What Our Homeschool Looks Like, part 3: An Average Day

Welcome!  In "part 2" I mentioned that our days are never exactly the same, but for those who have never seen how any homeschool works I thought I would show you an example of a day around here.    We don't do science every day, and this wasn't a science day.  When we do though, we do outside stuff in the Fall and Spring, and inside activities like experiments and research etc. in the snowy winter.  This day didn't include any music either.  As of late I've been having him practice rhythms and patterns on some of his dad's drums.  This was also  not an "art day", although the map and coloring were still very hands-on.  Lately our art has included abstract painting and art journaling.

Our days usually start at around 9:00 because this guy wouldn't let us delay his breakfast any longer than that.  The rest of us would prefer sleeping until at least ten.  I admit it.  I'm not a morning person and neither are the children I've birthed.  I try to put a load of laundry in the dryer before I ever get him out of bed though, as well as have some "me" time. 

During breakfast I teach something.  This particular day it was homonym and synonym review.  I would give a word and the kids, with their mouths full of scrambled eggs would rattle off a synonym for it, etc.  While I'm doing that I'll be cleaning up the breakfast mess, making a pot of coffee, emptying the dishwasher etc.  (They eat their breakfast on the kitchen counter stools so they are in the hub of everything while I do this)

After the "breakfast lesson" we have a 15 minute timed cleanup.  Beds are made, toys picked up, and kids are clothed.

While they finish getting dressed I'll go to the school crate:

 This is the crate that keeps the journals, etc. that we've been working on as well as some other resources.  It's everything we're using currently, along with some "fun stuff" for extras.  I have collected some things that are for future use, along with stuff we've already studied and are done with.  Michael's building me a new huge bookshelf in the basement family room for those.  Aren't you Michael?  I hid the crate behind our recliner for now to keep Caleb's hands out of it.  This is something that I had to do because there were so many supplemental books, etc. hanging about that I had to dig through too much when I wanted to find something.

See that green tote bag next to the crate?  That's the bag I "pack" at night with the stuff I'd like to do the next day.  So when I go to the crate I really only have to grab that bag.  Then I can take it wherever we end up in the house, be it the couch, the yard, wherever.  And I don't have to sort through the bin to find a little book.

This particular day we did a few math workbook pages.  It was "fun" as Aidan put it.  I disagree but hey, it's his world and I'm just teachin' in it. 

About half of our math lessons are worksheets and pages because the bookworm loves a fresh worksheet to write all over.  The other half are "teaching" lessons and they include hands-on stuff like measuring dimensions of furniture, following a recipe, flash cards, playing store, adding/subtracting with raisins, and playing with Math Ipad apps, among a million other ideas.

After math we curled up in the chair and I read aloud a chapter of Johnny Tremaine.  Then Aidan read a book about trucks.  Cuz that's how he rolls.

Then we took a mini break to unload the dryer.  Well after these two climbed out of the hamper.

We were going to go right back to another lesson but I decided to start dinner first... and left a cup of flour too close to the counter's edge.  At least he's cute right?  Yeah, I thought so too.  It's easy to get out of trouble for things like this when you smile so brightly.  Vivi came over and got her hands involved too, insisting that she needed to write her name in the flour. 

Lunch around here is easy, usually something simple and generally not a hot lunch unless there is some sort of leftover to use up.  After lunch Caleb went down for a nap and the rest of us went back to work.  I have printed a bunch of coloring pages from the American Revolution and stapled them in chronological order to make a little book.  This is how we're journaling this time in history.  He will color the page and then at the bottom he'll write a sentence or two explaining the picture.  For example, this page is labeled already as a Minute Man.  Aidan journaled at the bottom of it to tell what minute men were. 

We have been working out of a really great (and free!) mapping unit that was compiled by some nice public school teacher somewhere and put out on a blog to be shared.  It's nice because it's very adaptable and hand-on.  Well, now that he knows more about maps it was obvious to him that he should map out Paul Revere's ride.  Here is the partially finished result.  (Paul is in blue, the Red coats are.. well duh.) 

While he was working on his map I was fixing dinner and getting ready for Michael to come home.  Shortly before 5:00 we have another timed 15min. clean up in which they run around picking up the toys and putting the school supplies back in the bin, etc. and I do whatever is pressing at the moment... usually sweeping but sometimes it's actually getting myself properly dressed and out of my lounge pants, putting on makeup, etc.  Just depends on how the day has flowed.  That about rounds out our homeschool day.  I know that to some this won't seem very schoolish.  To others it will seem awfully busy and forced.  I think it's all in perspective.  There are some days (like today) when we'll get a few things done and then get an invite to eat lunch with his grandparents.. and most of the time I try to make relationships a priority. 

If you're wondering and you haven't read part 2 of this series then no, I don't follow a written plan or curriculum guide, meaning that I have to search out the resources myself.  It's a little more work than just reading out of a dry textbook but it's worth it when I find living books that Aidan wraps his brain around and that help him understand what the world was actually like during that period of history.  He's funny like that, he likes to see a big picture.  He loves it that way and can remember so much when there is a story involved.   

If you're reading this and wondering what the time frame for any of this is... well I don't have a time frame to give you.  I don't follow a schedule.  My day planner has things scheduled, like appointments and outside commitments but it doesn't schedule my day.  I was recently relieved from the idea that I had to meet some sort of time constraints with schooling or housework.  Instead I follow a basic routine and if I do the same(ish) stuff in order every day for the household and then filling in teaching whatever is in the bag then it's been working grandly.  Some days school is finished very early.  Those are the days when I get to work on a decorating project, trying to make this new house more like home or I get to read a "mommy book" as Vivi calls them.  They actually come quite often in this season, thank goodness.  Then some days we are finishing up when Michael walks through the door.  That's the beauty of it though:  I'm not stressed any more about time constraints and I'm not pushed to move on to the next topic in a text book. 

Next in this series will be a complete "curriculum" list of what I've used so far, awesome resources I've stumbled upon and what I have planned next. 

Someone out there (and I know that people are reading because I can see the blog statistics for views and visitors) is probably wondering how I know that Aidan is learning enough without following someone else's plan.  Well, I don't know that this will ease your mind but I do actually have an outline of what public school expects one to know before moving from K to 1st, 1st to 2nd grade, etc...  I don't use it as a checklist but I do ask myself "does Aidan know how to do that?" from time to time.  I'm not adhering to any sort of time frame but I do like to keep his reading skills on track because the older he gets the more I want him to be able to research the topics he likes without my supervision.  Reading is key.  Reading and math I stay fairly structured with because he is quick to learn and I feel like they are the foundation for so much.