Our Family

Our Family

Friday, December 20, 2013

A Day in the Homeschool Life of This Mama of Seven

So I have spent several weeks showing you what a "Day in the Homeschool Life" looks like for each of the different age groups of my children:

A Day in the Homeschool Life of My 1st and 2nd Graders

A Day in the Homeschool Life of My 4th Grader

A Day in the Homeschool Life of My 6th Grader

A Day in the Homeschool Life of My 12th Grader

A Day in the Homeschool Life of My Preschooler

Today it's my turn and I am going to give you a peek into what my typical homeschool day looks like.

7 am-9:30- During this time period everyone is getting up and getting ready to start the day. I fix breakfast for the children (my hubby goes to work early in the morning I do not get up with him.  I make his lunch the night before and he likes to have cereal for breakfast during the work week) and spend some time on the computer reading email, taking care of bills, checking into facebook, our TOS forum, and starting blog posts if I have time.  Then I clean up breakfast, get myself and the baby ready for the day, get a load of laundry going and shop vac the downstairs.

9:30 Morning school starts.  This is our together school work.  We start with  Bible. I am using Bible Study Guide For All Ages with all of the children and we usually spend 15-20 minutes.

By the way, I was going to put on nicer clothes and do my hair and make-up, but I am trying to keep it real!

Next we do history.  We are using America the Beautiful.  Our current read aloud to go with it is Brady by Jean Fritz.  The read aloud takes around 15 minutes and the History lesson takes about 30 minutes.

Tuesdays and Thursdays we do Science as well.  We were all busy working and didn't get a photo but we are using Apologia Land Animals.  I help Prek-2 with the A Journey Through Learning Lapbook, my 4th grader uses the Junior Notebooking Journal, and my 6th grader uses the Regular Notebooking Journal. Science takes about 30 minutes.

We are usually done by 11:00.  Next I put the clothes from washer into the dryer, start another load, and make lunch.  After lunch I clean up (the children help) and hopefully head outside with the children for fresh air.

12:30 afternoon school work starts up.  This is actually the hardest part of my day.  I have a lot of different age groups to juggle and different children doing different subjects.  Children aren't always patient either (I know you are shocked by that!) and often they all think they need my help all at the same time.

We start with Math.  My 3 oldest (12th, 6th, and 4th grades) can mostly handle their Math on their own thanks to Math U See DVDs.  If it is a new concept they do at times need help, but mostly I just have to check it over when they are finished (except for my 12th grader she checks her own.)  I do have to sit with my 1st and 2nd graders and do Math with them, but the lesson only lasts 15 minutes or so.

Next up is IEW.  My 4th and 6th graders are using SWI A.  If it is a video day, we all watch it together.  If it is not Nick (6th grade) can handle his assignments on his own.  Alex needs me to work one on one with him. Time spent varies depending on the lesson but usually 30 minutes is spent on SWI A.  My 1st and 2nd graders are using a modified version of PAL and it only takes them around 10-15 minutes.  They work on that while the big boys are doing SWI A.

Next up is Spelling/Reading-Usually I leave Alex to finish the last of his SWI A and start doing Spelling/Reading with my 1st and 2nd graders using  All About Learning Press.  I have kept them at the same level to make it a little easier for me.  We go through our Level One lesson of AAS and read the corresponding stories from AAR.   The length of time it takes depends on how long the stories are (especially with beginning readers sounding it all out!) but we can usually get through a lesson in less than 30 minutes.  Then I switch to Alex who is on level 3 of AAS.  When he finishes with the spelling lesson he reads a chapter from one of his read alouds to me. He usually spends around 20 minutes or so. While we are doing that my 6th grader does his Visual Latin assignment independently thanks to Dwayne teaching via DVD.  My preschooler works on her activity page from AAR Pre-1.


A couple of times a week I also try to squeeze in a French Lesson with Alex but we didn't get to it today.

Then I have an opportunity to work with my little girls.  We are using Before Five In A Row.  I read the story to them and we do some of the corresponding activities.  If I can find a lapbook from www.homeschoolshare.com we do a few of the mini books.  This week's story was Angus Lost.  I spend around 30 minutes working with them.

Whew!  School day is over!  Time to look over the schoolwork the children did without me, fold laundry, complete a few chores, check in the computer and blog if I have time, or slip back outside to play with the children.  4 o clock it is time to start supper so it is on the table at 5.

Evenings are pretty quiet.  In the winter because it gets dark so early we usually watch a movie.  I read or use the computer.  My husband cannot relax if I am bustling around cleaning so I do not do many chores in the evening.  7 o clock is snack time and I start getting the children ready for bed. I read aloud before bed and everyone goes to bed at 8 o clock.  They do not have to go to sleep, they can read or play quietly, but they have to be in bed.  Then Art and  can talk without 7 sets of ears listening and maybe stream a show on Netflix that isn't animated.

So that's a glimpse into my homeschool day.  I hope you have enjoyed this peek into our homeschool and how it works altogether!

Happy Homeschooling!

 
*links to All About Learning, Visual Latin, and A Journey Through Learning are my affiliate links. I only form affiliate relationships with companies whose products I actually use and can recommend!

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