Homeschool Week in the Life | Our First Week Back to School 2025

Hey everybody, welcome back to my channel. Today's video is going to be the first week of homeschool vlog style. So, I thought it would be fun to bring you guys along and share what the first week of the 2025 2026 home school year looks like for us. Um, it's going to look different than it has in years past. Normally, we would kick off our home school year with like a big trip or a fun field trip on the first day or something like really unique. Um, unfortunately, that's not going to happen. So, we had a lot of like outside commitments that were already scheduled that are happening. So, we are going on a field trip on Friday, but we will be home Monday through Thursday because we have like classes that are scheduled and happening and appointments that we have to be at. So, it's going to look a little different than it has years past, but hopefully we can still find a way to make it fun. Monday was our first official day back to home school, so we started the morning with a few simple back to school gifts to make it feel special. Emily opened some new graphic novels, a couple of fresh games we'll rotate into our shelves, and a few creative items like puzzles, Legos, and some new fidgets to help her focus while learning this year. Once she had a chance to look through everything, we sat down together and walked through her curriculum for the year. Nothing formal, just a quick overview so she could get a feel for the rhythm and structure. We logged into any online platform she'll be using, check passwords, and made sure everything worked smoothly so there wouldn't be any surprises later. After that, we did a a bridged basket time to ease back into our routine. We read two chapters from How Teens Win by John Auff, which she picked as her personal growth book to start the year. Then we jumped into our unit study readaloud, The Red Pyramid from Cane Chronicles. I read two chapters aloud while she colored, which has become her go-to way to stay engaged. We also stepped outside to take her traditional first day of school picture. We've taken one every year since she was little, and even though she's getting older, it's still something we both enjoy looking back on. She wrapped up the day with a Dungeons and Dragons class on out school, which is a great creative outlet and social time for her. Then, to celebrate the new school year, we made our own pizzas for dinner. It wasn't a flashy first day, but it was a solid start and it felt like us. Tuesday started with a discovery deck card from the ancient Egypt set. Emily learned about the Rosetta Stone, which led to a short conversation about why it was such a big deal for translating hieroglyphics. She likes when history ties into something she can picture or connect to a story. After that, she tackled a Dennis algebra lesson. She worked independently through the material and checked her answers with the solutions manual, which is one of the reasons we love this program. It gives her more ownership over her math this year, and it lets her work at her own pace. Afterwards, we moved into basket time and we managed to make it through the whole thing today. We read from a year of positive thinking for teens, did this day in history, five science facts a day, and an animal a day. Our loop subject was manners, so we pulled out modern manners for teens. We also read one chapter from How Teens Win and two chapters from the red pyramid. Emily worked on some clay creations while I read. She was making a birthday present for her cousin. And it was a fun way to keep her hands busy during our readalouds. After lunch, we had an eye appointment, just routine checkups, and in classic Emily fashion, she picked the exact same glasses she already had. We laughed about it, but hey, when you know what works, you stick with it. Later that afternoon, we worked on her summer newsletter. She used the template that we created in Canva, updated the photos and text, and personalized it for family and friends. Then we printed it out, stuffed the envelopes, and got it all ready for the mailbox. It was a productive day, but also one that had a nice rhythm to it. Not too rushed and with space for creativity. Wednesday started out with Emily super excited to finish a graphic novel that she'd been reading called The Cartoonist Club. She couldn't wait to get to the ending, and once she finished, she was immediately inspired to start making one of her own. So, I made the call to set aside our regular homeschool plans for the day and let her dive into creative writing and illustration instead. That's something we try to prioritize when we can. If she's motivated and ready to create, especially something like a comic or a story she came up with herself, I do whatever I can to make space for it. She pulled out her sketchbook and spent most of the morning planning out panels, characters, and the story line. Around lunch, we headed out to guitar practice, but even on the drive, we kept the learning going. We listen to the red pyramid on audiobook in the car. One chapter on the way there and one on the way home. That's one of the ways we try to make use of those transition and times in the car, especially when we're really into a readaloud. Later that afternoon, once we got home, she and Kevin did their STEM time together. They decided to open one of the hackpack subscription boxes, and this one happened to be a programmable sand garden. It was a really cool setup. They could choose from pre-programmed patterns or use a joystick to draw in the sand manually, which added a fun hands-on twist. Emily really enjoyed it, and honestly, I think Kevin did, too. It wasn't necessarily a traditional homeschool day, but it was packed with creativity, reading, music, and hands-on problem solving, which is honestly what we hope for most days. Thursday kicked off with some independent work for Emily. She pulled a card from the Ancient Egypt discovery deck and learned more about King Tut. Then she worked through a Dennis algebra lesson and checked her answers with the solution manual. Afterwards, she read from her new graphic novel, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero's Journey, just for fun before we moved into our shared learning time. We got through a full basket time again today, which included a year of positive thinking for teens, this day in history, five science facts a day, an animal a day, and our loop subject for today was logic. So, we worked through a section from the art of argument. Then we read one chapter of How Teens Win and two chapters from the Red Pyramid. Emily colored while I read, which is pretty much part of our routine at this point. After that, Emily and I decided to pull out fix it grammar, which was something that she hadn't touched since last school year. She wanted to do just a little, but she ended up loving the story and wanted to keep going. So, we worked together through week 1, days 1, 2, 3, and four in a single setting. definitely wasn't the plan, but sometimes the momentum is there and it just makes sense to follow it. We still had time left before we wrapped up for the day, so we finished the day with a few quick games together. We played Canoodle Gravity, Top Trump's Ancient Egypt, and a Harry Potter edition of Spot It. Emily beat me two out of three games, which seems to be her usual win rate around here lately. To wrap up our first week back to homechool, we planned something fun and a little different, a field trip to Wild Florida. It was our first time visiting, so everything was brand new to us, and we weren't totally sure what to expect, but it ended up being such a cool way to end the week. We started with the drive-thru safari, which takes you through 4 miles of natural Florida landscape. We rolled the windows down and took our time as we drove. No rush, just stopping to watch the animals as we went. We saw giraffes, zebras, antelope, bison, sheep, and so many others. It was peaceful and being able to observe everything from inside our own car made it feel relaxed and low pressure but still super exciting. After the safari, we explored the Gator Park which had a huge variety of alligators and crocodiles. Emily was fascinated by the different sizes and species and honestly there were way more than we expected to see in one place. Then we moved on to the big surprises I had planned. Two animal encounters that Emily didn't know about. The first one was the capiara encounter. We all knew that capiaras were the largest rodent in the world, but we didn't fully realize just how big they are until we were standing right next to them. Better yet, until they were in your lap. They were incredibly sweet and social. We got to hand feed them, pet them, and spend a little time just observing their behavior up close. After that, we had the chance to step inside the ring-tailed lemur enclosure. We fed them grapes while they climbed around us, jumped from shelf to shelf, and explored everything nearby. They were full of personality, and it didn't take long before Emily and I decided that we now want pet lemurs. Even though we fully understand that might not be happening, we still want it, and we're adding them to our wish list. It was a laid-back exciting way to finish out our first week. Tons of fresh air, animals, and memory making, plus a lot of learning. It was definitely one of the highlights of our first week back to school.