Welcome to the Fun-Schooling Blog!

Hi, I’m Sarah.  When my kids were little, I designed a new style of homeschooling called Fun-Schooling.​ Fun-Schooling is fun for kids, effective at helping them learn, and EASY for moms!​

Fun-Schooling is using kids’ natural talents and passions to ignite a love for learning.  Then, no more nagging and prodding is needed and homeschooling becomes fun!  Many thousands of families have Flipped to Fun-Schooling and aren’t looking back.

At the core of Fun-Schooling is the Fun-Schooling Core Journal.  We have over 50 different Core Journals based on a myriad of interests.  These journals organize the learning of all the core subjects revolving around their passions.​

Along with the Core Journals, we use books from the library or bookstores, card and board games, art supplies, internet and video games, like Minecraft and Prodigy.​

I have kids that love horses, so we do Fun-Schooling with the Horses Journals.  I have kids who love Minecraft, so we Fun-School with Minecraft Journals.  And the same with kids who love musical instruments, making money, baking, dinosaurs, and pets, etc, etc.​

We have many other add-on books in all the subjects to supplement the core journal.​ So if you want to make homeschooling fun for the kids while making sure they are learning, and you want it to be easy for moms, try Fun-Schooling!​

To get started, click over to the bookstore and watch the video about “How to choose the right books”.  You can also visit the active Facebook Group or Forum to connect with thousands of other Fun-Schooling moms.​

Blessings,

Sarah Janisse Brown

Mom of 15

The Moment Came

Continuing A Summer with Sarah, a glimpse into my journal from the summer I turned 18-

June 22nd, 1994

We met at Kings Island. Sitting, kind of cuddled, on a park bench while Josh’s friends, who came to Kings Island with us, rode the roller coasters again and again.

We watched as families and their funny little kids passed by. Two brothers, about five and six years old, were excitedly wrapping towels around fences and trees. Josh turned to me and said, “We’ll have our own someday.”

It wasn’t often that we let go of each other’s hand. We’ll never let go of each other’s hearts.

I love him. I love everything about him. I love the way he loves me. I love the way he loves Jesus and wants to do His will.

Thankful for God’s Hand

I called my parents from Kings Island, and my mom prayed for me because we all forgot to pray together before I left. Josh and I are totally in awe of what the Lord has done.

Last night, we sat out on the curb in front of his house. All I could do was look at him and thank God for bringing him to me. I love him. I want to marry him. I want to be with him for the rest of my life.

We fit together so perfectly. We can see that we were made for each other. We rest so comfortably in each other’s arms. And our hearts and minds are in such amazing unity. It’s beautiful.

Waiting for Josh

June 21st, 1994 –

6:45 a.m.

Josh will be here within the next hour or two. I really love him.

I’m not quite sure what I’m feeling right now—I guess I’m a little anxious.

Thank you, God, for what you are doing. Make our time joyful. Draw us closer to Jesus and bless our day. Fill it with praises, and let us see your glory and know your will.

Let Josh be a blessing to my family for the short time he is here this morning. Thank you for the trust my parents have in us. Purify my heart. Keep it clean.

Still as in love now as when we were teens

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your forgiveness through the cross. Show us what to do in all things. Keep us out of bad situations, and be glorified in us.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

My Last Night with My Family

June 19th, 1994 – My Last Night with My Family

11:47 p.m.

It’s my last night with my family. We had so much fun today.

I gave my dad the poem I wrote for him. Before he read it, Heather and I went to McDonald’s and stood in line for 45 minutes. Dad joined us and said, “You two make it all worth it.” He kissed my head, and we ate sausage biscuits—though Dad gave Heather the sausage from one of his biscuits.

I remember praying that we would make about $8,000 at this art show so Mom and Dad could give me some money for my trip. Well, we made over $8,000! It was the best art show ever. The most they had ever made at an art show before today was $5,000. Amazing.

A Day Full of Memories

Heather and I went shopping with Dad. We bought a few things. I got a pretty dress, a cute top, and some flannel shorts. It was fun.

We went swimming twice, and then, after dark, Heather and I took a walk. We stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream.

Now I get to enjoy fun memories with my teen daughters!

While we were out, we met two girls, Amy and Shannon. We talked and walked with them to their vacation house. They were scared to be out with the “crazies.” They had come to help babysit and were both 16.

I told them about Josh, and they said, “It’s like in the old-fashioned days.”

I mentioned Psalm 37, and they said they would read it when they got back to the place they were staying. So I also told them to read John 14–17, and they said they would.

A Prayer for Amy and Shannon

Lord, bless Amy and Shannon. Let your Word speak to their hearts as they read it.

This simple yet heartfelt reflection captures the joy and gratitude of your day while weaving in meaningful encounters and prayers. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like to add or adjust!


Continuing a look into my journal from the summer I turned 18

Gratitude and Hope

Continuing a glimpse into my journal from the summer I turned 18.

Thank you, Father, for your faithfulness. You’re doing great and awesome things. It’s hard to believe that you are giving Josh and me to each other. It’s so wonderful to love and be loved this way.

Why do so few know what love is? Lord, I ask that you use us in the lives of others while we’re together. Let us bring joy to all we come in contact with. Let us show Jesus to them. Let them see Jesus in our lives, in our relationship.

Let us build each other up in you. Bless my last two days with my family. Prepare them to let me go.

They know the truth. They tell others. It’s becoming real to them.

We have been together for over 30 years!

A Father’s Day Prayer

Give my dad a wonderful Father’s Day. Protect us and keep us under the shadow of your wings.
We will rejoice in you.
Be glorified in us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Let’s Talk Hard Things

Hi friends! Let’s talk hard things.

I just celebrated my 49th birthday, and looking back, I realize I did so many things right—and now I’m enjoying the rewards of a life lived beautifully, though at times sacrificial and hard—because this is motherhood! I’ve grown my own passions, talents, and hobbies alongside my children and never lost myself—and I never lost sight of my calling, and I never strayed long from the way.

I knew my North Star, I had my eye on a mountain top, I knew I had to choose the right direction, and just keep climbing. I couldn’t always see a trail under my feet, but with compass in hand, and a vision of my destination – the chaos, the darkness and the obstacles could be overcome – by faith and perseverance.

There were hard choices to be made along the way, and my husband and I decided, over and over again, not to be driven by our fears and worries.

Now, as I enter my 50th year, I want to consider how I can help, teach, and light the way for younger women who don’t want to lose the light of life along the journey. Maybe you feel like you have lost sight of that North Star, and havent figured out how to read a compass, and even if you could – you have not decided where you are going because your vision and calling is a blur.

The path looks different for each of us, but there’s one very important thing—its the path.

Where do you want to be at 30? 40? 50? 60? 90?

You need to be on the path that takes you there—and I know you are a pioneer.

I know you are brave. I know you are fighting for your child, your home, your family, your sisters, your marriage, and your calling as a woman. I know you are a visionary because you are here. Only the brave explore the world of Fun-Schooling!!!

So I have a question for you: What do you want to learn from me?

I’ve arrived at 49, and my life is everything—and more—than I could have hoped and dreamed because I stayed on the path, even when I had to blaze it.

But I blazed it, so maybe you don’t have to. Many women and families, mothers and marriages, have gone before us—blazing trails, clearing the way by faith in the face of fear.

I once heard a very wise African man share a bit of wisdom in my living room:

“If you thought you were moving in the right direction—you heard the call, you are moving toward your vision—but the journey is much harder than you ever imagined and there are endless obstacles in your way… it’s not because you’re on the wrong path. It’s because you’re the pioneer, blazing that trail.”

You are a pioneer woman. Not because you have chickens, bake sourdough, or have a garden. You are pioneering a future for yourself and your family through the chaos and disconnection of modern society.

You are overcoming obstacle after obstacle—facing challenges humanity has never experienced before 2025. You are battling a Terminator, taming AI, training the next generation, obliterating GMOs in your home, questioning traditional medicine and conventional education, maybe challenging the values of modern feminism, healing trauma, finding faith, experimenting with scary alternatives, and pulling monstrous weeds from the garden of your child’s heart and mind.

You are armed with wisdom and a questioning mind. You take every thought captive. And at times, you feel like a living sacrifice—poured out for love, hope, and a future you can’t even see.

You are making moves. You are navigating good and evil. You are trying to hold a marriage and family together. And you are looking around and seeing your sisters, your friends, struggling and feeling so alone. And you wonder—Am I enough? Am I doing enough? Why am I so tired?

Do you realize how powerful, wise, wonderful, and full of grace you are?
I didn’t think so.
But you are all that—and more.
You are an overcomer.
And it’s so hard.

Friend, sister—
I’ve walked through fire, floods, loss, pain, death, and chaos. And I’ve built my house, my life, my future on the Rock. I have loved.

And I’ve arrived at 49—empowered, wiser, freer, and touched by grace. I still have a ways to go.
Every step of faith has brought me to this beautiful place, I’m seeing everything from a hilltop.

So how can I help you blaze your trail?
How can I help you find your way?
How can I say, You are not alone?
How can I stand on this Rock, on the hilltop, and call out to all the sisters and say:

“If this is the Rock you want to stand on, the path has already been paved.”

Yes, the path is still hard—but sister, I have rolled many boulders off this trail. Now you need to push through the weeds and mud that relentlessly try to take over the terrain—until enough of us walk this way, packing down the path with our footsteps, working together to raise up the low spots and clear out the brambles.

I’m here to help you.
I’ve created so many tools and resources to support you along the way, and I’ve suffered many struggles pioneering this path.

So where are you on the path?
Where are you going?
Who is guiding you?
What’s your map?
What is your North Star?

How can I empower you, encourage you, and equip you—to take one more step?

Fun-Schooling + Wild & Free = a perfect match!

Years ago, I took the kids on a walk after breakfast. We didn’t have a plan—we just needed fresh air and sunlight on our faces. We sat under a tree and read poems, sketched in our journals, and shared apples from a basket. By the time we got home, it had been hours—and I realized something:

That was our whole school day.
And it was good.

Not good because it ticked off a list of academic boxes. Not good because it was planned or polished or even quiet. It was good because it was true. True to the way children learn best—through wonder, through movement, through meaningful moments that speak to the heart and engage the senses. It reminded me of my own homeschooling years, spending hours outside letting nature be my guide.

That’s the same kind of goodness I see in the Wild + Free community.

Fun-Schooling and Wild + Free were seemingly made for each other. Both are built on the belief education isn’t something that happens to a child—it’s something that flows from the child. It flows from their interests. Education is their environment. It is their questions. Their exploration. Following their own paths.

Wild + Free is about gathering in nature, embracing simplicity, and letting go of the pressure to perform. It’s about letting kids be kids—muddy, curious, barefoot, imaginative. It’s about motherhood that values connection over perfection.

And that’s exactly what Fun-Schooling was created to support.

Fun-Schooling is interest-led and delight-driven. It says yes to creativity and no to comparison. It turns the world into a classroom and the family into a learning ecosystem. When you combine that with the Wild + Free philosophy? You get something even richer. You get shared meals outside. Art inspired by the sunset. Science with a pond. Geography in your beautiful backyard.

You get memories.

You get a childhood worth remembering.

You get the freedom to let your homeschool life reflect your family’s values instead of someone else’s curriculum guide.

I’ve met so many Wild + Free moms over the years, and what I love about them is this: they are present. They are brave. They are willing to do things differently because they know what’s at stake. They’re not chasing test scores—they’re cultivating souls.

And if you’ve ever looked around at your family and thought, “We were made to do this differently”—you’re not alone.

You’re not wrong.

So let the kids get dirty. Let them spend whole afternoons building fairy houses and drawing maps and studying bugs. Read poetry under a tree. Pack a basket with books and snacks and take your lessons to the park. Say yes to beauty. Say yes to learning that feels like life.

Dive into nature study all you want. Let kids be kids. Don’t force away childhood one moment too soon.

Companion Journals for the Wild + Free Family

Back to Basics Homesteading & Farm Bundle– Nature study. Essential homestead and farm skills. Handicrafts. Economics. Writing. And more! Some of the journals are available individually as PDFs and all are available individually as Paperbacks as well.

Nature Study & Outdoor Science A Charlotte Mason-inspired nature study journal used by Wild + Free families around the world!

Core Journals– Seasonal core journals to cover all the major school subjects- and nature study in one place. Each has a fun seasonal and nature-inspired theme. Summer. Spring Girls. Spring Boys. Winter Girls. Winter Boys. Autumn.

Wilderness Adventure Handbook Essential wilderness survival skills presented in a fun way. Teaches outdoor safety, survival, wildlife skills, and more. A fun group study.

The Backyard Science Bundle-Our most popular nature study journals all in one bundle. The journals are available individually as PDFs and Paperbacks as well.


Read More-

Budget-Friendly Tips from Real Fun-Schooling Moms!
The Princess of Montgomery Woods
Fun-Schooling Lifestyle, Practical Tips & Reality 

Grading, transcripts, & college prep for my 9th-grade Fun-Schooler

📊 Grading
After lots of research, here’s what we landed on:
Subjects with clear right/wrong answers—like Life of Fred and Keep Going with Latin—get traditional grades. We’ll track lesson points, effort, and focus to calculate a final score.

Everything else? ✅ He earns an automatic A as long as he’s staying focused and completing assignments.

🎓 College Prep
We have mixed feelings about college —there are strong pros and cons. But since he’s set on automotive design, which is tough to break into without a degree, we’re planning like he’s college-bound unless that changes.

💸 College is expensive, so we’re focusing on earning free college credit during high school:

✅ Modern States + CLEP Testing + Petersons for test prep
Modern States offers free CLEP prep courses and reimburses test fees. CLEP lets you test out of general ed classes = 💰 saved!

He picked two CLEPs to start with and will self-study first (we can access Peterson’s Test Prep free through the library—check yours!). Then he’ll review with the Modern States course and take the CLEP. His goal: two CLEPs per semester.

📚 Dual Enrollment
We’re lucky to live in a state with generous dual enrollment. He’ll start next year while continuing CLEP prep.

🏫 Residential Dual Enrollment (Possibly Senior Year)
He’s thinking about a residental program at a private school, where high school seniors live on campus and take a full college load. He’s older for his grade, so he’d be 18 most of the year anyway. If he goes this route, he could graduate high school with at least two years of college credit—basically getting all gen eds done for free and transferring to finish his degree later.

We’ve got time to sort out details, but I’ll keep y’all posted as it unfolds!

💬 Drop questions if you have any! Happy to share what’s working for us.


Part 1 here– How we select materials
Part 2 here– In depth info on our daily and yearly schedule
Part 3 here– What journals & books he will be using

Journals & books we will use for my son’s 9th grade year as a college-bound Fun-Schooler

📚 Here’s a peek at all the materials my son will be using for his first year of high school!

We school in 3 terms, so not all of these are year-round.

✉️ Want the full subject-by-subject list + info on what’s not pictured?
🗓️ Or our free reads schedule?
Reach out via DM on our Facebook page I’m happy to send it!

1️⃣ These are Daily/weekly books he uses 4–5 days a week or at his own pace:


2️⃣ Monday – These will be done 100% independently while I work. We will do an audiobook and nature drawing together-


3️⃣ Tuesday – Half the day is independent work, half with me.

4️⃣ Wednesday – Done with my husband while I work. Half independently, and half with my husband.


5️⃣ Free reads we’ll do together – Mostly audiobooks in the car. These tie into our studies, but he’s not required to narrate — just enjoy.

6️⃣ Independent free reads – Scheduled this year to help with balance. He mixes reading + audiobooks.

So what about the rest of the week?

🔹 Thursday – Screen-free + field trip day. We listen to free reads in the car. He does his daily stack before/after.
🔹 Friday – He helps at a homeschool gym, then spends the afternoon with my in-laws. He finishes any leftover schoolwork there.
🔹 Saturday – Catch-up day for free reads, papers, handicrafts, and special study (TBD).
🔹 Sunday – Screen-free rest day. All schoolwork is due Saturday night.

❌ A few books aren’t pictured!
🧬 Science this year is Biology, with a focus on comparing germ theory vs. terrain theory, natural immunity, and arguments from both sides.

Questions or feedback? Leave them below!


Part 1 here- Info on how we selected materials
Part 2 here– In-depth info on how we schedule our days and school year

A Prayer of Love and Trust

Continuing the Summer with Sarah series …

June 18th, 1994 – A Prayer of Love and Trust

10:30 p.m.

Lord, I thank you for life. I look around, and I am amazed because you, the Creator of all I see, love me so personally. You are here for me every moment of every day. You love me like your child. You are my Father in heaven.

And Jesus, you love me as your bride. I want to be pleasing to you. Thank you, Jesus, for loving me and desiring to take me as your bride someday.

I also thank you for preparing me to be the bride of another. Thank you, Jesus, that Josh loves me so much. Thank you that we can love you together. Soon we’ll be together—two days. It’s been so long since he held me.

Jesus, I love him. Help me to love him as you love me. Give us wisdom so that we would do your will. We’ll be together a long time. Please fill those days with your blessings. Help us to glorify you in all that we do.


Now here we are today!