It is back-to-school season, and I am so excited, particularly for my 11-year-old. We will be homeschooling again, and this is the first year I am creating tools for sixth grade!
The goal for Inspirus has always been to diversify the pages of all books: picture books, baby books, chapter books, textbooks, workbooks, and beyond. It just made sense to start with kindergarten and work my way up through the grades. What I failed to see is that I am doing this all for my kids first. Going through all grades in order misses the mark for my most important customers: My children.
So, I did a little pivot, and I’m building most of our curricula for sixth grade and working on pre-k for the littles. This year, Thomas will be learning in trimesters – two months on, one month off.
In the first trimester, we are talking about all the ancients: Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mali, Inca, and maybe adding in ancient Japan. With the help of my teacher team, we’ve created texts, quizzes, projects, tests, and resource guides. And I finally get to use my Financial Literacy and African American History curricula with him!
For Tyler and Taylor, we are building a flexible preschool system full of printouts and videos to accompany the content – alphabet flashcards, paper dolls of everyday heroes, writing sheets, posters, and so much more.
I am most looking forward to using all that I’ve created. Every year, I buy tools, kits, and bundles, only to end up frustrated because I know I could make something better. I finally decided to do it, and I am so proud of myself for taking this leap to provide better for my kids and yours.
Our boxes of school supplies arrived in Japan last week, so I’ve been setting up our homeschool areas and looking for systems that work for us. I used to have a homeschool room in our apartment but decided to give it up for a playroom. With two under three, I think we’d all rather have a dedicated space for play. Plus, I am avid about them learning through play!
This also gives them the chance to learn outside the box. They can learn the same (or maybe even better) from the kitchen table, living room floor, or a picnic blanket at the park. Homeschool spaces are cute, especially for the littles, but it has limited our idea of what “school” looks like and that was the whole point of doing it our way in the first place.
I still have a few things to order. Thank God for Amazon! I have to pay a hefty shipping and tariff rate, but I got all I could in our ten bags and five boxes.
I am excited to share more about what it looks like to homeschool our kids while abroad and build a diverse, inclusive curriculum that meets our needs. I would love to connect with you on Instagram to hear more about what you’d like to know! We live a unique lifestyle that challenges the norms, and I love (almost) every second of it.
Happy 2022-23 school year!