Our Homeschool Day

For the past several weeks over at Simple Homeschool, homeschooling moms have been sharing about what their days look like.

Today I'm joining them and sharing what a typical day looks like for us.

To borrow a phrase from my friend Renee, this is what it looks like usually, but not always.

Early morning
For me, the day starts anywhere between 6 and 7 am. I don't set an alarm, just wake up when I'm naturally ready. I quietly come downstairs, make coffee and do some or all of the following.

• read my Bible
• journal
• read other books
• check email
• read blogs
• write blog posts

Usually my girls are awake when I get up, or wake up shortly after. If they are awake before me, they read quietly in their bed (they have bed lamps). Once they see lights on downstairs, they get up, shut their door and play. Occasionally they come downstairs, but they know this is mommy's quiet time and she's not happy if they interrupt!

8 am

I head upstairs to say good morning to the girls. I tell them it's time to get dressed, make their beds and meet me downstairs for breakfast. Then I head off to the shower to get myself ready. We meet in the kitchen around 8:30 for breakfast at Mama's Cafe.

9-11:30 am

We clean up the kitchen (do the dishes), start some laundry, and then settle into our learning time. Almost always, all of our school takes place during the next couple hours. We do all or some of the following during this time. Because the girls are so close in age and are only a year apart grade wise, we do most of our learning together. 

• math, history, writing, reading, language lessons, spelling
• show and tell (the girls love this and initiate this about once a week)
• violin practice

Noon

Time for lunch. 

Afternoon

Every afternoon looks different here. I try to have a block of quiet time for us, but it doesn't always pan out. In fact, more often than not, it's overlooked. I need to guard that time more quietly.

Afternoons are largely dominated by play time for the girls. Three days a week I teach violin lessons, and starting next week the girls will have swim lessons twice a week. Afternoons are also used for running errands, writing blog posts, going for bike rides, runs or walks.... I know when the girls get older, school will take longer and our formal learning time will extend into the afternoons. Some days it already does.


5pm
This is when we do a quick pick-up of the house and do final dinner preparations. After dinner we spend time as a family or go off in our own directions - it really just depends on the mood of us all.

Around 7:30 pm the girls get ready for bed and we either read a few chapters from our current read-aloud or they read on their own. We've started letting the girls decide how long they will read and they haven't abused that privilege at all.

So that's what it looks like for us.