julie’s homeschool day in the life (with a 7 and 5-year-old).

This month one of my favorite homeschool blogs, Simple Homeschool, is doing a series of “Homeschool day in the life” posts. These are some of the most helpful posts on the blog for me, so this year I’m writing my own to link up.

I’ve hesitated to post much about our homeschool schedule and curriculum mostly because I myself have struggled a lot with doubt and comparison in the past, and am coming to learn that there’s simply not one right way to homeschool. There’s not a “best” curriculum or homeschool philosophy, not a “best” routine. I haven’t wanted any of you to feel the pressure of needing to do what I do.

However, at the same time, sometimes it’s helpful to learn what someone else is doing and pick out the things that suit your family and situation. I use the series on Simple Homeschool for ideas and help if something needs tweaking (for instance, that’s where I’ll get ideas on how to make this homeschooling thing work with a newborn in the house), and I hope that’s how you’ll view this post.

Specifics of our routine change from time to time, but below I’ll share what we’re doing right now, and I’ve come to it mostly by observing myself and the kids and learning what works best for us (and lots of trial and error).

I include general times but I do not keep an eye the clock during our morning (and I’ve started turning my phone off during homeschool hours too). This helps me focus on the relational aspect of spending the morning with my kids rather than just checking items off a list.

If this blog post feels overwhelming, just remember: We start our homeschooling day around 8:30 and end by 12:00 or 1:00 at the latest, with some breaks scattered in.

7:00 am
In the warm months I’m an early-morning person, but during the winter I stay under the covers as late as possible. At 7ish I get up, shower or get dressed and start unloading the dishwasher and getting breakfast ready. David is at work by this time.

7:30-8:00
The kids wake up sometime after 7:00, and we eat breakfast between 7:00 and 8:00 (sometimes later if they sleep in or one of them wants to sit and cuddle in my lap for awhile). Typical weekday breakfast is a green smoothie and homemade protein breakfast bar, but cereal if I’m lazy. I always clean up the kitchen before bed the night before because I’ve found that waking to a dirty kitchen and unwashed dishes puts me in a bad mood.

8:00-ish
We stay at the table after breakfast and I drink a cup of coffee while we review our Classical Conversations memory work for that week (which we learned on Monday at CC). This encompasses history, geography, science, English grammar rules, and Latin. We listen to the CD and any extra memory songs from CC Connected, I ask questions from our book, and find locations on the map.

Sometimes I’ll make a review game, and the kids will get Cheerios or a chocolate chip for correct answers. During this stage of CC I’m supposed to focus primarily on having the kids memorize the material, but if they ask a question about their memory work we talk about it (for example, we watched a Youtube video of Niagara Falls yesterday).

Our CC work takes anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour a day, I try to mix it up. If it’s a really busy day, we just listen to our CD in the car.

9:00-ish
Judah and Amie pull out drawing supplies and draw/color pictures while I drink a second cup of (decaf!) coffee and read a chapter or two from our current read-aloud book. We’ve worked through a sweet series of American history books from the library by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire, but right now are finishing up E.B. White’s The Trumpet of the Swan. I let the kids draw whatever they want during this time, but it usually ends up related to what I’m reading (note: drawing is the only way I can get Amie to listen to chapter books which she usually says are “boring”).

9:30ish
I’ve learned that the morning goes best when I do “kindergarten” with Amie first and let Judah have some time alone to play. Amie does a math lesson, reading, and writing. She entertains herself so much better during Judah’s work if I spend this quality time with her first.

I will pause here to say if it’s been a crazy morning or we were super busy-with-people the day or evening before, I’ll take a break and tell the kids to play together, and then shut myself up in my room with a book for 30 minutes. I used to feel terribly guilty about this, but it’s one of those things I’m learning to accept as an introvert homeschooling mom. And I think it’s really important for my kids to know how to self-entertain, so it’s a win-win.

10:30ish-1:00
Judah begins his workbooks. I let him choose what order he wants to do his subjects, and I’m slowly working on helping him do some of his work independently (I use the time when he’s doing a worksheet by himself to switch laundry or straighten up the house or check email). He does a math lesson, reads aloud to me, phonics workbook pages, handwriting, and I alternate grammar and spelling every other day.

While we’re working Amie either plays in the other room, draws at the table with us, or sometimes asks to do extra worksheets (those fun little kindergarten workbooks at Target are great for this).

Sometimes Judah takes a break in between subjects to play. If we have plans or need to run errands right after lunch though we’ll plug away to finish by noon.

12:00
Lunch: sandwiches and applesauce or fruit for the kids, salad for me (or a rice cake with peanut butter if I’m lazy!). For some odd reason my kids do better with school if I let them stay in pj’s all morning. I used to refuse on principle, but recently decided: Why not? If it’s fun for them and helps our morning go more smoothly, I guess it doesn’t matter what they wear. They definitely have to be dressed by lunch though.

12:00-1:00
I clean up after lunch, then we finish up any school work we haven’t done. Lately we’ve been playing Uno together after we finish.

1:00-3:00
Since the kids don’t take naps anymore we call this “play time.” On weekdays Judah and Amie can watch one or two shows on Netflix, then play quietly either together or separate until 3:00. They do a ton of drawing and making paper dolls these days and spend a good portion of play time making art work. We’ve always had a mandatory play time and it works really well for us on days that we’re home. It took a long time to train Amie not to bother me every 10 minutes, but when I’m consistent she does great.

This is my time to read my Bible, catch up on blogs, write (this post!), read, and then do some chores. Ideally I do my exercise video here but that’s happened a grand total of one time thus far (sad face).

3:00-5:00
Some days we meet up with friends right after lunch and skip play time. Otherwise we get outside after play time and meet friends at a playground or have people over. Judah and Amie are very social and if I’m good about getting together with other kids and most weekdays they are perfectly content with our homeschool routine.

5:00
Home to start on dinner (I make a weekly meal plan over the weekend and try to plan leftovers or a crock pot meal if we’re hanging out with friends later than 5:00), David gets home

6:00
Eat together, if David is home he cleans up the kitchen afterward (yep, he’s pretty great)

7:00pm
The kids start getting ready for bed and we cuddle on the couch to read books. I go to the library every week or two and make sure to pile up on good books for the kids. I use book lists from websites I like or ask the librarians for recommendations.

7:30 pm
Bedtime for Judah and Amie (Judah often isn’t ready to fall asleep yet so will take books or a couple toys to play quietly in bed)

8:00 – 10:00
Whoever is home reads or watches a movie, or if we’re both here we hang out together.

10ish
Bed time!