Detailed "What's your day like" nosiness.

[mommymilkies]

I am just drowning right now trying to get a groove. I was wondering what everyone's "usual" day is like with homeschooling? I would really love to hear about larger families, too, and a range of ages (like I have an infant, Pre-K, 1st, 4th, and 5th!). But I'm so nosy I am dying to hear about what a day is actually like for you guys & gals. I see so many threads with a schedule but I can't be the only one who just does not have days exactly down like the schedule, right? :lurk5:

[Liza Lee]

:lurk5:

[Impish]

Hate to say it, but I've given up on a 'usual' day. I've found that I can start out with certain plans/intentions, but I need to be flexible, b/c otherwise, when something comes up, I just about lose my mind thinking about all I had planned.

 

I go into things with a rough sketch in mind, and some days it goes according to my ideas, some days it doesn't...but giving myself permission for that helped with my stress levels in a huge way. Of course, for me, pain levels dictate a lot, and there's no predicting those.

 

Diva's going into 8th, Tazzie 1st, Princess, K, and a new one due in Nov.

[twoforjoy]

Well, mine will probably make you feel better about yourself. ;) Although, in my defense, I'm 32 weeks pregnant.

 

Lately, I haven't been sleeping well at night, so I get up around 7:30 or 8:00 (I'm a morning person, and I MUCH prefer to get up earlier so I can have time to myself before the kids are awake). DS usually gets up around the time I do, and DD gets up around 6:30 or 7:00 and DH watches her until I get up. Then, from about 8-9, we eat breakfast, DH gets ready for and leaves for work, and the kids and I get dressed.

 

We'll probably hang out until maybe 9:30, and then from 9:30-11:00 I do school with DS and DD plays. DD is ready for a nap at 11, and so she goes down, and then I take a rest and read while she naps. That's DS's computer/video game time.

 

We're usually up around 12:30, and we eat lunch. Around 1, if it's a nice day, we'll go outside for a while, and play in the yard or take a walk. Around 2 or 3 we usually have friends who are outside playing, so we might go over to somebody's house for a visit, or DS will have a friend over. If it's not a good day to go outside, we'll just hang out here, the kids will play with toys, and I'll knit or read or try to get chores done.

 

I try to get us home and visitors out by 4:30. At that point DS will watch TV and I'll straighten up and get dinner ready. DH gets home around 5:30, and we eat then. Then we all just hang out and do whatever cleaning needs to get done until it's time to get ready for bed.

 

DD starts getting ready for bed at 7, and is usually in her crib by 7:15 or 7:30. Then we might play a game with DS, or watch a movie, or read for a while. Around 8:30 it's time for DS to get his jammies on and get into bed to read, and I usually join him. He falls asleep in our bed so he won't disturb his sister (they share a room), and then DH carries him into his own bed once he's ready for bed (which is usually around 11). DS and I usually end up reading until 9:30 or so, and then it's lights out. If things go well, I'm able to fall asleep by 10 and can wake up earlier and exercise, but lately I toss and turn or end up getting up to watch TV until about 1 or 2 a.m., at which point I can finally get to sleep.

 

Every day isn't like that, but it's pretty typical.

Edited June 11, 2011 by twoforjoy

[JenC3]

Well this is our summer schedule:

 

Up and breakfast has been between 6:30 and 7 then a little coffee with dh and I throw in laundry and do some dishes. Off to the the garden to work and clean the pool. About 9:30 we swim...out by no later than 11 and have a snack/lunch.

 

We do school work between 11:30 and 2:30. Then it's quite time: Reading or upstairs play. I rest or get online.

 

4ish I do chores or go outside for a few and water, kids follow.

 

5 or so we start dinner plans and then go for an evening swim if there are no thunderstorms. Then it's pj's and game of UNO and bed. I read to the kids from anywhere to 20 min to 45 min each night.

 

Fridays we meet with friends to play and we have friends over to swim as well.

 

Our usual school schedule is 9-12 or 8-12, but that's when it's not HOT, HOT, HOT!

[Joyofsixreboot]

This is just today. We are in summer mode.

Up at 5:00 with dh. Played on iPad. Kids started getting up at 6:30. Youngest 3 ate cereal while 12 yo and I did yoga.

7yo did CLE math lesson. 10 yo cleaned cat box.

7 am 19 yo went to work, 15yo got up to run.

9am I left with 12,7 and 3 yo for park dance and drawing classes. Got home at 12:20. 10 yo had done his reading and math lessons. We did his vision therapy. 17 yo took recycling off to center and then went for a run. I got groceries getting back at 3:00 pm. 7yo had done her LA and reading. Kids put groceries away while I read books to 3 yo. I made supper and took youngest 4 to Bible school from 6 until 8:30 (I helped set up snacks). 19 yo came home and started making cookies for a party tomorrow. Dh and I hung out for a bit. Winter looks more " schooly" with 8:30-11:30 reserved for lesson time at home.

[Mrs Mungo]

I posted this in another thread recently:

Day in the life of my homeschool:

 

7 am I get up and make breakfast, I tell eldest to get up

 

7:30 younger two eat breakfast with me, they get dressed in something wildly inappropriate for the day ahead, they do not comb their hair, I call eldest on her phone and tell her to get up

 

8:30 younger two start on math, middle dd uses 20 minutes crying, 2 seconds realizing it's easy and 9 1/2 minutes doing her math; youngest uses 25 minutes drawing pictures on his math paper (making it almost illegible) and 5 minutes doing his math. I repeatedly text eldest to get up until she yells "Gah! I am up! You are so mean!!!!"

 

9 am I go to put in laundry, I come back, I spend 5 minutes looking for the younger two, I discover them outside with a number of frogs they have caught in a flower pot, fighting over what to feed them. Eldest is now locked in the bathroom.

 

9:30 history time, hooray! I walk through the living room and know eldest has been down because her cereal bowl is on the coffee table. I holler for her, she yells from upstairs "gosh! I am doing my Latin!! I am working!!! Why don't you trust me!?! You are mean!!"

 

And so forth until tennis or guitar or clean up time or some other thing ends our school day between 2 pm and 7 pm.

 

Does that help? Make it worse?

[6packofun]

I don't have a typical day so much, and remember that we're *really* winding down for the summer even though we go all the way through, but here goes.

 

We all wake up between 8 and 9:30. You read that right. lol Older kids get the just turned 5yo breakfast and I am usually dressed, washed up, done watching some news (hehe) after they're done... :D

 

Everyone gets going on math and I work in the kitchen, available for any questions. I usually help ds10 with his and help the 2 oldest with any questions after they grade themselves. We all work on grammar next the same way. (My oldest 3 are doing one last round of grammar with Easy Grammar Plus.)

 

If we can, we try to do writing in the morning.

 

Noon is lunchtime, everyone sort of does their own thing. By 1 we are at it again, the older ones doing history and science on their own and I work with the youngers teaching, discussing, etc. We try to have this done by 2.

 

After that we do whatever family things we have scheduled. Tuesdays are "Pop and Poetry" (everyone gets a glass of pop--we don't drink it except for special occasions and this! lol) and we read poetry and short stories aloud, discuss and we do some short assignments occasionally. Other days I read aloud, usually history related. Mondays I leave for work at 2:45 and Fridays I drop off oldest dd at her babysitting job around 2:30 so we try to finish early on those days. Wednesdays are youth group, but in the summer the church breaks so we use those days for making up experiments, going to the park, or doing an "extra" topic like critical thinking, art and music. (Sorry to say those *are* extras, but that's the way it usually is!)

 

By 3-3:30 we're all ready to kill one another so the kids get their allotted computer time and I get on the treadmill or start on dinner early, do laundry, etc. Older kids don't have to work on anything else or study until after dinner. If we have literature assigned to be read, they do it on their non-school time usually.

[mommymilkies]

Thank you all for the honesty. :lol:

 

Mrs. Mungo, your eldest sounds like mine! I loved your day! :lol:

 

I am in awe of everyone that wakes up so early. I woke up before 9:00 today for the first time in months. I have just felt so beaten. I think my thyroid is out of whack again.

[fairfarmhand]

I have crazy times too.

 

One thing I am anal about is getting the kitchen spotless and the living areas picked up before I go to bed. I hate having yesterday's work staring at me first thing in the morning.

 

Usually I get up around 7 or 7:30. (used to think I had to get up super early, but it didn't work for our family) I have a rule that no kids are supposed to leave their rooms till I call them, so I don't get bombarded before I can get dressed and throw a load of laundry in.

 

Ideally, nobody is supposed to eat breakfast till their bed is made, they are dressed, pick up their clothes and feed an animal. In reality, the last few months have meant that rule has fallen away. We will be getting back to it soon. If the chores don't get done before breakfast they have to be done afterward. Which I hate. :tongue_smilie: I have to nag and gripe at people to get them done if there is not a mealtime incentive. My dd13 is a morning foot dragger. It makes me crazy that for the past 5 years she's been feeding the chickens every day, but at least 5 times a week, I have to ask her before she wants to get on the computer is she did that, and the answer is no.

 

I fix breakfast (generally don't cook. I like quick things that don't take lots of dishes. I usually eat in front of my computer while checking e-mail and taking 30 minutes or so to wake up. The kids play for about 30-40 minutes while I am getting started.

 

We usually get started on school around 9 or 9:30. My oldest works mostly independently. My two middles take turns with my attention and doing work on the computer. My second dd does spellingcity.com and fun4thebrain.com while I am working with my youngest. I also have things laid out that she can do on her own while I am working on things with the younger sister. Things like handwriting, spelling, etc. My k/1st grader generally only does 1 hour of bookwork with me per day, so when she is done she is done for the day. So I can spend another 2 hours on work with my 3rd/4th grader. All the while, my youngest son, (3yo) plays and watches a few videos. Generally once my third dd is done with her work, the two of them play together.

 

Yes, there are mornings that I feel like I am putting out fires all morning. Yes, there are days when I feel like everyone wants me all at once. Lots of time, I tell my kids to circle what they are having trouble with and we will get to it later. But they need to move on to something else till I can get to them. 10:30 is usually a short snack break, maybe 15 minutes or so to munch something healthy.

 

Usually by 11:15 or so we have "couch time" where I read to my 2 middles. I also throw in a book or 2 for my 3 yo. (the 2 girls like any story out loud so they are ok with that too) Couch time lasts till lunch, when we fix leftovers or sandwiches. My 2 middles are usually done by lunch time. My oldest may or may not have things left to do. (I anticipate this fall she will mostly not be done by lunch time) After lunch I do some cleaning

 

My oldest all this time works on her schoolwork, piano practice and schoolwork. There is no TV (my youngest ds watches videos in his room) or video games (excepting the educational ones) till schoolwork is done. This applies even on the morning playtimes and breaks. For whatever reason once the TV goes on, mental abilities totally tank.

 

Afternoon would be cleaning, laundry, activities and errands. Pretty much by 3:30 our world is not structured till supper prep begins. At that time, my 3 girls work on unloading the dishwasher and picking up the days messes. They also help clear the table at the end of the meals.

 

During the day you will repeatedly hear me say things like "Did you hear what I told you? " " YOU have 5 more seconds to ____ before I will _____" "Get back to work" "Please be a bit more quiet. You are being a distraction" "Go on to your room till you stop crying about it." "where in the world is the ___? If ya'll would put stuff away, we wouldn't have to waste so much time looking for it!"

 

Mentally I ask myself about 3 times a week "Dear God, tell me again why I do this to myself. That school bus is looking pretty good right now."

Edited June 11, 2011 by fairfarmhand

[fairfarmhand]

 

I am in awe of everyone that wakes up so early. I woke up before 9:00 today for the first time in months. I have just felt so beaten. I think my thyroid is out of whack again.

 

 

Until my son was 2 I never got up before 8 sometimes it was later. It is one of those things that goes with having small kids.

[Night Elf]

My children are high school level, so I'm trying to reach back into my memory to remember what things were like when they were younger. :)

 

Schedules never worked for me. I worked hard on them repeatedly, changing them around and trying to find that one format that worked the best. In the end, we always schooled whenever we wanted each day, fitting the work into a normal day.

 

I woke up each day with a general idea of what I wanted to see done. Some days were park days with homeschool friends which I thought were an extremely important part of homeschooling. (I'm thinking of another thread where someone was shocked that people would give up school time during the day to go play at the park.)

 

I'll admit we had days where we didn't get much done. In fact, we still have those days! :tongue_smilie:

 

Over the years, I did find a way to keep us on track. Every 3 months, I sit down and go through the course work my children are working on. I use a planner and write out what I expect them to do in each subject each day. That takes out the guess work each day. We know that we have to do what is in each box, check it off, and when the last box is checked, we are done for the day. We work on schoolwork on and off throughout our day. It's just the lifestyle we adopted. My goal is to have all those boxes checked off by late evening. We're usually done by 6:00pm though. We eat dinner at 5:00pm and the kids really don't like having work to do after dinner. So if they have anything left undone, we do it immediately after dinner and we're done.

 

Things got happier when I finally gave up trying to follow any type of rigid schedule. I don't have a housework schedule either. That drove me batty! :tongue_smilie:

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't have a large family, but this is our schedule M - F:

 

8 - 9 am: People leisurely get up, shower, get dressed, take care of animals, make beds, watch some t.v., read, come on the WTM forum (guess who does that )

 

9 - 9:30: We all make our own breakfasts and start eating. I read history aloud to both children. (They are on the same cycle of history)

 

9:30 - 10:00 - chore time (more animal care, taking out garbage/recycling) and personal hygiene and vitamins.

 

10:00 - 12:00: Start the book part of school except for Thursday when we have speech therapy at the local elementary school 5 min. away. On Thursdays book work starts around 10:40 once we are home. Ds13 does some his work in the school office while we wait for dd to get done.

 

Each child has a schedule on Outlook that they check off. During this time I clean the kitchen, start laundry, fold and put away laundry while being available to help dd and ds with school. Usually ds doesn't need the help. I tend to help dd with math, spelling, music and sometimes her other subjects as needed.

 

12:00 - 12:30: Kids go outside for recess. I check the WTM boards and figure out lunch.

 

12:30 - 1 ish: About half the time I fix lunch for everyone. The other half of the time we all get what we want. I read more history to both kids during lunch.

 

1:00 - 3:00: Ds goes back to school. Dd finishes up her school but doesn't take the entire time. I work on grading, business/bills, more laundry. Depending on whether it is a good day for me or not, I might take a nap.

 

3:00 - 3:30 - snack time and t.v. time (PBS)

 

3:30 - 5:00 - free time. I tend to garden during this time, take care of the dogs, and do more laundry. The kids help me off and on during this time and also play or work on projects.

 

4:30 ish - I start supper.

 

5:00 - Kids have clean up time, feed animals, set table

 

5:30 - 6:30 Dinner (depending on when dh actually gets home and we start.)

 

6:30: Ds bikes to taekwando and I go to Zumba. Dh often runs with dd or sometimes they come to the Y with me. On Wed. we go swimming at the Y because Ds doesn't have taekwando that day.

 

8:00 - 9:30 - t.v., reading, evening snack, baths/showers, sometimes Bible study if dh is available, sometimes board games

 

9:30 - 10:00 - bedtime stuff including time spent with both kids by both parents.

[Pretty in Pink]

I wake up between 0630 and 0730, whenever my toddler starts yelling at me to come let him out of his crib. Stumble to the kitchen, pass out slices of bread and try not to go berserk as the kids proceed to smear honey, jam, peanut butter and the like all. over. my. kitchen. counters. Tell them to drink some milk with their bread. Grab a yogurt for myself.

 

Veg for 15 minutes on the sofa with the laptop while the kids snarf their bread and watch an episode of SpongeBob.

 

Spend the next thirty minutes telling kids to clean up after themselves, brush their teeth, put on underwear, etc.

 

Call ds12 back downstairs. At some point he snuck up and closed himself in his room with a well-worn copy of Harry Potter.

 

Start school with the kiddos. Tackle language arts with the 5 and 7 yos while ds12 works independently.

 

Realize toddler has strewn the entirety of our math manipulatives about the family room. Gather math manipulatives, which results in looking under sofas. Stop to clean under sofas.

 

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

 

At some point during the day I trash the kitchen in the process of making lunch and then again for dinner. I take an hour to run to the Y and exercise. We have activities a few afternoons per week. We usually wrap up lessons between 2 and 3 p.m.

[dakarimom5]

Here is what is working right now. I have a k'er, 3rd, 4th and 8th grader.

 

8-10--We do a round robin kind of thing where every 30 minutes the children switch places between school with mom, computer, x-box and free reading.

 

10-11--My children break into 2 groups the littles do handwriting while the bigs do science and then vise versa.

 

We are done for the day after that.

[veggiegal]

Schedules don't work for us, so I focus on goals instead. In the morning, I exercise, we have breakfast, get dressed, etc. and do HS: language arts (any of reading, writing, grammar, word puzzles, spelling, etc.) and math (any of workbooks, games, puzzles, videos, etc.), with a 'gym' break in between. This might be a walk to a local playground, some bike riding, playing XBox Kinect in the basement, or throwing a ball around in the backyard. The kids are supposed to do a quick bedroom tidy as well in the morns before we start HS.

 

We have lunch, and everyone chips in to do a household chore. Right now "Mix-It-Up Monday, Toilet Tuesday, Wash (Laundry) and Watering (the plants) Wednesday, etc." is working with the boys. I try to keep the jobs as short as possible, maybe 15 minutes tops. After that we all have a bit of downtime/freetime, and then rendezvous around 1:30 for either more HS (science, history, art, whatever--we often watch documentaries), or head out for playdates / park days, or to do errands, etc. I try to keep classes we do to afternoons and evenings as well. We wrap up around 3:30 at which point the boys have screen time and I do some online stuff, including blogging--this assumes the boys have tidied their rooms (a morning task) and finished their work for the day (no dawdling over workbook pages, etc.). If not, they finish it before screen time (and yes, this works like a charm for getting work done--losing screen time is a consequence both want to avoid at all costs!) Around 4:30-5:00 I start thinking about dinner, and the boys finish up screen time to help set the table, unload the dishwasher, take out garbage, etc. Our evenings are quite varied, but we don't do any more 'work' save a quick kitchen tidy/dishes and some bedtime reading aloud (chapter books). On the weekend we try to get to the remaining household jobs Saturday morning, so we can 'play' the rest of the time.

 

Now, all that said, we still have days when nothing gets done, we hang in pjs all day long, snuggle and watch movies and order pizza for dinner. Or someone is sick, or there's a special one-off event happening. It's about balance, and as long as we're living this way most of the time, I know the boys are learning, the house is 'clean enough', and we all stay sane. :-)

 

FYI, my boys are 6 and 8 (turns 9 next week).

[Farrar]

It's all different... We have routines, but no schedules.

 

I did do a day in the life post awhile back though.

[Alenee]

What I'd like it to look like (and how it was until this past school year):

 

Everybody up, fed, and ready for school by 9am. 9-10am Devotions and memory work all together.

 

By 10am:

DD12 starts her work on her own with detailed assignment sheet.

 

DDs 9 and 6 stay with me to do spelling, math, reading, copywork, writing, and history.

 

DD 6 goes to play while DD9 stays with me to finish off the day with Grammar and Latin.

 

The two younger are typically finished before 12:30pm for lunch. The eldest finishes her day by 4pm.

 

How it actually went:

 

By about February, DD12 started sleeping in until at least 9am. Younger dds were still up and ready by 9am to begin the school day but memory work flounderd as did devotions. By March we realized DD9 had some real learning issues, not simply obedience issues, and I became overwhelmed with how to deal with that and our Science Olympiad commitments. We are slowly figuring things out again and working on writing, math, history, latin, and grammar. I hope to have some real decisions made soon so we can ease back into a full schedule by August. This was year 7 for us so I guess a bad year was to be expected sooner or later. ;)

[-M-]

You'll find them here and here.

[matrips]

I don't have multiple age kids, so that probably makes a difference. Mine are 6yo (K). Typical day:

7:30am (or earlier)- kids are up and start their independent schoolwork (workboxes)

8:30am - breakfast then cleanup

more independent work until

9:30am - work with mommy time- math lesson (if needed), spelling lesson, dictation, review LA/grammar, and reading books together on couch (SL read alouds, bible, history and science)

11:30am - ideally, everything should be done. on to lunch, playdates, museums, parks, TKD, soccer, or whatever depending on the day.

 

I'm sure things will change next year with them being first graders, but we all like the early finish. Getting them started first thing in the morning with their workboxes has been terrific for us! Before that, we all weren't ready to start school together until 9:30am or 10. I let them come down in their jammies and get dressed and make their beds later.