If you follow my Instagram, you might know that we decided to homeschool this year for a variety of reasons. I have been wanting to do this since before kindergarten but I wasn’t sure if I could handle working AND homeschooling. So after a not so great year last year we decided to try homeschooling over the summer and see if it would be feasible. We enrolled in a homeschool charter summer school and spent our days on field trips, reading books, practicing our writing and math skills, and learning how to work side by side so we could both finish our tasks at hand. I switched up my schedule to photograph families and newborns on weekends or days my husband works from home, and started editing with the kiddo sitting at my desk next to me.

After a month and a half we made the scary/exciting decision to enroll in a homeschool charter for the full school year. We tried to get into a charter that was local to the East Bay so the kiddo could take in person classes easily but we were waitlisted. Instead we decided to go with a charter that serves the East Bay but doesn’t have a resource center nearby. She can still take some in person classes through local vendors but it’s not quite the same experience. The good news is, we’re still on the waitlist for the East Bay school and have our fingers crossed that we can just transfer over since both schools are through the same parent school.

I’ve been trying to document some of our homeschool adventures, and I brought my big camera on a field trip to the California Academy of Sciences. The last time we visited the line to the rainforest was bonkers so we skipped it. This visit, we arrived right at opening so we had a prime spot at the head of the line. We had a great time learning about the different animals and took notes and drew pictures to remind us of our visit. It’s been really fun learning together, and honestly, I really missed having my sidekick around the past year.

As of right now, we’re trying to get into the groove and find a rhythm to our days. Summer was a bit different since we didn’t have to show nearly as much work as for the regular school year but I’m hoping we will find our way soon. I’m thinking I might start blogging more about our homeschooling adventures and sharing our journey. It can be daunting but I’m so flippin’ excited about this path we’re on!