Homeschool ~ How We Do It

I don't know how many of my readers are fellow homeschoolers, or who might even care about what a typical day looks like for us, but here it is...

Let me start by saying that no two days end up looking the same. We have a general routine, but we are very laid back in our routine. A typical day may mean we stay home all day, it may mean we run errands, it may mean we have a class or field trip, it might mean I teach a violin lesson (or 3), it may include a trip to the library or a walk to the part. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there really is no such thing as a typical day for us.

But generally, here's what we do.

6:30 am - I wake up and head downstairs for coffee and reading (Bible, blogs, email, current book)
7:15 am - The girls wake up and play in their room
8:00 am - I head up to say good morning to the girls and get myself ready for the day
8:30 am - breakfast, clean-up and chores
9:15 am - lessons start (we do any or all of the following: Bible, math, grammar, spelling, history, science and violin practice).
12:00 pm - lunch
afternoon - This is where things vary from day to day. Sometimes we spend more time on our lessons, other days the girls have the majority of the day to do what they want.

This week is NOT a typical week. Although I try to keep our extra-curricular activities to a minimum, this week we have something every day. I tend to stress over weeks like these - or the weeks we'll be missing our "formal" lessons for our trip to Thailand, but I need to remind myself that it's just a different form of learning and it's ok. In fact, I can think of no better way to study geography than to travel to a different county and experience. I would MUCH rather have the knowledge that comes with experience over book knowledge.

And so today we went skiing...and rock climbing. Tomorrow we go to the symphony. Wednesday we go to the orthodonist and then play violin at the nursing home. Thursday we go to art history and painting.

Every life experience can be an avenue for learning if you let it.