A Day in Our Homeschool

The thing that strikes me most is how different my "day in the life" looks now than it ever has. I am homeschooling with no littles!! Sad, but true! While browsing through the other posts (on the not back to school blog hop), I read many by those who are still in "that phase" of schooling, and I honestly do forget how exhausting and challenging those days were!! Our days are a bit more predictable now.

This is our "plan", so to speak. It is known to change at the drop of a hat (or an invitation to the beach--- as the case may be!)
                                               
Our Morning Routine
Wake
Make breakfast (helper assigned), boys eat while I read to them
Family prayer time
Chores- I find that starting the day with the house in order (or as orderly as it gets around here) helps. My boys feed our pets, clean up from breakfast, straighten the house, vacuum, and help with laundry. They started doing simple chores as soon as they could unload and sort utensils from the dishwasher (age 2 or so).
School Routine
We use workboxes, so my boys always know where to begin. We try to do 2 hours or so of school before lunch. I don't set our goals by volume of work, but by how long we have worked. I find that progress slows the longer we are at something. For us, it is better to work in 10-20 minute increments and then move on even if an assignment is not complete. The exception to this could be when we are in the middle of a really fun project.

Lunch/Break
We take about an hour to do a quick school clean up, eat and clean up from lunch, and sometimes read a chapter of a book together. Often, we have free time for a bit.
Feeding Nephew
More School
We do an hour or two more of school. The afternoon is when I usually help my boys one on one or do "fun stuff". We play math games, do reading lessons, or whatever subject someone needs help with. We also do our Five in a Row book.

Pizza Fraction Game
Free Time
I would love to say that my boys are always super enthusiastic about school (sometimes they are) but, for them, it is often about "free time". The one thing I have learned this year is to really carve out that time when I don't try and accomplish that "one more thing". I start our timer and tell the boys when free time begins---they know that I will not bug them for anything that is not very urgent. There is always more to be done, and it is easy to see every spare moment as an opportunity to get to it. The boys like knowing that I am just as diligent about their free time as I am about their work.
Free Time = Legos 
 Some Days
We have activities on Wednesday afternoons and co op on Thursday, so our schedule will vary on those days. Weds. is the same until lunch and Thursdays we stick to our morning routine, but our school day is our co op.



So, Happy Homeschooling!! I hope this year is a great one for everyone. :)

Comments

  1. SparkleeAugust 24, 2010 at 6:34 AM

    Sounds like an awesome routine! I know what you mean about accomplishing "one more thing." Sometimes they just need time to relax and reflect!

    We're using workboxes for the first time this year. I'm trying to make Fridays a more independent day.

    Have a great year of homeschooling!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AprilAugust 24, 2010 at 8:03 AM

    Thank you for reading my post at M3RH and encouraging me. I read your article about when you began homeschooling and it did help so much to know that great things can come from a rocky start. Did any of children desire to go to "real" school? Any suggestions for how I can get her excited about being homeschooled? Thank you for your time and honesty!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownAugust 24, 2010 at 10:34 AM

    Your day sounds delightful! Love that Lego battle scene - hey that's important school work too ;)

    ReplyDelete

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