Meet 5 Families from Alabama

Jerusha of Opelika, Alabama

• Jerusha - mom
• Nate - dad, ESL instructor
• Z - son, loves outdoors, whittling, and building
• M - daughter, loves babies, crafts,and baking

Owners of a crazy husky and 2 eager guinea pigs.

 

Christina of Alabama

I'm a stay-at-home mom. My husband Michael is in the US Military. We have 2 girls, Mackenzie and Amara, as well as 2 cats (Baer and Jynx) and a dog (Roxy).

 

Jennifer C. of Alabama State

Jeffry, Jennifer, Addison, Ryan, and Aubrie. Dad works as a logistics coordinator. Mom works for Chick-fil-A.  We love doing taekwondo and dance.

 

Faith of Alabama

• Mom - library science
• Dad - information technology
• Keiran - kindergarten, <3’s robots
• Konnor - preschool, <3’s animals
• Cat

 

Kellee of Alabama

• Kellee - mom
• Kyle - dad, preacher
• Brody - 9, loves breakdance, guitar, and soccer
• Karlee - 7, loves dance and art
• Connor - 5, loves breakdance and basketball
• Hayden - 2, loves tumbling and Frozen

 

How do you Timberdoodle?

Jerusha: First heard from other homeschoolers. Still working on incorporating it into our days. Just have a few activities here and there.

Christina: We first heard of Timberdoodle through a close friend who homeschooled her kiddos. We love the math curriculum. It has to be our favorite and easiest to understand math! We school for about 4 hours a day, using Timberdoodle for every subject aside from science.

Jennifer: I heard about Timberdoodle from a friend at church who homeschools. I love the All About Reading/Spelling curriculums! It is easy to use with all three of my kids in their various grades and abilities.

Faith:  I found Timberdoodle with a Google search. Our favorites are Three Little Piggies logic game and Alphabet Bingo. We play them as a family in the evening.

Kellee: I first heard of Timberdoodle from a fellow homeschooling mom. My favorite product is the First Language Lessons curriculum. My kids love Story of the World, the Scrunch Maps, and anything science. We try to pull out the Scrunch Maps often to look up places we find in our lessons or books we are reading.

 

Tell us about a typical school day at your house.

Jerusha: We get started between 9:00 and 10:00 depending on the day and my husband's teaching schedule. We cover the basics of reading, writing, math every day. History and science 4 days a week. Some chores are completed before school and a few are pre-dinner responsibilities.

Christina: We start schooling at around 9:30 a.m. and finish around 2:30 on a normal day. One day a week we have other extracurricular activities, so it's our light day. We focus on math, science, history, language arts, spelling, and handwriting. Chores are saved for after dinner mostly.

Jennifer: We typically start our day between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. We do math, reading, and writing every day. We do history two days a week and science on Fridays. We try to have all work done by lunch time and then do chores before we head out to extracurricular activities.

Faith: We start around 10:00. We cover math and reading them rotate non-essential (for kindergarten) subjects as we are interested. We do chores and cook.

Kellee: We have a toddler, so schooling usually happens in between lunch and dinner or any afternoon activities. We do our schooling by subject so we’ll do all the weeks’ math in one sitting before moving to the next subject. They have the morning to do any chores they need to finish and we make sure to feed them lunch before we start because they always seem to become hungry the minute I mention school work. ;)

 

If we peeked inside your home on a random Wednesday afternoon, what would we see?

Jerusha: An empty home as my daughter has a homeschool dance class on that afternoon which means it is usually grocery run day either before or after.

Christina: An 11-year-old doing her schoolwork, and maybe a little chaos.

Jennifer: Nobody at home. I work on Wednesday evenings, and my daughters have dance classes.

Faith: Lots of play.

Kellee: One napping toddler, one kid doing math lessons on a computer, one kid learning to read, and another practicing handwriting or thinking skills.

 

If you could take your family anywhere you wanted for vacation where would you go?

Jerusha: Bosnia.

Christina: Germany.

Jennifer: On a road trip. There is a route that takes you through all 48 connected states.

Kellee: Cruise to Europe, Alaska, or Hawaii.

 

What books have you read over and over?

Jerusha: 

• James Herriot
• Gene Stratton Porter
• Laura Ingalls Wilder

Christina: Harry Potter.

Jennifer: Anything by Mary Higgins Clark.

Kellee: 

• Harry Potter
• Twilight
• Jodi Picoult books
• Nicholas Sparks books.

 

What dietary challenges does your family face?

Jerusha: None other than trying to eat healthy.

Christina: None really. Just try to avoid too much sugar.

Jennifer: We have a busy schedule and have to eat out a lot. I try to focus on keeping healthy food stocked at home for snacks and meals when we are home.

Kellee: We don’t have any dietary challenges.

 

What tips do you have for surviving a hard day?

Jerusha: Take a “timeout,” put on uplifting music, have a treat and tea, go outside!

Christina: Coffee. Lots of coffee.

Jennifer: Take a bath. Grab a cup of coffee and a book.

Kellee: Coffee, relaxing bath, funny show, good book, chocolate.

 

What’s something your child has done that thrilled your soul?

Jerusha: Making right choice when it wasn’t easy and leaving love notes for others.

Christina: Helped others.

Kellee: When my 9-year-old decided he wanted to learn guitar so he saved up birthday and Christmas money until he was able to buy it himself. Since he worked so hard for it, he takes good care of it and loves to learn how to play.

 

How does your family celebrate birthdays?

Jerusha: Special breakfast with a present. No chores. Dinner and dessert of choice. Presents.

Christina: Everyone gets a special birthday dinner at a place of their choosing.

Jennifer: We let the birthday kid decide where dinner will be. They have a birthday party too.

Kellee: Always with cake and family and good friends. Sometimes we have a party, other times we go out to dinner, or go on a special play date to somewhere fun like bowling, skating, or a jump park.

 

What have you done recently for the first time?

Jerusha: Visited Brooklyn.

Christina: Our 11-year-old went zip-lining.

Kellee: Learned a song on the piano.

 

What’s your favorite school day lunch?

Jerusha: Hard boiled eggs, homemade bread, fruit and carrots.

Christina: Tuna macaroni.

Jennifer: Turkey sandwich with baked chips and peaches.

 

How would you manage if you had to homeschool without the internet?

Jerusha: It wouldn’t change our day for the most part but I would not be able to answer the random or going deeper questions as quickly.

Christina: It would hurt our ability to research, but we'd go to the library.

Jennifer: We rarely use the internet. We google answers to random questions the kids have, but the bulk of our material is not online.

 

What tips do you have for other families?

Jerusha: Not sure...relax and enjoy your children for who they are.

Christina: Don't push too hard, remember to have fun, and breathe.

Jennifer: If you have thought about homeschooling, just give it a shot. Don’t compare what you or your child are doing to anyone else. It is okay to go at a different pace.

 

Tell us about your family’s favorite games.

Jerusha: 

• Monopoly
• Quixx
• Telestrations
• Pokie Dokie

Christina: 

• Trivial Pursuit
• Boggle
• Trekking the National Parks

Jennifer: UNO Attack is the current favorite.

 

What is your exercise routine and how often do you do it?

Jerusha: Trying to walk 3 times a week. Used to do a 30 min video 5 times a week but got out of the habit.

Christina: Walking. We try to get out at least 3 days a week.

Jennifer: I need one, but I don’t really exercise.

 

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done in your homeschool that you called a “science experiment”?

Jerusha: Left a store-bought chocolate donut on the counter for 3+ months and then tried it. And it wasn’t much different according to the kids.

 

 

What hard thing are you planning to do this year?

Jerusha: Get a better family excercise routine down. Get stronger after surgery last year for ruptured ectopic. Learn the countries of the world.

Christina: More science experiments.

Jennifer: Teach my kids Spanish.

 

What did you do just for fun with your kids recently?

Jerusha: Drove 500 miles to Indiana and saw snow fall.

Christina: 'Coffee' and library date.

Jennifer: We had a dance party in the kitchen.

 

What would you name your boat if you had one?

Jerusha: Adventure.

Christina: Ladybug.

Jennifer: Edgar Allen Poe.

 

If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?

Jerusha: To crochet.

Christina: Pottery.

Jennifer: Sign language.

 

What’s the last recipe you looked up?

Jerusha: Fortune cookies.

Christina: Garlic Butter Chicken.

 

What apps do you use the most?

Jerusha: Grocery list and weekly ads, s’mores up -chores.

Christina: Curiosity Stream, Netflix, Facebook.

 

If you could sum up your homeschool style or philosophy in one phrase what would it be?

Jerusha: Hands-on and literature-rich.

Christina: Planned, yet laid back.

 

What do your kids want to be when they grow up?

Jerusha: Whatever allows them to earn enough for life and brings them fulfillment.

Christina: 

• 11-year-old: animal rescuer
• 15-year-old: artist

 

What extracurricular activities is your family involved in?

Jerusha: 

• dance
• coding
• AWANA
• soccer

Christina: 

• Girl Scouts
• archery

 

If you have a moment to yourself what do you like to do?

Jerusha: Read.

Christina: Watch TV or read.

 

What’s your favorite school day breakfast?

Jerusha: Homemade yogurt with granola.

Christina: Bagel or hardboiled eggs.

  

The grocery store cashier asks, “But what about socialization?” What do you say?

Jerusha: Kids don’t get to socialize in public school for most of the time. Share all the different activites that my kids get to participate in.

Christina: She is plenty socialized through extracurricular activities and neighborhood friends.

 

What’s the funniest thing one of your kids ever said?

Christina: 'Apparently not.' She was 3, and I didn't hear her ask if I'd play with her.

 

What do you do for fun as a family?

Jerusha: 

• get out in nature
• disc golf
• watch movies
• play games

Christina: 

• hiking
• bike riding

 

How do you continue to educate yourself?

Jerusha: Reading online.

Christina: Research everything.

 

What are favorite healthy snacks at your house?

Jerusha: Cheese, apples, dried bananas, grapes, carrots, pretzels.

Christina: Apples.

 

What’s the best museum you’ve ever gone to?

Jerusha: Children’s Museum in Indianapolis or Science Museum in Boston.

Christina: Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and American Museum of Natural History in New York.

 

What’s your favorite in-a-pinch dinner option?

Jerusha: Spaghetti and meatballs in the Instant Pot.

Christina: Pizza.

 

What’s the strangest place you’ve done school?

Jerusha: In a treehouse.

Christina: Doctor's office.

 

Share a favorite organizational tip.

Christina: Supply basket, cork board, planner.

 

What special gifts or talents to your kids have?

Jerusha: Singing, mechanical works.

Christina: Catches on to new activities quickly.

 

What do you do for P.E. in your homeschool?

Jerusha: Run outside, play disc golf, soccer.

Christina: She participates in a homeschool PE program offered in our community.

 

Share a favorite inspirational quote.

Christina: Patience can move mountains.

 

What dream for your family has come true?

Jerusha: Own our own home.

Christina: Being able to give our kids opportunities we didn't have growing up.

 

What’s the most useless talent you have?

Jerusha: Touch my tongue to my nose!

Christina: Remembering random facts.