What does your schedule basically look like?

[Wonder]

I'm working on a basic routine/schedule, trying to fit in some things that we didn't do last year.  I tried searching but didn't come up with much.  I'm just curious how much time "school" takes daily for others? Especially if you don't school year round.  We do some stuff in the summer, but it's a much different schedule (and less) than what we do during the main "school year."

 

3rd and 6th grade :)

[8filltheheart]

This isn't our real schedule bc I do not function around time. These are really just guesstimates based on generalities (with the exception of Mass and getting ds to work.)

 

500 up, drinking coffee, getting dressed

550-645 leave house with everyone for daily walk

7-730 attend daily Mass

745 drop ds off at work

815 home, shower, eat

 

9-10/1030 work with Ker. 4th grader is doing math and religion, 8th and 11th grader work independently

1030-1200 work with 4th grader, Ker plays or listens, older 2 still working independently

1200-1230 lunch

1230-200 work with 8th grader, 4th grader finishes anything not done and then goes play, 11th grader working independently

200-230 work with 8th and 11th grader together (we are going a college writing handbook together)

230-4 work with 11th grader, 8th grader finishes anything not done,and goes and does whatever

4-430 throw dinner in oven, 11th grader works until finished (She might work until dinner time.)

430 leave to pick ds up from work

 

In reality it doesn't work that way. I may need to spend 10-15 mins with someone else during those home blocks. Things shift up an down. I have been known to pick up ds 45 mins late. ;) Life happens, but that is a pretty good rough estimate.

[Coffeemama]

This is the schedule I used this past year for grades 4,6,8. I tend to change the way I schedule every year (sometimes twice a year) to get a better flow. On the attachment, subjects typed in blue is when I was working with a child, black is independent.

 

I'm still working on this year's schedule since some of the curriculum will be different and will require different amounts of my time with individuals or two together. I'm pretty sure I will schedule a 45 minute conference at the end of each day to go over everything my high-schooler ( :scared: )  worked on that day.

 

ETA: We try to follow a schedule 4 days a week. One full day id at a co-op with lots of extras for the kids which is why there may seem to be some things missing.

 

2014 school schedule Sheet1.pdf

2014 school schedule Sheet1.pdf

[J&JMom]

This is what we have planned starting tomorrow for my 5th and 7th. It hasn't changed a whole lot since we started homeschooling 2 years ago.  Now that they are in 'middle school' art is their daily elective instead of just once a week and added daily CNN news.  It works for us giving ADHD/LD younger time to decompress between "classes" with me and time for the older to finish his assignments without 'homework'. We get it all done more times than not.

https://kidblog.org/class/ZeyAcademy/posts/5x8yw7vivuquzvjxf3mj0me0t

 

[SparrowsNest]

I'm pretty similar to you -- 3rd & 5th, but with a K & 1st thrown in the mix.  

 

During summer we basically do the regular schedule minus Morning Time.  

 

During the 'real' school year, Mondays we go to CC (kids also do math), and Tuesdays my kiddos go to a local enrichment co-op in the morning, then we do school in the afternoon.

 

W-F looks basically like...

 

6:15 workout

7:00 worship with family

7:15 breakfast

7:30 big kids leave for B&M school

7:30: begin morning time... memory work, poetry, geography, folk songs, read aloud, etc.

9:00: break

9:30 : resume work, get 5th grader situated for the day

10:30 I work with 3rd grader

11:30 I work with 1st grader

12:30 lunch/break

1:30 I work with 1st & K'er

2:30 I am basically done, kids finish up what they need to do

3:00 If the big kids have worked diligently, they are done by 2:30 or 3.  If they've goofed off, who can say when they'll be done?

 

Somewhere in there I do math & reading with 5th grader, that seems to be a floating thing.

[Soror]

My very rough and approximate plan, afternoons are much more fluid as our times can really get off depending on the morning and sometimes we have short activities and sometimes long. This is where I like to get in those things that do take more time like our nature walks or art projects, ds 11yo is usually reading during this time.

 

Me- Up between 5-6:30- depends on how I slept

7-7:30- One on one time with 5y.o. or 8 y.o. if they get up early (I used to always work with dd 8 in the am but she's been sleeping in lately- I think we've got a growth spurt going on

7:30-8- Chores and cook breakfast- everyone

8-8:20 Eat/Student News

8:20-8:40/5- Read aloud- a chapter or two for ds and dd's

8:40/5-9:00 short walk

9-10am- Math- start with dd5yo if she hasn't done hers yet, otherwise start with ds11yo(he needs more direction) while dd8yo starts with review

10-11am- Time with dd 8yo and reading with dd 5yo(about 15-20 min) if she hasn't done it yet/Ds does independent reading/work

11-12am Mom work with ds 11yo/dd 8yo finish up any of her work she didn't get done

12-12:30 Content work with dd8 and 5yo together/Ds finish up independent work

12:30-1:30- Lunch/reading/girls work on projects

1:30-3:00 art/nature walk/ reading/ etc- we take varying amounts of time here

 

[alisoncooks]

This is the first year we've had a set schedule, and so far it is going really well!   :001_tt1:

 

7-8               Wake & exercise (me)

8-9               Breakfast (kids) & shower (me)

9-9:30          Spelling & Handwriting Block (one child does Pentime while I do Apples & Pears with the other -- then switch)

9:30-10:30   Math Block (teach oldest & send her to work independently, then work 1-on-1 with youngest)

10:30-11      Snack & break

11-12           History & Reading Block (one child does Veritas self-paced while I do reading with the other -- then switch)

12-1             Lunch & break, free play, maybe a read-aloud

1-1:30          Science (MWF) or Art (T/Th)

1:30-2          Grammar (both kids together)

2-2:30          Writing (one child has free-play on Starfall while I do writing instruction for 15 min, then we switch)

 

So we school from 9 to 2:30, with a few breaks.  

I still haven't figured out when I want to do Bible, though...

[deerforest]

We work together from 6:30-9:30/10am, depending on the day. Then she either leaves for activities or does independent work. I work full time from home and she has a lot of extracurricular stuff. She usually has 1-2 hours of independent work she does between activities.

 

We usually do some stuff on weekends too. Only child, quick learner. Not too tightly scheduled.

[Chrysalis Academy]

My basic plan with 4th and 8th graders:

7-9 - work, exercise, eat

Start school at 9.  8th grader does independent work. Work with 4th grader on math, spelling and writing, read aloud, the rest of the time spent on the subject/project of her choice.  She has me till noon.

12-1 break

1-3 Work with 8th grader.  4th grader has a short independent skills practice list then has free time

3-5. 8th grader finishes up indie work (Mon-Tues) or goes to extracurriculars (Wed-Fri). I work or schlep children to activities

 

 

[happypamama]

All times are approximate, although I do try to stick to the timing for the four blocks, so that I make time for everyone, and so the day doesn't drag into the afternoon and evening too much.

6:45 -- I get up. (DH is up at 5 and leaves by about 5:45; he has a 45 minute commute.)

7:30 -- Kids get up, dress, do chores while I make breakfast; everyone eats.

8:00 -- I clean up, switch laundry, dress little ones, shower, etc. while the older two children start their independent work.

9:00 -- Morning time readings -- everyone.

9:30 -- Block 1. Children work independently, and I work with one child at a time, during each block. They rotate who is first block. They go play if they have nothing else they can do without me. Otherwise, they work until they have a certain amount done, at which point, they can take a break for the rest of the block.

10:30 -- Block 2. Snack sometime toward the end of this block.

11:30 -- Block 3.

12:30 -- Block 4. I've now worked with each of the big two in a block, and the first grader and his shadow (the preschooler) in a block. Older two work on independent stuff. I'm available to answer questions as needed. If we have science or other group projects, we might do them then. I go make lunch, switch laundry, etc.

1:30 -- Lunch break.

2:30 -- I go over anything the older ones need help with, discuss literature with them, etc. I check work, tidy up, and get things ready for the next day, or work on other projects around the house, cleaning, folding laundry, playing with little ones, whatever.

Late afternoon -- Just continuing to help where needed or to work on whatever is needed. Dinner prep if I didn't get to it earlier.

4:30 -- DH calls or texts about then to say he's on his way home. I do whatever needs to be done for dinner, and the children each have an area of the house to cleanup and vacuum, and a chore to do, and possibly laundry to put away.

5:30 or 6 or so -- Dinner, kitchen clean up, free time, time with Daddy. Baths/showers after dinner.

7:30 -- Reading time.

800-8:30 ish -- Little ones to bed.

9:00 -- Big ones go to their rooms.

1030 -- Adults go to bed.

 

It never, ever works perfectly like that in reality, but that's the goal.

[SilverMoon]

When my oldest two were around the ages in the OP my day looked much different than it does now.

 

Similar ages to OP (with a couple little ones)

Mornings were for math and language arts, everyone at the table together, me going back and forth between them as needed. We did Latin in that morning block or over lunch together as a family. After lunch *everyone* had a quiet time, big ones would find a reading nook and read assigned literature, little ones would rest on beds with books or take naps. After reading the big ones would do science and history.

 

Now I have 11th, 10th, 7th, 5th, 2nd, and K.  I'll start my day kickstarting the older four into independent work and start with the kindergartner. When his reading and writing are done, I've taught his math lesson, and he's doing the worksheet at my elbow, I'll get my 2nd grader's attention and start her mom-dependent work. When the K'er finishes he'll go play. When all DD/2nd's seatwork is done she'll go play and I'll turn my attention to the 5th and 7th graders. We'll go over what they did on their own, any mom dependent work, and what's next. When they're busy doing something independently I'll do a similar check-in with the highschoolers. The rest of the day will be spent going back and forth between the older four as needed, with lunch in the middle, and leaving at 4:45 for swim team practice three of those days, around 4:15 on coding class day, and not at all on Fridays.

[...................]

My 6th grade dd:

 

6:15 alarm goes off

Breakfast

7:45 jog with mom

8:30 shower then:

Math largely independent

Spelling with me

30 minute break

Grammar and writing mostly independent

Science mostly independent

Lunch 45 minutes

Bible independent

Literature with me

 

She's down around 1:45 and then has about a two hour break. Then after we drop brother off at swimming she does piano. This takes almost an hour.

[Hobbes]

I have 2nd and 1st graders and a 1yo, and am pregnant. Our schedule this year is similar to last year's, which worked well. I slot times for everything, but I use it more like a routine, with times flexing as needed.

 

7am - I'm up (when not nauseous!), nurse 1yo, shower if lucky

7:30 - kids out of rooms, dressed, beds, tidy

8 - breakfast

8:30 - Bible and prayer, memory work, journals

9 - read alouds

9:30 - 11 - Basic curriculum slot. LA, math, etc. They do most of their work around the kitchen table, where I go between and help with this or that, teach chunks as needed. The 1yo mills around and the girls also take some turns playing with him for breaks, etc.

11 - content block. Mon and Tues, SOTW. Thurs, science. Fri, art.

12ish - lunch, then French DVD.

1-3 - Quiet time/naps.

3-6 - Chores, piano practice, play, etc. Read alouds, depending on my availability.

6 - dinner

7:30 - Get ready for bed and reading time.

 

On Weds we are out all morning at a homeschool class/women's group. That is our full school for that day. And Thurs from noon on, they are at my parents' house for Grandma/Grandpa day.

[Ellie]

I'm working on a basic routine/schedule, trying to fit in some things that we didn't do last year.  I tried searching but didn't come up with much.  I'm just curious how much time "school" takes daily for others? Especially if you don't school year round.  We do some stuff in the summer, but it's a much different schedule (and less) than what we do during the main "school year."

 

3rd and 6th grade :)

 

This schedule was pretty much year-round:

 

Monday and Tuesday: Official School Days. No outside activities (until after dinner, such as ballet or other dance class, or 4H) for anyone, including me. No errands. No field trips. No doctors' appointments. No crafts or anything for me. Just...stay home.

 

Wednesday: Library. Sometimes we visited with friends on the way home (we were usually there a couple of hours). Free time in the afternoon.

 

Thursday: Field trip. Every.single.week. It might be with our support group, or it might be working on a Camp Fire badge, or maybe something I had seen  in the newspaper, or...Usually it was just dds and me, but sometimes I would invite a small group of well-known friends to go with us.

 

Friday: Clean house. All the laundry, bathroom, dusting and vacuuming, everything. Once-a-month park day.

 

We started around 9 a.m., finished lunch-ish, on Official School Days.

 

Weekends: goofing off with Mr. Ellie. :-)

[daybreaking]

This schedule was pretty much year-round:

 

Monday and Tuesday: Official School Days. No outside activities (until after dinner, such as ballet or other dance class, or 4H) for anyone, including me. No errands. No field trips. No doctors' appointments. No crafts or anything for me. Just...stay home.

 

Wednesday: Library. Sometimes we visited with friends on the way home (we were usually there a couple of hours). Free time in the afternoon.

 

Thursday: Field trip. Every.single.week. It might be with our support group, or it might be working on a Camp Fire badge, or maybe something I had seen  in the newspaper, or...Usually it was just dds and me, but sometimes I would invite a small group of well-known friends to go with us.

 

Friday: Clean house. All the laundry, bathroom, dusting and vacuuming, everything. Once-a-month park day.

 

We started around 9 a.m., finished lunch-ish, on Official School Days.

 

Weekends: goofing off with Mr. Ellie. :-)

 

I'm curious how you were able to get through all of the academics, with only two "official" school days a week.  I think I remember you mentioning you used Rod and Staff and/or Saxon Math, so I am just wondering how you managed to complete them.  I hope you don't mind the question ... I've always wanted to ask! :001_smile:   

[Critterfixer]

I have estimated 5.5 hours Monday through Thursday, and about 3.5 to 4 on Sundays for the upcoming school year. The boys are starting sixth grade.

Days are roughly 9-12, 1-3:30 or 4:00 if we are imitating slugs.

Core subjects daily will be Math, Latin, French, Composition

History, Science, Literature and Geography are twice weekly subjects.

Art and Music are once weekly. 

Library Night is Thursday evening, when the library is open until 7 pm. 

I work outside the house Friday and Saturday, and have an out of town library run two Saturdays out of the month.

We have no extracurricular activities at this time.

[Mimm]

I'm homeschooling one kid, an 8th grader, have a 9th grader in public school, and a toddler running around.

 

This is last year:

I wake up when the baby wakes up usually around 6:30. We eat breakfast. 

Husband takes oldest to school on his way to work, leaving around 7:30.

Middle kid usually stumbles out of bed by 8. We drink coffee and plan our day. Usually start school by 8:30. 

We have lunch at noon and start back up again 12:30-1. When the baby wakes up at 2:30, middle kid is done with anything she needs help with and only has independent reading left to do, but is usually finished by the time her sister is home. This is about 5-6 hours of school. We are pretty relaxed, moving from one thing to the next as the mood strikes us. We have a to do list and we mostly get everything done.

 

Right now, we actually do less, start later and finish earlier. In a couple weeks, co-op starts. A couple weeks after that, she has two online classes starting up. She will have homework for at least five classes taught by someone besides me. There will be more pressure to get things done.

[Wonder]

Wow!  Thanks for all the shared routines!  It's so helpful to know what "normal" is for others. :)  

[SeaConquest]

My older will be in 1st this year. My younger will be in preschool T/TH (my husband watches him M/Sun mornings while we school).

 

This is our rough schedule:

 

Monday and Sunday:

 

8-9: Wakeup, get dressed, eat (we are not early risers)

9-945: Math and logic

945-1015: Workout on the elliptical while my son and I listen to audiobooks

1015-11: My son reads to me from Mosdos, Jr. Great Books, or MCT

11-1130: MCT Grammar and Cursive

1130-12: Foreign language 

12: Lunch while we watch a science documentary

 

Tuesday and Thursday:

 

8-9: Wakeup, get dressed, eat

9-945: Math and logic

945-1015: Workout on the elliptical while my son and I listen to audiobooks

1015-11: My son reads to me from Mosdos, Jr. Great Books, or MCT

11-1130: WWE and RS Spelling

1130-12: Foreign language 

12: Lunch on the go while we carschool with SOTW or History of US audiobooks

 

Wednesday, my son goes to his charter school classes from 9-3:30. He is taking Exploring Lit, Kindermusik, Art, First Lego League, and another elective that is still TBD.

Friday is field trip day. No school.

Saturday is the Jewish sabbath. No school.

 

Extracurriculars: 

M, W: Soccer practice when in season, or Kung Fu

T: Parkour

TH: Homeschool PE

F: Guitar

S: Soccer game, Kung Fu, or tennis

 

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

This is my plan for the coming school year but it has yet to be proven...

 

Mon - Sat

 

7am - get up, devotions, exercise/kids get dressed and do chores

 

8am - 9ish Breakfast/I eat quickly and then start morning time while they eat and clean up from breakfast (morning time - Bible, read aloud, memory work, poetry, whatever else I feel like throwing in), hang laundry on the line

 

9am - Science, History, and/or the Arts

 

9:45 - phonics with younger 2/ older 2 start independent work

 

10:15 - get younger 2 started on math, check in with olders (still focused primarily on youngest)

 

10:45 - writing lesson with older 3

 

11:00 - one-on-one math lessons, bounce between kids helping with independent work, work on lunch prep.

 

Noon - family lunch (our biggest meal of the day), clean-up

 

12:45 - 1:45 - family rest time, kids go their beds to read, DH and I get an hour alone

 

1:45 - kids tidy house, I make DH's lunch for work

 

2pm - DH leaves for work, I start housework, run errands, or teach piano lessons, kids are free to play

 

5pm - tidy house, evening chores, kids practice piano if they haven't already

 

6pm - dinner

 

6:30 - finish piano, then read aloud, games, watch a documentary, prep lunch for next day, sometimes I do an exercise video, etc, until bedtime

 

9pm - kids go to bed, I finish whatever tidying up or other work is left, fold laundry, work on school prep/planning, shower

 

11:30 - DH gets home from work

 

Midnight - bed

 

This is the rough idea of our schedule and about how it went last year. It varies a little due the extras that go on each day. We do school as best we can around these things and try to carschool some (we're somewhat limited with that though since half of us get motion sick when we read in the car).

 

M - sign language class at 10am (haven't decided for sure about this for this year)

T - family karate class at 9:15am

W - I teach piano lessons from 1pm-4pm

Th - my voice lesson in the afternoon, older 2 piano lessons at 7pm

F - I teach piano from 1-6:00

Sa - fall soccer in the early morning for younger 2, piano lessons in the afternoon from 2pm-3ish

Su - church from 9:30-4

 

There will also be soccer practices 1 or 2 nights a week but soccer is only for a few weeks.

 

Looking at all of this scares me a little...and makes me tired...

[Ellie]

I'm curious how you were able to get through all of the academics, with only two "official" school days a week.  I think I remember you mentioning you used Rod and Staff and/or Saxon Math, so I am just wondering how you managed to complete them.  I hope you don't mind the question ... I've always wanted to ask! :001_smile:   

 

I wasn't worried about getting through "all of the academics." :-) Dds were 5 and 8 when we started this routine, and it worked for us for five years or so. There were a couple of years of more structured academics after that, although still not five days a week for five or six hours. FTR, both dds began taking community college classes when they were 14, so I guess it worked out for us. :-)

 

I started a one-room, multi-grade (first through high school) school at my church. That's where I used R&S and Saxon math (we used Saxon a little bit at home, but we started hsing before it was published, and by the time it was a complete series, dds were in community college and I didn't need Saxon any more. The first Saxon "text" I had was Math 76, photocopies of handwritten pages.).

[mommymilkies]

Well, usually I run around like a chicken with its head cut off.  I have 9th, 8th, 5th, 2nd, Pre-K. Here's what usually happens:

 

9ish: wake up and eat breakfast.  Those awake earlier do independent work. 

10ish: circle time, read alouds, alternate art/mapping/group history

Everyone else works on their list of stuff after this and I help those who need it.  I'm usually doing spelling for about 2 hours (AAS) while I nurse my coffee. 

3-4ish we are done.  Sometimes the big kids have work that they work on longer, and the little kids are usually done by 11ish. 

[jamijoy]

I homeschool four, grades Kinder through 6th. We usually finish with my big kids by lunch (so about 3 hours) and then I work with my Kinder girl for 30-60 minutes after lunch.

 

 I just do things in a certain order, not really at certain times.

 

After my morning routine (devotion, walk dog, shower, etc.) we get started...so at about 8:30 at the earliest, 10:00 at the latest. My kids get breakfast on their own, do chores, and then have free time until we start school.

 

We don't do each subject everyday, so I just skip whatever we don't have for the day (composer study is only on Tuesdays, art history is only two days a week, etc.)

 

Together Time:
Prayer, Psalm reading, Hymn singing, MFW Bible, poetry read aloud, novel read aloud, Greek & Latin, art history, composer study, history, science text & experiments

 

Table Time:

Science written work, history written work and activities, art

 

Independent Time:

Kids do math, English, writing, spelling, logic, keyboarding, Awana studying at their work areas.

I call kids over to table one at a time to do subjects that need my teaching.

 

Lunch

 

Afternoon Time:

Kids finish up anything they didn't finish.

Kindergarten with my youngest daughter.

Song School Spanish with my 2nd grader & Kinder girl

 

Free Time & Extra Activities

 

We have little to no school work on Fridays. We will start our homeschool group PE class in a few weeks and that is on Friday mornings. If we do a fiend trip during the week with our homeschool group (they like to schedule them on Thursdays), then we'll do school Friday afternoons.

[My3girls]

I tried a specific schedule, but it didn't work for us. We tended to get bogged down and bored. This year dd13 starts between 9-9:30, and dd9 and dd10 start about 10ish. They each have a spiral notebook that I write down what needs to be done each day the night before to include appointments, sports, chores, etc... They choose what they work on and bring it to me for review when they are done or if they need help. They take 5-10 minute breaks between each assignment/activity, and we break for lunch around noonish for an hour. After lunch we do group read, then I do any mommy led work that dd9 &dd10 do together like language arts and history. DD13 does everything independently. I'm only there for assistance. The youngers usually finish their school work about 3, and dd13 finishes about 5ish. This comes out to around 4 hours for my 4th and 5th grader and 7 hours for my 8th grader which I think is a good amount. The 4th and 8th grader could conceivably finish faster, but they tend to get into what they are doing, and I have to move them along to their next task. I hate cutting them off like tha so I always give them the option to circle back around to what they were doing.

[J&JMom]

Su - church from 9:30-4

 

6.5 hours in church?!  :faint:  Are you a musician for all the services or something?

[Holly]

Here is my planned schedule.  I'm sure with 5 DC (including a toddler) it will all go perfectly as planned.   :lol:

7:00 Wake up and prepare breakfast, unload dishwasher, take care of pets, etc.

8:00 Eat breakfast, get everyone ready, clean kitchen, start load of laundry

9:00 Start school--Bible, history, science, math, language arts, p.e., etc.

12:00 Start lunch, load of laundry

1:00 Finish school--independent reading for older kids, phonics for younger ones, Spanish/Latin, piano practice

2:00/3:00--handicrafts: mix of chores, arts & crafts, cooking, teaching new skills, etc.

4:00--kids play outside, more laundry & fold clothes

5:00--start dinner

 

We'll have piano lessons one afternoon per week...I may arrange to have her come to our house so we can continue with school.  

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

6.5 hours in church?! :faint: Are you a musician for all the services or something?

LOL :-) I am actually but there's a little more to it than that. We have Sunday School from 9:30-10:30, Morning Service from 11-12:15, potluck lunch 12:30-1:30, afternoon service (songs, testimonies, devotional) 1:30-2:30, choir practice 3-4.

 

Yesterday I was running from 10:30-11:30. I had to practice with 3 different groups between Sunday School and the morning service, then in the service I played violin in an instrumental ensemble for the prelude, sang in choir, sang a solo, and played the piano for the congregational singing. I'm tired by the time I get home but I love it. :-)

[Amy M]

Mine are all still young, but here's what it looks like this year with 3rd, 1st, two in preK, and newborn (haven't tested how it will go with newborn yet!):

 

8:00: memory work with Dad; theoretically I do preK now with littles, but actually I do chores, etc.

 

8:30: skills subjects with two older boys, bouncing back and forth between them. Get 1st going on seat work while I explain math lesson, grammar lesson, and listen to 15 minutes reading with older. Then while older does seatwork, do phonics, FLL1, math lesson and flash cards, and reading with 1st grader. Haven't started spelling with 1st yet.

 

10:30-11:00 ish: break. On Wednesday, we try to do poetry tea now. This is my second theoretical chance to do preK if I haven't yet.

 

11:00: morning meeting. MFW ADV (Bible, history, science, art, music) and writing, some memory work. If I have time, I'll do spelling with 3rd grader before lunch. Should be done with all school by now.

 

12:30-1:00 ish: have lunch. Read aloud during lunch.

 

1:30: pick up. Read to preKers.

 

2:00 or 2:15: nap time. Finish school with third grader, or older boys read quietly then play quietly.

 

Now with newborn, I'm sure we will struggle to finish by lunchtime, if I have to stop often to care for baby. But that's the gist. Sometimes I switch the morning meeting block with the skills subject block.

[Heidi]

7 am- wake everyone, eat breakfast, get dressed. Clean kitchen.

8 am-family prayer, scriptures (20 min)

 

One on one time with dd11 while dd9 watches the baby and everyone else plays. (30-45 min.)

 

One on one with dd9 while dd11 watches baby and everyone else plays. (30 min. )

 

One on one with dd7 while dd11 and dd9 clean kitchen and watch baby while everyone else plays. (1.5 hr.) If baby wants me, the big girls are released from their babysitting duty and work on their school.

 

1130 lunch, clean

 

Two oldest go do their independent school.

 

1230 baby down for nap. Latin with dd11 &dd9. (45 min)

 

Family school with everyone but baby-either history, geography, science, art or music. (45 min.)

 

Dd9 &dd11 continue working on homework until finished (3-4 hours total)

 

School with ds5 and dd3 (30 min.)

[rebcoola]

For 3rd & 1st -I really just give my kids a list for the morning in this order & I do tell them when to start so it usually looks like this..

 

My kids get themselves up and eat, I stumble out of my room to the coffee machine around 8.

 

8:30 We start with  Bible/Copywork

 

9:00 DD1 Math with me/ DD2 Grammar 

 

9:30 DD1  Reading /DD2 Violin Practice

 

10:00 DD1 Grammar/DD2 Math w/me

 

10:30 Chores 

 

Free Time

 

1:00 Lunch -Read Aloud

 

1:30- ??? Geography this one varies a lot as its more project based.

 

Wednesday they go to their ALE from 9-3:30

 

Thursday we do the computer stuff than pack up the workbooks and go to violin, gymnastics & tumbling lessons and whoever is not participating does their work than we watch an educational video when we get home.

[MerryAtHope]

Here's a "Typical Day" for us a few years ago (8th & 10th grades). When my kids were 3rd and 5th, I remember that as the year that we couldn't truly get "done by lunch" any more and needed to spend 4-5 hours most days. That was a hard transition time for me mentally! Hang in there!

[Soror]

My very rough and approximate plan, afternoons are much more fluid as our times can really get off depending on the morning and sometimes we have short activities and sometimes long. This is where I like to get in those things that do take more time like our nature walks or art projects, ds 11yo is usually reading during this time.

 

Me- Up between 5-6:30- depends on how I slept

7-7:30- One on one time with 5y.o. or 8 y.o. if they get up early (I used to always work with dd 8 in the am but she's been sleeping in lately- I think we've got a growth spurt going on

7:30-8- Chores and cook breakfast- everyone

8-8:20 Eat/Student News

8:20-8:40/5- Read aloud- a chapter or two for ds and dd's

8:40/5-9:00 short walk

9-10am- Math- start with dd5yo if she hasn't done hers yet, otherwise start with ds11yo(he needs more direction) while dd8yo starts with review

10-11am- Time with dd 8yo and reading with dd 5yo(about 15-20 min) if she hasn't done it yet/Ds does independent reading/work

11-12am Mom work with ds 11yo/dd 8yo finish up any of her work she didn't get done

12-12:30 Content work with dd8 and 5yo together/Ds finish up independent work

12:30-1:30- Lunch/reading/girls work on projects

1:30-3:00 art/nature walk/ reading/ etc- we take varying amounts of time here

And as an example of this may vary.... today I had a blood draw and was out of the house in the am- and here is loose recap

9am Breakfast and Student News

9:30 Walk

10:00- Start Read-alouds for the girls/ds started Math- then did read-aloud with ds and dd started math

11:00 ish(I think maybe ?) I helped dd with her spelling while ds worked more on math, then did math with dd2 and I finished up math with ds

12:00 ds did some spelling 

12:30-1:00 lunch/ Travel with Kid show- I worked with dd on grammar and writing which she finished during lunch

1-1:30 ds history on his own/dd1 did her reading with me

1:30-2:00ish ds science/ reading and writing with dd2/ dd1 did her independent reading

2:00-3:00 ds- writing and grammar/girls free time/clean up

 

We went to do some activities and then when we made it home at 5:30 I read with the girls about Japan and we did some origami

[73349]

About like this, with a goal of starting school at 9. I don't really attach firm times to other things, but I do prefer to finish couch time by 10:30 and table time by noon so that hunger doesn't interrupt.

 

Quiet time is 90 minutes, starting after I read him a chapter from our read-aloud. It will start earlier on some days (I think he'll have piano lessons at 4 once a week, so we'd start quiet time by 2) than on others (probably not until after we get home at 4 on activity group day).

 

I just have one child (starting second grade), so it may not be what you're looking for.

[CAtoVA]

Thank you all for sharing your schedules! I am amazed at the amount of time your children spend doing independent work—I can only hope for about 15 minutes but then I just have littles to teach.

 

 

[KeriJ]

Our basic schedule for that age:

 

Get up and read quietly until breakfast.

 

Breakfast, chores, get ready for the day.

 

Practice music instrument.

 

Short break, check with Mom for any instructions about today's school work.

 

Follow your school assignment check sheet to complete independent subjects.

 

Come to Mom when done to work on subjects that need help.

 

Lunch

 

Break

 

Reading with Mom. (this is where we do a lot of content/literature type subjects.)

 

Quiet time: complete any unfinished school work, assigned reading and free reading

 

Screen time, snack, free time

 

Outside classes and practices before or after dinner.

[Homeschoolmom3]

If you look in my signature I have a website that you can go to that describes what a typical day looked like for us in 6th grade.  (look under heading schedules).  To get outside more I encourage outside reading and we also have our morning time outside while my 4 yr. old plays so we can accomplish all we need in an hour without the constant interruptions.  Hope this helps.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Thank you all for sharing your schedules! I am amazed at the amount of time your children spend doing independent work—I can only hope for about 15 minutes but then I just have littles to teach.

 

My older didn't really start working independently until 6th grade, and couldn't pull off a full day's independent work till 7th.  I'm slowly inching my 4th grader toward independence for specific topics/tools.  Baby steps. It will come!

[Moonhawk]

Morning schedule usually goes like:

6:00 - wake up, shower

6:30 - everyone is up, kids usually read or play until I come out to join them.  We start Language (WWE, FLL, poem recitation, reading other stuff together)

7:15~ - kids start handwriting/coloring activity at the kitchen table and I make breakfast

7:45-8 - breakfast

8-8:30 - kids dress, brush teeth, etc.  they can read or make general trouble while I do dishes.

8:30-9:30 - math

9:30-10:30 - music

10:30-11 - they do Spanish apps while I make snack, then snack

11-12 - Art project (usually tied into one of their other subjects, or an actual "art for arts sake" lesson about 2x a week).  If we got behind on anything earlier, we usually just push stuff along and take away time from art. 

12 - Reading Rainbow app while I make lunch, then lunch

 

Afternoons are flexible depending on day:

Day A - quiet time after lunch until around 3pm, then free time until dinner.

Day B - they go to grandparents where they have quiet time and do whatever for rest of day.

Day C - quiet time, science reading and experiment until dinner.

Day D - quiet time, then free time until we have to go to an activity (piano lesson, dance, religious class, community kid choir, etc)

 

Evenings

5:30 or 6 - they start math drills, I make dinner

After Dinner - get ready for bed

Free Time - until bed time (sometimes this is an hour, sometimes it is 5 minutes, just depending on what time we started dinner and what I was making)

Bed time - prayers, then either read aloud from history stuff or Dad reads to them (currently The Hobbit), then sleep.  Theoretically sleep at least, lol.  

 

My kids are younger so this may not help as much, but there is room for expansion, especially in the afternoon.  We aim for an hour daily in math, language, and music, everything else is secondary.  If we had different "core" subjects, I'd probably put those in the morning instead.  We will add more time to our core subjects as the kids get older, for now an hour seems to be working well.

[J-rap]

I'm done homeschooling  --  :(  --  but we started at 9:00am and were typically done by about 2:00.  We didn't have a set ending time.  They just had to finish all of their assignments for that day.  But they were most often done by 2:00, sometimes earlier, sometimes later.  As they got older and if they wanted/needed to stop a little earlier, they'd finish up in the evening.  (That didn't happen too often.)

 

They did have a couple simple chores that had to get done by 9:00am.  Ones that would take 15 minutes total.  (Clean one cupboard, vacuum the living room, set up the bread machine, etc.)

 

We rarely homeschooled in the summer.  Just a few times, usually if they had a math book they/I wanted to complete before fall.