The Start of My 15th Year Homeschooling

Monday, August 24 2026, I will begin my 15th year of homeschooling my children. 

It all started in 2011 when my oldest was 4.  I had just come home from working for 3 years to be a SAHM after the birth of my second child.  This wasn't just a temporary thing...I was going to permanently be a SAHM and I was so happy about it. 

A few weeks after giving birth to Liam I decided to begin PreK with my oldest, Ruy.  He was eager to learn to read and write.  I bought the Horizons PreK pack and our homeschooling journey began. 

At this point, I wasn't sure if I'd homeschooling him in Kindergarten or not.  I just knew that right then, he wanted to learn and I felt capable and excited about teaching him. 

He learned a lot that first year, and before starting Kindergarten he was reading small books like the Bob Books.  I was so proud of him.  

 I needed to decide if he would be attending public school or be homeschooled for Kindergarten.  I looked up the bus schedule and school schedule.  It said the bus would pick him up around 7am and drop him off around 4pm.  I looked at my husband and we both knew without having to really say anything....there was no way I was going to have him gone from 7am-4pm.  I closed my laptop and the next day began researching what I wanted to use to teach him Kindergarten.

...and that's how my homeschooling journey began.

I'm now at the beginning of 15 years of homeschooling. 

This year I will be teaching my first year of high school.  Due to custody changes with my son Ruy, he started attending public when he was in 5th grade and graduated from public school in 2025.  So, I will be teaching high school for the first time this year with my son Liam.  I will aslo be teaching 7th grade, 5th grade, two in K5/1st grade...(my twin girls will be finishing K5 and beginning first grade in the next few months),  and two in PreK.  My two year old daughter Bridget will be joining in with whatever the other four younger ones are doing because she doesn't like to not be a part.  

I've taught in so many different homes, so many different seasons, so many grades. 

I've learned so much from teaching year after year...and not just from the schoolwork, but about myself, about patience, endurance, discipline.   Homeschooling is a full time job, that requires so much of you.  It is hard, it is wonderful, it is sanctifying, and it is so incredibly rewarding. 

The memories and the time with my children during all of these years is priceless. 

I'm beginning this 15th year of homeschooling with more grades than I've ever taught before, and more responsibility than I've ever had before...but I'm beginning it feeling pretty prepared and pretty confident.  

I researched, I planned, I organized, I prayed, I reflected, and I made some changes. 

I think this 2026-2027 school year is going to be a really good one. 

And I am so excited to document our homeschool days and share them with you. 

I hope it encourages you and inspires you in your own homeschooling journey. 

Xo, 

Lauren 

I SOLD ALL OF MY KIDS' YOTO PLAYERS

 I sold all of my kids' Yoto players.

For a LONG time before I bought them, I researched them over and over.  My first thought was always "This seems way too complicated."  Eventually, I convinced myself I must be overthinking it...so I bought them. 

For the next few years, I tried to make them work.  But I never could.  Not because they're a bad product and not because my kids didn't enjoy them.  I sold them because I couldn't keep up with them. 

...charging the players, keeping up with all of the cards, making new cards, learning MP3 files, keeping track of it all.  It didn't make my life better, easier, or more joyful...anytime I had to deal with them all I felt was dread and guilt.

About a year ago, I bought each of my older kids as CD player for their bedroom and a portable CD player for in the car.  The little ones are getting a CD player in the school room.

We gave them Nathan's and my old CDs, started checking out audiobooks from the library, and they've slowly started collecting their favorite soundtracks, Adventures in Odyssey, and Patch the Pirate CDs, etc.  One of their favorite things now is digging through the CD section at Goodwill to see what treasures they can find. 

This isn't an anti-Yoto post.  I actually think Yoto is a wonderful company with a great concept.  

This is a post about permission. 

Permission to let go of things that aren't serving your family.  Permission to stop forcing something just because everyone else seems to love it.  Permission to do things differently.  

For me as the mother...things need to be simple.  Things need to be uncomplicated.  They need to be easy to manage.  If something feels like one more things I have to keep up with, eventually I won't keep up with it.  

Since coming home from the hospital after my miscarriage in June, I've been ruthlessly decluttering our home.  Not because these things are bad.  But because I've been asking myself the same questions over and over...

Does this make my life easier?  Does this bring me joy?  Or do I feel a sense of dread every time I have to deal with it?

If it doesn't bring me joy...if it's not easy to manage...if I don't need it in this season and won't need it again anytime soon...I've been letting it go.

And honestly...that has been incredibly freeing. 

Where Have I Been?

Hello friends...The last time I wrote here, we were celebrating our first Christmas in the RV. 

Several years have passed...a lot has changed...and a lot has remained the same.

James and Fionna were just a couple months old. We were living in a  tiny space with 8 children, (multiple sets of twins,) trying to find land in the country.

Life kept going even though I wasn't posting here.

I stopped writing here. Not because I stopped loving this space...but because my focus shifted away from long form writing for a season.  I poured energy into growing on Instagram.  I listened to the voices saying blogging was dead.  I thought maybe long-form writing didn't matter anymore.

But over the last few months, I've realized something...it matters to me.   Whether it's the main way people consume content or not- I love writing in this space. 

I love slowing down.  I love documenting our days in more than captions.  I love finishing a post and knowing it holds a full thought.  

Blogging brings me joy.  And that's a season to return to. 

Since that post...

We were pregnant with our third set of twins.

We miscarried one.

We moved out of the RV.  We bought a house out in the country on 3 acres.

We miscarried again.

We’ve been living in the country for two years now.

The babies grew.

The older kids grew taller.

Homeschool continued.

Our days filled out in new ways.

There were seasons of pregnancy and postpartum.

Seasons of grief. Seasons of great joy.

Seasons of adjusting and rebuilding.

 One thing that stayed steady was how we ran our home.

We still made beds every morning.

We still cleaned up after every meal.

We still reset before leaving the house.

We still protected quiet time.

We still homeschooled at the table.

Even in the RV.

Even during moves.

Even when life felt uncertain.

The rhythms held.

Over the past few months I’ve been writing more intentionally.  Not because our life suddenly changed...but because I began to see more clearly what has stayed the same.

The rhythms.

The steadiness.

The way our home runs quietly in the background of everything else.

I’ll still be sharing our days here.

Homeschool moments.

Ordinary dinners.

Little snapshots of life with nine children.

But I’ll also be putting language to the systems that carry us...

the ones that have held through moves, pregnancy, grief, and growth.

That’s where I’ve been. Living it. Refining it.

And slowly preparing to share it more fully.

If you’ve been here since the RV days or longer, thank you.

If you’re new, welcome...I’m glad you’re here.

You can read my updated ABOUT ME page HERE or my updated MEET THE CLAN page HERE