Homeschool Day in the Life
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When people hear that we homeschool, they often ask about our daily schedule. What do we do and when do we do it? I think people that do not homeschool are genuinely curious. They want to understand how we spend our time. Homeschoolers want to compare daily schedules. They want to feel like they are on the right track.
I read every ‘Homeschool Day in the Life’ post I could find when we began homeschooling because I wanted to reassure myself that we were doing things ‘right’.
Let me reassure you right now, that if your homeschool is meeting your goals and everyone is happy, you are on the right track.
I am sharing this ‘Homeschool Day in the Life’ as a snapshot of what homeschooling looks like for us this year. Children change as they grow and parenting evolves. No two years will look the same, even in the same family. Heck, no two days even look the same!
To write this post, I kept track of what we were doing for an entire day. I selected a day that we did not have co-op classes, but in the future might write one up for co-op days as well. Every day is different!
Homeschool Day in the Life
Monday
6:30 – I am awake and listening to the rain. Hello, rainy season! I should get out of bed, but it is so dark outside.
Last night I didn’t set an alarm and I don’t have my phone near me so I don’t know what time it is. I assume it was earlier because it was ridiculously dark outside.
7:00 – I finally grab my phone and see that I stayed in bed too long. I had planned to work out but now I am short on time. Time to hop in the shower and get dressed. After I’m ready for the day, I go downstairs and make coffee. I love coffee.
7:20 -I use this time to check blog comments and emails. Today I heard back from our photographer and confirmed our family photo session. Yay!
8:00 – I’m a little late getting the kids up this morning. Usually I wake them up at 7:30. Oh well. Today is not a co-op day so we have a little extra wiggle room in our schedule anyway.
The kids spend the next hour eating breakfast, getting dressed, and changing the sheets on their beds. I start a load of laundry and run the vacuum really quickly.
9:00– Paul texts to say he is not feeling well and is coming home from work. I set up the diffuser in the bedroom to hopefully make him feel better.
This is definitely not a normal part of our ‘homeschool day in the life’, but we roll with it.
9:30 – Our first subject of the day is history. We read through Chapter 6 of Story of the World vol. 3. I pause after each heading to review what we learned and ask the comprehension questions in the activity guide. I try not to rush this part of the week because it sets the foundation for our history lessons all week long.
Today after reading, we made stewed pompion! It is not naturally sweet and is actually a little sour. The kids were originally not a fan but ate it after we added a splash of maple syrup.
10:45 – Time for science. We are working on an insect unit and studied camoflauge and mimicry today. We read a few pages from our Usborne Mysteries and Marvels of Nature book. Then, we made our own owl butterflies using construction paper and googly eyes.
Nature is truly amazing.
11:15 – We are learning about Andy Warhol in preparation for a field trip to the Portland Art Museum. We read excerpts from Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter by Susan Goldman Rubin.
We are going to be creating our own pop art over the next few weeks and I asked the kids to start thinking about their subject.
11:30 – Lunchtime. Ben has been ‘dying of starvation’ for at least 45 minutes now – despite having a snack time built into our history lesson. He is definitely a child who grazes all day long, so this is a pretty typical part of our ‘homeschool day in the life’.
Today everyone chose something different. Ben had grilled cheese, Hannah had chicken soup, and I had a salmon salad. The meal was rounded out with cucumber slices and pomegranate seeds.
After everyone was finished eating, the kids played and I cleaned up the kitchen.
12:30 – Back to schoolwork. We are now in our language arts block. Both kids started with their handwriting workbooks. That task doesn’t take long so Hannah began reading her weekly chapters from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.
This gives me time to work with Ben one-on-one. As part of our normal ‘homeschool day in the life’ I try to always plan some one on one time with each child.
1:00 – Ben and I work on his spelling and grammar lessons for the day while Hannah works on her grammar homework. Next, she works on her Brave Writer project – creating a book dust jacket for her favorite book. Once she is finished she takes a break.
2:00 – Ben is extremely distracted today (maybe because I have the computer open while I type up this ‘Homeschool Day in the Life’ timeline). I try to deal with that with a whole lot of patience (and coffee). Now that he has completed his spelling and grammar lessons I give him a break for a few minutes before we start reading. He needs to get the wiggles out!
2:15 – Hannah and I finish her All About Spelling lesson while Ben burns off some energy playing in his room.
2:30 – Ben is back downstairs and we are reading together.
3:00 – Hannah and I are working through her math lesson. Today we are reviewing the order of operations. We do a few problems together and then she works independently.
I try to stay close by while Hannah is working on math because she gets frustrated easily. I try to step in and help if I see her start to get frustrated. It is much easier to stop the frustration early than try to get her back on track once she has decided something is too hard.
While we are working on math, Ben is outside so the house is nice and quiet.
4:00 – Hannah is finished with her math work for the day. Paul and Ben take our dog for a quick walk around the neighborhood. I stay home to do a little tidying up. I switch laundry to the dryer while I’m thinking about it. Laundry is pretty much part of every ‘homeschool day in the life’ here.
4:15 – Time for Ben’s math. He takes a math co-op class and has a little bit of homework so we are working on that tonight. It was a quick and easy place value game.
4:30 – Ben is practicing playing Hot Cross Buns on his recorder. Thankfully he enjoys playing so I don’t have to force him. I start cooking dinner while he plays.
5:00 – The meatballs are in the oven so I clean out the refrigerator while they cook. The trash goes out tonight and I always try to clean out the fridge before the kids wheel the trash and recycling containers to the curb.
5:30 – Time for dinner. We all sit together and eat and talk for about an hour. This is one of my favorite times of the day. We spend a lot of time together, but it is nice to hang out with no goal other than enjoying each other’s company.
6:30 – I didn’t get to the grocery store this weekend, so I need to go now. I do not usually grocery shop in the evenings, but it needs to be done. Hannah comes with me so I have company and help.
7:30 – I’m home from the grocery store and ask the kids to do a 10 minute tidy while I put away the groceries. They manage to do a pretty good job tidying the main level. They even remember that it is trash night and take out the trash and recycling without me reminding them.
7:40 – We have just enough time for our nightly 20 minutes of reading. Every weeknight we read together in the same room, but independently, for twenty minutes.
I love it because it builds reading for me time into the day. The kids are free to read whatever they want.
8:00 – Kids are upstairs for quiet time. They don’t have to go to sleep yet, but they must go to their rooms. They usually play around on their computers and read. I finish cleaning up the kitchen and then sit and relax a bit.
Not every Monday ‘homeschool day in the life’ is like this. Typically we finish schoolwork a little earlier in the day. I don’t like to rush it though. Having a flexible schedule is one of the big perks of homeschooling. Every day our ‘Homeschool Day in the Life’ looks different.
What does your ‘Homeschool Day in the Life’ look like?
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