Today we're talking about… learning styles.

Let’s just go ahead and say it — figuring out how your kid learns can feel like a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a tantrum. One day they love worksheets. The next day they sob over a pencil like it betrayed them. The third their recall over a book they just read was the best you've ever heard! But then the following day they can't read.

If you’ve been wondering:
“Do I have a visual learner? Or auditory? Or maybe they just learn by osmosis while chewing on a crayon?”

You’re not alone.

We’ve been there. Honestly, we’re still there sometimes. 😅 But here’s what I’ve been learning the messy, slow way — your kid does have a natural way they take in information. And when you pay attention to it (instead of just doing what the book says)... things just click more.

👀 Visual Learners

These are the kids who love pictures, charts, color-coded anything. They might:

• Love flipping through picture books
• Be drawn to diagrams, maps, or doodles
• Remember what they saw on the page

What helps:

• Colorful books
• Visual schedules
• YouTube videos or animations
• Highlighters (so many highlighters)

Curriculum Ideas: 

• The Good and The Beautiful
• Apologia Science
• Math-U-See
• All About Reading/All About Spelling
• Sonlight

👂 Auditory Learners

These kiddos are all about sound. They remember what they heard, not what they read. They might:

• Repeat things out loud to themselves
• Love music, rhymes, or read-alouds
• Struggle with written instructions but totally get it when you explain it out loud

What helps:

• Audio books
• Singing songs for memorization
• Talking through concepts
• Read-alouds (even for older kids!)

Curriculum ideas:

• Classical Conversations ( Especially Foundations)
• Story of the World
• IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing)
• Compass Classroom
• Veritas Press (Self Paced)

✋ Kinesthetic Learners

These are the movers. The touchers. The kids who have to get their hands on something to figure it out.
They might:

• Wiggle constantly
• Build, climb, act things out
• Remember what they did, not what they saw or heard

What helps:

• Hands-on activities
• Flashcards they can move
• Acting things out
• Drawing while listening

Curriculum ideas

• Handwriting Without Tears
• RightStart Math
• Gather Round Homeschool
• Five in a Row
• Real Science Odyssey

So How Do You Figure Out What They Are?

Here’s what worked for us: Just… watch them. Seriously. Don’t overthink it. Sit back and notice:

• What are they drawn to?
• When do they light up?
• What frustrates them?

And spoiler: most kids are a mix.

Mine? Totally auditory and kinesthetic. So we do lots of fidget toys and songs with hand movements and sometimes snacks. Because why not.

You don’t have to put your kid in a box. You’re just figuring out what helps them connect with the material better. And that’s not cheating. That’s teaching.

Final Thought:There’s no perfect style. No perfect curriculum. No perfect anything. Just a mama doing her best with the kids God gave her.

So take a breath. Watch your child. Adjust as you go.

You’re doing better than you think.
—Lori 💛

To know God and to make Him known

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Ok so this is an essay I wrote for an application I filled out. My son does Classical Conversations and we are starting the process of forming our own community. A part of that process is my applying for a community director role to be able to form a CC community. 

I have two main observations from Dorothy Sayers essay. The first, is, that it does absolutely blow my mind just how relevant her essay is to today. And while, I would like to think she was an alarmist in how the education system was dying at the time, we can see the proof of its death over the last 2 generations since she wrote her essay. Her warning “Christian ethics which are so rooted in their (Atheists, unsaved,etc) unconscious assumptions that it never occurs to them to question it. But one cannot live on capital for ever. A tradition, however firmly rooted, if it is never watered, though it dies hard, yet in the end it dies” forces you to accept that the tradition of learning from before is dead.

The problem with modern education is that students are simply not taught how to learn. By learning each subject in isolation, our youth never see how learning and knowledge are so inner-connected. And by the removal of Christ from our learning, they never see how all learning and knowledge is actually coming from God himself.

My second observation after reading this essay, and also about who just was Dorothy Sayers, I believe she would loathe being compared to Charlotte Mason and what Mason has done for education. Sayers never claimed we needed to start with the classical tradition anew, she proposed we go back 300 years and pick up where we left off with some modifications. Those modifications were about starting to teach children who are younger to learn. She still saw the child as a whole person capable of learning for themselves. 

The Trivium is not the curriculum. It is the tool. All persons are capable of learning anything when we teach them the trivium. In order to understand any subject, we must understand grammar first. In order to learn the grammar of anything we must observe and remember what we are learning. The second phase of learning is the dialectic stage. This is where students learn to reason what it is they’re learning. And then finally there is the Rhetoric stage, where students present and defend their thoughts. Learning to tackle their subjects in this manner sets them up to actually be life-long learners.

What do you think? Do you agree Dorothy would hate being compared to Mason today the way she has? Let me know!

Lori

​To know God and to make Him known.
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Okay, so lets talk. When we first started looking into homeschooling, I legit googled:
“Is homeschooling even legal???”

Because it felt… kind of rebellious? A little scary? A little bit like am I even allowed to tell the school I'm not sending my kids in? Like seriously guys, we just moved earlier this year, and I am still nervous about sending in our first letter of intent to the local school district.  😅 I know homeschooling is legal and I'm still nervous.

So if you’re here and you’re wondering the same thing—hi. You’re not alone. And yes, the good news is:

Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states.

The slightly more complicated news is... every state has its own rules. Because why wouldn't they all have their own set of laws.

🗺️ Step 1: Check Your State Laws

Before you go downloading curriculum or printing a daily schedule (or panic buying every FB sponsored curriculum add you see for the next 6 months)... just pause and check the law in your state. The best site I’ve found for this is hslda.org/legal. You can just click your state and it breaks it down into normal-human language.

Some states are super chill—like, just write a letter of intent and you’re done. Others want a little more, like testing or portfolio reviews. But none of it is impossible.

📄 Step 2: The Basics Most People Need

Now this totally depends on your state, but here are some things that are common (but not required everywhere):

• A Letter of Intent — You just send a little note to your school district saying, “Hey, we’re homeschooling now. Thanks, bye.”
• A portfolio — This is basically a scrapbook of your child’s work. Some states want you to keep it. Some don’t care.
• An evaluator or testing — A few states want a certified teacher to look at your portfolio once a year or for your child to take a standardized test. Again, not all.

But you do not need to:

• Be a certified teacher
• Have a degree in education
• Know how to do Algebra II

You are allowed to homeschool your kids even if you forgot what PEMDAS means.
(Parentheses, Exponents… something, something. It’s fine. We’re fine.)

🙃 Step 3: Don’t Panic.

Seriously.I know it can feel overwhelming. But most of this stuff becomes second nature really quickly. When I first started, I was so afraid I’d forget a form or miss a deadline and ruin my child’s life forever. I would (Spoiler: I didn’t.) The truth is, most school districts are used to homeschoolers and the process is actually super doable once you get into it. And for the ones that aren't, stick to what you legally know. Those laws come from the state, not from the local school district. Just because they say something is different from the law doesn't automatically make them right.

And honestly? A lot of this is just noise at the beginning.If you can figure out:

• What your state needs from you
• What your kid needs from you

Then everything else becomes manageable.

You do not have to have it all figured out today. Just take one step at a time. You are allowed to learn as you go. This is a part of redeeming your own education. This is the real life application of that.

And I’ll say this too, because maybe someone needs to hear it: You are not under-qualified to teach your child. No matter what your high school GPA was. No matter if you finished college. No matter what your mother-in-law says. God gave you these kids, on this journey, for a reason.

You're doing better than you think. And I'm right here, cheering you on.

—Lori 💛

To Know God and to Make Him Known

Okay, real talk? I used to think a “real homeschool routine” meant color-coded blocks and laminated checklists and waking up at 6:00 AM with a smile.

                                                Spoiler: it doesn’t. And I don’t. 😅

I’ve tried to make quite a few versions of “the perfect daily homeschool schedule” and honestly… most of them lasted about a week. Two weeks if I was in a Pinterest mood. I'm not very good with sticking to a super strict schedule. The more detailed I've made them, the easier it seemed to fail.

But I’ve learned a few things the hard way (is there any other way?) and I wanted to share what’s working for us right now. Because building a homeschool routine that actually works is less about structure and more about grace.

                                                      1. Start With Anchors, Not Hours

I don’t plan by the clock. I plan more by the moments of the day. We eat breakfast — then we do our first subject. We clean up lunch and the youngest goes down for a nap — then it’s read-aloud time. Dinner’s in the oven — that’s when I finally do the dishes I've ignored all day. Routines built around natural parts of the day feel way easier to stick to.
 
                                             2. Pick 3 Priorities (And Let the Rest Be Bonus)

Some days we get math, reading, and CC memory work done. Some days it’s just math and a meltdown... If I’ve hit our 3 core things, I call it a win. I do also try to make sure Sam reads at least 1 book by himself at bedtime, before he goes to sleep.

The extras? Art, music, baking, nature walks — they happen when they happen. And they’re lovely. But they’re not required for me to feel like “we did school.” And I feel like when you let these things happen more naturally, they tend to happen more often.

                                                            3. Make Room for Life

Doctor’s appointments, toddler chaos, weird moods, cereal for dinner — they ALL count. Your homeschool routine isn’t meant to replace real life. It’s meant to fit inside it. 

One big thing I do, is I purposely do not make any plans for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This allows us to have more spontaneity for fun things in our routine.

                                                            4. Keep It Short and Sweet

Little kids don’t need hours of seat work. And you know big kids don’t either, honestly. Short lessons, movement breaks, snacks, and grace. Lots of grace. You know when your kids need a break. Don't feel like you have to keep pushing them to finish something just because you have to.

It really is ok if you’re still figuring it out how to plan your homeschool day (like I am every year, honestly), you’re not behind. You’re just building something real. Something sustainable. And something that leaves space for both learning and living.

You’ve got this. ❤️

Lori

To Know God and To Make Him Known

Starting to homeschool can feel so overwhelming, especially when you're staring at hundreds of curriculum options. If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How do I know what will actually work for my child?”, you’re not alone. While there isn’t a straightforward answer on how to find the curriculum that is best for your child, the secret to finding the right one often lies in understanding your child’s learning style. Once you know how your child learns best, choosing curriculum becomes less stressful and more successful.

1: Observe How Your Child Learns Naturally 

Before you buy anything, take a few weeks to simply observe. Watch how your child engages with the world. Here are some prompts to consider:

• Do they love listening to audiobooks or songs? They may be an auditory learner.
• Do they need to see pictures, charts, or read instructions to understand? Likely a visual learner.
• Do they learn best by building, moving, or doing things hands-on? That's a kinesthetic learner.

Understanding this can help you avoid buying a curriculum that doesn’t match their strengths.

2: Match Curriculum to Learning Style

Once you’ve identified your child’s learning style, look for curriculum that aligns with it:

• Visual Learners: Look for colorful textbooks, graphic organizers, video lessons, and illustrated stories. Picking a curriculum that is more book style versus being online.
• Auditory Learners: Choose programs with strong read-aloud components, audiobooks, and songs. This is where an on-line program may be more beneficial to your child.
• Kinesthetic Learners: Seek out hands-on projects, experiments, unit studies, and curricula that integrate movement. There are some fantastic nature-based curriculums out there that encourage movement and outdoors to benefit this type of learner. 

Pro Tip: Many kids are a mix of these! Don’t be afraid to blend resources. Seriously almost every curriculum company allows you to buy products a-la carte and MANY homeschool families do this.

3: Set Realistic Expectations (For You and Your Child)

Even the “perfect” curriculum will need adjusting. Your child may love one subject and resist another. That’s normal. Instead of looking for a one-size-fits-all program, focus on flexibility.
How to do that is:

• Is it easy to modify?
• Can I skip or substitute parts?
• Does it allow room for creativity and pacing?

Your confidence in knowing you find the right tools will grow as you learn to adapt the curriculum to your child—not the other way around.

4: Try Before You Buy (If Possible)

Many homeschool publishers offer samples, free trials, or YouTube reviews. Use them! This gives you a sneak peek at how your child might respond.

• Have your child watch a sample video or read a short lesson.
• Ask how they felt: Was it boring? Fun? Confusing?
• Watch their body language—sometimes that tells you more than words!

5: Trust Yourself

You don’t need a teaching degree to choose the right curriculum—you need a willing heart and a watchful eye. You know your child better than anyone else.

If something isn’t working, you can change it. That’s the beauty of homeschooling.

Choosing the right homeschool curriculum isn’t about finding the most expensive or most popular one. It’s about choosing what works for your child. By understanding their learning style and starting with their strengths, you’re setting up your homeschool for success.
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Was this helpful but you want a more in-depth look into figuring out how to homeschool? Check out my eBook How to Start Homeschooling With the End in Mind. Click below to get your copy today!

And remember: you’re doing a great job, just remember to keeping one step at a time.

Lori
To Know God and to Make Him Known

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