A day in our homeschooling life (7.5 and almost 6yo)

5:30 - 6am: Wake up time. The kids used to eat right after waking, but for the past six months or so they will play for a bit before breakfast. I get up and eat right away so I can get dressed and go to the gym or for a run. When I get home from the gym, they are magically fed, and most often dressed and ready to start in on the day. I am very thankful to my husband for this; especially after many years of hard/grumpy mornings, they are now quite pleasant. I often come home and find elaborate structures built around my living room, or a story in progress (these are all pictures from the last week or two):

A domino tower.

I know. That's a lot of cars and angry birds. Mostly bought with their own money.

7:45 - 8am: I return from gym/run, and get out some kind of morning work for the kids. Once I get them started on it, I go shower and get dressed. It often looks like this:

9-10am: The kids continue to work on everything from math to handwriting, spelling, reading, or First Language Lessons. This is our only formal "school" time each day. It happens on weekends, during the summer, and on most holidays. Sometimes we do science experiments or geography. I think if they were further apart in age I would have to structure our day more, but there is a lot of overlap since they are only 21 months apart.

10 or 10:30-11:30am: After that, the kids will generally play, either imaginatively or games. Games are everything from chess and checkers, to Yahtzee, Yamslam, or Fluxx. I generally get some chores done during this time, like vacuuming/mopping, emptying the dishwasher, etc. I then make lunch (hot, every day). At 11:30 they can no longer wait a second more for lunch! If they are playing well I try to delay lunch. Of course, all this goes out the window if we are meeting up with friends or heading out to one of the many museums we frequent. We are so very fortunate to have access to a bunch of amazing museums.

12-1pm: Computer game time. This is the kids' screen time for the day. Even though it isn't always educational, this is when I get to sit down for a few minutes to eat lunch and check email. I might work a little as well.

1pm-3pm: If it's Tuesday, we're at music. If it's Thursday, the kids are at a farm program from 1-4 where they get to do fun things like milk a cow, collect eggs, make butter, and learn about the habits and habitats of local animals. Other days might be filled with a library, zoo, or museum trip, or a few hours of reading or listening to Story or the World or music, or painting. We don't follow a strict schedule but we do seem to get a lot done. I have a dedicated blog page for favorite curricula we have used. Here is a picture one of the kids took on one of their farm days 2 months ago:

3-5pm: More play time for the kids, and dinner planning for me. The kids will often help with chores in the afternoon. If it's nice outside, I will send them out for awhile while I prepare dinner. Some days my 7 year old will sign on to mathletics.com, duolingo, or do some geography quizzes on seterra.net. Other days my 5 year old will do some Reading Eggs, or they will both play a computer chess game together. The other day they played with slime for at least an hour.

5:30-6:30pm: Dinner and clean up! The kids and I usually eat around 5 or 5:30, and their dad is generally home sometime around 6. After the kids have eaten, they put away all of their toys and get their pajamas on, which they need to do by 6:30 or 6:45.

6:30-7:30pm: Stories. This is another one we stick to. My husband reads chapter books to our 7 year old and I read to my 5 year old. Right now they are reading the 4th Harry Potter book. I trade off reading with my 5 year old so that he gets some extra practice reading. We will often do I-Spy type books, and read nonfiction.

7:30 - 8pm: Kids brush teeth, get ready for bed, get songs sung to them, and go to sleep. The goal is that they are asleep at 8, though in the summer this tends to lean toward 8:30.

8-9pm: I catch up on email, work, and try to stay awake a little bit longer. We might watch Game of Thrones or House of Cards. Generally I don't last much past 9pm because my energy is really crappy. Reflecting on our day has made me realize that most of our time is about reading and play! That makes me terribly happy and grateful. I feel so lucky that my kids are curious, bright, and excited about learning, and they are often the ones pushing me to show them more, more, more. Last week after dinner my 7 year old begged me to "do more spelling" with him, and my 5 year old still just brings books over to me, and jumps up on my lap for a story. Lucky am I to have these kids who just want to learn all they can.

9-10pm: Somewhere in here I crash for the night. My husband has a whole night ahead of him since he needs a lot less sleep than I do to be a decent human being, but that is just the way it is.



Thanks to Simple Homeschool for the link up of a ton of amazing Day in the Life posts! Definitely check out these other homeschooling blogs!