Kody Hanner
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Do you sometimes feel like the only homesteading homeschooler out there?
I can tell you right now that that is the farthest thing from the truth. There are so many great homesteading homeschoolers out there. Over the years I have taken a plethora of valuable lessons from many of these amazing families that put themselves out there to share their stories.
My approach to homeschooling on the homestead
The way we homeschool is different than many due to how we integrate homesteading into our homeschool. When it comes to our kid’s core subjects, they are required to complete their weeks’ worth of math, language arts, history, science, and anything else that we might be studying at the time. As for the rest of our time, we use our homestead to teach our kids agriculture, entrepreneurship, public speaking, money management, community service, problem solving, customer service, and literally the list goes on.
We do this by encouraging our kids to make executive decisions on a regular basis. This isn’t something that we just woke up one morning and decided to have our kids make decisions that were beyond their abilities. In fact, our children all have executive functioning issues due to ADHD or Autism. So, we started using things like our research journals, planner pages, and guided management roles.
How we structured this learning model
I have an extensive agriculture background, both on the family farm setting and in commercial agriculture. My husband has a military background. When we met, we were faced with the challenge of raising and schooling four kids in a blended family that all have neurologic disorders. I have researched both executive functioning methods and how other homesteaders teach their kids. Then combined that with our backgrounds to create a method that feels comfortable to us. In this, I have seen our children blossom in ways I have never imagined.
At this point, not only I am I creating homeschool curriculums on homesteading, I am providing guidance through posts and printables in hopes that our experiences can help others the way our favorite homeschooling homesteaders that helped us.
5 Homesteading Homeschoolers You Should Be Following
1. Jill Winger (Old Fashioned on Purpose)
I have really enjoyed listening to Jill’s podcast over the last couple of years. She talks about homesteading, how she homeschools her kids, entrepreneurial endeavors and more recently-self sustainability.
2. Michelle Visser (Souly Rested)
I had the honor of speaking with Michelle at the Homesteaders of America Conference this last last fall (as well as Jill Winger). We had a really nice conversation about homeschooling and I did her 3-day course “How to homeschool kids that change the world”.
3. Mother Earth News
This site has a wonderful article about learning how to homeschool in the trying times that we have faced over the last few years.
Plus! Mother Earth News has been the go to site for homesteading and natural living for years.
Click here for a one year subscription!
4. Kate Schat (Venison for Dinner)
So I just love Kates message. I heard her first on Jill Winger’s podcast, and to be honest I can’t remember if she actually homeschools or not. What I do know is that her philosophies on raising kids on the homestead is excellent.
5. An Off-Grid Life
I haven’t dug too much into their site, but I love what they have to say about homeschool. Plus on top of their great off-grid information, they have some really fun little unit studies that I think are important for the kids to learn about.
BONUS 6: Kody Hanner (Me!) Homemade Revelation
We have been a homeschool family since I started my site 5 years ago. However, over the last year, I have really been able to see my direction. Which is to help you and kids kids grow their own food and grow as a person with The Homestead Education!
2 Comments
Mellissa
Josh & Carolyn at Homesteading Family!
Sadie
We are a homesteading homeschooling family too. It’s so nice to be able to hear others’ stories about their experiences with homeschooling while homesteading! I think it’s really cool that you’re creating homeschool curriculum! Thanks for sharing!