Living Montessori Now

Montessori Inspiration for Parents and Teachers

Homeschool Freedom from Uniforms and Uniformity

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Skaters (Christina is the little one at age 9) during Crazy Hair Day at the rink, 1999.
Skaters (Christina is the little one at age 9) during Crazy Hair Day at the rink, 1999.

The longer we homeschooled, the less our homeschool looked like a school. We gradually blended our school into our life so that it was difficult to see where one ended and the other began.

Our School Day

In the beginning, our homeschool was fairly scheduled. We used Montessori materials and methods during the preschool years and a mixture of Montessori, unit studies, and traditional subjects after that. We had a fairly set schedule. We woke, got dressed, had breakfast, followed a schedule (not rigidly but a definite schedule), and had frequent field trips with our homeschool co-op. Will and Christina dressed like they were going to school for our co-op activities.

Then, when Will was almost 8 and Christina was almost 3, Will fell in love with skiing. Soon, he decided to become a ski racer. Christina wanted to ski race like her big brother. And we became a skiing family. Terry’s job had flexibility during the day, so we spent many days skiing. Then we did our schoolwork later.

When Will was 11 and Christina was 6, we moved to Vail, Colorado, where we were a skiing family – and Will and Christina became figure skaters as well. Then many days started with figure skating practice before Will (or the whole family) went skiing. Our school day started at the end of the ski day.

When Will was 12½ and Christina was 7½, our school schedule had another major change when we moved to Colorado Springs and Will and Christina became figure skaters more exclusively. Our days started with skating, had school in the middle, followed by more skating and often dance classes. We typically had the final part of our school day after the dance classes.

Our School Uniforms

So what did Will and Christina wear? Pajamas weren’t really an issue since we’d already been out and about before we even started our school day. On the rare day that we were at home all day, we still got dressed before school. I just think it’s a better way to work. But Will and Christina’s most common school attire was their skating wear. Christina almost always wore her skating dress that she had worn at the rink and would wear at her skating session later in the afternoon. Will wore a T-shirt, skating pants, and typically sweat pants over those. We didn’t really think about it. It just worked for us.

Because of their skating, Will and Christina did have a few of the typical school dress-up experiences one year, like Crazy Hair Day, Pajama Day, and Mixed-Up Clothes Day at the rink (which, of course, carried over into our school day at home). And they sometimes wore Halloween costumes to the rink for Halloween. Except for the first day of school each year (when Will and Christina wore new school clothes for our first-day-of-school celebration), Will and Christina wore pretty much whatever they felt like.

Note about the photo: Many people worry about homeschoolers’ socialization. You’ll notice the wide age range in the photo. Will and Christina were used to interacting with skaters, dancers, skiiers, church members, other homeschoolers – friends of all ages. They didn’t think about someone’s age or about associating with individuals from their own age group. I think that’s a common trait of homeschoolers. And, in my opinion, that’s the best type of socialization of all.  

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Comments

  1. I love your post. It also makes me miss Colorado Springs… I spent a lot of time there when I was first out of college and it is so beautiful. It is great to read your blog and see that homeschool kids grow up and do well!

    Reply

    • Thanks so much for your kind comment, Mary! I do love Colorado Springs – it’s especially amazing this fall with seemingly endless sunny, warm days but the beautiful colors of autumn.

      Reply

  2. Love that crazy hair! Your post is great and shows that school doesn’t have to be rigid. Learning is supposed to be fun and memorable! 🙂 Thanks for sharing. Happy Thursday! 🙂

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  4. Crazy hair day!! lol ~ love it!! I so agree with you about homeschool socialization…it is the best. Sking?? Haven’t tried it. I know I would be the person to break a leg on the first try! 😉
    Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

    • Thanks, Jessica! I actually didn’t think I’d learn to ski after I almost went into a river on my first try! lol! I learned with my almost-3-year-old daughter. Of course, she learned more quickly than I did, but I eventually even did a bit of ski racing!

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  5. (smiling) They look like they had a great time. The smiles on their faces say it all. Love that hair color!!! I might try that at work one day 🙂

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    • Crazy Hair Day was great! It was the idea of one of the choreographers at the rink to create some fun before the big nationals-qualifying competitions coming up over the next two months. With all the spray in/wash out hair colors, it’s really easy and fun to do. I’d love to hear about some homeschool co-ops doing activities like that. I always think it’s nice when homeschoolers can experience the fun activities that some schools do while getting all the benefits of homeschooling.

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  6. I was thinking the other day about how wonderful it is that we can wear whatever we want to our classroom. 🙂 Here the children wear uniforms, even in the public schools. I have no issue with uniforms in and of themselves, but from a financial perspective they are quite expensive!

    And I absolutely 100% agree with your last statement.

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    • Thanks, Mari-Ann! I loved being able to celebrate the freedom we had as homeschoolers. It was wonderful to be able to have so much fun with homeschooling and see my children actually end up with a better education than they would have gotten otherwise.

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  9. Wow, this is so interesting and a great encouragement for homeschooling where you have the freedom to work school with and around the kids interests. Coming from a traditional school background myself it’s so hard to actually imagine what this is like. Also did you get my email about the my missplacement of my first email from your newsletter? If not I’ll write again. Thanks, Michelle

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    • Thanks, Rachel! My kids and I really had to think about what they wore each day as well. I think homeschooling just becomes a natural part of life. Thanks for following me!

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  12. I’m stopping by from Mom Loop.

    We school at home too and we live in Colorado.

    We are enrolled in Colorado Virtual Academy and we complete all of our school work at home. Love the flexibiliy too and wearing P.J.’s happens ccasionally here, gotta love it!

    Reply

  17. That’s what I love about homeschooling – the flexibility!

    I agree with your comments about socialization! My girls are plenty “socialized”!

    ~Jennifer

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