The baby slowly stood herself up at my feet. Unable to stand independently, she clung to my pant leg. To keep her from falling, I couldn’t take a step. I couldn’t move her with my hands because I was elbow deep in changing the garbage bag that was full of her diapers. To wash my hands so I could pick her up, I had to take 3 steps. We were at an impasse. This is the life of a homeschooling dad. This is the life a single dad. This is the life we are living.

I’m Daniel, a single dad navigating a 12 year old, 7 year old, and a 10 month old. It’s not easy. Moms have been doing it forever it seems. I was raised by a single mom. I never thought I’d be a single dad. Maybe one day I’ll share more about what happened to my wife, but for now I think it’s important to know that she passed away. Processing grief, raising 3 children, working full time, and homeschooling is a lot. How do I manage my time? How do I keep kids fed, teeth brushed, showers done, laundry done, dishes done, diapers changed, school done, piano lessons, ballet lessons, soccer, nap time, baby feeding time, meal planning, taxes done, bills paid, chores done, gardens planted and weeded, canning done, sourdough baked, cars repaired, book shelves built… It’s. A. Lot. And to be honest, I miss stuff.

My wife and I started homeschooling when our oldest was in preschool. We used God’s Little Explorers curriculum. After that we thought we’d put her into a local private school only to learn that it wasn’t for us. She was there for 2 years I think and then covid hit. That sent us into full time homeschooling which coincided with a move to a new town for my job. Then the second kid was ready to start school. We found a local homeschool collective and joined. My wife did most of the teaching as I worked full time. She stayed home and educated the children and baked me yummy sourdough bread.

I did teach English. She was from Ukraine and English was her 3rd language, though she spoke it quite well. But, she refused to teach it. She always felt self conscious. I easily conceded. I liked to be involved with the kids’ education. I just wish I could have been more involved. Now I’ll be taking it all on. It’ll be good. I’m excited for the new school year. In fact they started school today. We certainly have some kinks to work out but we’ll get there. I have some time management hacks to share at a later time in the blog so watch for that.

In fact, I plan on sharing much about how I homeschool as a single dad and how I keep everything straight and my wits about me. But this blog isn’t only for single parents, it’s for anyone who homeschools their children. Expect real schedules, curriculum reviews, homeschool space and organization ideas, and the occasional single-dad survival story — whatever we're actually living that week. It’s about navigating the times when you are stuck 3 steps away from the sink but you can’t get there to wash your hands because you can’t move the baby with your dirty hands. It’s about life and homeschooling and managing it all. And maybe most importantly it’s about how our family is putting life back together after tragedy.

Additionally, you’ll hear me talk about the most important thing in my life. Jesus Christ. If you know Him, welcome. If you don’t, I hope you’ll see how much He has done for me and that I might be able to bring a little ray of sonshine to you through my experience. He has really done so much for me and I owe Him everything.

Oh I almost forgot, I briefly mentioned installing new bookshelves, because with all I have going on and working full time, I thought it’d be a good idea to take on a woodworking project of building my own bookshelves which requires cutting, milling, glueing, sanding, and installing new shelves in the homeschool room because I’m fed up with the cheap pressboard book shelves I have now and I can’t start thinking clearly about school while they’re taunting me with their crooked, sagging shelves.

So keep reading to see how I do it all, and learn how you can too.