The Homeschool How To
I don't claim to know anything about homeschooling, so I set out on a journey to ask the people who do! Join me as I chat with homeschoolers to discuss; "why are people homeschooling," "what are all the ways people are using to homeschool today," and ultimately, "should I homeschool my kids?"
The Homeschool How To
Curriculum Series: Simplified Feast
Unlock a simpler, more enriching homeschooling experience with insights from Jenny Hedrick of the Super Simple Homeschool Podcast. Jenny joins us to discuss why the Simplified Feast, a curriculum that defies her usual no-curriculum strategy, has become an indispensable part of her teaching toolkit. Inspired by the Charlotte Mason method, this flexible program covers a multitude of subjects such as history, geography, science, and even cooking—everything except math and specific phonics programs. Designed for elementary students, it promises a comprehensive educational journey that fits neatly into just three hours a day, four days a week.
Jenny shares how the Simplified Feast's digital format and multimedia resources offer a tailored educational approach for families with chaotic schedules. With 24 lessons structured into seven historical volumes, this curriculum serves K through 8th-grade students, with room for adaptations for older learners. Get ready to learn how this open-and-go, all-in-one solution has transformed Jenny's homeschooling life, bringing order and enrichment in equal measure. Don’t miss out on learning about a resource that could revolutionize your homeschool routine and make learning a joyous adventure for your children.
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Welcome to the Homeschool How-To Find my Curriculum, a series where we talk all about curriculum. I've been interviewing homeschooling families for over a year now on my main podcast, the Homeschool How-To, but I really wanted to zero in on curriculum. There's so much out there. How do I know what would work best for me and my child? How do I know what works for one child would work for the other? I might like the curriculum I'm using now, but how do I know there's not a better one out there, especially if I don't know all the curriculums? And what about supplemental curriculum? Should I be using that too?
Speaker 1:This series is to help you decide just that. I'm going to interview parents who are using all the curriculums so that you can decide the absolute best way to unfold your homeschooling journey. The absolute best way to unfold your homeschooling journey. Welcome with us today is Jenny Hedrick. She is going to talk to us today about well, I'll let you discuss what curriculum you're going to talk to us about, but you are from the Super Simple Homeschool Podcast, so this is probably going to be a super simple curriculum, right? It?
Speaker 2:is. I absolutely love it and you know because I was on your other podcast, but I don't typically use curriculum, so the fact that I'm like standing behind one and excited about one is kind of a big deal. And this curriculum is called the Simplified Feast and of course I love it because it has simplified in the title the Simplified.
Speaker 1:Feast, feast. I haven't heard of this one, so this is gonna be great, yes it is great.
Speaker 2:So what do you want to know about it? All right, what subject is it for? Okay, so this is the best part. It covers all the subjects, okay, except for math, and if you have a specific like phonics or reading program that you need to do it. It doesn't cover that. It does have some language arts, but it covers. I'm going to go through the list. I had to pull up the website because I knew I would forget something that it covers. Here's what it has Bible, composer study, artist study, character study, language arts, copywork, narration, history, geography, science, nature study, cooking, health, art and family service, and this is all in a single curriculum that only takes three hours a day, four days a week.
Speaker 1:Wow, that does cover a lot, three hours a day four days a week? Okay, so that's pretty awesome. So how long does it take you from beginning to end? Are you starting in September and ending in June? Good question.
Speaker 2:So this is by Embracing Homeschool, and I'll give you the links for where you can pick it up. But it is a 24 lesson study, so they're called volumes and each volume covers a certain time period in history and there are seven of those, and so it's 24 lessons. We don't do four in a week, we only do three. Some weeks only two. So you know it can last as long as you need it to, but it's all laid out, so it just says do this, do this, do this. It has all the content. It has a QR code so you can get on and watch certain videos or listen to certain music or go to the composer study podcast. I mean, it's everything you need. It's right there, which is why I love it, because my life is chaos right now and I needed something that I didn't have to think too hard about and it's just open and go, and it's PDF so you can print it out if you want, or just use it on your iPad or computer. It's great. So what ages is this?
Speaker 1:for.
Speaker 2:This is elementary, I would say what does she say specifically? I use it. My oldest is 12. And I think it's good for him. I think I could use it another year or two with him. So maybe K through eight, you know, maybe with some modifications for the older kids. You know, if you want them to dig a little bit deeper into a history topic, they can go do some independent work to do that. Yeah, it's been great because I love having things like it's Charlotte Mason inspired if you hadn't kind of figured that out already for those of you who do Charlotte Mason work. But I love having like a composer to learn about and an artist to learn about.
Speaker 2:But that's just beyond my typical scope of what I can like gather, um and it's very quick and simple and you know it's all right there for me and I can be like, okay, we're gonna learn, like we're learning about Johann Strauss and uh, you know it's like every week we learn a little tidbit about him and listen to another one of his. You know orchestra songs and it's just so fun. The kids love it.
Speaker 1:So great. Ok, so you've got kids ages 6, 8 and 12? 6, 10 and 12. 6, 10 and 12. Are you using? You bought one curriculum, you bought this one curriculum and you're using it on all three, correct?
Speaker 2:Correct. So it has. I'm going to pull this up so I can reference it here. So it has like a weekly schedule that you can use or you can adjust how you want to. But basically it's like eight blocks. Now that sounds like a lot, but some of these blocks are only 10 or 15 minutes long. So you start off, you do your Bible reading and there's a little devotional in this unit that we're on, we're doing the armor of God, super cool. And then in you know block two one day is you read some poetry, the next day you do your composer study. You know, the next day you do the artist study. So I mean, it's just, it's like it's all kind of spelled out for you on a weekly basis but then each day it just tells you exactly what to do.
Speaker 2:I had to get two books outside of that to read for history and for just our read aloud. That kind of went along with the era. But they were not textbooks, they were just books. I got on thriftbookscom. I spent maybe ten10 on those two books total. You know. Then you just kind of work your way through it. There's a block for doing your own language art resource. If you need to do that. There's a block for doing your own math, and then it includes history and science and a tea time with time for your reading aloud, and then something fun at the end of the day. So some days it's your nature study. Some days there's a tea time with time for your reading aloud, and then something fun at the end of the day. So some days it's your nature study. Some days there's a recipe for you to make with your kids a fun snack. Other days it's an art video for your kids to do, and it's just so fun. It really includes so many things, but it doesn't feel overwhelming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun, okay, and so you said it's open and go overwhelming. Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun, okay, and so you said it's open and go. So there's like hardly anything that you need to like. Prep the week before anything, is it? Are they using library books? I know you said you bought two, but is it? Do you have to like order books from the library to pick up to have ready for yourselves?
Speaker 2:Nope, you could do that instead of buying the books. You know, I just decided cause I didn't know how long it was going to take us. I would just, you know, just regular books. They were pretty cheap to get used, but you could get them from the library. But there's not anything additional that you need to do. Like, if you want to do the cooking right, then you want to look at the recipe ahead of time and make sure you have the ingredients. It does at the beginning of each week so, like I said, she does four days at a time for a week. There's like a new list of like. Here's what you're going to need this week. Time for a week. There's like a new list of like. Here's what you're going to need this week. Most of it is stuff we already have. I haven't had to go out and get anything special so far.
Speaker 1:So and so you said your kids actually enjoy it too, right?
Speaker 2:They do, they love it. I mean it's, it's quick, and so you know short lessons, which we love. It holds their attention. The books that she picks out to you know go along with the subjects they love. And you know again if you can get a six-year-old and a 12-year-old to love the same book, like that's a win.
Speaker 1:Yeah so okay, once you're done. I know you mentioned something about having eight volumes, but I don't know if that was in reference to what I'm thinking. Eight blocks once you're. Oh, seven blocks, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, so the volumes Ask the question. Once you're done with your year of it, you're not repeating the same curriculum next year, right? You would go to volume two, right? So?
Speaker 2:in volume one might only take you a semester, it might only take you six weeks, just depending on how quickly you go through it. So, like volume one is ancient Egypt, volume two is ancient China, and so it kind of goes through there. So it's not something that you're going to be able to do for years and years, but it does have seven volumes. You know, I think for me I will use one volume this fall, and then she does also have unit studies for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so you could potentially do a volume, do the Thanksgiving, do the Christmas and then do another volume or two the second part of the year, and it would last you, I would say, at least two years to get through the whole thing. But I think it's just fantastic and I know she's coming up with new volumes all the time. She just released, I think, five, six and seven this year.
Speaker 1:So yeah, oh, we did a Christmas unit study last Christmas and I did love it. You know it took the whole month of December and it was just it incorporated all the different subjects. You know there were books that we got from the library that you know recommended to get for the read alouds, and and they were just books that we got from the library that you know I recommended to get for the read-alouds and they were just books that I never would have gotten otherwise.
Speaker 1:So like that's kind of the beauty of it, like well, I wouldn't have known that this existed, and you know, there's some art with it, some projects, some baking, and it incorporated the Bible and it was just so cool Like wow, learning can just be done this way. This is amazing. So I really highly recommend unit studies to people. I mean, go pick whatever ones you like, but it's nice to break up the monotony and to have something relevant for what you're going through.
Speaker 1:Right then, and when it can incorporate multiple subjects at the same time, like, okay, we're learning about, well, just Christmas, but it's taking into account the Bible, and then we're using that as part of our copy work. And again, it makes it super simple so that you're killing like eight birds with one stone. Yes, I love it. I love it All right. Anything else about this curriculum that you just got to tell people? You talked it up pretty well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's really affordable, it's really affordable, it's.
Speaker 1:PDF downloads. Yes, I didn't ask you the price. I mean, it's really affordable. It's really affordable, it's PDF downloads?
Speaker 2:Yes, I didn't ask you the price, and so the volumes are $27 a piece. Wow, yeah, that's pretty cheap. The unit studies are $17 a piece, so I mean you can get a lot of content and learning for that amount of money. It's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Awesome, Jenny. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 2:This has been so fun yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I've got to check that one out. All right, have a good one. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you so much for listening. Please consider sharing this podcast, or my main podcast, the Homeschool how To with friends, family, on Instagram or in your favorite homeschool group Facebook page. The more this podcast is shared, the longer we can keep it going and the more hope we have for the future. Thank you for your love of the next generation.