August 11, 2009

• A Day in the Life

  It is hard to believe that this is our seventh year of homeschooling!  Wow! 

  Our first year was spent trying to figure what homeschooling "looks" like.  I purchased tiny school desks and set up a school room in our home.  I sought to bring the familiarity of my own public schooling to our home.  One (okay 3) problem(s).  I didn't have a lunch lady, planning period, or janitor.  I did have laundry, housework, babies...  Real life did not wait patiently while we did school.   

  Over the years, we've found our groove.  We ditched the school desks because the kids wanted to hang out on their beds or at the kitchen table.  We ditched the packaged curriculum and customized our curriculum to our likes and needs.  We found books we love, love, love!  We put the books we despised in our local used curriculum sale, lol! 

  I'm hesitant to even share what a day in our homeschool looks like because,

  1.  Every homeschool is different.

  2.  What works for me may not work for you - at all.

  3.  Not everyday is the same.

  Throwing caution to the wind, in hopes of helping others discover what homeschool "looks" like...

  A day in the life of our homeschool.

  

  Through no doing of my own (think "willingly") our two oldest start their school bright and early.  At 7:00am, I wake to pitter patter of girls getting out handwriting (we use plain old workbooks from CBD or Veritas Press).  My husband, love his heart, starts breakfast.  I try to find my way to the shower.  If I'm sidetracked by computer stuff or laundry, it's mid-morning before I get my chance. 

  After handwriting, they listen to their spelling CD (Excellence in Spelling, Phonetic Zoo).  The littles are munching breakfast and chilling.  The chief has his office in the home.  He's on the computer by now and working. 

  At this point (around 8am), one daughter works on chores, has breakfast, and gets ready for the day.  The other daughter will join me on the couch.  We check handwriting and spelling.  We do our grammar (Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind) and reading lessons (McGuffey Readers).  Then they switch. 

  Usually around 9:30am, they start on math (Saxon).  They take turns watching their math lesson (Dive CD) on the computer.  If I haven't made it to the shower, this is my chance!  I start laundry, straighten the living room, clean up breakfast, check email, get the littles ready, spend thirty minutes reading/teaching the littles, etc...  If the girls need help with math they'll track me down in the laundry room or wherever.  If I'm not able to help them right away, they'll find dad.   

  We currently rotate history (Story of the World) and science (Apologia).  We'll do a unit of one.  When it's finished, we'll do a unit of the other.  The chief does bible with them at bedtime.  They spend time reading for school and pleasure before "lights out".

  When we're working, we work hard.  When we're playing, we play hard.  We sleep well at night.

   

  • 11:08 am
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