Pip: Welcome back to Pollywog’s Place Blog, where the curriculum planning is done, the Bible verses are cited by chapter and verse, and the school year has a theme for every single month.
Mara: Susie at Pollywog’s Place Blog has mapped out a full year of faith-integrated homeschooling, and today we’re walking through how she’s woven biblical principles into every subject — from financial literacy in January all the way through to December math.
Pip: Let’s start with the plan itself — and it is a plan.
Growing Children of GOD: Weaving Faith Into Every Subject
Mara: The core question here is how you make faith feel like a natural part of learning rather than a separate subject bolted on — and the answer is a month-by-month structure that aligns each academic subject with what the family is already doing that time of year.
Pip: The post puts it directly: “It’s not a race, but there is a big goal ahead… our children’s futures are in our hands, and we must hand them over to GOD and ask HIM to guide us in the way we should go and show us what we should be teaching them.”
Mara: That framing matters because it sets the tone for everything that follows. This isn’t a rigid syllabus — it’s a set of habits the family is trying to build until they become, as the post says, “like second nature.”
Pip: And the structure does a lot of the heavy lifting there. January is financial literacy because the family is already organizing bills and budgets — so biblical stewardship, tithing, and verses on contentment get folded into something they’re doing anyway. The lesson arrives on the back of real life.
Mara: February shifts to fine arts, tied to handmade gifts and sacred art. The post suggests studying hymns, exploring art inspired by Bible stories, and connecting creative gifts to First Peter four-ten — using whatever talent you have to serve others.
Pip: March brings health and physical education, which lands right as things warm up in Florida — and Lent begins. So the body-as-temple conversation and sportsmanship virtues get their moment alongside spring cleaning.
Mara: April opens into creation science and nature journaling, with Earth Day providing a natural hook for environmental stewardship. May uses American Sign Language as the foreign language focus, connecting it to Pentecost and the idea that learning another language is a way to share faith across cultures.
Pip: ASL is genuinely practical — the post notes you can communicate with a family member across a noisy room without making a scene, which is a skill with immediate real-world value.
Mara: June through December keeps the same logic running. Community service in June, home economics and hospitality in July, responsible digital citizenship in August, homesteading and harvest preservation in September. October is language arts built around faith-based literature and Scripture copywork, November is history framed as what the post calls a “Redemptive Narrative,” and December wraps with mathematics — doubling and tripling holiday recipes counts as real math practice.
Pip: Fibonacci sequence as evidence of God’s design in December is the kind of curriculum move that makes a kid actually look at a pinecone differently.
Mara: The post closes by inviting readers to suggest additions — the outline is offered as a starting point, not a finished document, and the family expects to rotate and adjust the topics across future years.
Pip: A living curriculum, which is probably the only kind that survives contact with actual children.
Mara: The throughline across all of this is that faith doesn’t need its own separate hour — it fits inside the subjects that are already there.
Pip: Next time, we’ll see what else is growing at Pollywog’s Place.
I debated on whether to write this post or not, but as many of you know we have been blessed with two special needs kiddos in our home.
Our oldest was adopted and our youngest was a surprise baby… in so many ways. I never entertained the idea of abortion for any of my pregnancies and never would, but that’s me.
It’s that time of year again for us… time to get the next school year planned out. We technically finished up our 2025-2026 school year before Easter but I’ve been busy with the garden and such so I am just now getting around to making our new schedule.
It is always SO TEMPTING to take a few months off to just focus on this house but I know from past experience that this doesn’t go well and that it takes FOREVER to get a couple of the kids back into the school routine. You can read more about last year’s curriculum and routines HERE.
Having a little extra wiggle room in our schedule means that we can take off more time around the holidays and I can take a week off for new grandbabies too!We also love taking the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas to just reflect on the reason for the season and it gives us time to do fun things with the family too.
A couple of years ago we switched to more of a Charlotte Mason-style approach and it was GREAT for the most part. We still have a couple of kids who just hate anything to do with math so that’s been a little challenging but we’re making progress. We’ve also really enjoyed using some of the FREE courses with Under the Home Homeschool, even though some of the YouTube links no longer work. They have a lot of great lessons though!
I will also be pulling some lessons from the Old Fashioned Education site. They have a TON of great resources and FREE printable lesson plans for every grade! You can also check out the Plain and Not So Plain Website for FREE resources and complete lesson plans!
I had a rainy day to gather my thoughts for the new year and I put that to good use. Last year, I also purchased a Montessori Curriculum for Shyanne so we will continue to use that with her, while including her in some of our other lessons too. Shyanne has LOVES being a part of our school routine and she has already completed the Easy Peasy All-in-One Preschool program. She’s also been loving the printable packets from Living With Eve.
This time of year seems to be a little busier for us, so I thought it might be helpful if I just got all my special meals and recipes gathered for the month. I checked the menu plan and have made a list of the holidays that we want to celebrate.
If you haven’t seen our Perpetual Meal Plans yet, then you really need to check them out, as they have all kinds of special and unique holidays listed. Now is the time to start making your bucket list for Fall things, if you haven’t already.
I will say that last month went pretty well, and our home does feel a bit more KIND. This month, our theme will be PATIENCE. We will be looking at ways that we can be more intentional in showing PATIENCE to others through our actions.
Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.” — Anonymous
I’m going to take a quick look at what we have planned for the month so you can get a little idea about how all of our systems work with each other.
Calendar
My morning routine means that I check our calendar every morning, and here is what I am looking at:
There are few appointments that are noted, and I have reminders set in my Cozi app. One appointment is this week, so I remind my husband about it to make sure he remembers.
There are a couple of birthdays, and I am noting the special meals in my planner.
Homeschool Planning – look for lessons ideas to go along with our monthly task and upcoming holidays
Menu Planning – check that we have everything we need for upcoming meals
Garden Planning – check what needs to be transplanted, seeded, started, and bought.
Other Planning – Valentine’s Day, Super Bowl?, President’s Day, income taxes, and possible outings/vacation; check for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries
cleaning windows and doors -washing curtains and/or blinds
cleaning out the top cabinets and wiping all the cabinet fronts
deep cleaning the countertops, sinks, dishwasher, cutting boards, and dish drainer
cleaning under the sink, and the kitchen drawers
deep clean the stove and oven
declutter the dish cabinet and island storage
move and clean behind the large appliances
take an inventory of what we have in the freezer and pantry – incoporate things into the menu
clean/organize the linen cabinet
deep clean the vacuum cleaner, and clean/change filters for the vacuum and ACs
deep clean the high chairs
deep clean bathrooms
Some of the yearly chores for this month are:
Stock up on sunscreen and bug spray
Clean the AC units, if not already completed
Check the BBQ supplies and restock, as needed
Make Plans for upcoming holidays
Sometimes the kiddos are tempted to skip over chores, but it catches up to them later on when things break down or run out. We are trying to teach them important skills that they will need later on in life, skills that will hopefully make them successful in all that they do.
Homeschool
Today, I check my Homeschool Manager app for anything that I might not have added to the main calendar. I normally look over the next week’s schedule on Thursdays, after we finish our school work.
We have started back to school so we are adding in lessons a little each day.
I add the appointments to the monthly lesson plan calendar as well, so I can plan accordingly. I realize that I may need to alter our start date and just use that as a Home Blessing day to get the house back in order, so I just swap a few things around really quick.
I am adjusting some of the planned reading materials so that they will all line up a little better.
These quick changes will keep us from having a very frustrating week back to school… at least I pray it will.
Check accounts to see what payments have cleared, and highlight them on the worksheet
Note any bills still left to pay
I usually do this first, so I know what I have left to spend. My bill pay worksheet makes things much simpler as I can see what I have paid, and what needs to be paid.
I write in the birthdays and special holidays for the month, and then add those ingredients to the grocery list. Clicking on the link will give you a ready-made list of holidays for the month and links to recipes and menu ideas to make them special.
I look over the planned meals and pencil them in.
I note the days when we have appointments and swap those meals for easier meals, if needed.
I check the grocery list that the kids have been filling out on the fridge, and add items to the main list.
I also check my pantry restock list to see what I need to add to the list, if money allows.
I make sure I have the ingredients to preserve the produce that I plan to pick up this month as well. I will add supplies to the grocery list, if needed. Some of these posts have not been published yet, but you should be able to find the printables in the library.
I will either schedule a time to go shopping or place an order for groceries and set a delivery or pickup time that works for us. When I go to town, I usually plan to take care of several errands at once.
At the beginning of the month, I will also place a Sam’s Club order for bulk supplies to be shipped, as well as any supplies we need from Amazon.
Some of the pantry restock items I added to list are:
Canned Fish
Canned/Dried Meats
Rice/Barley
Sugar
Vitamins
Sunscreen/Bug Spray
Some of the produce I’d like to buy for preserving:
Strawberries
Blueberries
Herbs
Dried beans for canning
In April, we were also able to stock up on some veggies and cabbage for pickled veggies and sauerkraut. These aren’t canned but they do last a bit in the fridge and help make meals a little more interesting. We also pickled some eggs have we have an abundance of them right now and they make great protein filled snacks!
If money is short, we can skip the restock and the preserving items until next month. I don’t like to skip things too often, but we do have our pantry pretty well stocked, and as long as we replace what we use, we should be fine.
Garden & Animals
I usually try to get feed and garden supplies once a month to cut down on the number of trips I make to town. The feed store is in the opposite direction of our normal grocery store, and I need all the space in the back of the van for feed, so I can’t really combine these tasks, or I would.
I go out to the greenhouse and garden just about every day, so I keep a running list of things that I need. I will also check my monthly list of tasks that need to be done. I went over my lists this weekend, and I have:
placed online orders for seeds and plants
I need to:
get some more seeds started for the Summer
fill in any gaps in the garden
build rabbit pens and move the rabbits
transplant some of the greenhouse starts to the garden beds
deep clean the coops/pens
get the shade structures in place
get some chicken tractors repaired and put in the gardens
Some of the tasks are also listed with my yearly tasks to make sure that I don’t forget them 🙂
I also check with the kids to see what animal feed we have, check that against my master inventory list, note down what we need in my phone, and then I will make time to go get the feed. I try to combine a few tasks during the same trip.
When I go to get the feed I will:
get feed and animal supplies
pick up seeds or plants at the Farm Center
check with the nursery to see what they might have available
stop at the grocery store, if there is anything we need before the next grocery order
fill up with gas on the way home
When I get home, I always have the kids unload the feed right away, mix anything that needs to be mixed, and put the surplus in the old freezer that we use for storage. Once the feed is taken care of, they will clean out the back of the van 🙂
I try to make sure to do this mid-week, as Fridays & Saturdays are a bit crowded at the Feed Store. It’s always a bit stressful when we get too low on feed as well, so by making sure we have a regular schedule, we can alleviate some of the stress and replace it with PEACE, as we know we have what we need. We can also use these tasks as ways to show LOVE to one another.
To-Do List
I also like to start a To-Do List because things always pop up that I can’t fix right away. I also find things when I am out in the garden that need to be taken care of, I will usually snap a photo and then add it to the list if it can’t be taken care of right away.
This is our list so far:
Master Bathroom
Fix Master Bedroom Floor
build new garden beds – we finished the first ones, but then bought more
add solar lights to chicken coops
finish chicken tractor
hang cameras
put the StarLink on a pole
add trellises to garden beds
create a sensory garden and/or integrate sensory-themed activities into our existing garden – we have had to change the plans a bit.
Finish our new poultry area
Build a new area for our bunny bunnies
Add shade pergolas to the garden
Build rabbit cages for the new area
The list keeps growing and it will continue to grow longer the further we get into the year… hopefully, we can stay on top of it.
This is just a quick look at my weekly plans… I have all month long to work on some of them, and I will try to knock out as many as I can. I know that by handling the smaller things now, it will free up time I might need in the future for BIGGER and BETTER things. A little maintenance helps to keep things running nice and smooth… it also helps us to appreciate all that we have been BLESSED with.
I pray that you will find something useful in these links.
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