it.
Homesteading makes homeschooling successful because it allows you to learn as you go! Don’t stress about fitting in specific lessons. Instead, when your children ask questions, dive deeper into those. New topics will pop up each day just because of the lifestyle you live.
Lastly, homesteading and homeschooling are all about spending time together. Both can bring families closer together and form deeper bonds with a great deal of quality time involved.
With the time spent together, you are the main educator of your children which you also have the amazing opportunity to teach them spiritual lessons. Instill in your child the valuable answers to questions like their worth and their identity.
Remember, homesteading and homeschooling are still a lot of work. Be intentional. Stay organized. But keep things fun and lighthearted too. And, use your local library a lot!
Leave a comment below letting me know how you think homesteading makes homeschooling successful! I can’t wait to hear from you.
Kelsey at GoodPointGrandma
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I think homesteading would be wonderful for any family, but especially ones with kids.
Your last sentence about the local library is my favorite 😉 But really I think homesteading offers such great educational opportunities. As someone who studied education I have a lot of opinions haha, but if it were up to me I’d basically tear down our entire education system at this point and start over. As a public librarian I try to offer programs for kids that are both educational and practical, and have kids actually using and applying knowledge. It sounds like homesteading is a great way to do that!
That’s awesome that you do that Becky!