I love reading day in the life posts, especially homeschooling day in the life ones. So I'm very excited that I finally get to share my very own version. I even rolled a die to help me choose a random day in a normal week. Since I rolled a "3," I chose to chronicle a pretty typical Wednesday in our homeschooling routine and I gave a lot of details, which is what I most enjoy about these posts!
6:50 - My husband wakes me up and tells me that it is 6:50 which means we slept in a little late and he gets up. I was out last night until after 9 at a Charlotte Mason Reading Group that I recently started. I had so much fun but I came home so wired that I couldn't go to bed at my normal time before 10. Instead, we both stayed up until 11pm and I still had a hard time falling asleep. So we are little tired and behind schedule.
6:53 - I get up, get dressed, and start getting a load of laundry together to put in before breakfast. Most mornings I get up in enough time to check my email, schedule, and weather before I go to wake the kids, but today is not that day.
7:03 - I go into the room my 3 kids share and start our morning routine which involves me going to each child one by one and saying good morning, and giving hugs and kisses. Then I comb and pull back the 3-year-old's hair. Today, she had a new brush that she was excited to use, but instead of acting happy, she threw it out the bedroom door and said she hated it. This is a new phase we are going through lately. So I just say, fine. Do you want me to comb your hair with the old brush? I comb it and she gets dressed. She goes outside and gets the new brush and we use it a little and put it in her drawer. Meanwhile, the boys get dressed and head to the kitchen table. I add their dirty clothes to my basket and take it downstairs and start the washing machine.
7:15 - We are at the breakfast table and we sit down to breakfast prepped by my husband. Today we are having leftover homemade waffles that he made yesterday morning and then just toasted in the oven to warm them up.
which always begins with a poem. We read the same poem every day for a week and then choose a new one. Today we are reading,
by Alfred Noyes. We just finished a bunch of William Blake and this is the poem that my just turned 6-year-old picked to memorize for our poetry tea.
As soon as I start reading, my husband tries to stop the 3-year-old from dumping a very hearty serving of syrup on her waffle and she bursts into screaming tears. That phase again. His huge contribution to a peaceful morning time is dealing with her needs so as not to interrupt the rest of our morning time enjoyment, so he whisks her off rapidly into another room for her to calm down a little because we don't allow screaming and crying at the table, although we certainly try not to make anyone feel bad about it.
I restart the poem and by the time I am finishing it, she is back climbing into her seat with just a few sniffles. Our morning time goes like this today, reading one story or a few pages from each book.
Normally, we do a few pages from a few more books, but today the boys beg to read a chapter of Harry Potter because we've been finding it hard to find the time to read this "extra" book and they want to know what is going to happen. After we started Harry Potter, the 3-year-old wandered off into the front room and we can hear her playing and building with magnetic tiles.
8:00 - Since we read a whole chapter of Harry Potter, morning time lasts a bit longer than usual and we aren't done until now. We are just running a little slowly today.
The kids scatter off to play. The 6-year-old begins to work with his new
and the 7-year-old uncharacteristically decides to build a 200 piece puzzle of the U.S. He hasn't done any puzzle in recent memory, but he dives right in. I change the laundry to the dryer and hop on my computer to do a few things before we start lessons.
I check my email and rsvp to a maple sugaring field trip on our local homeschooling group's meetup page and I do a few admin tasks on meetup. I read my rss feed, including one with all the new books at our library. I see something I think we might like to read at morning time. It is a new book about
8:20 - This is when I normally start lessons, but since my mother-in-law has decided to take the 3-year-old to library story time today and pick her up around 8:30, I decide to do wait until she leaves to start lessons. I make a to-do list for the day and review my weekly plan.
8:35 - My husband waits until the 3-year-old is picked up to run out to the store for eggs and I call my 7-year-old 2nd grader to come in and start lessons. Of course, he would rather work on his puzzle, but we are starting! We do a slightly different schedule each day to allow for lots of different short lessons split up into varied arrangements. Today our lessons schedule looks like this:
While we explore the number 7, my 6-year-old plays with another set of the rods across from us. He uses color markers to make a "key" for decoding unit values of the rods. He just turned 6 last week and I am not starting formal lessons with him until he beings first grade in our homeschool this summer. Instead, he works on his own projects and interests and joins us when he is interested.
I just realized how much he and the 3-year-old have been playing together during our morning lessons as he is interacting with me and interrupting me more than normal because she isn't here!
My husband drops off the eggs, says good-bye to us all and leaves for his work, which is a 5-minute bike ride away.
As our 30 minutes of math time is drawing to a close, we stop our work and I ask my son for a narration of what he has learned. The only narrations I write down for him are his math narrations and the rest I take orally. Today we get:
Made the pattern for 7 and reviewed that when you are making a pattern you can find whether it is odd or even by looking at the row of reds and a whte rod and if it's a row with all 2's it's even and if it's a row with all 2's except for one white than it is odd.
Next, is reading. Today is he is reading from
The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin. Normally, I listen to him read aloud for about 5 minutes, but because we are doing the
Read Aloud Revival's annual read aloud challenge, I listen for 10 minutes and then he reads the rest silently. I stop him before 20 minutes is up so he has time to narrate the reading. While he is reading, his brother is playing close to us with a magnetic fishing game.
Next is natural history. He reads the next chapter in
The Burgess Animal Book, in which Peter Rabbit meets a woodchuck, and then narrates it to me. This is one of the several titles he reads on my tablet. I would prefer to use physical books, but using ebooks that are available for free in the public domain keeps homeschooling costs down.
Then we set a timer for a 15-minute break. While he was finishing his reading, reading his natural history, and having his break, I have been completing my daily searches on
Microsoft Rewards and sending an email to the Charlotte Mason reading group about our next meeting and linking to as many of the resources we discussed last night as I can remember. I also post the next meeting details to our homeschooling meetup group.
During his break, the 7-year-old has been working on his puzzle, while his brother plays with his snap circuits rover.
9:15 -When the break timer goes off, my son stops it and resets it for 10 minutes. It is time for
recitation, which means he will spend the next 10 minutes working on reciting beautifully (usually works out to memorizing) one of the three pieces he is working on during this 6-week-period. Today is his day to work on his passage, which is the first 5 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
When that timer goes off, he moves onto his special study time. He is studying animals and today I tell him to read from
America's Backyard Wildlife. I haven't planned out his readings beforehand in this subject to give us some flexibility. Instead, I have him read this book or library books on animals that I have selected. Today, I direct him to the chapter on groundhogs because he had just read about woodchucks during Natural History, and I could tell that he did not know that woodchucks and groundhogs are the same animals.
During this time, the 6-year-old has asked to work on Khan Academy, which is something he asks to do from time to time. Because he cannot read, he lacks confidence doing some of the math problems so I help him decipher some of the pages. I also grab time while the 7-year-old is reading to bring up the dried laundry.
7-year-old narrates to me about the groundhog chapter and moves onto history. Recently, he has been learning about colonial NewEngland, so today he is reading a few pages from
Colonial Living. Meanwhile, I make piles of the boys' laundry in their room for them to put away and I put away everyone else's clothes.
He finishes the reading and lets me know. Last time he read from this book, he said he couldn't narrate from it. I suggested that with this book, we just look at the detailed illustrations together and he could explain what they are to me as his narration. This has worked better than having him try to tell it back to me another way. With most of the history readings, we do mapwork that I have keyed to the readings, but I did not choose any for this book.
10:35 - We are done lessons for the day. The 7-year-old helps the 6-year-old change his avatar on Khan Academy and then he goes back to his puzzle while the 6-year-old clears up some of the toy messes that have happened. This pregnant lady is starving, so I eat a can of sardines over the sink and finish making a make-ahead crockpot freezer meal that I started working on yesterday.
The 6-year-old asks me to play "the monster game" with him, which involves me sitting on the couch pretend-shooting at various monsters that he performs coming towards me. It is part video game parody, part modern dance performance, and part fairy tale theater. Playing this game with him is his love language, especially when no other siblings interrupt, so I buckle down and try to keep my attention on him. He could play this for an hour I think. I resolve to do at least 10 minutes.
11:15 - We just finish up when the doorbell rings. The 3-year-old is back. We welcome her and hear about story time. I read her a picture book and we reconnect a little. Then, I get off the couch and put some eggs on to hard boil.
The kids see the eggs and ask if they can have scrambled eggs for lunch, which is a very rare treat. Usually, they just have an open-faced sandwich of peanut butter and/or cheese. I ask who wants to make the eggs and they are enthusiastic that all of them want to make the eggs. So I ask them to tell me what they'll need and they can do it themselves . . . but no fighting or screaming! Everyone can take turns!!!
They work together really well (this time), cracking eggs, turning on the stove, and cooking the eggs in the pan with a little help. Meanwhile, I am toasting bread in the oven and setting out a piece of fruit for each child and putting out water bottles on the table.
11:45 - We sit down for lunch. While they eat, I read from our lunch books. We read from two each day because we all like the variety. I usually read a chapter or half a chapter from each book. If I start to lose everyone, we just stop there for the day, although I try to keep them at the table until I finish. Right now we are reading
The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic and
The Cat of Bubastes by G.A. Henty.
Our reading is cut a little short today because someone needs to use the bathroom and it is going to take awhile. I finish up my lunch of eggs topped with homemade kimchi. Everyone puts their dishes in the dishwasher and I start it.
12:35 - I tell everyone to get their shoes and coats on so we can make a visit to the indoor track at the university where my husband works. One of the benefits of working there is that his spouse and dependents can use the sports facilities and we are finally taking advantage of the indoor track this winter to get out some energy and get some small exercise for me while the temperatures are in the 30s or below. We get here 1-3x a week.
The 3-year-old and I manage 4 laps, the 7-year-old runs or skips 6 laps, and the 6-year-old runs a few laps very fast and watches a student practice batting inside a net cage. On the way out, I run into a friend who also works at the university. The 3-year-old just stepped wrong off a curb and is crying because she hurt herself. Somehow my friend and I still manage to make tentative plans to attend a free exhibit opening at the university gallery on Saturday night.
1:11 - We make it back home. The 3-year-old has finally stopped whimpering from her fall and we cuddle up on the couch along with the 6-year-old to read together. The 7-year-old listens while he works on finishing his puzzle.
1:50 - We're done reading for the time being and the 7-year-old has finished his puzzle. Very soon after, the 3-year-old dismantles it and starts to clean it up. The 7-year-old is not happy about this, but we survive. He moves onto to practice piano, the other kids play at the table with slime that the 6-year-old got for his birthday last week. I get some potatoes from the basement and vow it is my last trip downstairs because I am feeling very tired. I chop an onion and some carrots and put them in a pot to be ready for when I start dinner.
2:30 - I lay down on the couch because this pregnancy is really tiring me out and email my husband back and forth about a few things, including Ursula Le Guin's death which we just heard about. He had recently read the kids
The Wizard of Earthsea and was reading the rest of the series himself. I've also been reading her more recent works, so we were both saddened to hear this news.
The 3-year-old is playing with the cassette player then puts on some pajamas because she loves outfit changes. The boys unload the dishwasher together. At some point, they put away their clean clothes too. The 6-year-old takes over the cassette player and records himself saying toilet over and over. The 7-year-old goes outside to find something to record in his nature journal for today. He doesn't feel like working on his nature journal and tells me about it. We talk it over, but I remind him that it is the day for it.
He comes back in to ask how to fill the bird feeder and eventually, the 6-year-old goes out to help him with it. The 3-year-old goes out for a few minutes in pjs. I'm still resting on the couch.
3:30 - I get up off the couch to turn on the stove to begin making chicken soup with chicken leftover from Monday and some of the broth simmering in the crockpot. I start some rice in the rice cooker for breakfast tomorrow of rice and eggs. The kids are back inside working on various projects.
The 7-year-old is working on making a page in his nature journal, which is something on his schedule every Wednesday. He draws a picture of a groundhog in pencil, looks up the scientific name for groundhog and I transcribe the information he wants to include about groundhogs. Then he tells me some things he has noticed or wondered about which I add to the page.
The 6-year-old is working with an egg carton and cardboard he got out of the recycling bin and the 3-year-old is playing with some new stickers someone passed down to us. She gets out some walnuts and almonds for a snack. The 6-year-old starts working on drawing a map of our neighborhood. The 7-year-old has finished all of his tasks for the day and as it is after 3pm, he is free to read. He is off in his room reading a
Murderous Maths book which he has already read several times.
4:15 - The soup is simmering and everyone helps tidy up a bit before we sit down to read more Harry Potter.
4:35 - We read until Daddy gets home. The kids hide when they hear him and then scream boo when he comes in. The 6-year-old fills the water bottles that need filling for all of the family members (not without a little complaining). The 3-year-old puts regular "day clothes" back on for dinner.
4:45 - We sit down at the table, light our candles, and say what we are thankful for today. Boys are thankful for 2 chapters of Harry Potter!
5:10 - Dinner is already over and boys are helping each other learn string games.
I am pretty tired and could use some downtime, so I go into my room with my computer to zero my inbox and zone out a little. I decide to start working on the map work for Marco Polo which will be my 7-year-olds geography reading next year. Normally, I wouldn't be working so far ahead with planning but I'm anticipating having an infant in early May and I'm not good at computer work with a new baby in the house, so I'm doing as much as I can now.
I can hear the kids playing with slime, building with a marble run, and playing around on the piano. My husband is helping them, letting the 3-year-old "read aloud" to him because she is doing the read aloud challenge this year too, and cleaning up after dinner.
6:15- I come out of my room and join the family before the 3-year-old's bedtime. Everyone decided to finish up soup they had leftover from dinner to have something else afterward. My husband handles all this, strains the kefir that I left on the counter and didn't get to, and gets a baked potato ready to put in the oven for me because I'm still hungry.
6:30 - The 3-year-olds bedtime alarm goes off on my husband's phone. She finishes up her frozen blueberries and milk and he helps her into her pjs. She says goodnight to me and picks a book for him to read to her. He is the one who puts the children to bed every night and it is a huge relief to me that he enjoys doing it because even when I am not pregnant, I am glad to be done before bedtime arrives.
7:00 - The boys get their pjs on and teeth brushed but don't have to go to bed yet. The 6-year-old still needs to do his read aloud, so he takes his baby doll into our bedroom to "read aloud" to the doll. He is the only child that prefers to do it this way. We can hear him talking, but otherwise don't listen in.
I am back to work on my Marco Polo mapwork with occasional breaks for reading blogs and my following my group text with a few college friends. Oddly enough, I only text on my computer via a free google voice number.
7:30 - The 6-year-old plays around a little bit and then comes to me for hugs and kisses before bed. Daddy takes him in and reads to him from the current nighttime read aloud,
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling. The 7-year-old wanders in to complain to me about how they didn't get to read any more of Harry Potter because the 6-year-old needed to do his read aloud. I try to listen compassionately, but it is hard at this time of day. I tell him that I hear that he wants to read the book more and that after we finish this volume together, he can start reading the rest of the series alone. He doesn't want to wait and I don't want to hear any more complaining about it so I think we reach a compromise of minimal acceptance on his part.
He and his dad finish a game of
Phase 10 they started last night, then he goes off to read more by himself.
8:30 - He says goodnight and dad puts him to bed, re-reading the same night book to him. I eat a baked potato and a bowl of cereal while finishing an episode of Shetland I started yesterday. My husband comes out and we finish the Shetland episode together.
9:15 - We are tired, so we head to bed early. I can see the 7-year-old's book light is on and he is still awake and reading.
Thus ends a pretty typical homeschool day in January. Once a week, the boys go to ice skating lessons during our normal early dinner time and once a week we have dinner at my mother-in-law's house. Almost every week my husband or I go out after dinner for meetings, trivia night, or just catching up with friends. Otherwise, we are used to our quiet evenings and early bedtimes for all. Typically we have a little less reading aloud, a few more games, and a couple more sibling squabbles. It was a pretty good day :-)
