A Day in the Life of our Homeschool

I recently read some Homeschooling blog posts about a typical day in their homeschool.  It was amazing the variety that I found.  Reading about other families typical days made me think about what I say our typical day would be.  With four children and two working parents I don’t think we have typical days in our homeschool.  However, after giving the matter some thought we do have typical weeks or months.   We started out as most Homeschoolers do trying to replicate traditional school in our home.  With all the research I had done prior to starting I knew this wasn’t what I ultimately wanted but at least it was a starting place of comfort.  As a physician I have done a lot of traditional school…  As a student though I know that you learn best through immersion and this is what I truly wanted for my children.  I want a learning lifestyle where everything is a learning opportunity even play.  I didn’t want my children sitting day in and day out doing monotonous work.  I wanted to instill in them a love for learning which requires joy in learning.  Right now we only have one child who would be in traditional school but we have four who are constantly exploring the world around them.

We have found that a rigid daily schedule doesn’t work well for us and so we have established a weekly task list.  Melissa gets a new list on Monday that includes her language arts, math, science and social studies lessons from Time 4 Learning (T4L) with worksheets as well as her spelling words, Bible reading and the chapters that we are reading from our Charlotte Mason curriculum.  With my current schedule I am at work on Tuesday/Thursdays for 24 hours so Monday is our heavy work day.  We get a head start on T4L in the morning while her brothers are at preschool.  Some days we accomplish a lot of it and some days we are lucky to get through a section.  I will say that the task list has significantly helped with motivation for Melissa because when she’s done with her weekly tasks she’s done with assigned school work and every thing else we do is fun learning. We pick her brothers up at noon and all head for some lunch.  After lunch Eli (2) and Zachary (11 months) lay down for a daily nap.  Bobby (4) sometimes naps and other days he stays up with us.  We work on art and crafts, spend time reading from our chapter books (we are  reading “Little House in the Big Woods” currently) and table manners at our daily tea parties.  We spend time outdoors enjoying nature or at a minimum watching the birds at our feeder outside our kitchen window. We build forts, put on plays or dance recitals on our pretend stage (made from  large foam hardwood floor play flooring at Toys R Us) and have mock battles with light sabers, pirate swords or ninja gear. Sometimes we use this for quiet time and Lego building.  I am always fascinated by the scenes they build. Once the boys wake up its playtime and cooking dinner until Daddy gets home and then family time or finishing up work while Daddy takes over some of the play time until bed.

Tuesdays see me heading to work before daylight. The kids wake up on their own schedule and get dressed, breakfast and some early playtime.  Danielle (our nanny) helps Melissa figure out what’s left on her T4L lessons and gets her started while the boys play. Zachary usually takes a small morning nap which helps control the chaos.  The lessons are self paced and Melissa knows she can ask for help whenever she needs it.  She likes to alternate a lesson and worksheet to help break up the time.  If the morning chaos is too much for learning she gets early playtime and does her lessons in the afternoon while the boys are napping.  When naptime is over everyone loads up to take Melissa to dance lessons.  She has been dancing since she was 2 years old and is often found performing for us or her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  Once Dance is over its time for dinner and movie time with Daddy at home.  Everyone climbs up on top of him on our big sofa with popcorn to watch whatever movie is playing that night.  Mommy loves being able to catch glimpses of this sweet time from work on our Nannie Cam.

Wednesdays find me sneaking in the house as quietly as possible to try to sneak into bed before anyone sees or hears me.  Sometimes I get a quick nap while Danielle takes the boys to preschool though most of the time I don’t as Wednesdays are my errand day. Either way, Melissa usually finishes her T4L lessons on Wednesday morning and works on her spelling words.  Sometimes this happens at home and sometimes while riding to the grocery store.  At lunchtime we pick the boys up and either meet Daddy for lunch and then run errands or grab lunch and head home. Once the little ones are down for their naps we finish up anything that needs to be done, straighten the house and have our tea party.  Wednesday afternoons tend to be more quiet play so Mommy doesn’t get too overwhelmed. Danielle also stays all day Wednesdays which provides an extra pair of hands when needed for errands or children.  Bobby has Dance in the late afternoon but to early to wake up the other boys without grumpiness so this allows one of us the time to run him to Dance without taking everyone. During Bobby’s dance time Melissa can often be found helping me prepare dinner.  During this time we talk about recipes and measurements and review some of the things we have been learning for the week.

During the summer we have Wednesday night Movies on the Lawn which is an open house event.  We set up a projector out back with Disney movies and make fresh popcorn for the kids.  Some weeks its just us and some weeks we have a houseful.  Its a great way to socialize with our neighbors and colleagues outside of work and the kids have a blast every week. If its raining everyone moves indoors and the movies are set up upstairs in the playroom/den.

Thursdays, I head back to work and Danielle helps Melissa finish up any lessons or worksheets she may need and then spend the rest of the day working on what interests everyone.  From coloring, to crafts or even the basics of sewing they explore what comes up.  You can often find Mr. Roger’s neighborhood, Fraggle Rock or other educational videos on the TV during quiet time on Thursdays.  When the weather is nice they are out at the local park or playing in the back yard.  Make believe is very important in our household and right now animals are the favorite character.

Fridays Mommy arrives early in the morning. The boys head out to pre-school and Mommy tries to get a nap usually.  If no nap is needed we spend the morning exploring new things like computer programs, our local art studio, insects outside or going to the gym for exercise. Sometimes we have to use those mornings to finish up outstanding school work for the week but that has become much less rare in the last few months with our weekly tasks.  Melissa likes being able to have Fridays as a fun day and so will even work on school lessons in the evenings during the rest of the week in order to get everything accomplished.  We pick the boys up and usually do something fun as a family like swimming, playing at the local park, indoor playground or even Chuck E. Cheese if we are getting a treat.  Other days we come home and spend the afternoon using sidewalk chalk to beautify our patio or open up our fold out kitchen table and paint pictures or snuggle up on a couch reading.  Sometimes you can even find us at our local pottery store painting, Melissa begs to do this on a weekly basis.

As you can see though no “day” is particularly typical for us, we have established a flow that works.  We home school year round which gives us even more flexibility for vacationing, times when we are sick or even to slow down and enjoy the Holidays while still accomplishing what we need to.  Weekends are often spent exploring the area around us.  We have made trips to St. Louis, Gatlinburg, Atlanta, Lexington, Louisville, Memphis and many more.  We always learn so much on these trips.

We currently live in Tennessee which requires a statement or intent to Homeschool and an attendance report filed at the end of the school year.  Students must meet a minimum attendance requirement or 4 hours x 180 days per calendar year.  However, Time 4 learning keeps great records of the child’s attendance and reports for the work completed, as well as grades on their lessons, quizzes and tests if they are needed.  I also keep a small calendar that I update with our other activities to have a more accurate record of our time spent in homeschooling. As we move with the military I know other states will have different requirements and I want to make sure that we are prepared for those requirements.