Four Vines Homeschool

09/01/2021

So we did a thing...we bought another house, an old one.... this is going to be our homeschooling room, after we clear the boxes and lay a new floor.
So if you love homeschooling, diy, renovations, family lifestyle content follow along.

18/12/2020

Day 17 of is 8 o’clock. Well it’s around 9, and this is my view after a LONGGGGG day of moving houses. I’m so tired I don’t even want a glass of wine. Good night to all.

10/12/2020

I’m not exactly sure how the big girl in this photo is 19, and that baby is 11, but it happens folks, it happens fast. It’s our oldest daughter birthday and I’m not going to cry, ok yes I am.
(Our daughter is the baby).

Happiest birthday wishes Anayah. Mama and Daddy love you immensely and know you will be great at what you accomplish in life.

08/12/2020

I know a lot of homeschooling families put a huge emphasis on family time together in abundance... However we all have limitations and need to recognize when those limitations are being pushed to fit a social norm. I use our mornings to be super productive for me, not my kids, not house stuff, just me. This may take many forms, such as my kids eating breakfast while watching TV so I can listen to the news in peace in the kitchen. That’s what it is today. Homeschooling is hard, takes a lot of grace, endurance and strength.
I wouldn’t trade it for the world (don’t tell my kids) but that doesn’t mean I have to make it look like the rest of everyone else Homeschool.
Be authentic, do what works for your family and put your heart in the center of it.

08/12/2020

Day 7: Christmas Tree.
Oh Christmas tree oh Christmas tree how you will live in the box.
It’s my favorite thing to do during Christmas and since we are moving it’s not happening, maybe, not sure, really don’t know lol.

07/12/2020

Day 6. Sunday Funday. We received some hard news this week, a lot of attention was needed for things that drained our week and a lot of things we had to readjust. So on Sunday this mama rested, and it was a good reset for the new week.

05/12/2020

Day 5: Saturday Morning Selfie. I had to go to the car and now it will take me 500 years to warm back up, so I’m just lounging on the couch with coffee while my kids chat in the background.
We have to do some more packing so I’m enjoying the still for now.

04/12/2020

Friday mornings are usually slow around here.... I typically have dinner planned or know where we are ordering from.... Today it’s switch utilities, call lawyer and manage the little people type of morning. Also I’m out of k cups and need my hair re-twisted so I have to plan all the things.

02/12/2020

Day 2... A few of my favorite things.... Coffee, AirPods, and Apple Watch help me feel connected to the world a bit more, and if you know me there’s always a kid around so a) my phone is missing or charging and I need to make a phone call/text and also be able to hear that person haha.

01/12/2020

‘Tis the season where I can blast all Christmas music without eye rolls from my children...
It’s officially Christmas season!!!!

01/12/2020

How do you homeschool and make sure your kids are “on track”? You don’t, you do your best and strive for your kid to do their best. Sometimes that may resemble you having extra strong coffee at 11 am so you can posture yourself in a positive mood for the day. Sometimes that may resemble you giving your oldest child an out of the box assignment so that you can focus on spending time with the younger ones.
The truth is, no matter how many hard days we may have, we always strive to have good days and even those look different.
I don’t have all of the answers as a “seasoned” homeschooling mom, but I do give grace and make sure we have good coffee 😉.

27/11/2020

How Thanksgiving went down ⬆️ Happy Thanksgiving from The Woods Famiky, Darnell, Darla, Anayah, Kenzie, Teagan and Tessa.

06/11/2020

In coping with election season stress.... I’ve been experimenting headwraps because my locs are looking rough... if they could talk they would say “bruh when you getting your hair done?”

learning a lot and trying to figure out how this journey is going to go... but loving it nonetheless

03/11/2020

My calm indulgence for the day. Starting homeschooling soon, and then I’m going to clean all the things, and wait for husband to come home.

03/11/2020

Today has been CRAZY. Right after dinner, received a phone call that Teagan came in contact with a Covid-19 positive person and we needed to get her tested.
Unfortunately our health care system is overwhelmed at the moment, so rapid tests are like finding a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.
Pray for Teagan and the person she came in contact with.

31/10/2020

is helping us save money while building a resource library for our homeschool, with a ton of picture books strewn in as well. Some fun unit studies are upon us, but I’m most excited about fry bread mini unit!!!
If you’ve never used Book Outlet before, and would like $10 off your first purchase of $25 or more, my referral link is in my bio.

28/10/2020

2 years apart and this kiddo LOVES brisket. Daddy made the most amazing brisket we have had since and it just makes us miss our traveling days to Texas and beyond. We will travel for food and our kids are bummed that has been limited this year.
What is your favorite part of traveling and how have you adjusted.

27/10/2020

Early morning selfie. Tessa had her adenoids removed and we are home resting. She woke up screaming and wanted the IV out!! We were able to calm her down and she promptly requested a burger once we were in the car 😂😂😂

26/10/2020

Just over here collecting all the books for our own library and homeschool adventures. I bought the songbird book for nighttime because at the end of a homeschooling day, I really don’t want to read a long book but want to read to my kiddos. Balloons over Broadway is a unit study and we are slowly collecting all the big books by

20/10/2020

I think we have enough games now! We are doing a game week in homeschooling and I scoured the sales last week to get deals on items I wanted but never would pay full price. All this was under $100 after deals and coupons. My kids are begging to peel through them but I am hiding them for now 😂😂😂.

08/10/2020

Mama is prioritizing herself.

So I did a thing.... Locked my hair... I decided too many heads to do and not enough hands. Plus one less task off my to do daily to list just feels good. Here’s to being more confident in my skin amid all the changes.

08/10/2020

So I did a thing.... Locked my hair... I decided too many heads to do and not enough hands. Plus one less task off my to do daily to list just feels good. Here’s to being more confident in my skin amid all the changes.

05/10/2020

It’s the first Monday in October! That usually means (not in a pandemic world) our calendar is full until we leave for vacation, which is usually Texas! We are typically wrapping up our first quarter and putting things in place for the second quarter.
As you can see, that calendar is blank! When we headed to Denver last week I knew I was reaching for school to be done in the hotel, so I decided to push the books in the closet. Why? My kids were absorbing the world around them, spending unlimited time with us and each other in a mew environment and also, mama needed a break.
So last Wednesday I told my husband, yeah we aren’t doing school next week, but I’m not telling the kids 😂😂
So while the oldest will still get most of her work done, I’ll sit and do math and finish up our brave writer unit, I’m not planning out our week.
I’m going to let my body and mind rest from being on vacation with four kids and that’s that!
So here’s your permission slip to let yourself take a break, go and buy yourself a warm drink and let those kids explore, play and discover in their own little world in new ways!
Happy homeschooling!

05/10/2020

It’s the first Monday in October! That usually means (not in a pandemic world) our calendar is full until we leave for vacation, which is usually Texas! We are typically wrapping up our first quarter and putting things in place for the second quarter.
As you can see, that calendar is blank! When we headed to Denver last week I knew I was reaching for school to be done in the hotel, so I decided to push the books in the closet. Why? My kids were absorbing the world around them, spending unlimited time with us and each other in a mew environment and also, mama needed a break.
So last Wednesday I told my husband, yeah we aren’t doing school next week, but I’m not telling the kids 😂😂
So while the oldest will still get most of her work done, I’ll sit and do math and finish up our brave writer unit, I’m not planning out our week.
I’m going to let my body and mind rest from being on vacation with four kids and that’s that!
So here’s your permission slip to let yourself take a break, go and buy yourself a warm drink and let those kids explore, play and discover in their own little world in new ways!
Happy homeschooling!

03/10/2020

I bought a mug... surprise! If you know me well you’ll know I have a slight obsession with mugs and pretty dishes. I never buy myself anything on vacation so when we were in Colorado I made sure to change that. So I saw this beauty and decided I wanted it, put it back on the shelf and left. The next day I told Darnell I was going back to get it lol. So she’s here... my first handleless mug but I love it so much!

27/09/2020

We arrived safely in Colorado, checked into our hotel and quickly found a place to eat. I didn’t get a picture of Darnell’s burger and the younger 3 kids, but enjoy my pastrami burger and Anayah’s smokehouse burger from .

We felt completely safe dining out for the first time in a pandemic. They went above and beyond with staff being masked, hand sanitizer at every table and plenty of spacing between tables. I could barely see what other people were eating so spacing wasn’t an issue.

This is a new normal but I think we will figure out how to navigate it safely and happily.

23/09/2020

Poetry tea time is one of those homeschooling traditions I piled on our schedule because it looked amazing and all the homeschooling mamas were doing it. Then we had another kid and another and you know how that goes.

Amid all my yelling and mistakes, I pray my children cherish these small moments where their Momma makes apple butter, and biscuits from scratch and lets them sip on warm cider while they listen to me read poems that are warm and planting tiny seeds of hope and knowledge.

I pray that while my homeschool may not look like my coveted Pinterest board, my kids are in the right space to learn and grow. That’s what homeschooling is about right? Tailoring your children’s education to fit their ever growing needs and for your family to adapt to lifelong learning.

19/09/2020

Rest In Peace fierce soul. May we never forget the impact you have had on our country and it’s laws and most importantly our hearts.

11/09/2020

This was a LONG week. We were productive school wise, I cooked (and cleaned) a ton, and the minivan stayed parked. It was a odd familiar mix of normal and pandemic with a side of reality.

Tonight we had gumbo and cornbread. Tessa was dancing while eating so I’ll take that win all day.

I’m done cooking for at least 12 hours lol.

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend.

06/09/2020

Chicken Madeira was for dinner at the Woods house. This was a true labor of love as this dish was a bit labor intensive. Sunday dinners are becoming a weekly tradition for us and I never thought we would be “that” family but I’m beginning to love it. It’s officially the end of summer and I’ll be crying until Spring next year. May we never have a summer like 2020, and here’s to a productive fall semester!!! Cheers!

03/09/2020

I should have been recording this 😂😂😂 Four is a whole new ball game of independence and sass. In 6 months she’ll be 5 so I’m trying to hang on a tiny bit of the fours. Also for the record Teagan made this bbq sauce ALL by herself.

03/09/2020

is the best grocery reward app! You scan and go! Plus you can link your amazon and email for your online shopping. There’s amazing rewards and bonuses. Sign up with my code and you can get a bonus!!!

02/09/2020

sent us this amazing prize box!!! If you need amazing books reach out and do your book shopping!

24/08/2020

We did some “school” photos with so when I came home I remembered to use these boards from ! We homeschool year round around here and don’t really keep up with grades, but we are 5th, 1st, pre-k, toddler camp 🤣😂 Hope everyone has an amazing year!!!

10/08/2020

It's finally done.... Well started lol. I would love for you to subscribe and watch our youtube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClvxFAsYbgKEFsL9rJRe8Mw/

We are the Woods family! I (mom, Darla) will share our homeschool journey, and how homeschooling is our lifestyle and not just our school choice.

10/08/2020

Come learn more about our family and hop over to subscribe to our YouTube channel

01/08/2020

Our week was bananas. We went from having a feast all on Sunday to a great homeschooling Monday. Tuesday came and I felt the word slipping through my fingers as if it were a gas and I couldn’t grasp it. Everything is ok but it’s crazy how normal life changes in the middle of a pandemic can feel like the most isolating thing you have ever done. Tomorrow is a new month and I’m excited it’s the best month ever 🤣🤣 (I’m an August born woman)
Our life in the glimpse of pictures. You won’t see Tessa in endless timeouts because her mission is to destroy even when we redirect. You won’t see me taking a nap because my kids are so loud or stress eating because I’m over house hunting. You will see glimpses of our days that give this mama hope.
Have a great weekend everyone!

30/07/2020

Challenge Accepted

07/07/2020

Tessa. When we were researching names I came across the meaning and her character trait is answers to no one and her physical trait is moved full steam ahead. This girl embraces that to the fullest. Darnell took her with him today and it was so amazing how much we accomplished without “managing” the toddler. She’s a force not to be taken lightly in every sense haha. In homeschooling we finally finished Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome. It was delightful, and we are ready to start our new year with a new read aloud. I’ll post tomorrow what we are reading!

02/07/2020

Do you purchase ebooks and audiobooks for your homeschool or just in general? We are avid audiobook listeners and find ebooks to be convenient especially when we travel! I particularly love ebooks for resource books, as those can be pricey as well as bulky and we only have a limited amount of space. I love to organize (surprise) our ebooks on our Kindle app and take them wherever we adventure to, whether the kitchen table or through the winding roads of East Texas on our way to see family. How do you use audiobooks and/or ebooks in your homeschool?