How is your day scheduled? Please post for a mom who is just beginning!

[mamalotsoftots]

I'm very in the dark about the actual 'doing' of the schooling. ;) So could you post how an average day goes in your home? I'd love to see examples of different peoples perspectives. I'm afraid that what *I* have/had planned may burn us out by the end of the first week! lol. :001_smile:

Like, what you do daily, what can happen every other day, what can be skipped totally!

 

So what are your tried and true tips that are the result of actually schooling ;) You know, having not started yet, I'm still in the phase where I think everything will be sunshine & roses. hehe.

[mysticamethyst]

Here is roughly what our day looks like; some not so much.

 

I get up around 630-7 and enjoy some quiet time do a few chores here and there and hope on computer with coffee in hand. Around 8 or so, Weeone, the little boy I watch gets here. We eat breakfast and play with blocks quietly. Then at 9, I wake the rest of the kids and they all have morning chores to get done; they have until 11 to do this. Their chores include, make bed, get dressed, clean up room, eat breakfast and then they have play time. At 11, Weeone takes nap and we start school. I do not have an order that is the same every day as to which subject at which time. We do math, lang. arts (spelling, voc, grammar, writing and reading). This takes us to lunch at around 2ish--depends on how long that all takes them to get done. After lunch we have history, or science,depends on the day. Then we go for walk(PE) with our dogs; by time we get home its close to 4. We take a break again till Weeone is picked up at 430, then dinner. Whoever is my kitchen helper for that day will stay in kitchen with me to help with dinner. The rest are allowed to go play until dinner. Then more free-time till showers and bed; quiet time starts at 9 and they have to turn light out by 11. I am up till about 1130 then I zonk out as well.

[Philothea]

Hi Sarah,

Since you are just beginning, I would suggest starting way earlier in the school year than you think you need to, that way you can gently ease yourself and your family into a schedule that works for you.

 

Last year, my DS was three, just about to turn four and he was bored. I had ordered 100EL and was not planning on using it, but I tried it and we only did that for a few months, then I added math and all of the other things. As DD got older, I began to see how everything was going to fit together nicely. Now, I am planning on easing her into pre-k in the fall after the baby is born. (It really did help that I knew more children would be coming)

 

So our schedule for K is like this: Wake up, breakfast, Reading and read-aloud for literature, snack and potty break, math, handwriting, other types of activities (some days art and some days a science unit study), late lunch. We usually begin around 9:30 and end around 1 or 2. Afterwards, I do a few pre-k things with DD and then we go out with DH to run errands or have a bit of fun.

 

Some days we don't finish everything because we go to the library, I just get back and finish what I can and then we enjoy each other, relax and have lots of fun.

[dragons in the flower bed]

All numbers are approximate. We go in this order for about this amount of time.

 

7:30... DS7 and DS5 are up and having a light snack.

8:00... DS2 and I get up, remind others to clean/dress, and have a snack.

8:45... DS7, DS5 and I all do yoga.

9:00... DS7, DS5 and I all do drawing lessons.

9:15... I wander away and the kids keep drawing or begin to play (up to them)

10:30... We eat brunch.

11:00... DSS10 is dropped off by his mom and we begin

 

==THE SCHOOL DAY==

 

First... DS5, DS7 and DSS10 all listen to Geography Songs while coloring in Geography Coloring Book. Then the big kids read their current poem aloud and DS5 listens.

 

Next... DSS10 is on the laptop at the dining room table doing QuarterMileMath, typing drill, and Teaching Textbooks. I am working with DS7 at the dining room table doing Lively Latin and Singapore Math. DS5 is playing with DS2.

 

After that... I am working at the dining room table doing Art of Argument and composition and grammar with DSS10. DS7 is doing typing and QuarterMileMath on the laptop, then working from a list of assignments that includes Greek, composition, copywork, reading in the content areas, and piano practice.

 

Then... I am supervising DS5 as he does phonics, handwriting and math. DSS10 is doing a list of independent assignments which includes drawing practice, reading in the content areas, and Life of Fred math.

 

Finally... I read aloud something for DS5 about our current theme. Then I read aloud something for DS7 about our current them. Then DSS10 reads aloud his selection. The kids dramatize an element of what we read. DS7 makes a notebook page. DSS10 creates a memory verse. Or, they all do an experiment.

 

==END SCHOOL==

 

3:00... DSS10 walks back to his mom's house. He'll do a computerized voice lesson there. The other kids help me clean and cook.

4:00... We have dinner.

4:40... Free time for outings or whatever.

6:20... Bedtime routine begins with bathing, pajamatizing, toothbrushing, audiobook listening.

7:00... Kids are in bed.

7:30... Kids are asleep and I'm cleaning.

8:00... I plan next days school work, hang out with my partner, sew, watch The Colbert Report, etc.

11:00... If I'm not asleep by now, tomorrow doesn't happen this way.

[Closeacademy]

I try to make each day a little different so it isn't boring but we try to stick to a good routine.

 

This is for a 2nd and Ker (things kind of change and evolve as life happens--January and February we started with circle time but things have changed now as needs have changed.)

 

Get up

Eat breakfast and dress

Morning chores (feed pet, brush teeth, make bed)

School starts

 

I work with my ker first.

We do Rod and Staff reading--she reads 2 pages, does 1 page in the reading workbook and 1 in the phonics workbook.

She does a page in Earlybird Math

Next week she will do 3 words for copywork.

And then she is done. I have a reviewbook full of fun worksheets for her to work in that she spends time with while I read the story for the day.

 

Story--Monday is Aesop's, Tuesday and Wednesday is Story of the World. I read 1 story and with Story of the World there are coloring pages.

 

Phonics--Monday and Wednesday I introduce a phonogram. Tuesday and Thursday we review phonograms. I have made silly sentences and pictures to go with each phonogram.

 

Copywork--Monday and Wednesday she copies the silly phonogram sentence. Tuesday and Thursday she works on copying her compositions.

 

Singapore Math--We do a warm-up word problem, go over information in the text if needed and then she does 1 to 3 pages in her workbook.

 

Composition--Tuesday she composes a story based on this week's fable.

 

Minimus Latin--we do 1 section in the book or a worksheet per day.

 

My Pals are Here Science--We do 1 activity per day. So we either read in the text, do a section in the workbook or do the activity from the activity guide.

 

Mc-Call-Harby Test Lessons in Reading--She does this on Thursday and does only 1 story.

 

My Ker is usually done in 15 to 30 minutes. My 2nd grader takes up to 1 1/2 hours. I keep things simple, short and intense.

 

Good luck on your journey.:001_smile:

[Jenny in Florida]

I'm currently teaching only one at home, my 10-year-old son, so our schedule is built around his needs. We are trying out (and really liking) a four-day week, with a break from desk work on Wednesdays. I set some broad guidelines--math first while he's fresh and he must complete roughly one-quarter of what's on the week's lesson plans each day or be prepared to use his day off to catch up--but he gets to choose what order to do things in and what, precisely, he does each day.

 

He normally wakes up between 7:30 and 8:00 and relaxes for a while while I get breakfast going. Most days, I read aloud over breakfast. Then, he takes a shower and gets dressed while I clean up in the kitchen and think about dinner or start a load of laundry or something similar.

 

Math is first on the day's schedule. The course he's doing now requires him to complete an average of three lessons per week. Assuming all goes well, he usually does one lesson each on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. If one of those lessons is a test or if he had trouble with a concept, he might spend the extra day reviewing. If we're just getting a really late start one day or we're short of time for some reason, that'll be the day he doesn't do math. Otherwise, he has Friday off from the subject.

 

He goes through the lesson online and prints out the assignment. Sometimes (like today), he asks me to read over it with him. He works through it while I sit close by in case he needs help. Sometimes, we work a few problems together. Then, once he's got it done, I go over his work and point out any problems I see. (The course he's doing doesn't have an answer key available. So, I have to work the problems to check his work.) When he feels confident about his work, he submits the answers online. We go over any incorrect answers together, and I note the grade in my book.

 

Math normally takes about 30-45 minutes, longer if it's a test.

 

After math, he usually does some or all of the following:

 

Spanish - He's using The Learnables. He typically has three or four pages assigned per week and so does one page per day. On days when he has a written exercise, he brings it to me for grading when he's done. These exercises usually take him about 10 minutes.

 

Latin - He's doing Minimus Secundus alternated with Learning Latin Through Mythology. This week, he has four pages of Secundus, including translating a picture story and a couple of grammar and vocabulary exercises, plus one activity sheet. Ideally (although he tends to stall on weeks when he has Secundus), he would do the translation on one day, each of the exercises (which we do orally) on two other days and the worksheet on the fourth. Translating takes longer, maybe 30 minutes. Otherwise, this is another 10-15 minutes.

 

English - He's using Galore Park's English Prep 1. We're taking about three weeks to do each chapter, so his assignments for each week vary. Some weeks, it's mostly the comprehension stuff, which we do orally together, one section per day over two days. Other weeks (like this one), he's working on the writing assignment. He'll usually need three days to do this, with a draft one day, revisions a second day, and a final draft the third.

 

Science - He takes classes at our science museum that meet twice a month, but he still has some reading to do at home. It's just a few pages a day and normally takes him less than 20 minutes. When he's done reading, he comes and reports orally to me.

 

After this chunk, he usually takes a break for lunch. He is supposed to do some piano practice, too, but that's like pulling teeth these days. (Sigh.)

 

He frequently watches 30-45 minutes of whatever educational DVD I have on tap for him while he eats. These may be related to his history studies or the composer whose work he's practicing in Themes to Remember or the author whose work he's reading or occasionally something else. If not, he usually reads, either something I've assigned or, if he's feeling lazy, his fun reading.

 

After lunch, he'll finish up with his lighter, fun subjects. Most of these require little or no involvement from me.

 

Music - He'll practice his Themes to Remember piece for the week and/or read one of the bios from Lives of the Musicians. He usually does this only two or three days a week, unless it is a piece he especially loves.

 

Child's History of the World - He's using the CD/ROM and reading only the stories that fit into our chronology for this year. So, he doesn't have one every week, and it's just one day.

 

History and Literature Reading - He gets comfortable somewhere and reads. This is pretty much every day and usually for an hour or longer. When he finishes, I ask him a few questions to make sure he was paying attention and understanding what he read.

 

That's pretty much it. He usually doesn't sit down to math until 9:00 (or later) and is done by 2:00-ish, with a significant break for lunch and whatever stalling he can get away with.

 

Science class is two Wednesdays a month. On his free Wednesdays, he often chooses a hands-on project to do. This week, he built a wooden model of a covered wagon. Or he might watch an extra helping of something educational (or sometimes not) or read his fun books all day. We've lately decided to do a library trip on those days, too. But, mostly, as long as he is halfway done with his assignments for the week, he has those days off.

 

He has some kind of extracurricular pretty much every afternoon/evening. If he's done early enough, we have dinner afterward with Dad. Otherwise, he eats before we leave and just has a snack after we get home.

 

Hope that gives you some perspective!

[King Alfred Academy]

Here is what our schedule looks like...schedule.

 

We have switched things up quite a bit and it is working very well for us. No burn out. Our lessons last anywhere from 15-30 minutes. We are done by lunch time. It leaves all afternoon for imaginary play, games, time outside, handicrafts, reading, ect.

 

Monday...we run errands, go to the library, clean house, ect.

 

Our Fine Arts Friday have been a life saver!!!!! We do our history project, picture study, art projects, ect. It is a great and gentle way to end our week.

 

You'll find your groove. This is my second year hschooling and we have finally found ours. It's great!

[Nancy in MI]

If I watch the time too much, I start stressing out. I find that if we just do our routine and not worry about the time so much, we get more accomplished. Go figure!

 

Here's our routine:

 

Wake up

Daily Jobs (bed, dress, breakfast, teeth, devotions, etc)

 

We try to start school by 8:30. Math is always first, because the boys are more alert at the beginning of the day. Other than that, we try to get all our daily stuff done by lunch (history, science, guitar practice, spanish, typing for 13yo and copywork for 9yo, and writing).

 

After lunch I read aloud, then we clean up, then the boys do an hour of reading in their rooms.

 

After that we fold laundry while watching a movie and I make smoothies for a snack.

 

If they've finished all their schoolwork, the rest of the day is theirs. If not, they finish what still needs to be done.

 

We're starting to come up with ways to make our car time more productive as well. The boys have their own box that we take in the car with spelling, grammar, logic and vocabulary. Twice a week when we're traveling to & from classes or activities, they work in those books. Fortunately, neither one has a problem reading in the car! We spend a lot of time in the car on Mondays and Tuesdays. This way I don't feel like that time is wasted.

 

Also, we always listen to 2 chapters from our history CD (Story of the World) on Tuesdays on our way to & from guitar lessons. At home on the other days, our history time is spent adding to our timeline, doing mapwork, and reading books or doing activities to supplement the chapters. This has helped to get us into a really good "rhythm" for history.

 

Unfortunately, our evenings are more hectic than I'd like. The boys are getting ready to test for their black belts, so they are doing a lot of evening classes. When we're home, we usually have a candlelight dinner and watch a family movie or play games.

 

You might be interested in reading the book, A Patchwork of Days. It is a compilation of homeschoolers' typical (if there is such a thing!) days.

 

Good luck on your new homeschooling adventure! It's been such a blessing for us.

 

:001_smile:

Nancy

[Susie in CA]

German for about 30 min. I am pretty flexible here. We follow a program called "Das Neue Deutschmobil." Sometimes, though, we watch a german movie or work on numbers -- whatever fits in with our other studies.

 

Math @ 30 - 40 min. I ususally do 1 lesson in RS. If the lesson was really quick and easy the boys do one exersice in the Sinpapore Workbook.

 

Music practice. Ds1 does piano, ds2 does recorder. @ 10 min

 

Most of the time they get dressed after Music and eat a snack.

 

We continue with English. This includes all our Spelling, Grammar, Writing, and Reading. We don't do all those things every day. Only Reading is done every day. Always. No matter what. We spend about 60min here.

 

Above things we do daily except Friday.

 

After English we spend @ 60min on History or Science. What we do here varies a lot. It includes reading, projects, experiments, mapping, writing etc.

 

After this we are done. Most of the time we are done by 1:00 pm easily. Sometimes we take longer because our day is a little disrupted. For example: We currently do Archery once a week at 12:30 pm. This means we come home after Archery and do History then.

 

On Fridays we do Art, Music, extra projects, Math Games etc.

 

We do a huge amount of field trips/outings/PE. Most of which I would count for school if I needed to.

Our current PE: Archery, Karate, Soccer, Recreational Games Class, Hiking

Outings/Fieldtrips: Hiking, Museums, Tide Pools and Lagoons, Airfields etc. the list goes on and on.

 

In the evenings the boys do 30min of 'free' reading.

 

This looks like a lot now that I wrote this all down but we have fun being busy.

 

Susie

[Narrow Gate Academy]

Here is a link of our current schedule. Anywhere you see two subjects separated by a / , we alternate subjects. When my oldest was in 1st, I think we did between 2 - 2 1/2 hours a day of work. With so many littles, you may want to consider doing part of the school work in the afternoon while your others are napping. HTH

[Melissa B]

Our days look something like this. We school six days.

 

7-8 Breakfast and chores

8-9 Preschool

9-10 Walk

10-1 Free outside time

1-2 Lunch and chores

2-6:30 School time (Preschoolers nap/quiet time from 2-4)

6:30-7:30 Dinner and Chores

7:30-9:30 Read Aloud

10:00 Lights out

 

If we scheduled our school time it would look something like this:

2-2:45 Math daily

2:45-3:30 Language arts daily

3:30-4:00 Latin/French

4-5 American History, Geography or Ancient History

5-6:30 Unit Study (includes science, art, literature, etc)

 

My dd10 also has a science text to work through. I leave it up to her to find the time to get it done. She will often work on it in the morning during preschool time or take it outdoors to work on during free time. DD10 and dd8 also have a book a week assigned to read on their own. They both love to read and have no trouble finding the time to finish these in their spare time.

[Jenstet]

http://www.amazon.com/Homeschooling-Patchwork-Days-Share-Families/dp/0965130304/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206728864&sr=8-2

 

This is a book I bought that helped.

 

For free I can tell you mine.

 

-Wake-up by 8AM

-Eat

-10 year old goes and reads her independant reading for the day while I make breakfast for my 2 boys. 2 and 5

-Start with some workbook stuff like Growing with Grammar or Phonics, I am usually cleaning up the kitchen and doing dishes.

-Start the Math lesson while I get the boys dressed and change very wet diaper.

-Two days a week we have outside classes at this point so off we go.

-Back for lunch. I make lunch while they run around and play.

-After clean up the oldest practices her trumpet and I start the 5 year old with his Sing Spell Read Write and Math. The baby likes to join.

-We will have a clean up of rooms if everyone is fighting and crazy but if not I will have the older finish up with her Math.

-By 2pm the baby goes down for a nap and I can start either Science or History. We also do spelling at this time because the house is quiet. I also will read a book to the two older and have them narrate. We usually end school around 3:30-5:00. Depending on how people are working.

-We have dinner then off to Karate classes.

 

 

I hope this helps.

[Jenny in Atl]

I'm very in the dark about the actual 'doing' of the schooling. ;) So could you post how an average day goes in your home? I'd love to see examples of different peoples perspectives. I'm afraid that what *I* have/had planned may burn us out by the end of the first week! lol. :001_smile:

Like, what you do daily, what can happen every other day, what can be skipped totally!

 

So what are your tried and true tips that are the result of actually schooling ;) You know, having not started yet, I'm still in the phase where I think everything will be sunshine & roses. hehe.

 

With kids so young, I would not worry about a set schedule (each hour planned out) just yet. Go slow and find your style and the style of the kids. Are you and the kids morning folks or more the afternoon types? With these ages, you can play more, explore, lots of time outside, do school at the park.

[Peela]

5-7am-ish- I get up and spend time alone.

7am kids get up, breakfast, do chores (lots of chores).

8am- music practice

8.30- maths (textsbooks and online program)

9.30- language Arts, Latin

10.30- Together time- French, Read alouds, history read aloud, Logic, different things on different days

11.30- kids usually go and do writing assignments

1pm- we are usualyl finished, and I have a nap, while they read for an hour or so. Sometimes older dd is still finishing work- she does extra science.

 

Fridays- both attend a highschool science class.

Mondays- we attend a French class, Drama and Sports, ds attends Recorder lesson

Tuesdays- dd13 attends sewing class

Wednesday- Dd does piano lesson, both attend gymnastics class

Thursday- Dd attends watercolour class

 

Your schedule will evolve over time. Mine changes frequently, although since last year we have been starting half an hour earlier and finishing by 1pm and that has worked really well for me (notice my kids are much older than yours- you can probably do everything you need to in a couple of hours at most).

[mamalotsoftots]

thank you ladies!!! :) You're input is greatly appreciated!

Thanks for the book recommendation, too!

[mcconnellboys]

I take my older son to high school between 7:10 and 7:30. I get back home about 8:00 and roust my younger son out of the bed and get him started with his day. Sometime between 8-9 I generally am successful. We may read for a while first, if we don't have something out of the house coming later in the day. If we do need to get out of the house, then we'll generally do written work first to make sure that it gets completed.

 

These are the average times I have allotted for our written work, although it generally never takes anywhere near this long:

 

Math 8-8:30

Grammar 8:30-9

Writing 9-9:30

Spelling 9:30-10

Spanish/Latin (alternating) 10-10:30

Geography 10:30-11

any other written work related to subjects we're studying that I want him to get accomplished.

 

This leaves another hour before lunchtime for reading (although we generally really get longer than this) and this is when we tend to accomplish our Bible work (includes some written work); literature time; and also often at least some of our history/science reading.

 

We generally do lunch from about noon until about 1:00. He either reads in the car when we're going to and from places, or reads after lunch. He reads for at least 30 minutes per day and generally gets through at least a book or two a week.

 

Afternoons are for outside classes, as well as more history, science reading and work. We also periodically work in extra work related to art and music history/appreciation.

 

Outside classes we're doing right now: piano lesson for 30 minutes, once weekly (he generally practices in the evening); some sort of physical activity every Tuesday afternoon with other kids (bowling, swimming, etc.); one hour group Spanish class and 90 minute group art class on Wednesday; Cub Scouts on Thursdays; field trips on Fridays. Soccer has also just started.

 

Regena