Homeschool Stories
Homeschooling is awesome! It gets both easier and harder, but the rewards grow and grow. Homeschooling allows for a lot of freedom in the way you and your child learn. Yes, that's right — parents learn a lot, too. Maybe you forgot some math or never learned about pangolins or why Istanbul is no longer called Constantinople.
We’ve gathered some of our best homeschooling stories for you to explore. We've got loads of them! In fact, most of our entire Martin & Sylvia series revolves around homeschooling and life learning. We hope you enjoy these darling stories — no matter what schooling path you are on!
(Sparkle tip: for even more homeschool support check out Homeschooling 101 from our friend Jamie Martin over at Simple Homeschool.)
A Map of the Year
This is the perfect story when you need to do some family visioning and planning — whether for a season or a school year or even for a family trip or special event.
In the story, the Martin and Sylvia's family wants to do some planning for their homeschool year — and they use a very clever and creative method to get their ideas on paper: A Map of the Year!
Part One: What to Do on Thursdays
This story offers both ideas and inspiration for making a practice of exploring out-of-doors, whether you want to create a formal "nature school" or just build a rhythm of regular outdoor adventures. It also highlights the power of intention-setting!
In this story, Momma, brother, and sister decide they want to dedicate one day a week for outside "nature school" and they set intentions about it. Soon they have a plan that suits both children's differing needs.
A Better Bird Feeder
This story encourages children to think outside the box and to use their power of observation to build new ideas.
In this story, Martin and Sylvia are curious why bird feeders don't look like anything in the natural world. They set about to learn how birds eat and to design their own "better bird feeder."
Puppy School
This story illustrates the power of play when it comes to learning an important lesson!
In this episode, we focus on Winnie the Puppy. Everyone loves little Winnie, Sergeant's puppy assistant, but she does have some important lessons to learn. The Junkyard friends do their best to guide her: Mr. Flinch tries to teach her manners and Spiro tries to teach her how to walk in a straight line. But it's Sally the chipmunk who knows exactly how to teach a puppy.
Loose Tooth
This story gives permission to families to take up learning in their own way and inspires educators and caregivers to watch for ways children indicate they are ready for the next level of learning. (It also helps children who might have concerns over a loose tooth! That milestone means the child is growing!)
In the story, Momma and Daddy have a special way of telling when they are ready for certain lessons, noticing when they show an interest in a particular subject. (Also something unexpected happens — a loose tooth!)
Using Sparkle Stories in Your Homeschool Curriculum
"I wanted to share how much our boys loved the Martin & Sylvia weekly Nature School stories — a huge hit and inspiring a significant change to our homeschool rhythm to include something similar. Thank you.”
~ The Lloyd family
"I just wanted to send a quick note letting you know how much our family has cherished Sparkle Stories over the last two years.
At first, Sparkle Stories were just a fun way to pass the time when my son needed a little calm during a busy day. But during the pandemic when school shut down and I suddenly found myself homeschooling a preschooler and an infant, your stories truly saved our family. I developed a curriculum around the Martin & Sylvia stories and used the Nature School series as a guide for our ‘summer camp’ at home."~ Ali Stern, Cleveland Ohio
Back to School Stories for Homeschool Families
The number of children schooled at home is on the rise. Parents, teachers, and students are looking for more content about what life is like in a homeschool family. Well, there are as many models as there are families, but here are a few stories to offer some perspective!
How to Fly
This story begins one morning when Martin asks Momma, "Why is there school?" Momma then tries to explain that school teaches how to answer questions in lots of different ways. When Martin asks, "Well, how do birds fly?" Momma suggests that they all try to answer the question in their own way. Momma chooses to answer it by drawing, Daddy by study, Sylvia by building a model and Martin — by using his imagination.
School
This is a wonderful story to help introduce children to different types of education and to model learning from real life experiences.
In the story, Martin and Sylvia hear children's voices next door at the Brown's farm! When they investigate further, they find that a field trip from the local school has come to help with farm chores. Mr. Brown welcomes brother and sister as his helpers, and the two enjoy conversations with the other children about school-at-home and school-at-school.
Grit
Stream this darling tale to help cultivate a love of science and the scientific method for little ones. In this story from the Martin & Sylvia: More Adventure! Collection, Martin is excited about giving his friend Sasha a special gift: a homemade microscope. When he is faced with the actual mechanics of how to make a base and an eyepiece and a lens out of the materials he has, he nearly gives up. But then Daddy tells him that the most important thing any builder or inventor must have is grit: sticking with it, especially when things are difficult. Martin hears him and then turns to his project with new determination — and in the process, comes up with some new ideas.
The Woodshed Theater: Part One
This story is about how imagination can transform something as simple as a woodshed into a magical theater. In Part One of the story, Karl — a woodcutter friend of the family — comes to care for their forest and harvest a few trees for firewood. When he and Daddy decide that one of the trees would actually make perfect lumber, he brings his portable sawmill, and brother and sister get to watch a tree become long, wide pieces of wood. After Karl leaves, the whole family starts to work on a woodshed, built out of the wood that has just been cut!
Reading Lessons
In this story, Tandy Mouse wants to learn how to read, but she has never heard of a mouse reading. She asks Mr. Flinch to teach her, but also asks that he keep it a secret. The old possum honors her request but believes her new skill would be a benefit to the mice. Finally a fateful accident brings her lessons out in the open and she is delightfully surprised by the response.
Our Favorite Online and Offline Homeschool Resources
Homeschooling can be very fluid and flexible. Many of us like to call it life learning. What works for one family might not work for another. There are many approaches and philosophies, from “unschooling” to Waldorf or Waldorf-inspired learning, from School-at Home to Montessori, and many others.
It’s not uncommon for parents to choose the aspects from one or two approaches that work best for their unique situations, routines, and families — and you can too! You might find yourself in love with homeschooling! With homeschooling, everyday is a new journey and you never know where your child's interests will lead you. Here are some online and offline resources to help inspire and guide you if you are thinking about trying or are already in the thick of homeschooling.
Websites: Sparkle Stories Waldorf Essentials Mud Puddles to Meteors Acorn Naturalists Waldorfish Tanglewood Hollow Home Science Tools
Homeschooling Blogs: Simple Homeschool Rachel Wolf | Clean Homeschool Unrefined The Magic Onions The Artful Parent
Books: Home Grown by Ben Hewitt Free to Learn by Peter Grey How Children Learn by John Holt Project Based Homeschooling by Lori Pickert Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv Vitamin N by Richard Louv Playful Learning by Mariah Bruehl
& For more at-home learning inspiration, check out this playlist: "Featured Stories: Stories about Learning at Home"
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About the Author
Jessica Pounds
Jessica is a content creator, writer, strategist, and vintage pyrex collector. She has a passion for facilitating authentic connection, whether that's through her work at Sparkle Stories or her songwriting.
