Jewish and homeschooling..say wha!?

Soooo, typically I’m finding over the course of my almost 2 years of researching homeschool communities, curriculum, etc... that well, reformed/conservative Jewish families don’t ‘Typically” homeschool. This is not to say that Jewish families DON’T homeschool, cause well, the world is a melting pot and many families do many things they didn’t once do before... however, being Jewish myself and having a reformed Jewish upbringing with a “typical Jewish mom” I can confidently say Jewish families of my demographic strongly value traditional, hardworking, study study study school environments (well, at least mine did). This “hippie dippy Homeschool thing” is crazy as I’m sure my mom and Jewish family and friends think... that’s ok with me. I often walk to the beat of my own drum and happily instill that value into my girls as well... we are also the crazy family at our temple who owner a travel trailer, camp whenever possible, and opt for walking to the bathrooms in our shower shoes rather then a trip to the four seasons (don’t worry.. we enjoy those experiences too 😂🤪 just not in the budget so often) However, I’m seeing more often then ever before (thanks Covid) that Jewish families are coming out of the woodwork and considering a homeschool experience for their kids... maybe it’s not a forever choice, or maybe their waking up and seeing that traditional school is not the 1 size fits all solution... and there are other ways. Either way, a not-overly-religious jewish curriculum would be welcomed.. if it existed.

In a Facebook group I’m in I posted a question to the creator of the curriculum books if she’d be interested in a Jewish themed book- to which was an overwhelming response of “I’D LOVE ONE TOO!” Even from many non- Jewish parents... but open minded ones or even Christian families who value the biblical aspect of Jewish history and how it weaves into their own religious roots. Through this post someone shared the link I have here- https://ani-ve-ami.com/jewish-homeschooling/curriculum-by-age-or-grade/ages-six-to-ten-elementary-curriculum/. It is a Charlotte mason based curriculum but with Jewish studies. Being that we are reform and it was a bit too religious for us, meaning it includes Torah reading and Talmudic studies but it did give me some good ideas they do have a “Jewish daily life” section of their curriculum. However, it reminded me in terms of learning about Jewish history, culture, bible stories, prayers I’ve already done and continue to do much of this - I bought an awesome kids Jewish bible, along with a small prayers book both off amazon. We have the “who was Anne frank” book, we’ve watched “the number on great grandpas arm” from hbo - which opened doors to talk about culture and the holocaust, etc... but in general just surrounding our kids with other Jewish families whenever possible is important. Until Covid my girls went to Hebrew school — we are taking this year off since we don’t want them in any schooling environment at this time 😢 so yah, I’ll figure something out for them though... most likely it will involve a calendar for the dates, a book for the holidays, and embracing our “Jewish-ness” even more then before so that my girls continue to grow and learn as young Jewish kids.

So, back to the idea of a Jewish curriculum... sadly, it isn’t there yet.. we are going the unschooling/interest-lead route. It’s not 100% unschooling because we have a tutor who’s working with them 2x a week - for some reasons I can write about at another time. Thankfully though, there are many secular alternatives out there - just gotta do a lot of digging to find the path that works for you and your kids... and, if you are Jewish (but not super religious) homeschooling mom like myself, reach out. We can figure this path out together.. share ideas, books, etc... where there is a will, there is a way ❤️.