What does your day look like?

[DDR]

I feel we're as ready as we'll ever be to start our WTM adventures! But, I'm wondering about some other people's schedules. We're an up and at 'em kind of family, so we'll do most of school in the morning and finish up as necessary after rest/nap time. I know all families and kids operate differently, but what do you find is best to start with when kids are fresh in the morning? I'm thinking math and spelling right after breakfast and chores are done, but I'd love some other opinions.

Thanks!

[Ginevra]

Well, we've arranged things a lot of different ways over the years, and even within the same year, as we've worked around pregnancy, nursing babies, naps, part-time work and this fall, college for myself. But generally speaking, I like having Math first. I also have to balance the things that different children need my direct help to do. So, if I'm working on Spelling with ds10, ideally dd13 is working on something for which she doesn't need my help.

 

When my kids were as young as yours, however, my schedule was much looser and unstructured than it is now.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

Here is what we did today:

 

8am-kids wake up, dress, brush teeth, makes beds, start laundry

8:30- breakfast and cleaned up (10yo put up clean dishes from night before and 6yo helped me put the dirty one's into the dishwasher) while kids ate mom read current devotional

9am- Math with both boys, 2yo played with counting frogs along with 6yo

9:30- Ds10 Grammar/Spelling Ds6 read about flowers and seeds and ds2 listened to story (We then all went outside and in the kitchen to find seeds

10:30- we had cut into some fruits and veges to find the seeds, set them aside to dry and then ate the fruit and vege for a snack

11- phonics with 6yo, ds10 read a CH. and answered comp questions

11:30- DS10 did vocab and writing, ds6 did picture study and then played with blocks with 2yo

12pm- 2yo and 6yo played with daddy, ds10 did History with mom

1pm Lunch and some more chores

2pm- put 2yo down for nap and did LHFHG with 6yo and did FLL too, ds10 had free play

3pm- boys wanted to paint wooden figures, 2yo did not nap so got her up and let her paint as well

 

I just finished cleaning up the paint and decided to get on the web for a few minutes. 6yo has Gymnastics at 4:30, so I am trying to decide whether we will have dinner at 4pm (need to start cooking NOW if so) or if we should eat at 5:30 and set aside a plate for ds6 to eat at 7:45 when he gets home.

[laurad1125]

8am - mom up and eat breakfast

9am - mom wakes boys and starts paid work. boys eat breakfast and do chores

10am - older does Latin, Handwriting, & Memory work; younger does math facts and handwriting then a break while mom continues paid work

11am - older takes 30 min break, younger does math with mom

11:30 am - younger gets break, older does spelling and math with mom

12:00pm - older finishes math, younger does reading and cello with mom

12:30pm - lunch

1:00 pm - younger has break, older has discussion time with mom (Critical Thinking or Tapestry of Grace)

1:30 pm - boys swim, mom does paid work on laptop while watching the boys swim (when you can't swim - october to march down here - they play outside)

2:30 pm - mom continues paid work while older does grammar and Tapestry of Grace, younger does memory work and phonics workbook and then has a break

3:30 pm - mom exercises, older continues work, younger on break

4:00 pm - snack time

4:30 pm - Work all together - Monday/Wednesday we do bible and then science, Tuesday and Friday we do Tapestry of Grace, we don't school on Thursday

5:30 pm - older does art and younger does more reading and either grammar or writing with mom.

6:00 - boys do evening chores, mom grades and plans school

6:30 - boys clean their rooms, mom cooks dinner

7:00 dinner

 

It's more structure than I'd like but to get 4 hours of paid work, 5.5 hours of school for the older, 3.5 hours of school for the younger, that's what it takes here. If I didn't have the paid work, I'd probably just have an order of subjects and not worry so much about the time.

Edited August 9, 2010 by laurad1125
correct typos

[HollyB]

My kids are 6 and 2. We do math first, when she's most focused and the distractions haven't started yet. Then we do something that she isn't that thrilled with, followed by something more fun, like a science activity. I try to alternate subjects like that. I save most of the fun projects and activities for later in the day. Even if it's been a bad day, everyone is willing to do art or music at the end of it.

[Whereneverever]

Everyone is up here by about 6 am. We do breakfast and morning devotionals until 6:45 or so, then everyone gets dressed, washes faces, brushes hair and teeth, ect.

The kids play for about an hour and we start school at 8.

We do Bible, Catechism, the French, and then a 20 minute break. Then we do writing, spelling, math, and another break. Then we do the more fun stuff- science, history, music, and art.

We finish by about 11:30- noon. The kids play until lunch is ready.

After lunch we do a quick clean, then there is nap time for the 3 year old and the baby and quiet reading/puzzle time for the 6 year old.

In the afternoon we run errands, see friends, or have free play time.

[patchfire]

My oldest has an alarm clock & it's set for 6:45 am. She's expected to get dressed, make her bed, brush her hair, etc. by 7 am, and get started on schoolwork. Most days her first subject is math.

 

Ds gets up between 7 & 7:30 am and I do phonics with him before breakfast. We all eat at 8:00. At 8:30, ds does language arts and history/science or math. Dd works on language arts, Latin, and/or history. At 10, everyone stops and plays for 15 minutes. :) Then dd does piano practice. There's forty-five minutes left before lunch, then, and ds does history/science or math and dd work on Latin, history, or science.

 

After lunch, dd works on science, logic, art, or music. She also reads her literature and practices trumpet. Ds is basically done, though I continue to read more to him.

[Closeacademy]

Our rhythm or flow to the day:

 

I get up between 6 & 7.

Dds get up around 8:30.

We start school at 9:30.

 

I wake-up, computer time, breakfast, newspaper

dress, morning chores, prep school

dds are up

computer time, breakfast, dress, etc.

school

lunch

chore time

outing time

pet care

dinner

family time

bedtime

 

We have a different chore/outing each day:

 

Monday--baths, fold clothes, library

Tuesday--trash, bathrooms, litterboxes, 4-H

Wednesday--arts & crafts, bedrooms

Thursday--kitchen, living room

Friday--playgroup

Saturday--touch up house, family fun

Sunday--relax

 

Hope this helps.:001_smile:

[LindaOz]

We start with some family read-aloud time around the breakfast table - Bible and something else (history and a manners book are our current morning reads).

Chores.

 

Math

 

LA work (which incorporates whatever each particular child is working on in LA at that time or on that day). I like to have math and LA done by morning tea. If not finished, it gets worked on as 'homework' at end of school day so that we can move on to topic areas after morning tea break. A couple of my kids have often already moved on to science before that morning break.

 

Morning Tea

 

Science/History: we do SL Science at various levels so most of the kids read their own and work independently. I read Science and SL core work with younger kids in this time. History is SL core for two kids, and currently Australian history for older 4 kids. I read a bit with some then they go and work independently while I read with youngers.

 

Lunch

 

Read aloud This is not necessarily school related. It might be just books that I want to share with my kids, or may be some good literature that they are not covering as part of their school studies.

 

Quiet Time Hour which involves everyone doing their assigned literature reading and free read.

 

Some days we will do some art, or oldest dd works on her 'elective project'.

Free time/music practices etc. (Or 'homework' for anyone who needs it)

 

I agree about starting math first while the kids are fresh. Also, math is incremental so if everything else crashes that day, it is good to have the steady routine and math and LA skills done first. Other things are easier to catch up later or can be read at a different time (just my theory :-) )

Edited August 9, 2010 by LindaOz