Wondering what Mommy Homework is??? Each week you will have an “assignment” here to share in our comments here on this site. You will love this-both sharing AND enjoying answers by others. Some of them, I compile into an ebook (contributors can resell as a product of their own–be sure to submit your email and full name when you register so I can credit you appropriately!).
The result is AWESOME!
We get to know each other…we are encouraged in our journey…and we glean super ideas from other great moms!
Ready for this week’s MH? This is a good one!
Our topic this week is “Share Your Daily Schedule!”
Your Assignment This Week…
Oh! I LOVE this question! I can’t wait to see your responses! This week, let’s get a good look at your families and what your day looks like.
–> First, tell us a brief bit about your family (that makes a world of difference in helping others who may need some ideas for their own schedules–they can find a family with children the same age, etc). Ages, any details that you want to add (it was very different when my hubby was a State Trooper, working 2nd shift….or, now that we balance two family businesses and teens).
–> Then, share what your day looks like. If there is something “different” that you do (like I call my afternoon time when everyone works on projects/business/etc by PRODUCTIVE FREE TIME), then just explain what that means briefly. 😉
I am soooo excited to read these! There is just NOTHING like looking into other homes to learn from other godly women. So, grab your cup of coffee and dig into this one!
Ready? Get going! This is going to be GOOD! 
Ready? Dig in!
Love,
Cindy
PS! Please remember to use your real name if you want credit for your Mommy Homework Credit.
PPS! You CAN just share and not participate in Mommy Homework, BUT I would LOVE for you to get some goodies along the way!
PPSS! Want to check your credit? Here is the newest update: http://www.talk-a-latte.com/ebooks/MommyHomeworkCredits.pdf
PPPSS! If you are new, all you do to share your MH is first register (see the link on the bottom of the right column), then log in with your name and password that you select. Share away!
Hi All!! I’m Rebecca, and i have 5 blessings, Alex is 13, Nik is 9, Chloe is 7, Annabeth is 4, and Leif is 2. We homeschool. Dh works long days and has weekends off. Ok, so now please understand that this is an IDEAL day, pretty much never happens 🙂 but its what we shoot for!
Weekdays:
5:30 I get up, if i am coherent enough i’ll make dh and i breakfast, usually i just zone out for a while…
6 or so… Bible study for mom.
630 or so, wake up alex, who showers and does his Bible study
7:00 Alex gets started on his school stuff that i need to help him with, language arts, etc.
700-7:30 get Nik up, showers if necessary otherwise i work with him on his reading.
8:00 chores and breakfast
8:30 by this time the girls are up and ready for school. we start circle time, do our hymn of the month, read our segment from Vos story Bible, do geography or history, do math-u-see and hopefully have time for science
1130 kids do something independently to reinforce learning, perhaps educational television or computer, or just catch up on work
there’s also a snack in there when they need it and some outside time too when they need it.
12 Lunch
1230 clean up and veg out for a while
1:00 rest time
this is where i nurse Leif to sleep and i get to scrap or NAP or do whatever i want to do just for me.
Alex and nik do their chores then Nik has an hour of tv and alex uses however many tokens he wants for computer time, (he earns tokens by helping around the house)
Girls rest for an hour then play for an hour quietly in their room.
3:00 snack and independent reading, and pursue their own interest time.
5:00 clean, and prepare for dad’s arrival home, make dinner, etc.
6:00 usually… dinner.
7:00 time for dad and the kids…
8:00 bedtime for kids- (except Leif, who’s incorrigible!) mom and dad (and third wheel) time.
10:00 prepare for bed
10:30 bed for us. HOPEFULLY!!
NOw, a few notes… i REALLY want to get more reading time in there!!! i want to read to the kiddos more… i want to also get a family devotions time in there too.
we need to go to bed earlier… by about 10 pm i’m usually BEGGING dh to go to bed, because i do NOT do well with 5 hours of sleep!! he does! LOL. There’s just lots i need to improve on… sigh… its a work in progress BIG TIME!!!!
Rebecca Kvenvolden
Hello! I’m a homeschooling mother of four (9g, 7b, 4b, and 2g … and Fish the cat and Books the turtle). My husband Chris is a trucker with Schneider, so our schedule incorporates that. He is on the road for 2 weeks at a time and then home for 2-3 days, and then he goes on the road again. We take off of school and everything else (literally drop everything) on the days that he is home. Homeschooling is wonderful for that.
I am also an online student at MTEC, so my studying is part of our day. Here’s our approximate schedule. (All times are just a goal – it’s usually when things happen, but we’re flexible.)
6:30 Mama’s wake-up time, Quiet time, exercise, planning for the day
7:30 Kids up, morning routines, including chores, breakfast, and their quiet time
8:30 Together school: Tapestry of Grace, Apologia
9:30 Calista (4th grade) school: Spell to Write and Read, Math-U-See
10:30 Damek (2nd grade) school: Spell to Write and Read, Math-U-See
11:30 Lunch and Literature (I read during lunch)
12:30 Outside/Active time
1:30 Naps for littles, computer time for olders, study time for me
3:00 Snack and clean up time
4:00 Free time
5:30 Supper and dishes
6:30 Productive Free Time
8:00 Bedtime routine, Library book time
8:30 Kids in bed; Mama’s study time
10:00 Mama’s bedtime
On Fridays we do Logic instead of science, and we school loosely on Saturday. Saturday morning is Health (Wisconsin required), typing, and Home Ec. (just fun projects) and the afternoon is The Handy Book (old-time boyscout kind of thing-the kids love it). Sundays is church in the morning and then piano lessons in the afternoon. I teach them that, and they practice in the afternoons, after their computer time. The kids are allowed one hour of “screen time” per day, which they can save up to watch a movie if they wish.
We’ve schooled during traditional months, but this summer was difficult because there wasn’t much to do in this town (I don’t drive) so we’re going to try year-round school and see how it goes. 🙂
That’s our life! lol
Ok- I am Rae Poe (short for Rachel). I homechool my dd5. I have a dd15 that is in ps this year. My dh travels alot but is home on weekends. We blog our day so he can keep up with everything that is going on. (By the time he and I get to talk at night I am so tired I can’t remember what all we have done)
Our day generally looks something like this:
6:30- Rise and shine- quick Bible reading and prayer time for Mom
7:00- SweetPea (dd5) gets up and gets dressed
7:20- We take dd15 to school
7:20-8:00 Breakfast and free time for SweetPea and Mom
8:00 Bible time (Keys for Kids)
8:30 Handwriting practice, daily activity sheet
9:00 Book time (I read whatever our topic book is, then any activities we have
planned that day that go along with the book We are using FIAR so we cover
most subjects here
10:00 Math time
10:30 Read aloud- dd5 reads to me, we discuss the book and any new
vocabulary
11:00 Art/ any extra activities we have on the schedule
12:00 lunch time
Free time/rest time until 2:20
2:20- Leave to pick dd15 up from school (I won’t let her ride the bus)
3:30 Home, time to discuss our day (dd15 and dd5 get to share their days)
Homework time for dd15, playtime for dd5
5:30 (or so) suppertime and evening chores afterward
7:00-8:00 Computer games (we only have one that is not educational and dd5
doesn’t like that one as much)
9:00 bath, bedtime for dd5 (dd15 gets to read in bed until about 10)
planning time, devotional time for Mom, IM with dh after that
11pm- lights out, prayer time
Variants to our schedule:
Wednesday is co-op day from 9:45-11:45 am
Thursday night we play games together instead of computer time
Wednesday night is soccer practice for dd5/ church (once soccer ends)/ choir
practice for dd15
Thursday or Fridays are for any field trips we go on with our co-op group (about 2x
per month)
It looks like a full schedule, but it’s really not very hectic.
Rae Poe
My name is Rodna, my husband is Michael. He is a superintendant for a construction company. We have 2 children, daughter age 11 and son age 3 almost 4. I have always homeschooled and God willing will always homeschool.
I am a consultant for Discovery Toys also! We live in Oklahoma.
Ok, well we are in the proces of redoing or schedule.
We just this last week started getting up earlier than we were. My daughter and I both have our bible time first thing in the morning. Then we have breakfast and get started on school. Now the wake up time is around 8:00 BUT we were not getting up till 10:00 or 10:30. So for us that is early for us!LOL
Our school schedule goes like this:
1. Bible study- Mon. and Wed. we do Bible truths from Bob Jones, Tues. we do Personal Help for girls from Pearables which basically teaches young girls about the qualities that young christan girls shoud have and how to work on those things, etc…, Thurs. we do a different bible Study that is in a series. We are doing Choosing Humility right now and on fri. we do Proverbs.
2.We do Cursive on Thursdays.
3. We do poetry on Wed.
4. We do Simply Grammar on tuesdays.
5. Bible recitation everyday.
6. Science-we alternate between doing Apologia, right now is Zoology, and reading a science living book!
7. Math-Mon. Wed. Fri. we do Bob Jones math and Tues. and Thurs. we do a math lapbook.
8. History- We alternate between Mystery of History and reading an American History living book!
Geography-Mon. and Fri. we do A childs Geography and Wed. we do states.
9. Art-Tuesday and Thursday we do Drawing Basics. This is a video from Thomas Kinkade that teahe kids how to draw!
I am still trying to put in there somwhere music and art appreciation but am thinking of doing a unit study instead instead of weekly b/c I don’t want to get too overwhelmed.
We do not have a time that we do each subject we just do them in order for the day.
We do not really have anymore schedule for the rest of the day, which I am thinking about trying to have some kind of loose schedule for the rest of our day.
Now, my 3 year old, I try to keep involed in either doing some of his own work b/c he love to lapbook and draw and cut things!LOL Sometimes he will play or watch t.v but the easiest way for me to get school done with my older one is to also do some school with him. Now I know and keep thinking that in CM methods we are not supposed to have formal education with out little one, and I agree to an extent. Here is where I differ. I do not believe in pushing them to learn things. If he does not want to learn his abc’s I will NOT push him to do so, but on the other hand, when he wants to do school b/c his sister does and i tell him no, he is upset. I bought a little preschool in a box which has coloring pages for the numbers abc’s shapes, etc. We do those and listen to music, etc… His favorite thing do do is lapbook like his sister and he does the preschool version of what she is doing! So I know we are not to have formal education but I do it in a way that is fun and he wants to do it! If he doesn’t want to, he is free to go play or whatever, but like I said this makes it much easier on me to get school done, rather than having him cry for me too play with him the whole time. As a matter of fact right this very second, he ran in my room asking me if he can do his lapbook! LOL We do chores and play etc… throughout the rest of the day and them make dinner and the kids go to bed around 9:00-10:00 Hope this Helps!
Rodna James
I homeschool my 2 kids: Daughter 13 with Asperger Syndrome and Son almost 9.
My husband works days and gets home at 5 PM every day unless he stops at Fleet Farm just to get a few things, in which case, he’ll be home by 6 🙂
Our schedule of school subjects changes by days, M W F we do Math, Art, English, & Home Ec. Tuesday we do Social Studies (History, Geography, Time Line) and Thursday we do Science. Everyday we do Copywork and reading and Daily Math Drills (only a few minutes of math). Everyday Daughter has occupational therapy work to do.
Usually we have appointments at sometime during the week, so we just shift things around a bit to accommodate them, but otherwise our schedule looks like this:
7 – Get up and wave “bye” to Dad
7:30 Breakfast
8 – Mom & Son get dressed & then have time together while Daughter showers & dresses
8:30 (ish) School until Noonish
Noonish – lunch & Supper prep as needed
1 – Errands (during this time is when I try to schedule appointments, but it doesn’t always work out that way
4 – Supper prep as needed & chore cards
5 – Greet Dad or wonder why he stopped at Fleet Farm today 😉
6 – Supper (why Dad makes it home by 6)
7 – Mom & Dad talk & craft time (sometimes Dad’s projects, sometimes Mom’s, occasionally both) Kids – free time Dad then has free time until his shower & bed
8 – Son shower & Mom & Daughter together time after daughter gets in PJs
8:30 – Kids dessert or snack & free time, Mom planning time
9:30 – Prayer time & bedtime for kids Exercise time for Mom
10:15 or so Mom Shower / Dad Shower (depending on who gets there first, the other just watches tv or reads) & bedtime by 11 (Unless insomnia sets in, in which case Mom & Dad talk some more.)
So are the days of our lives 😉
Elizabeth Bowen
Hi,
I have 3 sons, ages 11, 8 and 10 months. Dh is a correctional officer and works 2nd shift (with an hour drive both ways) and has Thurs/Fri off work. So here goes.
Our “normal” schedule HAHA! for Monday-Wed.
5 a.m. baby and I up, lay down on the couch with a bottle and doze
6 – up, dress, walk 2 miles with my mom (we live close, baby rides in stroller)
8 – older boys up, breakfast, school starts
11 – break for lunch – we try to be done with everything but independent reading by this time
Then we eat lunch, clean-up and spend time with dad before he leaves for work. The older boys usually do their chores and I will check email or reg. mail.
1:30 p.m. dh leaves for work, I try to put baby down for a nap – now that he is older, this doesn’t seem to be working for now.
After this time the older boys do independent reading and I do chores. After that we are free. We have different activities in the evenings sometimes, but if we are home we watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy in the evenings. LOL
We do all of our schoolwork in the morning. We do Bible, history, read-aloud, science and geography together. Bible and read-aloud get 30 mins. each, everything else gets 15 mins. Then they work on math, spelling, handwriting/copywork and grammar separately with my help. The baby tends to destroy the house. I guess that is his job during this season of life.
On Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings we have taekwondo. ON Mondays we go to the library (the boys and I).
While dh is home on Thurs/Fri. we try to stick to the above schedule in the morning. I try to walk every day. Mom and I hold each other accountable. Anyway, if dad wants to do something we tend to drop things and go with him. Afternoons are always for dad.
On Saturdays we do housework and right now the boys play soccer. Sometimes we will do school on Saturday mornings but not all the time. Sunday is church and time with extended family.
I would love to have more time for read alouds. Maybe some evenings this winter we will get to it. Right now the weather is to beautiful to be inside!
Bedtime for baby is 8ish, older boys 10 and I go to bed inbetween 9 and 10. Dh gets home at midnight, but I am very rarely awake (if I am you can be sure I am trying to go back to bed LOL) I am not a night owl 🙂
I think that is it. I tend to “waste” time in the afternoon. I am working on it.
Blessings,
Carie Shinn
We are a family of four. My children are 8 and 4 yo. We have a small scale farm with some animals that we have to take care of. I also watch a little boy 2 to 3 days a week. So that can interfere with our plans at times also. This is how our schedule usually goes.
6:00 get up with dh in the morning to pack his lunch and make him breakfast
6:30-7:15 My quiet time
7:15 get the girls up for chores
7:30 head out to barn for chores
8:00 Make kids breakfast
8:30 do dishes and get laundry going
9:00 school
12:00 make lunch
12:30 afternoon free time
4:00 Start dinner prep
5:30 Quick sweep of the house to get it tidy
6:00 hubby comes home and eat dinner
7:00 Baths
7:30-9:00 family time (watch movie, play game, etc)
9:00 Bedtime for kids
10:00-10:30 My bedtime
There are a few things I would like to change with my schedule. For a while I had worked in a quiet time and some actually schedule fun time with the kids during the day. I would like to start doing that again since it seems like I can always find something to do.
Jenni Schafran
WOW! I’m in awe of the schedules you ladies have!!!! We are fairly ecclectic and our schedule is more of a routine due to our lives. Now, Cindy, before you fuss at me….we have a schedule. It just often gets interrupted by life. What can I say???? It looks something like this:
I homeschool Little Critter who is a delightfully wormy, squirmy, highly intelligent, deeply compassionate, very active 8 yo. Then he wakes up….. no just kidding. DH is a football coach so most of 6 months a year I’m a single parent. My parents are in their 70s and Mom is blind, so we also take care of them. And my cousin lives with us….he’s a ‘duck of a different color’ so we also take care of him. Then there’s the dog, 2 cats, 5 quail and 5 chickens. And a few assorted friends that often need our help with various things. So our schedule is…shall we say fluid?!
Little Critter usually gets up between 8 and 9am. We make beds when we crawl out-bed not made, no breakfast! Then we eat breakfast, read 3-4 chapters Bible. (He’s participating in the Amazing Bible Race which is geared toward high school kids, but he begged and wanted to join so we work hard to keep up!) Then we discuss, write bios of people we’ve read about, draw pictures, label maps of places or do other activities (that I modify from the Bible race site or make up) to help him better understand and appreciate his Bible reading. Then he has a schedule I make up weekly listing all the things he must accomplish before the end of the week. Daily we do Bible study, Mammoth Math (grade 2), copywork, spelling and chores. We also do history, geography, science, art, music and home ec wrapped up in our studies. Right now we’re studing Indians. So we’ve read about Pocahontas, Red Cloud, Chief Joseph, Geronimo, Sequoah, Cochise, Sacagewa and are about to read about the Windtalkers (Navajo). He’s made flags for each group we’ve read about, made his own Indian shirt and has to finish sewing his pants, loincloth, and moccasins. He’s also got to finish making his Indian rattle, shield, travois and 6 different houses. And his Indian headdress is waiting on me to find the velcro to fasten it with. He’s got pages in his notebook on Alogoquin, Apache, Cherokee, Choctaw (DH is Cherokee /Choctaw), Shosone, Nez Perce and Souix Indians. We still have to add Navajo, Eskimo and any others we can find books about that he can read. We do the art, listen to the music and he’s learned to write his name in three different Indian Languages. We Iearn where they lived, how they lived, how the various tribes are alike/different and what their lives are like today. I hope to finish Indians this week….or the middle of next week. Then we’ll start studing the Fall Feasts. That will take about 3 weeks. Next we’ll move on to Elections, Thanksgiving, Hannukah and Christmas. The first of the year we’ll move into Planets (which we’ve covered breifly before), Dinosaurs (he loves them and we’ll add to the Dino notebook he started when he was 4), Purim, Passover/Easter, Presidents, Shavuot/Pentecost and then we’ll most likely be in June. During summers, we continue to homeschool, but it’s more relaxed and a little slower. I hope to continue our Mystery of History and cover Ancient Egypt, Rome and Isreal during the summer. But we’ll see. Papa may have me change everything up….I know as long as I’m doing all I can to teach Little Critter about his Heavenly Papa and training him to be Papa’s Hands and Feet that he’ll get all the academics he needs for his purpose in life. I worry often that I’m not doing enough, but really can’t see where we’d add anymore into our days. Oh! I almost forgot, we also are learning some Hebrew and Spanish for foreign languages. Last year at Passover, Little Critter asked all the questions a child asks in Hebrew! I was SO proud of him. Now we’re working on some Hebrew songs and the Aleph Bet. I reckon one day I’ll have to learn Latin with him, but for now I think this is enough. I’m adding narration into our Bible/book reading and sometimes we do dictation, but not often.
For home ec/chores, we do:
Monday-laundry-wash, hang outside to dry, fold and put away.
Tuesday-clean two bathrooms (I clean kitchen and den floors)
Wednesday-Little Critter vaccums rugs, I finish floors. (Our house has hard wood floors thruout. No carpeting anywhere….that’s about 2000 sq ft of floors to clean weekly)
Thursday-we take Nana to beauty shop, dogs to ‘buff-n-puff’ and shop for Shabbot and dust the house. (LOTS of dust in Texas and most of it finds my house!!!!!)
Friday-straighten up and cook for Shabbot
I get no time to myself until after Little Critter is in bed, (9pm bedtime for him) and that’s usually spent with DH for a bit. Dh usually goes to bed at 10pm so I get to check the email, pay bills, read blogs, work on my blog (I’m working on it Cindy, it should be done before Little Critter is 20!!!) and get things ready for the next day after he goes to bed. I usually go to bed between midnight and 2am. (kinda depends on what Papa wants to talk about or who I need to pray for……) From 10pm to whenever is my private time with Papa. Fortunately I only need about 5 hours sleep daily and get to sleep in a little on Saturday ( unless we have the early soccer game) plus we take an hour long rest time daily. So I hope this makes sense and doesn’t sound too discomboobilated. It’s chaotic right now, but I reckon that’s our season right now. I know it will slow down eventually and I’ll most likely miss all this. So I’ll cherish it while I can. And if any of this sound whiney, it’s not intended to sound that way. Our life is different, but then so are we…my mom always told me I was UNIQUE!!! So it only seems appropriate that I’d have a unique lifestyle. We have lots of fun, learn some really cool stuff, and I know Little Critter will one day look back and treasure these times. I know I do. Shalom, Joie
We have six kiddos at home, ages 14, 11, 9, 7, 4 and 2, with number seven eagerly anticipated this winter. We also have four olders, who are on their own, and four grandbabies.
My dh, Dana, works for a construction company as an off road truck driver. To you and me, it means he drives a big Tonka truck with lots of other boys, and some girls….He is either out of state or out of town all week, so I am basically a single parent throughout the week.
We don’t have a schedule so much as we try to stick to a routine. Each morning the kiddos get up and start their chores and the lessons they can do on their own (copywork, Bible, math, individual reading).
We then have breakfast together and finish up any chores or independent lessons.
We try to go for a walk after this, then settle into lessons….hopefully around 10am.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday we read from Character Sketches, and 101 More Hymn Stories. On these days the 14, 11 and 9 y/os love doing Diana Waring’s Ancient Civilizations study. Right now I am doing HOAC Horses with my 7 year old, and Little Miss Muffett with the 4 and 2 year olds.
On Tuesday and Thursday, we still read from 101 More Hymn Stories, and we are really enjoying an online election study put together by another homeschool mom. We are learning about rhetoric, “A Man Who…speeches”, the conventions, the promotional media…..this will last throughout the election season with another lesson during the inauguration.
When all work is completed, we have lunch and then I put the 2 y/o down for a nap. We then have “together time”. We have a rotating schedule where each person spends time with me or another sibling for anywhere from an hour to 2 hours, playing games, talking, working on projects.
After this time, is, as Cindy calls it, “productive free time” where the kids do whatever…within reason!
Then supper, evening chores and either a movie or reading curled up on my bed.
Life happens in between and we sometimes get sidetracked, but this is our goal each day.
Vicki M
Well, I am Chasity. I have a wonderful hubby that is a pastor. We have 3 great kids, ages 8 and 3 year old twins.
Here is our schedule. I am not a strict person when it comes to the times listed…I really let the day flow, but this keeps us on track. This is the typical order of things.
Daily Schedule
7:00- Mommy up
7:30-Mommy quiet time
8:00- Kids up and worship
8:30-9:00- Prepare and eat breakfast
9:00- Clean Am dishes
Morning Routine
Laundry
9:30-Twin’s School
10:00-12:00– dds School
12:00- Lunch & Clean Dishes
1:00- Twins Nap
1:00-3:00– Productive Free Time
3:00-Daily Cleaning
4:00– Play/Free Time
5:00– Read Aloud
6:00- Supper Routine
7:00– dd Bath time
7:30- Twins Bath
8:00- Family time
8:30- Bedtime Routine
9:00- kids to bed
Laundry
10:30- Parents to bed
**AM Routine
Make Beds
Brush Teeth
Get dressed
Comb hair
**Daily Cleaning Area (most of these rooms get straighten most days, but on “there” they get the deep clean treatment.)
Monday– Kitchen
Tuesday– Living Room
Wednesday-Bath rooms
Thursday– Free day
Friday– Kids Room and Strip beds
Saturday– Parents room
**Vacuum and dust each area as cleaned
**Vacuum Living room on M-Th-Sa and as needed
**Monthly Cleaning (I will forget these if they don’t have a date)
1st-Curtains in Kitchen and Living room and Clean those windows
8th-Curtains in bedrooms and clean those windows
15th-Curtains in bathrooms and clean those windows
22nd-Change air filter
Oh and I forgot the add this is all subject to change at a moments notice!!
Be blessed,
Chasity Brannon
We have 5 children at home: 10, 8, 6, 3, and 7 months. Daddy’s a mail carrier and walks or rides his bike to work; he has a different day off each week, so we can just bump our school day to a Saturday, no problem!
5-7 a.m. You never know who’ll be up in this time frame, except for Daddy, who leaves by 7:30; this is quiet time, hopefully with my Bible reading and devotions.
I made a new rule that everyone eats breakfast together, instead of each child eating as they get up; this helps Daddy not to have to get the earliest risers breakfast, and the rest of us start the day together.
8 a.m. Everyone’s up by now and eating breakfast. Chores start.
9 a.m. Baby goes down for nap, I shower, kiddos get dressed, school starts…
Devotions – Our 24 Family Ways by the Clarksons; we are doing a character trait study and making lapbooks on those, starting with obedience, submission and self-control. I do 100 Easy Lessons with 8 year old. Language Arts with 10 year old. Math starts.
Whenever baby gets up, kids finish math independently, and we start lunch.
After lunch we read, usually for history. I love history since I started homeschooling, so I am using Diana Waring and Mystery of History! We’re using the Waring reading lists, and her guides are unit studies, so we’ll use her science suggestions and the Felice Gerwitz seminar with Cindy 😉 Since we’re starting with Creation this year, it’s an easy tie-in! If I had too firm os a schedule I couldn’t have fit the seminar in – LOL!
Baby and 3 year old nap sometime in the middle of this, then we continue to work on school. 6 year old really wants to start reading, so I’ll squeeze that in here. I usually start dinner around 3:00 (I love to cook!), but I am working on freezer meals so we can “do school” without interruption until Daddy comes home at 3:30 or so.
Dinner, clean up, maybe a trip to the library, grocery or piano lessons; Maybe the news, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! Bedtime around 8:30 for the kids with devotions or reading, talking and prayer. Baby is usually up a bit later. Daddy may work on budget or check in on the news; I’ll have computer time or watch TV; we usually have time to discuss “stuff” or just visit; we’ll finish the kitchen, start the dishwasher and put baby to bed. I’m trying to be in bed by 10, as it takes me a bit to wind down and actually get to sleep!
We take 1/2 of one day to visit someone, have someone over or go on a field trip; any more than that, and we get behind!
Blessings,
Danielle Hull
Hi!
I’m wife to Michael – a computer geek who works from home – and mother to 8 kids, 3 who have graduated and moved out of our home and gone on to college (2 are married), 4 who are still in school (one in public school, the other other three are home schooled) and 1 who is foster/adopt.
My husband gets up with the oldest still home because Michael starts work at 7:00. I have a brain injury and sleep as much as possible. I get up around 7:00 when the 2 year old gets up. The other 3 get up after that.
9:00 -school starts
11:30 – lunch
12:00 – nap and more schol
2:00 “school’s out” kids have free time
3:00 Dad’s off work and comes out of his office – Yeah!!!
I sart dinner, clean, Dad plays with kids, rides bikes, etc
5:00 Dinner
6:00 Baths, misc
8:00 Bed times for littles
9:00 Bed times for bigs
10:00 Bed times for adults
Wednesday’s we have church
Monday’s the kids are in a co-op type thing
I try to save Friday’s to “catch up” any school work we didn’t finish plus complete units and take tests (spelling, grammar, math, etc.) We also use this day for any field trips. I’ve been homeschool kids for 16+ years, so I’m an old hat at this. I try not to stress out too much about things. I have discovered that a 2 year tends to mess things up a lot…
I’m Billie Jean & married to an attorney. We live in a small town so he runs his own practice getting home most nights by 7pm and having weekends free for us. We have 5 at home, 2 are in college this year and the 12DS, 3DS and 1DD are homeschooled. We don’t have a schedule, but rather a structure to attempt each day. Tuesdays are our co-op days where we are out of the house all day with that and library story time for the littles. Wednesdays oldest is in Adventure School – benefit of living in the mountains, this is a 10 week program teaching survial skills, kyaking, repelling, hiking, etc. So our other days look somewhat like this:
6-7am Everyone starts to get up, walk and feed critters (dos, cats, horses), eat
9am Morning chores, Laundry started and DS works on his Math & Literature which are fairly independent. I clean up the kitchen and get dinner started so I am nearby to help if needed. The 3yo does his “work” at the table also while the toddler plays.
10ish we start out daily KONOS work – reading and discussions usually trying to do them outside in the playground while the littles play. If an activity is able, we do it outside also. KONOS works well for our family in that the 3yo is involved in most things and even though it’s geared toward the 12yo, he picks up the information on his level.
12ish Lunchtime, then littles go down for a 2-3 hour nap. Oldest and I work on more hands on or messy projects, and then independent reading.
3ish Back outside to play or swim.
5ish Inside for me to finish dinner. Kids play or watch a movie if it’s rainy.
6ish feed critters, walk them, dinner if dad is going to be late.
7 Baths, jammies, stories and then time to wind down for bed around 8:30 for the littles and older DS goes about 10 when he reads for 30 minutes before bed. He, like dad, is a night owl while I am a morninng person.
DS is involved with 4H and so most of the year we have some kind of classes a couple of afternoons a week. He had shows both days this weekend for his steer & lambs. I also help teach sewing classes when needed for the 4H. I HIGHLY reccommend the 4H organization to anyone who has it available in your area. The program is very well run, very affordable and so great for the kids for socialization and self esteem. Our hsing also allows for “guy trips” whenever they want. This weekend they will leave friday morning for 3 days of camping and 4wheeling. We just plan ahead and divide our work into the number of days we have each week. We will be of to Disney in 9 more days!!!! I’m working on “lessons” to incorporate while we are there.
My family:
DH and I were married October 20, 2002.
DS 1 Cameron was born November 2, 2002. (it all worked out in the end… some day I’ll share the whole story.)
DS 2 Nathan was born August 26, 2005 (happy belated birthday baby boy!) 5 months after we moved 45 miles from our families. Again, it all worked out.
We decided to homeschool this year when the gas prices made it impossible to drive DS1 to private school in town 5 days a week for Kindergarten.
A little background. DH and I have been friends for almost 20 years, we were in choir and vocal ensemble in high school together, hung out together (double dates were common), and met up in college when we were attending the same community college. DH has his own business, he works on vintage (pre 1965) automobiles. It isn’t lucrative but it pays the bills. I am a SAHM but also a scrapbook consultant.
Our schedule:
We are pretty laid back.
School is an afternoon activity as PBSKids morning line up is perfect for my boys. Love Sid the science kid, Super Why, Word World, and Martha Speaks. (of course the others are good too.)
We do our “lessons’ from 1-3 that includes “PE play time”
Mommy cooks dinner around 5 and then we have outside time in the evening before story and bed time.
That is it , not super exciting but country/ farm time is a different thing and life in rural farm country moves at a slower pace…
I have 5 children: dd10, ds7, ds6, ds2, ds2months. I am working on having a workable schedule for my family, but these are the parts that are working for us right now.
I get up between 6 and 6:30 to do my T-Tapp workout. This is what gets me going and gives me energy for my day. Some mornings dh will exercise with me. I have to get my workout in before I am awake enough to talk myself out of it.
Then I take a few minutes to pray and talk to God about my to-do list for the day. I ask for energy and time to get the things He wants done and wisdom to know which projects are His and which need to be cut. I also ask for guidance as to what He wants on my to do list.
After that the shower is usually free for me to take a turn, so I shower and get dressed to my lace up shoes (yes, it’s a FlyLady thing.)
Now it is time for the kids to get up. We eat breakfast. They clean up afterward, and I throw in a load of laundry before school. If we are lucky it isn’t yet 9 o’clock.
Next up is school time. We just cover the 4R’s, and have gotten this down to 1.5 hours.
This is as far as things seem to run smoothly in my day. As soon as school is over (if it is a very good day we get to this point first) my boys turn into wild monkeys.
My sanity saver is Flat On Bunk time in the afternoon. I got the name from a church camp that I went to as a child. Each child goes to their area, usually their bed, for 1-2 hours. Younger children can have a few toys and play quietly until they hopefully fall asleep. Older children should take books to read and/or notebooks to write in. I take books and go to my bed too.
This is my time for daily Bible study. I have a few minutes in the morning, but this is the time that I can just relax and enjoy my time with my Papa. I use this time to pray about all sorts of things and listen for answers. I have a quiet house and freedom to just think. Sometimes I will do a little hand sewing or take a nap as well. I keep a journal with me during this time because God speaks very often in this quiet time. I am able to return to my family refreshed and ready to have a fun evening together.
Flat On Bunk Time has been really good for my children too. My daughter has written a series of chapter books during this time along with reading too many books to count. Having to slow down for awhile in the afternoon got ds7 excited about reading. Now he can read an adventure story while everyone is quiet. Ds6 still doesn’t want to have FOB time, but I can tell a great difference in his attitudes and behavior after having some quiet time. This is also the time that ds2 needs a nap. He would never slow down and take a nap with all of the older children awake. This is really one of the best things our family does.
I look forward to taking a peek into everyone’s schedules.
Annie
Hi there!
My name is Sherri, and so far God has seen fit to only give us two. And by his grace they made it through some major pregnancy and newborn issues. As much as I long for more I am so grateful I have 2!
I have fibromyalgia and suffer chronic migraines and my husband had to have part of his foot amputated and has a degenerative condition in the bones of that foot that make him in constant pain (sometimes so much he can’t walk and has to use a wheelchair). I work part time at the YMCA teaching swim lessons and swim fitness. My hubby is in sales in several areas as we try to make ends meat (the two biggest being mortgages and health/life insurance) so his schedule is anything but normal he often gets calls early am (7:00) and late pm (11:00). Half the time he works here out of his “office” which doubles as our bedroom the other half he is at one of his work offices. He has no regular hours ever.
What I have learned after many attempts at a specific schedule, beginning with way to detailed down to very simple, is schedules really do not work for us. They stress me out and I never ever am able to keep up with them no matter how simplified I make them and I become a basket case.
This summer what I have discovered works best for us is a “to do list routine” for lack of a better thing to call it.
Two to three days a week on good weeks, I wake up with a migraine, sometimes I can’t get out of bed. Before I go to bed at night I get the kids breakfast together so they can make it themselves if need be in the morning. They are 4 and 8 (today!) and actually love to do their own breakfast. Then they can do one of several pre approved activities (reading, a craft, an educational DVD …) until mommy is functional.
Basically what I do with school work and household chores is have a running list. I have goals to get done each day but instead of staying up half the night to finish what is on the list, or stressing myself and my hubby and kids out b/c we are not getting all the school and housework work done that I had planned, the list just gets rolled over into the next day. I start with what absolutely must be done that day and work my way down. I really have just figured this out after becoming very ill twice in the past month from putting to much strain on myself to stick to a schedule (somehow even after many failed attempts at a specific schedule I once again re-did a simple schedule for the new school year and thought the schedule would help me get it together but it actually just made me fall apart!). With much prayer, help from my wonderful neighbor, listening to a talk-a-latte session on my MP3 (can’t remember which one) and reading the Book “Homeschooling at the Speed of Life” (or something like that) I have discovered that this really is the best option for us at this stage of our life.
We have a loose routine (breakfast around 8:00. lunch around noon, rest time in the afternoon from about 1:30-3:00, (rest must happen even if sleep doesn’t they can read quietly in their rooms) dinner around 5:30 depending on the evening activities for the day. Beyond that loose routine, it is the running to do list.
This method makes me feel like I have been freed from bondage. I finally realized that my unique set of circumstances required a unique plan of action and even though something worked so well for so many people, if it was making me physically ill it was not worth it!
I better get my tushie in bed. Have great week everyone!
Blessings,
Sherri
Hi, I am Michelle. DH & I have been married for 20yrs. We have 3 wonderful boys (27, 16, 14)
Most of what I am saying here is on my blog. I thought it was very fitting for this question.
We are a homeschool family of 5, plus 3 cats. I am a stay-at-home mom and hubby works in the Neuro Lab at the local hospital. Our oldest son is a Security Guard. Our middle son plans to have his own business in computers, some day. And our youngest son is very sports minded. He loves sports, although because of medical reasons, he cannot play contact sports. You see, he has Arnold Chiari Malformation I. Something we knew nothing about til he had it.
Since he loves sports and is interested in Medicine, we are trying to encourage him to be in Sports Medicine.
We are a pretty relaxed school, but, not `unschoolers`. We do not have set hours for doing any one thing. We tend to go with the flow of the day.
On a typical day we have Bible time using `Studying God’s Word` as a guide.
`W` is becoming more responsible for his own learning.
`D` and I work on things together. While he is becoming more independent.
Ok, I will list the boys classes and then tell you a bit about the classes.
`W` is working on Rhetoric-Composition, Geometry, World History, Biology w/ Lab, Latin, Computer skills, Reading, P.E. (working on that)
`D` is working on Creation Reading, Language Arts, Pre-Algebra, Creation Science, History, Free Reading, Home Ec, Typing skills, Latin, Cindy Rushton’s `Yes, you can be a writer, Too`, Monday Prose Writing Class, P.E. (still working on that), BoyScouts, Church Youth Group
Rhetoric-Composition: This 1905 book begins with Oral Reports, moves to Theme Writing about something the student has much knowledge about, then focuses on expression of ideas furnished by imagination, next he will work on expression of ideas aquired through language. This latter will require him to form a clear mental image from what he reads; form a clear mental image of some incident, person, or place and write about it using words that will give complete and accurate images to the reader. Report orally on a book you have read, make and complete an outline. The book progresses as the year goes on.
Geometry: (from S.O.S) he just finished the introduction today, after about a month of several intro lessons.
World History: (from S.O.S.) he is finishing up studying `Ancient Civilizations I` which included: Origin of Man, Fall of man, The Flood, Origin of Civilization, Origin of Nations, Early Egypt, and Assyrian History.
Biology: At present he is learning about plants. His lab work has included: Collecting & identifying grass, reviewing use of the microscope, observing a leaf structure under a microscope, disecting and observing a flower, and examining the structure and variety of fruits and seeds.
Computer: He is taking an A+ Certification class through Ashworth University.
Creation Reading: This has included books like: `It Couldn’t Just Happen`, `Dinosaurs by Design`, `Origins- Creation or Evolution` and Felice Gerwitz/ Jill Whitlock `Creation Science` book.
Language Arts: Includes `Yes, you can be a writer, Too`, assorted Vocabulary & Grammar, and Monday’s class on Prose. Which will include: Studying stories/practicing writing skills and putting together their own stories.
History: Map and Atlas skills, Map worldwide bird migration patterns, Map terrain of local park,Map animal paleontological finds, Map where `Cave Man` dwellings have been found, Use a compass to find your way home from local park.
Science: Research vapor canopy, Do light wave experiment, Remove oxygen from air experiment, Grow Algae, Study variations w/ species (How different can birds be? How are they the same?), Experiment with sound waves, Demonstrate porosity, Sedimentation experiment, Entropy experiment, What is wrong with the fossil record from Darwin’s viewpoint?, What came first, DNA or Protein?
Free Reading: At present it is `Oliver Twist`
Home Ec: Learning to peel, using the toaster, cooking with eggs, making French Toast.
Have a Great Year,
Michelle Fitzgerald
Hi! My name is Nancy and I have 4 beautiful children (9b, 8g, almost 7b, and 3b), a Basset Hound named Sammy and 2 cats (Yum-yum and Black Point). My DH is a geologist and most of the time is in town, however at the time of this writing he is gone for 2 weeks. We are more of a “routine” family then a “strict” schedule family.
Here is our day:
6:00 am – I’m up to have a QT, get dressed/showered, help DH get off to work
7:00 am – Children can get up and come for breakfast (I’d like to have everyone eat at the same time – but I have one child that struggles winding down to get to sleep and usually needs to sleep in later then everyone else – so we eat in shifts)
8:00 am – Breakfast complete, Mommy works with 3yb to brush teeth, get dressed, and have preschool time
8:30 am – Everyone meets to start our school day. We start with Bible Study for all ages (this is new to us this year and the kids are loving it)
9:00 am – 12:00 – Lang. Arts (Spell to Write and Read, Cursive First, Easy Grammar), Singapore Math, on M/W/F (Apologia – Zoology I), on T/Th (History – our own study of US Presidents), try to keep the 3yb busy, happy and quiet 🙂
Break for Lunch from 12:00-12:30 (we read a book together at lunch and afternoon snack time)
12:30-1:00 – Recess time outside or free time if rainy
1:00-3:00 – Rest time (nap for 3yb). The older 2 have to complete any unfinished work then they can draw, legos, or do something quiet and constructive in their rooms). This is Mommy’s time to shower, email, pay bills, etc. that I need to do.
3:00-5:00 – Snack time, finish any subjects that were not complete in the a.m., free time outside, complete a chore (I’m working on chores), pick up the house, can watch some PBS, etc. Mommy starts supper preparations and 8yd is kitchen helper.
6:30-7:00pm – We don’t usually get to eat until 7:00 because my husband works about 45 mins. away and has Atlanta traffic to contend with.
7:00-9:00pm – Family Time, Review AWANA, kids in bed
10:00-11:00 – Mom and Dad try to get in bed
Variations: We have AWANA on Wed. nights from 6:30-8:00pm.
Our first week of school was last week and it went well. The kids were excited about what we are doing this year. Some of my goals are to get my children more involved in more of the chores and encouraging them to read more.
I’ve been encouraged to read what others have shared. Thanks Cindy.
Nancy Mosley
Howdy!
I’m Suzette and we have 3 kids at home. Ethan-Allen who is 8.5, John-Samuel who is 6.5, and Sarah-Kate who is 1.5. Dh is a custom trim carpenter who works a large rural area. So, his hours are very changeable according to what he’s doing and where he’s working.
I do have a very detailed, down-to-the-half-hour schedule that I do feel incorporates everything God would have us accomplish in a day. However, I get really stressed out about rigid schedules. We strive to make it happen but I see it as more of a to-do list to my day rather than a by-the-clock thing. I hit the absolutes and work down from there. I do like being able to see how to weave my schedule in with what each of my kids need to do, to maximize our time
5:30 – 8:30- I get up somewhere around in here. Sarah-Kate sleeps with us and she has GERD issues and a dairy allergy that we havent’ worked the kinks out of, medicine wise so she doesn’t sleep well yet. If I get up in time, I do my quiet time, work on my website that I’m learning to design(!), plan meals/grocery shopping, plan school (we homeschool), or excersize. If its been a sleepless night with a crying baby, then I jump in whereever and try to make the best of the morning.
8:00- both the boys are up usually by now and ideally have their “before breakfast” chores done (make bed, brush teeth, straighten room up). Either I make them breakfast or they have things that they can pop in the toaster or microwave.
8:30- on a good night Sarah-Kate sleeps in until now. I get her up and snuggle a bit with her and get her some breakfast.
9:00- This is my productive time to work on the website or other deskwork. The boys finish their morning chores and have until lunch to get their workbook things done (Math, Language Arts). The boys then have free time to run off their energy. No TV, Computer, or Playstation during this time. Sarah-Kate usually plays or sits on my lap until naptime either before or after lunch.
11:30 I try to wrap things up in the office. Hopefully the boys have their chores and schoolwork done and have run off a lot of energy. I fix a simple lunch and we prepare to do our Read-Alouds and Hands on stuff (Bible, Geography, History, Science, Life Skills) . We also try to squeeze in our fiddle and banjo practice. We finish up around 2:00
2:00 The boys are free the rest of the day to do whatever they want. Hopefully Sarah-Kate is or has napped. I straighten the kitchen and dining room (dishes, clean off bar) and we pick up the living room. I then do whatever major housekeeping chores are needed (laundry) and try to do something organizationally that’s more long term than straightening up! I’ll declutter a closet or shelf or small area.
5:00- I start getting ready for supper. The house gets picked up mostly. The boys straighten up their rooms again. Sarah-Kate sits on the counter while i”m cooking and “helps” while the boys do their evening chores.
6:00- Usually Dave is home by now and we have supper. After supper, I clear the table, put the food away, and if I’ve been on top of the dishwasher thru the day, I can just load it and turn it on.
7:30 I’ll go feed the horses (we have 5) and get Sarah-Kate’s jammies (and mine on). I’ll also get the bed cleared off and ready for a certain little person to get laid down for the night.
8:30 We will all sit down together and watch a tv show or something just to unwind.
9:00 – 9:30 the boys head off to bed. Sarah-Kate has usually fallen asleep and I’ll go lay her down.
9:30-10:30 Dave and I will watch tv together and he heads off to bed around 10:30. I might stay up for 30 minutes longer for just a little peace and quiet before I head to bed.
That’s the basics. I wish I were doing things more along the lines of my detailed schedule and had more productive work time and school time but with a fussy toddler, I just have to roll with the punches some days. It works very well for now and i know that 6 months from now, it’ll be totally different.
Wow! It’s been refreshing to read that we all deal with real life and the perfect schedule does not exist. We’ve been hsing for 11+ years and I’ve yet to find a schedule that REALLY works. I have 4 kids — oldest is in her third year of college (yes, homeschooling works — they do make it to college!), with three still at home — ds 18, ds 15, and the baby, dd 12. We have always done Unit study type work so that we could all learn together, with separate math programs. This year is a little different, as my oldest son is a senior and has several credits he absolutely must finish up this year. Roughly — and I really mean “roughly” this is how we TRY to organize our day…..
5:00 – I get up with dh and prepare him coffee/breakfast, make sure his lunch is packed. He leaves at 5:30 am. Sometimes I will lay back down for a while — due to severe TMJ problems (I’ve already had 2 surgeries and am going through appeals with the ins co. for the final surgery) I have terrible migraine-type headaches, so some mornings I can’t even see at 5:30 —- it’s frustrating for me, because I’ve always been such a morning person. But we do what we have to….
6:30 – 8:00 – My quiet time to slowly ease into my day. Bible reading, computer time, lining out our schoolwork for the day, and my T-tapp workout (Yeah! Go Annie! A fellow tapper!)
8:00 – ds 15 and dd 12 are usually up by now and getting breakfast. Ds 18 struggles with his mornings…… 😉
9:00 – Ds 18 is up and everyone finishes up morning routine — breakfast, chores, etc. Ds 15 and dd 12 begin working on independent work — Math, journaling, personal quiet time.
10:00 – We come together for our unit study work. We are using Heart of Wisdom.
12:00 – Break for lunch and take some time to regroup — do lunch dishes, etc.
1:00 – 3:00 – Ds 18 – works on independent studies and all finish up any writing or school work they need to finish.
3:00 – 5:00 – Afternoon chore time – or errand time – depending on the day.
5:00 – Start dinner – we eat at 6:30 when Dh gets home.
Evenings are unpredictable. Teenagers coming and going……..
I try to be in bed by 11:00 – 11:30.
This schedule is totally blown out of the water on days when ds 18 has to work, but we try! 🙂
Cheryl Scarlett
Our schedule is a little different because my children are a little younger than most I’ve read about above. I am a SAHM to 3 children ages 4 yr, 3 yr, 1yr. My husband works regular hours every work day. We don’t have a schedule so much as we have set routines so the kids know what to expect during the day.
5:45- wake up and exercise (run/lift weights)
7:00- kids get up and eat breakfast
8:00- get dressed and ready for the day
8:30-12:00- a combination of activities around the home (playing, reading, exploring outside, go on a walk, walk to library, cleaning up around house, laundry, playing some more)
12:00- lunch and clean up
1:00- nap for 1 yr old and some time together with the 4 and 3 yr old doing things we can’t do easily with a 1 yr old! Reading, board game, letter/number activity, art project, etc
2:00- quiet time for 3 and 4 yr old. I make them stay in their rooms for an hour and play/read quietly. During this time I read from my Bible, prepare for dinner, check email, read, etc
4:00- Playtime for kids while we welcome dad home and I prepare for dinner
5:00- Dinner and family Bible time
6:00- Playtime as a family (outside, go on a walk, play a game, go to park, etc)
7:30- Get in pjs and calm down for bedtime
8:00- Bedtime for kids
10:00- shower and bedtime for mom and dad!
My name is Susan, and I have two children, dd4 and ds2. My dd4 told us this fall that she wanted to start school when the big kids did, so I have been doing some *very informal* school activities with her. Ds2 sits in his high chair and colors, plays with play-doh, is learning to use scissors, etc. during her “school time.” Our routine will most likely be changing in a month or so when our new baby arrives, but this is what it looks like for now:
7:00 get up, get dressed, fix breakfast, pack lunch for dh, iron clothes for dh, other morning chores, free play time
9:00 school time — reading lesson, practice writing a few letters, drawing lesson, lapbook projects from homeschoolshare.com
10:00 snack, play time
11:00 lunch time, clean up after lunch
12:00 I usually read stories to ds and dd, including a chapter from the Bible
1:30 “quiet time” — my ds2 stopped napping so he and my dd get to play quietly in their rooms for an hour or so. I usually read to myself during this time (and I think I might try to make this my Bible reading/study time)
3:00 snack, play time
4:00 afternoon chores, dishes, laundry, etc.
5:00 pick up toys and books from living room to prepare for dh coming home, cook dinner
6:00 dinner
7:00 dd and ds get ready for bed, story time
8:00 dd and ds go to bed
10:00 I go to bed
So, most of the day for dd and ds is play time, but they often ask me to read to them during play time (we probably read together an hour or two every day), and they do (try to) help with the chores. 🙂
Susan Flowers
Hi I am Rachel! I am married to the man of my dreams and my very best friend! We have 3 wonderful boys, Logan 11 years, Matthew 7 years and Ethan 5 years.
My hubby works in construction and is usually gone from 7:30am until 6:00pm or so every weekday. I work part time at our local hospital as a translator on weekends and holidays (when Daddy is able to be home with the boys!)
I tend to get really uptight and feel like a failure on a schedule, so we follow more of a general routine for our day. That way if something hasn’t happened by 9:15am I don’t fixate on the time and feel like I’ll never get caught up. ;o)
The whole house gets up at 7:00am. The boys eat breakfast and I fix my hubby’s lunch while he is eating with them.
As soon as Daddy leaves for work the boys start on their chores. They each have a chore chart that hangs on our fridge, that has morning and afternoon chores. (Their chore charts have the days of the week across the top of the page and their chores in the order they need to be done morning and afternoon down the left hand side of the page. As they complete each task they check off that chore under that day. They get a new copy each Monday morning)
While they are working on their chores I start my morning chores as well. Laundry, some kitchen things the boys don’t do yet, my bedroom etc.
As soon as those things are completed we start school. We start off with Bible/group quiet time. For now, I am working on instilling the habit of daily quiet times in my kids and only my oldest is reading. So we do this together. We also work on our bible memory passages at this time.
Then we get to work on “school” phonics and math for the 2 youngest and math for the oldest. Then we do something together, usually science and or history related and always have daily copywork. We do have daily read alouds and Logan(11 yr old) and I take turns reading to everyone. We always have several pages that go into our notebooks, related to something we read in our read aloud, science or history. (We do not use any textbooks but rely on living books for both science and history as well as all of our language arts, everything except Math!)
After that they boys have free time for a while to go outside and play before lunch. I work on more of my “chores” and the boys usually fix lunch for all of us when it is time.
After lunch the kiddos have an hour of rest time! (I got this idea from another mom on the Let’s Get Real group!!! Thank you a milion times over whoever it was that wrote about this idea!!!!) Although they are really to big for naps, they must each go to bed and lay down for one hour silently. They take books to bed and read. Even my 2 non-readers have learned to stay in bed and “read” for an entire hour every afternoon! That hour is such a blessing for me! I am usually so ready for a little bit of peace and quiet by then! And even though I usually work the whole hour through I can pray and listen to my Ipod (Usually preaching or one of Cindy’s workshops!) I always feel so much more able to deal with the rest of the day after that hour of praying and listening to encouragement!
As soon as everyone gets up they usually finish up their afternoon chores and can then go outside to play for a while more before Daddy comes home. We work in the garden during the warmer months.
My kids love drawing and as soon as I introduced the idea of Nature Notebooking to them they took off! So during their outside time they usually can be found at some point curled over a clip board in front of some flower or bug drawing earnestly away, little tounges sticking out of the corner of their mouths in concentration!
They also relly enjoy acting out whatever it is we have been reading about in our read-aloud time! (I’m not about to stop that! What a great form of narration!) I have learned though, that they seem to be much more natural about it if I don’t get involved at all (with their playing-narration time) They will set up forts, and teepees, houses, caves etc. and remind one another of the events they just read about in exacting detail. But if I suggest why don’t you guys go play “Paul Revere” they just look at me blankly and say how do we do that?
I cook while they are outside playing and we have supper when Daddy gets home from work, and then our routine is pretty much over! We do whatever Daddy wants after that! The boys go to bed at 8:30pm and we just start they same thing the next morning!
It is a pretty simple routine, but it works for us where we are in life right now. And on the days when another homeschool mom or family member calls and needs help with something urgent, I don’t worry that our world is going to come crashing in on itself if we vary our plans for the day! We are free to go help out where we are needed and then we can just relax and get back into the swing of things the very next day!
I have been married 24 years this year and have homeschooled all my children all the way through. I have 4 children – dd 22, dd 19, ds 14 and ds 11. They are all still home. DD’s are working on a business from home selling home made craft items. I homeschool the boys. Four years ago my dh injured himself at work and nothing has been the same since… I am still learning to live with the “new normal.”
I have been struggling with getting on a schedule since we started back to school this year. I have been struggling to teach just the boys, since my dd graduated in 2007., it seems so different. I do not want an hour by hour minute by minute schedule and our days have been very “laid back” as regards a schedule. We used to use a very regimented schedule and I was always feeling guilty for not sticking to it. Now we just have a list of things that must get done and we do them, most days, in this order.
Get Up, shower, eat breakfast
Devotions
Some days I take a morning walk with dd 22
Time with Mom (which includes)
Read aloud morning opener – right now that is Prudence and the Millers (goes with our Human body/heath study really well)
Do History together – Dark Ages/ Early Middle ages right now
Do Science together – Human Body/Health/Fitness
Do Historical Fiction Read Aloud – do narration from yesterday’s reading – “what do you remember from yesterday?” type question then read – right now that is Augustine Came to Kent
Then the boys do independent work
Math
11 yos Daily Grams/14yos Easy Grammar
Copywork – we have been doing the verse from Prudence and the Millers and sometimes a paragraph from the book or a definition from the 1828 Webster Dictionary
We need to do more with our Art Study, Music Study and Extra’s I have not picked them back up this year but want to get going on that. I plan to plan it during our week’s vacation – my dh is taking a week off from work – but we are not going anywhere – can’t afford to, and hopefully will get back to “full days” after vacation next week. Ds 14 needs to get going on his typing class for High School, too. That will all start the 22nd, after vacation.
Everyone is on their own for the rest of the afternoon. The boys usually are building with Lego or ds 14 building with Lego Mindstorms, or playing a game on the computer some days, or watching an educational video… ds14 and I watched 100 Years of Olympic Glory last week, a two videotape set… it was very good, or writing a story, or doing artwork… any number of things. In the fall and spring we also do more outside things like: boccie, croquet, throwing Frisbee, kicking a ball around, tossing a ball, and walks, sometimes in the afternoon just me and the boys, sometimes the girls join in, sometimes in the evening with dad.
Then dinner, chores, and devotions, then practice singing as a family – we are sining a whole “concert” at a local nursing home on Sept. 21st. Then family read aloud – right now that is Men of Iron. Then whatever until bed.
Bedtime for the boys is in bed around 9:00, and they can listen to a cd or tape for 1/2 hour or so.
Dh goes to bed around 9:00 pm also because he gets up sooooo early for his job. Some nights I go to bed with him, or soon after him, some nights I am up later. Lately I have been trying to adjust my schedule so that I go to bed with him but that is hard when all 4 of the kids are still up some nights and my dd’s are up much later most nights. Of course that means I have quiet mornings to get things done before the house awakens because if I go to bed with dh at around 9 or 9:30 I am up way before the kids.
Well I have to get the boys on the move… they are really dragging this am, but I wanted to get my MH done.
Have a great day,
Debbie~Most~Helpful
(Debbie Phillips)
I am a homeschooling mom of two little girls 7 and 5. My husband travels with his job, so half the time I am a single mom.
I am struggling this year to get us on a schedule. (see last weeks homework…lol) My goal is to get up by 7 girls by 8.
Have Bible time for me (also see last weeks homework)
Breakfast
School
Lunch
More School
Free time
Dinner Prep
Baths, free time, stories and prayers
Bedtime for girls by 8
Me in bed by 11.
I just wish I could get us going on it.
Our schedule is more of a “goal chart”. Life happens, we are in NE Texas and it is true what they say about the weather. If you don’t like the weather wait 15 minutes. So, there are days when we go outside and do yard work until it gets to hot, and days when we spend the whole day doing outside work due to the fact we have had a week of rain, like last week. Dad’s schedule also dictates changes, as somedays he likes to sleep in, and would appreciate me doing so too. So although we have a “full day” schedule I have left plenty of room for change, as some subjects don’t take as long on some days, longer on others. We have 4 children, 2 grown and 2 still in school, the younger 2 are 12 & 10, boy and girl.
8:00 Bilbe-bible verse copywork, listen to Proverbs of day audio & audio devotional, following along with Bible. Both audios are Max MacLean.
8:30 Science-I have left 1 hour, so we can watch DVD of Ken Hovine if needed.
9:30 History-Research & Librivox audio (if available) while doing copywork
11:00 Math-kids do math, I do “chores”
12:00 Lunch
1:00 LA-This includes grammar, spelling, Literature (sometimes audio, sometimes reading). We also do English from the Roots Up. Friday no spelling or grammar, we write a letter.
2:30 Art on MWF & Music appreciation on T&Th
3:00 Finish any work not completed, chores and then free time.
As you can see it looks like a full day, but, if we have been outside until 10:00 it is not. On an inside day, it goes much faster, or we can take a few breaks in between subjects. Art or Music may take the full 30 min, or it may only take 10 minutes to listen to a chosen piece or learn a technique. If they want to take more time at their art lesson, we have that freedom.
I did not include our evening schedule as that changes each day, depending on whether dad is home or I have to teach a cake decorating class. We do have the kids go to their rooms at 9 to straighten up and get ready for bed, then read a book at 9:30ish, lights out at 10.
Valerie Neal
I’m a homeschool mom of 6. This past week we moved ds1 into Union University, so I am only homeschooling 5 now. We are very proud of him. He is there on a full scholarship – after homeschooling! My husband is a pastor. Our schedule is extremely flexible. We do not have classes on Friday’s, since that is dh’s day off (when he can take it). Usually Friday is used for homebound visits with dad and I get to catch up on whatever I need to do. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday are our “regular” school days. My highschool dd and 2 middle school ds’s are fairly independent in their work. I give them a list of their work and they come to me for clarification when needed. I check on them throughout the day and discuss their work with them / help out. My 3rd grade dd needs more mom time, so we work together most of the day. On Tuesday’s I teach 6 classes at our local homeschool tutorial and enrichment center. The kids attend classes all day there as well. We have soccer on Monday evenings and church on Wednesday evenings. If we have had a late night for whatever reason, we start school later in the day. Our schedule is so full that we have to be flexible. We school in the car, at church, at the library, at the Y, in the doctor’s office, all over the place. I have made our school very “portable” by copying and binding workbooks for each subject – even if they just have lined paper in them with the assignment written at the top. I would love to be more structured, but our life has to be flexible.
I have a 15 DD, 8 DD,5 DD, 4 DD and 3 DS
We put the 15 year old on the bus. We all sit outside until she leaves.
Everyone should be dressed and ready to come to the table.
We do recitations, Bible, Math together until the littles get bored. They are doing an amazing amount of work. But, I don’t force it. They seem to go in leaps and bounds. Friday they played all day. On Thursday they worked through Explode the Code books like crazy. It seems like learning is like that….
The little ones come up with lots of things they like to do during the day. On Friday they created “field journals” from the TV show Diego. The journals were old battleship game boxes. I remembered some animal cards that they could use for HOmeschool share so we printed those out. They played with these all day. At 8:00 PM they had to be made to stop to go to bed. They sorted them by type, etc. Lots of learning and Lots of play. My 8 year old took breaks to play with them.
My DD 8 had some Math and Reading left to do from earlier in the week. Because she went to help her grandmother after surgery all day on Wednesday. What a blessing!
We usually do a Friday test. I just compile spelling words, scripture memory, narration questions, multiplication tables etc. and give her a test.
We are doing Sonlight and Konos. So, it doesn’t always seem like we are doing school. We read a lot in the afternoon. A couple of days we break off to do some hands on activities.
We have dance and violin a couple of evenings a week.
On Saturdays the 8, 5 and 4 year old attend Chinese school.
For the next week my DH is on vacation and we are decluttering our home. We will probably not do any “school” activities yet we will learn a lot:)
I do have a normal schedule written down and a checklist of things I want to cover. We cover everything and more but sometimes differently than I have written down:)
Dee Dee Helmers
We have a semi-loose structure for the day. Some days we have to be out the door for an activity (in this case, a co-op on Tuesdays) so that it changes. Co-op days will need to have us in the car by 8:15 a.m. for the drive to co-op and packed lunches brought with us. We’ll then return home around 3 p.m. for either ‘homework’ from the co-op or free time.
We rise around 7 a.m., make beds, get dressed and do other morning routines
Assuming that no one (including me) overslept,then we start schoolwork by 8:30 a.m. To start, we do the Pledge of Allegiance and say prayers. Eventually we will be adding shared scripture as well.
Each child has a checklist of work to be done. I do more one on one work with the younger two boys, but I will let them pick which subject to do first. Between 10 and 10:30 a.m. we take a break with time for a snack. Then, back to work for those who have work left to do until lunch.
Afternoons are for activites and finishing up assigned work. Some days there is little to do, so they get to play, read, maybe play a computer game if they’ve earned it. My eldest today had most of his work done by lunch, but is just wrapping up Bible History. My middle son has reading to do with me still, which we’ll start in a few minutes. My youngest finished by snack time, so he’s free to play, etc.
Dinner is anytime from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., depending on the day. Until late October, we have soccer for the younger boys in the afternoon and dinner will be closer to 6 p.m. My eldest son has soccer practice starting at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so those days we have dinner by 5 p.m. Thursday nights are late with Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Choir for me – thankfully all at our church!
With the exception of Thursdays, the younger boys are to be in bed between 7:30 and 8 p.m. My eldest son has to be on the bedroom level by 8 p.m., but can stay up until 9 p.m. reading or occasionally playing a game on the computer. Hubby is in bed no later than 9 p.m. since he wakes at 4:30 a.m. for work each day. I sometimes stay up reading, grading or preparing after he retires. But, some days I just crash with him.
Laura O’Neill
Okay, I said yesterday I don’t have a schedule, I have a running to-do list routine. But I just thought of somethings I do have a schedule for that has made my life so much easier! Dinner! I am working on a rotating lunch schedule too, but that seems to be harder to please everyone and is taking longer.
At the end of the day when I am tired it is just nice to know what dinner night it is and not have to think to hard about what to make!
Monday: Breakfast for Dinner (everyone’s favorite)
Tuesday: Pizza (this is easiest b/c I work this night. I buy or make ahead and freeze whole grain crust and try to make it healthy!)
Wednesday: Mexican
Thursday: Chicken (this is the night that we have the special meat treats for Daddy a couple nights a month like pork chops or steak)
Friday: Pasta (DH and I make huge batches of sauce 1x a month and freeze it for the rest of the month)
Saturday: Fish
Sunday: After church: Crock pot stew or roast, evening: leftovers
In each of these categories I rotate through the favorites so we don’t have the exact same thing every week. I’ve done this since June of 2007 and I am so glad I did. It has made evenings so much simpler!
Have a blessed week,
Sherri
I have a 10 yo DD, an 8 yo DS, a 4YO DD, and twin 2 yo DDs! It’s busy around here. Our schedule is run more by the flow of events than by the clock. Here’s how our day goes:
I get up around the time DH leaves for work, about 6:15 and have my quiet time. The kids are usually up and playing by around 7 – my older ones use this time to make paper crafts or just play.
By 8AM I try to have everyone changed and dressed so we can eat breakfast.
Around 9AM my oldest 2 kids start school – they do their math problems, then watch the next DIVE video lesson together. The little ones play and have mommy time.
After a short break from schoolwork, the big kids do their Language Arts independently (DD) or with Mom (DS) while the 3 little ones play on their own.
After this we’re flexible – the kids may watch a short history video on on of the presidents (from C-Span and History.com) then do a word search, crossword, or other activity involving that president, or that may wait until afternoon and spend some time relaxing and playing until lunch; often we’ll use this as family read-aloud time as well.
We eat around Noon, after which the kids work on their Awana sections and Community Bible Study lessons. The 3 youngest go down for naps at 1.
Tuesday and Friday we read an astronomy lesson.
The kids finish up any activities they didn’t complete in the morning.
I try to lay down and take a short nap on days I’m tired (like today), and on Fridays I spend some time making a lesson plan/chart of the next week’s assignments
Computer time for the 2 oldest
My 4-yo gets up at 3, and the 3 oldest snack then.
I spend time doing a math lesson and reading lesson with the 4-yo most days, and usually read a story to the kids as well
By 4:00 the twins are up, and the kids play together and clean up
around 4:30 the kids watch a recorded video while I prepare dinner
DH gets home around 5:30 for dinner
family time, Awana, chiropractor visits, grocery shopping – any of these can happen after dinner
7:30 kids in pjs, family Bible time
8:00 youngest 3 in bed, older 2 have free time or watch TV/videos with us (Are you Smarter than a 5th grader, Little House on the Prairie, Stargate Infinity)
DH and I relax together, read, talk, watch TV
I go to bed around 10
Our Wednesday is a little different because of Community Bible Study. We’re up an hour earlier those days so we can eat at 7, be in the car around 7:30, check the kids into their rooms, where the oldest two do schoolwork (a longer math practice set for review, and Language Arts they can do independently) for an hour or so while I participate in Bible study – the youngest 3 get to play in the nursery with other leaders’ kids. Then the kids have their Bible Study class for a couple hours (I teach one of the classes), have lunch with friends while I hear the lecture/pray/prep for next week. By 2pm, we’re all home, where I and the 3 little ones crash and the oldest 2 have their free time for computer, reading, playing, etc. That evening we have a quick dinner so we can be back at church by 6:30 for Awana (the kids) and choir practice (me). It ends up being a late night for the little ones, but all the kids are usually in bed by 9.
Jenn Pearson
We live in the north of Australia and like most places where you live it affects your lifestyle. Sun is up early, so are we. My husband is a vet (large animals) and flies around the various Cattle Stations working with cattle and horses. I am a stay at home mum, who homeschools her kids as well as involved in several support type ministries locally, one for Mums and one for Homeschoolers. Recently I have started my own website for the support of homeschoolers and I enjoy blogging, scrapbooking and naive country crafts.
My children are 15.5ds, 14dd, 11.5dd, 9.5ds. My older two are independent learners and my younger two are still dependent. This affects our daily routine.
What is our day like?
I divide our day into blocks of time
From when we wake up (which is 4.30ish for me and anywhere before 6.00am for the kids) till 8.00am we have our personal responsibilities. This includes Devotions/Quiet Time, Exercise, getting dressed, doing our bedrooms, and household chores. Most of the housework is divided up between the kids and myself and is done throughout the day in little bursts.
8.00am – 12.30 is our study time. The older children work through their studies in whatever order and time frame they desire. They have their goals and are responsible for maintaining regular study. The younger two are still dependent learners, meaning they need my instruction and/or supervision. Any family or learning activity that comes our way just slips into this time block if necessary. The idea is that I keep this block of time, every morning, for our children’s education. This can be planned lessons/study or it could be a lifestyle experience or opportunity.
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays are our straight study days
Thursday is a little disrupted as Jessica is involved in an outreach programme every Thursday morning, I do our grocery shop while in town. The younger children come with me or stay home and work on independent activities, play together, or do a sporting activity with big brother. Josh has Thursday as a full study day.
For the younger children our study time is broken up loosely like this
1 hour discipline studies – anything that needs daily repetition
math, phonics, typing, writing
1 hour Bible or Character
1 hour General knowledge (Five in a Row)
½ hour misc studies dependent on the need
independent activity, reading, Auslan – sign language, Nature,
Writing lessons, public speaking,
12.30-1.30pm – we take a break for lunch and a few quick chores.
1.30-5.00 pm – Is our Productive Time. They can work on any project of their choice – it can be academic, it can be creative, or even relational. Our afternoons are full of all sorts of activity – from blogging, creative projects, strategy war games, chess, gardening, computer lessons, and social opportunities. They have to be intentional with how they spend this time, as opposed to wafting around. The younger two are still “in training” so to speak and have different boundaries than the older two. One such boundary is that they both have “Room Time” regularly. They both have to read for ½ hour and then they can have free time, but in their room for the next ½ hour; Nomi often writes, Daniel plays. Room time helps them focus as their choices are limited. The older two often spend an hour or so reading during this time in order to finish their study goals.
I also use this Productive time to guide my activities – I have housework, office work, writing, creative projects or catch up with friends, and of course I am still supervising, encouraging and training my kids!
We get together with other families occasionally in the afternoon, for extra activities such as Keepers and Contenders of the Faith (a lifeskills / club-like programme), Speak up (a public speaking programme we are using this year) or just for the fun of being with friends.
The older kids also have paid work a couple of afternoons a week.
5.00pm we start to prepare for our Family Time with household chores and personal responsibilities, this includes showers. Dinner is at 6.00pm and we have our read aloud over dessert. Dishes are done all together (while I blog on my laptop nearby). We then meet in the lounge room for prayer. The kids then get ready for bed, and read in their beds till lights out at 8.00pm. I head to bed around 9.30pm (if I am being disciplined) 10.30 if I’m not!
Fridays are a little different. I have a four week rotation for our Friday mornings; Study day, Co-op, Study day, Excursion/Nature day. Friday afternoons are free time unless we have a family commitment. Friday night is always pizza in front of a movie!
Saturdays – the kids help with a little extra housework, or we have sport or town commitments. Otherwise the day is mostly their own. If they are not focusing I get them to do “table time” for one hour in the morning and the younger two still have Room time after lunch. We stop our activities at 4.00pm and get ready for Sunday – tidy the house, iron clothes, check food. We have a family dinner (with or without other folk joining us) where we sit and enjoy each other a little more.
Sundays – Our tradition for Sunday morning is that Peter cook breakfast on the BBQ for us – bacon, eggs, tomato, onion, mushrooms. Then off to Church – we are always the last to leave so that means home for lunch, which is more often than not help yourself to whatever you can find. Sunday afternoon is just relaxation for everyone though Pete and I often go out for Coffee together (without the kids) Peter and I spend Sunday evening preparing for our coming week.
As we educate and train our children I believe we have to address each aspect of our lives – spiritual, moral, emotional, social, intellectual, and practical. Dividing our day into these bigger blocks of time helps me see these 6 aspects being covered in our day over the course of a week.
I am Liz and my husband is a senior pastor and a part-time college prof. We have 2 wonderful and energetic boys, 8 yo and 6 yo and we also have our 4 yo golden retriever who follows us everywhere we go! I love this question! I just f inished reading a book called A Patchwork of Days and it was so wonderful to read about how other families order their days and weeks. This is fun to glean great ideas from each other. Thanks Cindy! I do better with a general routine than a strict schedule and our days usually flow like this:
6-6:30ish a.m. –Coffee with my husband–my FAVORITE part of the day. we set the coffee maker’s alarm to brew before we get up, so when we come into the kitchen the coffee is ready and smells delicious. I light one of the jar candles and we curl up on the couches and sip our coffee, talk , read our Bibles, sometimes we pray over things for the day and just enjoy the quiet morning!
Still part of my FAVORITE time of the day — the boys wake up and come down and we say good bye to Daddy as he leaves for the church. (He works T-F 8:15-5:30 ish and then some on Sat and of course on Sun. and has Mondays off.) We all like to wake up slowly and linger in our pajamas while we have breakfast and then it is time for our morning routine. We all have our morning responsibilities (ie. boys get dressed, brush teeth & hair, straighten up rooms, feed the dog–while I get dressed, clean up the kitchen, etc)
We gather at the table and work on all or most of the following: devotions, copywork/handwriting, phonics & reading and math. If I need to work with one boy on a specific subject, I usually let the other work on their math lesson or on the computer or a phonics project. (like working on their phonics poster, copying sight words onto index cards for a memory-type game, etc)
Then we play a game or make lunch dependning on what time it is when we finish our table time.
Lunch
Then we do our afternoon project. This is either science or history OR art/music (which I try to coordinate with our history) Science and history consist of a lot of great read alouds, hands-on projects and working on our history timeline and history and science notebooks. For example, right now the boys are working on lapbooks about the human body and we have lots of great books to read about the human body, we are talking about Bible verses that relate and we are working on a fabulous puzzle on the human body with bones and organs identified. I am trying to make it fun and memorable as we study different units in science and history.
Then it is quiet time–everyone can rest or play or read quietly.
Then it is time for outdoor play and we either go to the park or play outside. Scooters, bikes, sidewalk chalk, sandbox, hammock, etc. Or at the park we can walk or ride bikes on the track and play on the playground. We often see friends and neighbors during this time.
Around 4-4:30 ish we head in and the boys have free time to play a computer game or watch a video movie while I start prepping for dinner.
Dinner as a family
Depending on sports team schedules/Cub Scouts/church events we either go to those things or clean up the kitchen and do evening responsibilities
( straightening up rooms, bath or shower, brush teeth, pajamas, etc)
Read-aloud time! 🙂
Boys in rooms for tuck-in time, prayers with Mom and Dad and they usually listen to Adventures in Odyssey on CD before they go to sleep.
That’s the general routine. Throughout the day I am washing and drying loads of laundry and other little chores. When they play outside I usually take a book outside or write outside or catch up on phone calls with a big mug of hot tea while I watch them play.
Thanks everyone for sharing and encouraging! Liz
I am Julia Schlenker, mama to a 10yog, 6yob and 3yob and wife of 14 years to my beloved. He works a typical 9-6 job, coming home for lunch hour each day. While this puts a serious break in our day, we love to have daddy home for lunch.
My schedule is mostly in my head. I am working to write my daily goals on paper, so that my 10yo can take more responsiblity for her learning by knowing what I want accomplished in a day.
Here it is loosely.
I arise and read my Bible.
After dh is out of the bathroom, I shower and get ready for the day.
Breakfast
Chores
School (Bible, Math, Copywork, Nature Walk, Science and History Reading, read-aloud book-read by me, read-aoud books -read to 3yo by 10 and 6yo, silent reading by selves)
Lunch with dh
Finish School
Do any additional chores
Free time for them; I usually start supper
Supper
Time with Daddy while Mama gets a little alone time
Bedtime for them
Dh and I finish up loose ends.
Bedtime for us
Wow! I read some of the comments posted. There are some really organized moms out there. I have young ones: 4 under the age of 9. I use the term “routine” for my day. Having a nursing, teething baby keeping you up at night does not help with staying on a strict schedule. So here is our routine:
~ I get up and start breakfast. Mostly, everyone gets up by 7:30am.
~ We have breakfast.
~ I pick and water the garden.
~ Children do their “morning routine” of getting dressed, brushing hair & teeth and getting their day started.
~ I shower and get ready for the day.
~ Clothes and dishes are started in the wash.
~ We have some play time outside, if the weather is nice. This time of year in TX, the afternoons are hot, so we play out in the mornings when it is cooler.
~ I use this time to get the food out of the freezer that needs to be thawed for the days meals. I also put away any vegetables that came in from the garden.
~ We have lunch and clean up.
~ My youngest goes down for an afternoon nap.
~ During his naptime, we have school. It has been easier to have school time while he is napping because right now, he is a big distraction.
~ The baby gets up and has a snack.
~ Afternoon chores are done, like collecting eggs, feeding animals, etc.
~ We have dinner and clean up.
~ If time allows, we have additional play time outside in the cool of the evening.
~ Bath time
~ Bedtime routine and laid down for bed by 8:30pm
~ At this time, my husband and I can have time to talk, watch our favorite TV program, read, have our quiet time, or fall asleep on the sofa!
Hi! I’m Laura. I am married to Michael who has joined the Army as a chaplain. We have been blessed with one daughter, Victoria, who is 13 and a freshman this year. We have just moved to Texas and still don’t have a house, so we are living in a hotel. But, once we get moved into a house and are able to get our books out of storage, I hope our routine will be a little something like this…
7:00 a.m. – rise and shine and have our own quiet times with the Lord
8:00 a.m. – breakfast
8:30 a.m. – begin school
12:00 p.m. – lunch
1:00 p.m. – finish school
4:30 p.m. or so – begin preparing dinner
5:30 p.m. – eat as a family and clean up
Being in Central time zone now, I think we’ll be able to be in bed by 10:30 p.m. Woo hoo! I always like to watch the evening news.
The most important thing on the schedule is FLEXIBILITY! My husband will be deploying soon, and no amount of school will take away from spending quality time with him. We know we all have to be flexible now and go with the flow. Thankfully, I don’t have to stick with a schedule to maintain my sanity. I just hope my daughter doesn’t. Hee hee!
Ok… here goes… My name is Angela… I live in Oklahoma. I’m married and we have 3 girls. They are 8 yo, 4yo, and 6 months.
I have my perfect day outlined in my new home binder. But it rarely ever gets followed. I’m still getting to be organized enough to follow what my ideal is.
So here’s my current schedule.
7-7:30 am wake up…(I want to be up by 6 but it’s too hard with still waking up at night with my baby).
7:30-8:30/8:45 morning routine, dishes, finish up laundry from last night, girls do their chores.
9 ish… breakfast.
9:30 School starts… calendar time… bible reading…
11:30 snack.
More school
Lunch..
Nap for 4yo… free reading and rest of school work for 8yo.
Quick after noon clean up.
4:00-4:30…. all activities need to be cleaned up and we start to freshen up, cook dinner, and get ready for evening activities. Monday and Thursday is Soccer Practice. Tuesday is classes for hubby and me. Wed is Church. Friday I usually work my weekend job.
Hubby is doing bedtime and prayer time with girls.
I know this looks like a lot.. but I feel I get little to nothing done… so II’m working on it…
Be blessed ladies.
Ahh! Cindy – you seem to know exactly what I need to think though for the week! We have been blessed with six kiddos in 10 years – so I have to think of my life more in terms of a routine than a schedule – as my bottom two can’t read a clock yet….tee hee!
What has seemed to work for me is to sit down twice a year, usually the week between Christmas and New Years, and in July before we start school, and make lists of all that needs to be accomplished in a day/week/month. I then jot next to each task who is responsible for it, how often it needs to be done, and how long it should take. Then, I assign all of those tasks to the various people in my household. Even the baby gets his tasks – which means he has to eat six times a day and take 3 naps – but don’t laugh, it helps me figure out where he is and what he is doing, and how I need to participate with him;-).
Then, I put it all into a flexible routine, and try to plot out everyone’s days on a giant grid. What I love about having this posted on my fridge, is that it works great as a “paper nanny”. It has almost eliminated the what-do-I-do-next syndrome with my older kids. They know they need to check the fridge before they come bug me. All of the chores, schoolwork, and other responsibilities go on the grid.
I don’t put times or hours of the day on the grid, just blocks for morning, afternoon and evening. That way I don’t stress myself out if math isn’t done by say, 10:30. But it does give everyone a sense of what they need to accomplish before lunch, etc., It also helps me realize that if I have 30 hours of tasks planned for my day, I can’t possibly expect myself to get it all done, so I have to eliminate activities until the list is down to a manageable level….and yes, I also put down how many hours of sleep everyone needs.
Thinking though this has helped me immensely to take the pressure off myself, my kids, and my DH and has given us grace to realize that our house is not going to look like anyone else’s, but gives us freedom to use our time in the way we see that God has called us for this season in our lives. Then – as needed we re-evaluate. And – it gives you a great tactical way to evaluate whether to say “yes” or “no” to new opportunities as they arise, because you can very quickly see that something will have to go for the new activity to find a spot on the “grid”.
So – what does my “grid” look like:
Morning: We get up, have devotions together over breakfast, do our morning clean up, and then off to school. The olders do their core subjects that are table-oriented, like math, reading/vocabulary worksheets, penmanship, etc. I do math and phonics w/ the “littles” and then we all break for lunch.
After lunch, the “littles” go down for naps, while I do read-alouds and notebooking with the “olders”. We all do a tidy-up in the late afternoon, and they may go have a break while Mom cooks dinner. Each child is assigned a day of the week to be the helper in the kitchen for dinner – and it gives me a chance for some one – on-one time, as well as a chance for them to “help”.
I also plan a ½ hour break in the afternoon that we call “mama-love” time, where each child gets to spend 30 minutes w/ me one day a week, and that child can choose what they want to do. It might be playing legos w/ my son, or doing a craft project with my daughter. I love this time, because it gives me a chance to do all those things that otherwise might be “put off” because mom was too busy or doesn’t want to make a mess. You wouldn’t believe how long in advance the kids plan for their “date” – and believe me, they know whose day of the week it is!
After dinner – we do a family activity – maybe a movie, or a board game, or a walk – anything that allows us all to fellowship together when dad gets home.
That’s what has worked for us! As I look at all the other replies, I am amazed how different we all are in our approaches, but it took me a long time to get “here” and realize that if I put down a schedule for us with time slots, I would only be frustrating myself and my family, and it would only last a week or so – with much strife! So – I’m willing to be different – and let God lead!
Blessings!
Cheryl
Hi everyone! I am from the uk so hope you don;t mind me joining in! I have found Cindy to be such an inspiration I just had to jump at the chance to participate!
I am blessed to have three gorgeous children, 11yr old dd1, 9yr old ds and 3 yr old dd2. We have been home schooling since Feb 2005, so athough the older two know of school the youngest only knows her mum as her teacher! We have a daily routine for everyday life with the older children having a separate schedule for their learning. We need routine and shedules in our house!! We have one for the dishwasher, the weekly meals, the chores – everything!! My son prefers and needs them to give him some structure.
Here’s our daily routine, that is not set in stone (but is according to my son!)
7.00 Get up and have breakfast with hubby
7.30 shower and put first laundry on
8.00 Get kids up and make their breakfast
8.30 Put laundry out/in dryer, read emails
9.00 Learning time – this is split into a schedule with all 3 kids having slots for working with me and for working independently. This is more their core subjects which involves sitting at a table/writing.
11.45 Make lunch
12.00 Eat lunch
12.30 Quiet reading time -we all go to our rooms but as the two girls share, littlest comes to mine and I usually read to her a book and then she looks at some while I read my own.
1.00 Afternoon activities and exercise – this is a broad term for the activities like craft, cooking, gardening, hobbies etc and exercise can be a nature walk, ride on a bike or swimming, maybe a kids exercise video
4.00 I set the kids up with activities while I can prepare dinner
5.00 Eat dinner
6.00 Family fun time – we have a list of activities that we can all do together as a family – drawing, colouring, board games etc. But I usually slip away to do my own cleaning rota for an hour.
6.30 Cleanig and tidying time for me
7.30 I rejoin the family fun time
8.15 Tidy up time – this is just from the day, so only takes about 15 mins
8.30 Family read aloud time
9.00 Bedtime routine for the kids
9.30 Computer time -catch up on emails etc
10.00 Ironing or hobby time (card making, scrapbooking, knitting or any other hobby I have decided to have a go at!)
11.00 Spend time with hubby!
11.45 Got to bed and read
12.00 (ish) Got to sleep
So there we have our daily routine, now that it is on paper, somedays it flows and others it hiccups all day! But its what works for us and we can always tweak it when we need to!
Well, we are a “small” homeschooling family. My husband and I have two sons 20-months apart. The boys are currently 11 3/4 and 10 years of age. We live in rural Central PA and my husband works for the state in Harrisburg, 40 miles away. He also works part time, again in Harrisburg, a few evenings and one weekend-day at Gander Mountain sporting goods store in the archery department.
Because Daddy works long hours when you add the two jobs together, we make the most of time when he’s home. We don’t schedule outside activities on the evenings he’s home with us. If he’s with us on a weekend, we keep that time for family.
Our daily schedule is not rigid but goes something like this:
7-8AM wake up time, my youngest is an early riser, my oldest likes to sleep-in, he’s allowed to sleep until 9 AM at the latest.
-breakfast, we read something character building for breakfast, we just started In His Steps
-morning routine, which includes making beds, reading bible, brushing teeth, and general toiletries.
-chores, the boys feed the dogs, sift the cat litter, empty all trash cans into a large one and take that to the outside can, shake the kitchen rug, empty the compost bucket in the pile outside, and take all burnables out to the burn barrel and burn them. They roll a chores dice each week to see which 3-chores each boy gets for that week.
-lessons
-lunch, we read over lunch, currently it’s Tom Sawyer
-finish any lessons
-take a walk, our road leads to a dirt road and the total walk is 1.5 miles
-quiet reading time
-free time
-get ready for daddy if it’s a night when he’s coming home, we straighten the living room and kitchen and start supper.
-daddy arrives and we have supper shortly after that.
-we try to get a little exercise in the evening, whether it’s another walk or a bike ride, shooting archery, or hunting up a geo-chache.
-boys’ evening routine, they must empty their stair basket, they reside upstairs and instead of running things upstairs all day we just throw things into the stair basket that need to go up. Then they must straighten their room. Then a bath or shower and all the evening toiletries. They must also put away any of their laundry that is folded on my bed from the morning’s laundry.
Our guys are in bed by 8 PM a lot of evenings. They still require a lot of sleep. We do let them stay up a few nights to watch TV or a movie with us.
My routine follows the one above with a few additions. I do a load of laundry every day and begin to think about what’s for supper at breakfast. I clean the bathroom after my shower whether it’s in the morning or evening.
I guess that’s the bulk of it!
Lori Lynn Lydell
I’m mom to two wonderful children — a daughter who’s 7 and a son who’s 4. My husband is the senior pastor of our church, which is located right across the street. He’s at the office Tuesday – Friday with Mondays off, and most work days he comes home for lunch, which is a blessing!
Mondays are family days — usually we don’t do formal “school time” but have done field trips like peach picking or visiting museums on Daddy’s day off.
The rest of the week I try to keep to a routine (not a schedule with hours and minutes) that looks something like this:
* I try to get up between 6 and 6:30 (the day goes so much better when I am up before the kids are). Wednesdays and Fridays I go to Curves while my husband is still home with the kids. Tuesdays and Thursdays I use the early morning time for spending time with God and going online/doing planning, etc. — it’s mommy time.
*My son is the early riser — sometimes up at 6:45, usually up by 7:15. I try to hold on breakfast until my daughter wakes up, but since she often sleeps in to 8 or 8:15, we sometimes eat breakfast in shifts. Sometime during that time, Daddy gets up and gets ready for work.
*My goal is to have all of us ready for school when Daddy leaves for the office at 9:00. One thing I really worked on with my kids this year was having certain responsibilities that had to be done by school time. They include:
~ Eating breakfast
~ Getting dressed
~ Making beds
~ Brushing teeth
~ Tidying bedrooms
~ Brushing hair
That’s been going really well! In fact, the mornings that I go to Curves, sometimes they have their responsibilities done before I get home! Yay! That’s been a huge victory for us!
*Our formal “school time” usually goes from 9:00 – 11:30 and includes:
~ Bible time – story, memory verse, prayer time
~ Language arts – Explode the Code, dictation or copywork, and lots of reading
~ Math
~ Five in a Row
Somewhere in there we have a snack most mornings (my son usually insists on it!)
*At 11:30, I come downstairs to get lunch ready, which is usually at 12:15 or 12:30 with Daddy.
*After we clean up from lunch, the afternoon is more “free play” oriented as my children love to play together. We also do science experiments or art projects during this time. Some days my son takes a nap, and my daughter has quiet time – reading or drawing — during that time.
*Supper time is 5:30, and we often make dinner together. After dinner we clean up and have family time most nights.
*We start our bedtime routine at 8:00 with the goal of having the kids in bed by 9:00 with showers done and stories read! Then it’s Mommy-and-Daddy time!
Our mornings start at
7:00am mom gets up and drinks coffee,checks email(I am a coordinator for Texas Great Pyrenees Rescue) and wakes up!
8:00 Grandchildren arrives 7mths and 4yrs. wake up 14yodd and Roomate family joins us with 7mth and 4yr old also for breakfast at 8:15 until 8:45 at which time kids get dressed/brush teeth,etc and at
9:00 School starts for the 2 4yr olds and 14 yo. 9:30 is break and leg stretching and nap time for the babies. 10:00 school again which includes activities for little ones and worksheets. I start on lunch at 11:00 for everyone, along with help of my roommate and after lunch its excercise/play time outdoors then at 1:00 its time for the older boys rest time which includes watching a movie usually or story time and this lasts about an hour and then its moms time 2:00 while kids are playing outdoors and of course the babies are awake by now and during it all comes housework,cooking supper, dads getting home 3:30 to 5:30 and grandkids head home at 5:30 and and then its supper, bathing kids, etc and about 8:30 its down time kids to bed, pick up house , etc. after 8:30 everyone pretty much goes in different directions doing their own things. I get ready for school and such the next day, fix husbands lunch, etc. The roommate family does their thing and bedtime is usually about 11:00 for me. Get up and start over next day.I used to have a more stringent schedule but since I obtained another grandbaby that changed. Some days are do as you might days on a wing and prayer.
First the family introduction: I am Mom to 3 girls ages 10 (on Saturday), 8, and 2 1/2 and wife to a great guy for the last almost 13 years. We have homeschooled from the beginning. I actually started working on and education degree at one point in college but quit because of the crazy notions and ridiculous philosophies that I saw during placements — it sure hasn’t gotten any better. With that fresh in mind, my then fiance and I decide our children would never go to public schools and we would likely homeschool. So, here we are today.
As to schedule, we operate mostly on routine. During periods of illness (like the last several months) we operate on stripped down routine! So, here’s the gist of things.
I wake around 7:30. My littlest wakes as soon as she hears my feet hit the floor most days – it doesn’t matter when I wake, so does she. So she’s in training to help Mom start the coffee then occupy herself with coloring, puzzles, critters, etc for around 20 minutes so I can finish waking and read a bit of scripture. Some days are better than others. The older two usually wake closer to 8:00 and will take their sister to play if were having an ‘other’ day. I usually munch a muffin or granola while reading and drinking coffee.
Everyone gets around 30 minutes to wake up (some of us do that better than others ;0) ) then we get going on morning chores: beds, teeth, clothes, straighten, get a bite to eat. While they eat I read either our history read aloud or our Bible stories (we got a bit overwhelmed trying to follow 1 & 2 Kings in the Bible with the toddler interrupting so we switched to Story of the Ancient World, the older 2 read their Bibles during quiet time). We then talk about what we read, straighten the table up and do copy work and any nature journal work they want to do (currently a notebook on birds of North America). I play with or read to the littlest at this time.
Generally at this point, we need a wiggle break (my 8yo is a bit of a sizzler and the toddler is a toddler, so we take quite a few wiggle breaks) for about 15 minutes. They can run, jump, do a physical chore, etc. Usually, we have time to do spelling before lunch (unless we couldn’t but the book down or are having a morning to learn great patience and self-control!) so a couple of times a week the 2yo watches a video while one sister does spelling and the other has reading time or works on a personal project. Other days, one older girl takes the toddler to play or ‘help’ with a chore like sweeping the porch, switching laundry, dusting depending on the day while the sister spells; then they switch.
About now I’m hungry and if the sizzler had last spelling, she needs to wiggle again. Some days I eat while they wiggle then I read to them while they eat (science, history, biography). If we are all ready to eat together I might but on a video that goes with our studies or a Drive Through History video or we listen to an audio book. Now, the basics are done by lunch.
Most days we have some kind of project in the afternoon. It might be working on a lapbook, art or craft projects, cooking something, whatever. We’ll do that for an hour or so. Twice a week they do U Can Do Math video depending on how everyone feels and the weather. God really had me pull back from math for my oldest this year so most of her math is part of her other studies or living. For the 8yo, we are using Teaching Math Through Art as our outline and add games or worksheets where we feel they are needed.
The rest of the afternoon is for play as soon as daytime chores are done. I get caught up on planning, printing, email, etc while the little one naps.
Dad comes home about 4-4:30. That’s my cue to either start or check on dinner depending on what we’re having. He often rests for a few minutes then plays with some combination of girls, hears about their day, etc while I get dinner ready and maybe listen to an audio or praise music.
Dinner
Sweep, mop, empty trash, lay out clothes for the next day, ten minute cleanup (pick up as many loose toys and stray items as possible in 10 minutes).
Dad and the oldest do QSL science while the reat of us hang out, play, etc.
Change into jammies, have a snack for anyone in a growth spurt who’s hungry, read a story or watch a short video and eat popcorn.
Girls in bed by 9:00 (well, that’s a struggle with the oldest right now that we’re praying about).
Me in bed hopefully by 11:00 after spending some time on some combination of finishing up stuff, doing some Bible study, visiting with my hubby, or watching a movie with him while he rubs my feet!
Bobbi Beeson
Hi My name is Rachel Larkin and I live in New Zealand. I have three boys aged 10, 9 and 7. My husband is a self employed maintenance guy so he is fairly flexible with time.
Our Schedule:
First thing – I try to go for an walk by myself -sometimes up to an hour every morning. I call this my Prayer Walk – it is really getting my emotions, will and mind inline with Gods for the day. I really notice a huge difference when due to weather or appointments my Prayer Walk has had to be cancelled.
Morning:
1.Breakfast
2.Chores
3.Bible (currently in the book of Mark)
4. Maths (we use Math U See)
5.I Read Aloud to the boys
6.Current Study – at the moment we are going through Diana Warings Ancient Civilisations
Now number 3 (officially when our table time starts) – this may be at 9am or 9.30am or even 10am depending on how long chores take. That means that morning tea time will vary as well. I make sure though that all our official table time (the stuff that I want to achieve that day) is finished by lunch time. BUT the boys still do their own desk time in their rooms sometimes in the afternoon – just because they like to write or draw etc.
Then LUNCH
Afternoon:
Errands – library, shopping
Swimming
Rugby or Soccer pratice
Walks, Bike Rides, Field Trips
Quiet Time
Productive Free Time Activities
About 4.30pm we do clean up – I basically make sure that all the clean clothes are away, the lounge looks tidy, the dinning table is clear and tea has been thought about.
6pm dinner
In winter about 7.30pm bed for my 7 yr old, 8pm for the other two but they are allowed to read for 30 minutes.
In summer it will be a bit later.
Rachel Larkin
Family Introduction: I am wife to my dear husband of 17 yrs and a mother to six wonderful children ages 11yrs to 4yrs. For the past three years I have educated my children at home. My husband is a NBC/NCO in the US Army and will deploy to Afghanistan this Thanksgiving. We just moved from living off post to post housing two weeks ago so our schedule has completely went out the window.
Here is our daily routine that we generally follow:
Our Daily routine
Morning:
I do not set an alarm in the morning, but I usually wake up between 6:00 and 7:00. Here is my morning routine:
* morning offering – get up & get dressed
* wash face / fix hair
* Plan dinner/set out meat to thaw
* juice, vitamins and wake up kids (kids are usually up by now but they are not allowed down stairs until I call them)
* oversee breakfast prep. / saint – prayer reading while kids eat
* kids morning routine: make bed, wash up, brush teeth
* discuss chore lists w/kids
* start laundry
* seat work
* Play time outside
* Dinner @Noon
Afternoon:
After dinner clean up I send the big kids up stairs to read and the two little ones stay in my room for quite time. I usually read or put my feet up for a bit.
After an hour and a half, I get everyone up and give them a snack. Then we take a walk or play outside some more.
Around 4pm I start supper and the kids get to watch a show or dvd while they fold their laundry.
Evening:
We eat supper between 5:00-6:00 and everyone helps with clean-up.
* Free time
* showers and brush teeth
* room clean up
* Read family story to the kids
* Rosary – Prayers
Kids are in bed by 8pm
Quite time for me reading, prayers.
I try to get to sleep by 9:30, here lately it’s been way later.
Dianna Mendoza
Hello!
I’m Laurie..new to the Mommy Homework…but not new to Cindy Rushton! I have loved her work since we began our homeschool journey, many years ago!
Anyhow..my Honey works for Home Depot, M-F, 5am to 2pm. We have four children, 15 yog, 13 yob, 9 yog, 5 yog. We live on a farm, where we raise beef cows, chickens, dogs and cats…we’ve pared down considerably and that has sure helped lighten the work load!
Our typical schedule is….
3:30am, Honey and I wake…I pack his lunch, we have prayer time and he prepares to leave for work
4:30am, Honey leaves for work, I head to the computer
6:30am, Children are up and dressing, doing outside chores
7:30am, breakfast time, brush teeth, etc
8:30am, time to begin school lessons
we work until we are done..usually by noon-1pm
we do break for lunch about 11am
1pm, school work is finished. Time to clean up the kitchen…you know..clearing the school books off the table so we can have supper!
2pm, Honey calls that he’s on his way…he will stop if we are in need of something, otherwise, he’s home at 2:30pm. I take this time to go freshen up, fixing my hair and spraying some “smell good” on, brush my teeth, etc
2:30pm, Honey’s home!!!
2:45pm, supper time
3:30pm, free time…read, watch a bit of tv, computer, or outside to play
5pm, any remaining outside work, chores, etc
6pm, showers for all
7:30pm, bed time for all
It’s not my favorite schedule…giving in to my desires, I’d go to bed late and get up late..but this is not the case with Honey’s work schedule. I am thankful to be back on this schedule after having him work 2pm to midnight for 6 weeks not long ago. I thought I might like it…but alas, I did not. Not having supper together was really tough on all of us.
Laurie Bostwick
sometime between 6:30-8 Wake up, read bible, have quiet time
8-9:30 snuggle with kids, get breakfast ready, eat, kids do chores
9:30-11:30 basics with one child as another works independently
Sorry hit enter too soon here it is continues
11:30- 12:00 read emails
12:00-1:00 lunch and mini tasks around the house
1:30-2:30 finish school work with kids
2:30-4:30 my chores ariound the hose, quality time withtoddler
4:30-5:30 dinner prep
5:30 dinner
6:30 – 9:00 email and prepare for next day
9:00 kids to bed
9:30- 10:00 finish up tasks
10:00 – 11:00 watch tv with husband while doing misc paper work
Now this is really not all that typical as we are seldom home all day. Once a week is bible study in a.m.. Once everyother week is troop ,eetings and parkdays. Throw in practices several times a week and there is no really typical day. IF I stay home the day looks something like the above.
Blessings
jamie
Well, our schedule looks a lot different than most. I’m a single homeschooler with 2 left at home. I work 3 days a week in the afternoon and I go to school myself 2 mornings a week for 3 hours each time. I’m studying Chemistry and I must say it’s a whole lot easier this time around than when I first took it 30 some odd years ago! I didn’t have the internet available back then at home!
If I were to draw out a “typical” day, such as it may be, we homeschool around my work and school schedule. We have animals to take care of each morning – chickens and goats. We try to shoot for 8am. Mornings can find us tackling breakfast and laundry if need be. We do a lot of schooling on the computer, so we have to share 2 computers between the 3 of us. It can be challenging while mom’s home.
Kids tackle independent study while mom works or is in school. When mom gets home from work, often about midnight, kids are usually still up and we have family time and talk about our day. I have one that’s an avid artist, age 14, who is perfecting her Photoshop abilities this year and is expanding her skillset with a pen tablet for the computer. Youngest son, age 10, is into legos and robotics – and they do have a set that is both in one! He’s chomping at the bit to get one. I am really impressed by the things they are interested in and want to study more in depth – Japanese language and culture, building a house, and wilderness survival to name a few.
We have an additional family member at home, age 96, who is still an active go getter and very politically astute. This is a win-win situation for us both as it allows him to maintain his independence outside of a nursing home situation and the kids and I get the benefit of his 96 years of wisdom. I can only hope to have his vim and vigor when I reach his age!
Often times we will take a noontime nap before mom has to head out to work. Contrary to rumors, naptime isn’t just for infants anymore! It gives us steam to stay up late. We used to have a newspaper route and had to be delivering our product from 2:30am to 6am every day, so we’ve grown accustomed to keeping odd hours.
So while I can’t nail down a time schedule for us, I do keep a list of things to accomplish, errands, appointments, etc. and scratch them off as we do them. Lets us be flexible, yet still feel a sense of getting things done at the end of a long day.
Denice
This is my first Mommy Homework, but here goes…
There are seven of us in our home. Daddy (works 1st shift with an hour commute each way), Mommy, DD 9 years, DS 7 years, DD 5 years, DS 3 years, DD 8 months. We don’t have a schedule, per say, but we have somewhat of a routine. I am pretty much always up before 7 and before the older children. The baby is sometimes the alarm clock. LOL I feed her and then have my quiet time while she plays quietly on the floor. Then I get the other children up, we do our morning routines (beds, tidy rooms, teeth, dress, smiles) and have breakfast. After breakfast, we have our morning Bible time. Then it’s Home Blessing Time (a much more pleasant way to phrase housework – thank you FlyLady!) We all work together and it usually doesn’t take more than 30 minutes to get things neat and tidy. At this point, the baby usually naps and I “do school” with the 5 yo and 7 yo while the 9 yo works independently. Lunch is next and read aloud time. We clean up from lunch and put away the school books and supplies we are through with and then it’s quiet time for the kids. They can read/look at books quietly for 30 minutes while Mommy has a few minutes quiet time to read or rest. I try to time Quiet Time when the baby takes her afternoon nap, so it really is quiet. Then we finish up any schoolwork we have left, and straighten the house. Daddy likes it neat when he gets home and he likes the schoolwork finished, so it’s a challenge to get it all done as he gets home at 3:30. After he arrives home, I don’t have a schedule as we want to be open to whatever he wants us to do. I usually try to have dinner planned out in my head and prepped as much as possible before he gets home so we can spend time with him.
That’s about it for our “schedule”. Most days are the same as Daddy’s schedule is M-F. I try to do the shopping on Saturday when I can, but some weeks, like this one, there is a dentist appointment, so we’ll do the shopping when we go out for that.
Stephenie Pyles
We are a family of six. Our four children are dd 14, dd 11, ds 9, dd5. Our oldest started high school homeschooling this year so there’s a bit of anxiousness over that.
Here’s a look at our day– there are only a few set time markers throughout to help us navigate through the day:
6:00 Mom up / Quiet time / Exercise
7:00 Children up / Breakfast
Chores
Individual Scripture Study & Prayer Time
History — start all together then oldest does individual study
Math
Language Arts
Geography MWF / Science TTh
12:00 Lunch
Free Time — 30 minutes
Writing MW / Art TTh
1:15 Read Aloud
2:00 Quiet Time — reading
3:00 Productive Free Time
5:00 Tidy the House & Dinner Prep — each child is assigned a part of dinner to prepare (1)main, 2)side, 3)side, 4)set table & drinks
6:00 Dinner
Clean Up
Family Scripture Study
Family Time
9:00 Children ready for bed– teeth, pajamas, prayers / Allowed to Read until lights out.
9:30 Lights Out
10:30 Mom & Dad go to bed
Hello,
My name is Cindy Fields , wife for 16 years, mother of 4: ages 12,11,9,6. We have always homeschooled. I also work outside the home part-time.( I am supported by my wonderful mother as a substitute teacher when I work.)
My husband works full time M-F ( 0630-1445) and is very supportive of our schooling. This year we are having evening read aloud and bible study with Daddy before bed.
We are working on getting into a rountine this year. So here’s what we are trying:
0700 get up-dress-breakfast ( I am bumping wakeup 15 min/day until we
get here. We are at 0730 now.)
0730 AM chore– make beds–pick up bedroom
0800 School starts: discuss plans for day-Calendar time with 6yo-Pledges
0830 Bible/devotion–Memory work–hymn study
0900 Math(flashcards,drill, workbook)
0930 LA-Phonograms/spelling, writing, copywork/dictation
1000 Reading (assigned)
1100 Narration/copywork/dictation if not done earlier
1130 LUNCH
1200 Geography drill ( fill in blank map of whatever we are studying, Then look at
labeled map and fill in what’s missing)
History- Read aloud together
1230 Science-Read aloud together at present -plan to have 12yo and 11yo begin
independent reading of assigned books
1300 Unit study activities: we are currently doing Further up/Further in. We do the
chosen activities in the afternoon. Reading and Bible
with Daddy in the evening
1400 Tea Time– read poetry,Music, Art study, Hymn, Drawing( We are working on
this area. Haven’t quite gotten it yet. Plan to do one of the list
each day)
1500 Clean Up–(We have assigned areas–similar to flylady–we rotate weekly
so everyone will learn how to clean the whole house)
1600 Exercise– biking/tennis/hike
1700 Supper( we have assigned chores for this also-Cooking, Dessert, Setting
table/drinks, Clean up)
FREE TIME
1900 Read Aloud/Bible study with Daddy
2000 Baths
2100 BED
As assignments are finished to my satisfaction, everyone has free time/breaks throughout the day.
Sometimes we have to skim the list and make sure the basics get done. We try to go to the library one afternoon each week. The day depends on my work schedule.
We live in the city. On my work days, the children spend the night and day with my parents in the country getting lots of exposure to both worlds. They do alot of nature study and free time exploration on these days. My mother works with them on homemaking skills also— loves to cook.
Cindy Fields
Hello fellow friends!! I’m Kelly Martin, living in the middle of corn fields in rural Indiana. Married 21 years to my bestest friend, Jerry. We have 3 monkeys (kiddos), one off on her own……homeschool……actually, it’s kinda a “focused” unschooling technique. I am a Hospice volunteer, activist, tree hugger, yoga mama…..Jerry is the engineer! *smile* Our schedule is L-O-O-S-E. It’s chilly here in Indiana this morning, and my chickas just woke up (8:30am!!) Our goal in schooling is to get it all done before Daddy gets home by 6pm. That way we can enjoy him!!
Did I mention our schedule is LOOSE? No time watching here!! Violin, guitar, German & Japanese are all over the place. Books, the History channel, and art beginnings. Bible studies, self-work, poems, yoga mats. Dirt bikes, the boxer puppy, Tank, and 3 cats join the chaos!!
I make myself have dinner “figured out” by 2pm. Laundry & the loo cleaned in the morning. Beds made is a good thing. I often turn my ringer off on the tele. (one mama suggestion!!) Chickens go to bed at 9:30pm (they are 11ds, and 14dd); they are welcome to stay up and read or write, lights out by 10:30pm.
Life is good!! We are focused on many different projects around this old farmhouse of ours, and debt reduction. Local is a good thing too!!
Thanks for sharing so much about all of your lives………smooches to Cindy!!
Kelly Martin
6 -6:30a.m. I am usually the first one up in the morning. I CHERISH that time of the day; I get to be alone and think…alone with the Lord and His Word. I quickly feed the dog, get a cuppa, then go to my “office” for time in the Word, finish up lesson/family plans, etc.
8:15-8:30 Rachel, age 11, gets up . She has her daily chorse to do(clean bed/bathroom, personal grooming, laundry day on Monday).
9:00 The 3 of us gather for a short Bible study. Daddy is a missionary to the SW Houston area, and he is able to set his own schedule. He leads in Bible time together.,
After this time we have no “dried in blood” schedule. We try, but our family just has never succeeded at working like a ticking clock! I have posted schedules many times, but we always slack off in keeping to them…
We next have our Sonlight Core reading time. This year we are studying the Eastern Hemisphere(10/’40 Window). I do most of the reading aloud. Rachel loves to read, but has processing problems, and has problems reading out loud. I enjoy the reading time together; it is a bonding time for us!
After this we finish the other things : cursive practice,spelling lessons, vocabulary we got from our reading for the day, math-u-see, etc.
One day a week we study money management(using either Money Matters for Kids, or The Secret of Handling Money). One day we do current events, and study one woman in the Bible.
On Wednesdays I go to a ladies Precept Study at church. Rachel goes with me and I try to have a map exercise, math pate, etc for her to do there. When we get home, we do “girlie” things—like read a manners book, a book about changes of puberty,things like that.
Most afternoons—Rachel helps fix lunch, then if she has finished all her learning activities, she is free to read, etc.
6:00 (around there anyway!) Daddy is home and we all eat together
10-11 is usually bedtime. For all of Rachel’s life I have struggled to get her to go to sleep earlier, but she is one of “those kids” who is just ADHD until the very second of the day, and tries to squeeze out every drop of activity she can from her days!
I am usually VERY ready for bedtime!
This is probably not what you wanted us to post, Cindy, but it is an honest look at our days…
Johanna Morisey
Hi! My name is Kelly Davis and I am a mom to 5 unique children – all in their own ways. Anthony – 20 (he is currently serving in the Air Force – stationed in Charleston, we live in Ga so not to far away) Ashley – 17, Shelby – 16, Hayley – 11, and Dalton 9. Hayley & Dalton are the only 2 that are homeschooled.
I was just introduced yesterday to Cindy Rushton through a website and I listened to her Scheduling as easy as ABC. WOW! What an eyeopener. We have been homeschooling for the past 2 years, but there had a set in stone schedule/routine. Yesterday, Hayley, Dalton, & I set up our schedule to follow. Here go’s:
7:00 – 7:30 I am usually up, dh leaves at 5:30 (too lazy to get up with him – HA)
8:30 – 8:45 Get Hayley & Dalton up
8:30 – 9:30 Shower, Dress, Eat Breakfast, brush teeth
9:30 School starts
10:30 – 10:45 Break/Snack
10:45 – 12:00 School Time (They are working thru K12 cirr/GVA is considered
School – virtual school – lots of work to keep them busy)
12:00 12:30 Lunch Time
12:30 – 1:30 More School Time
1:30 – 3:30 Chore Time (Each have specific jobs to do/some daily, some
weekly – teaching them if you do a little a day…….)
3:00 – 7:00 Free Time as long as schoolwork/chores done – except on
Wednesday’s – have to be ready to leave the house at 5:00 to eat
at church, RA’s, Youth Group, Wednesday Prayer Meeting
7:00 – 8:00 Suppertime/Clean Kitchen (Husband works as Pipeline Contractor
Foreman) He leaves house @ 5:15 in the morning and not home til
about 6:30 every night – that’s why we eat later
8:00 – 9:45 Free Time – usually watch TV as family or kids play games on
computers
9:45 – 10:00 PJ’s/Brush Teeth
10:00 Bedtime for kids
11:30 Usually I make it in bed around this time
We used this yesterday for the first time and it worked so well. I know it is knew so at some point may get old for the kids – hope that we can stick to it. Seems easier when you have it listed in black and white.
Thanks you Cindy Rushton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oops, I did not share much about our family, so here goes:
We have one daughter, Rachel age 11. We adopted her at birth after we had been married and waited for 20 years! In that regard, we are a pretty “atypical” family!
Jim does church planting/pastoral training work, and so he is able to set his work schedule . He is able to be with us for a part of most mornings for our family “table time.”
This year we moved all of Rachel’s art things into the school room area and even put our kitchen table in there!(we got another kitchen table LOL). Now she calls it her “art room.” Her assignment this year, is to draw the local costumes for all the countries we study…she really likes having her own art studio! This is where we do most of our learning activies.She is a little behind in her fine motor skills but wants to be a fashion designer–so I am focusing on developing those abilities in her this year. “school ” is a lot more relaxed this year compared to the ways we did it in the past.
Good morning, everyone! My name is Anne, and I have six children. My four older ones are homeschooled (grades 7, 4, 3, and 1), and my two little girls are ages 3 and 1. My husband is a public school counselor and a football coach, and I’m a writer also.
On school days, I get up around 7:00. I help my husband get his coffee ready, then I take a shower. I spend time with him until he leaves for work, then I make my bed and put makeup on. Next I sit at the dining room table and read my Bible. Then I check over my to-do list.
By this time it’s about 8:30, and I still need to do girls’ hair and start breakfast. See, we’re slow movers!! 🙂 I usually make a big breakfast, because it’s our favorite meal. So around 9:15, we’re sitting down at the table to eat.
While the kids eat breakfast, I start on our Bible for the day. (See our Bible curriculum at http://www.homeschoolingbible.com… sorry, shameless plug! LOL!) Then one of my older children does a short read aloud for the rest of us. (I’m trying to teach them to read aloud, too.) Then the kids head into the kitchen to do dishes, while I check email, start laundry, or make a few phone calls.
Then the kids start on their “seat work,” which is math, spelling, reading, etc., etc. We keep plugging away on this until noon, when they have “recess” (and I get a much-needed break, too!). I putter around on things I want to do until about 12:30, when I’ll start something on the stove for lunch. We eat around 1:00 or a bit later.
While they’re eating their lunch, I read aloud from a chapter book. (We’re on Understood Betsy now.) Then we do history together. (We’re reading from Adam and His Kin this week. Love it!) Then we’ll have some exercise time (short!), then they’re back on school work, if they’re not done, while I get to work on the computer. Most of their work is done “independently,” although I’m right there while they do it, to tutor them or help or whatever.
Also, I have a laptop computer at the table with me all day, or even in the kitchen (which explains why I burn so many things). I get a lot of my business work done in spare minutes all day long.
Around 4:30, I start supper. We usually eat without my husband at this time of year, because he’ll be at football until late. When he’s not home, I’m pretty TIRED by this time of day, so we often eat supper around the coffee table in the living room and watch Wheel of Fortune at 6:30. We don’t watch much TV, so this is our treat.
After supper, we have baths, etc. The older kids help with cleaning up the kitchen, then they can play games, read, etc. It’s just free time. Except for Baby, they’re in bed by 8:30 (at least that’s the goal).
Then my husband is usually getting home and cleaned up. He eats (and I snack), and we enjoy time together. I’m usually falling asleep by 10:00 or so.
And that’s my day!
Hugs,
~Anne
I have 3 kids, 13g, 11g, and 8b. I just put them back into public school a couple of weeks ago, so our schedule has greatly changed here lately. My dh is an independent HVAC/Electrical contractor and he works odd hours quite often, so we try to work around that also.
4:30 am, mom, and girls wake up, shower, breakfast, and get ready to catch bus at 6 am. I take coffee to dh somewhere around 5ish.
6:30ish, I wake up my son and get him ready for school, bus comes at 7:30ish.
My dh will usually be out of the house by 7, I fix his lunch while I help the girls, or wait to get ds up. And I fix our breakfast by 6:45. That depends on his schedule. Mondays I work from 10 till 1 and Tuesdays and Thursdays I work 8:30 to 1. Nice short days, I work for a caterer that makes the lunches for a private school in town. I try to do all my bill paying and errands after work. Wednesday and Friday i spend on cleaning the house (after I check out Cindy’s Desktop!). The girls get home off the bus around 2:45 and ds gets home about 4ish. I help ds with his homework, and I help my 11g with her homework — usually until around 9- 10 ish, when I make her go to bed wether she has it done or not. She has 2 teachers that just love to load the students up with more work than they can get done in a night. I try to have supper fixed and ready to eat by 6:30ish. Depending on what night it is. Wed. I have it ready earlier because we go to church at 6:30. I have ds in bed by 8:30 most nights. and the girls I try to have in bed by 10 at the absolute latest.
All the kids have evening chores of: cleaning up after the meal, includes washing dishes, putting their clean clothes away, and feeding and water animals, walking dogs.
I also try to make sure they get in some Bible study time during the day. I also try to get mine in during the day while they are gone. My son wants to join boyscouts, so if we do that, they will meet every Tue. night for an hour starting at 6:30.
That pretty much describes our days now, except were we have to alter for different activities that comes up during the weeks and such.
God Bless to everyone!
Shannon Morris in W.Tn.
Good morning! I am a homeschool mom of 4 kids. One has already graduated from home school and I have three at home, a 15, 8, and 6 year old. One of the beautiful things about homeschooling, for me, is the flexibility that it allows. I could not imagine having to be subjected to the Monday through Friday routine that public school has you doing.
Most days we have the typical routine of getting up, getting ready for the day, including doing our chores and quiet time. School is then started at the table and my older daughter splits from us and does much of her work independently. The younger ones spend there time at the table doing table time work and then we head for the couch to do our reading time together. The little kids are always done by noon and spend the afternoon playing and creating. My oldest one usually has some work to still complete after lunch. This is our typical “school day”.
I am in the midst right now of taking care of my parents. The beauty for our family right now, is being able to drop this entire schedule and help them were it is needed. We spend mornings with them and the kids just spend time with them. We also help out with anything that needs to be done….garbage hauling, grocery shopping, etc. I know that this season won’t last forever and I believe that we can “learn” just as much, if not more, by doing these things right now.
Our evening are always spent together. We try and limit outside activities, unless they are family events. We always have our evening meal together and then spend the evening around the place as a family.
Hello, all! I’m Misty Krasawski. We are a homechool family of 9. The kids are 16,14, 11, 9, 6, 4 and 18 months-and-feeling-it, so we’ve got a busy day!
I try to get up around 7:15 or so and this goes much more smoothly when I’ve prepped the coffeemaker the night before. This is my only quiet time that’s actually QUIET for the day, so that’s my motivation to get up! This way I have time with my Bible study (and French Vanilla-ed coffee!) before the kids wake up. After that, our schedule goes like this:
8:30 Breakfast. We listen to our memory work CD while we eat!
9 Bible all together, then everyone goes to their own spots for personal Bible time
I read some great advice from Leah Bortins, the founder of Classical Conversations, over the summer and I loved her scheduling concept so we implemented it this year. Basically we start each subject on the hour (or half hour) with everyone only staying at the table working until they’re done–so for the littles, that’s 15 minutes or so, while the older ones may take the entire hour. It’s working pretty well.
10 Science
11 History
12 Lunch and break time! We eat together and then usually everyone hits the pool. Since we live in Florida, it’s the only way to spend any time outside until at least October!
1:30 English
2:30 Quiet hour; boys do their math, girls and baby (and mama!) rest
4 Foreign Language
Free time til dinner, then we try to have family reading time around 8:30 before littlest ones go to bed. I’m usually trying to boot the oldest ones to bed at 10:30.
Of course, we almost never follow this schedule exactly! On Tuesdays we attend Classical Conversations, so the older boys are home doing their work while the rest of us are there. Tomorrow we have a Patriot Day co-op on Elections which is unusual but it does seem there’s often *something* unusual every week, which perhaps means it’s not so unusual! Monday evenings 2 of the kids have piano and one will soon start guitar again, so that will add to the busy-ness. Thankfully, the kids aren’t majorly into sports, so we don’t have that difficulty!
Well, I spent several minutes tyoing out a longer post about our days…then I LOST IT! So, I will just post our basics here now.
I have been amrried to my high school sweetheart for 13 years (as of yesterday). We have 3 children: boy (10), girl (8), and boy(5). We are expecting another baby in March…don’t know the gender yet, but my daughter desperately wants it to be a girl. She longs for a sister! 🙂 We also have 2 cats who are sisters and turned 2 this month. We are living in NY…since last summer…after living our whole lives in the south. We grew up in Baldwin County in Alabama! We never would have pictured ourselves living in a ‘Yankee’ state (just kidding!). However, God had other plans for us. My husband’s job brought us here from Florida. It is a long, long way from ‘home’ but we are learning to make this home. We do enjoy the REAL seasons we have here…watching the leaves fall, playing in the snow (we had to make ‘sugar on snow’ like on Little House on the Prairie last winter), the wonderful renewal and fragrances in the spring, and the cooler summers…it’s in the 60’s here today and in the south it is still sweltering at least in the 80’s. So, we’re blessed. We will be here for a while yet…we’re in the midst of buying a home…we move in at the end of October. On to our schedule…
Morning:
-get up, shower, dress
-eat breakfast (olders usually prepare little one’s breakfast)
-chores (Mom works on chores, blogs, checks email during this time; helps youngest with his chores)
-play time ( Mom does chores, reads Bible, or is on computer)
-School time: we do our bible study and music, then poetry reading and analysis; then I get the olders started on their independent work…copywork, math, english, etc.
They usually work on this until lunch; sometimes I work on letters, etc. with the 5 yo during this time. Otherwise, he is playing with Legos, playdough, trains, blocks, books, etc.
-Lunch: the kids often use this time as their t.v. time, but I would like to start listening to books on tape instead. I just have to get a tape player and some books on tape from the library.
Afternoon:
-Complete independent work; little one is playing, mom is finishing chores or reading.
-Read alouds for history, science, and storytime. In history and science we are using a textbook-ish book and several living books. For storytime, we are reading books from different genres; biography, adventure, nonfiction, folktale, etc. Right now it is a biography about Phillis Wheatley…and they have to narrate sometimes about what we’ve read.
-free play time, inside or outside. Sometimes we do sit down and watch Little House on the Prairie. I know, more t.v. However, I at least feel these are more ‘educational’ and teach good morals. The kids love it, I love it, and now they are asking me to read the books to them. So, we’ll be adding that in sometime soon. And that really can ‘count’ as school!
Evening:
-Mom prepares dinner
-Dad arrives home and we have dinner
-chores
-After chores we sometimes play a game together or the kids will play together. My oldest often spends this time reading.
-8:00p.m.-this our only real defined time-Bed time. All the kids get tucked in…our oldest is allowed to stay up and read or play quietly in his room until 8:45p.m
-My husband and I watch t.v. or spend time together with a game or a book, etc. We always stay up too late, so this is something we need to work on….I need my regular bedtime to be by 10:30…but I am having trouble implementing it for different reasons.
Anyway, that’ our day. We spend too much time as a family watching television! We have actually talked about getting rid of the cable (for financial reasons) but I think it would be good if we didn’t have it, or if we would at least just turn it off! Something else to work on… I’m looking forward to reading everyone else’s schedules!
Wendy Woerner
I forgot to add that on Fridays..beginning this week…we will not ‘do school’ because we will be at co-op. This will last for 10 weeks. After that I expect to get back to a 5-day school week. We also have Lego Leaugue for my oldest on Thursday nights, and all three will be starting swim lessons one evening a week. Health (state required) and Spanish we add to our schooling 1 day per week.
Wendy Woerner
Well we are all up and at em by 8:00 and then we get breakfast and do chores then start our school day. Daddy comes home for lunch at noon every day so we have his food ready for him and enjoy lunch together. Then the older kids get back to school work and 2 yr old goes down for a nap, mommy does school with Kindergartener and we do a clean up of the house before daddy gets home from work at 4:00. We do various things in the evenings after dinner, play outside, mow the lawn etc. Then we have family devotions before bed. I really need to get myself out of bed earlier in the morning, before everyone else but with a nursing baby sometimes the nights are rough and I have trouble getting up.
Lori Duncan
We start our day at 7 with dressing and quiet time.
8 – Breakfast and morning chores (table and floors, dishes, general pick up)
9 – School starts
We get together on Mondays to give weekly assignment sheets. Then the boys (9,7,4) have devotions while girls get started. After boys, the girls (14, 12, 11) have devotions. The two older girls are on their own for the most part. The four younger ones do school somewhat together with unit studies.
11:30 – start getting ready for lunch
12 – lunch time
1 – afternoon quiet time/ individual reading time
2 – 4 – finish any school that didn’t get done in morning.
Tues and Friday afternoon, my 12 yo volunteers at our local animal shelter.
Wednesday afternoons my 11 and 14 yo daughters volunteer at our church and my 12 yo has a mommy’s helper job.
Because they are gone all afternoon and evening on Wednesday, we make Wednesday a lite day and try to schedule appointments for this day.
Every other Friday we have a Co-op in the afternoon.
My family has a very loose schedule, but will quickly become pretty tight. I have 4 children, and they keep me on my toes like everyone else.
We are up no later than 8 am and hit the floor running. I make my kids get completely dressed down to shoes. We grab a quick healthy breakfast. Then it is time to crack open the books. School is to be finished before lunch.
My youngest two watch a few select videos while I focus on the older two. Once I am free of them I spend “school time” with the younger two which consists of memory match, building with blocks, and anything they want to do.
We stop right before lunch to pck up as my husband comes home for lunch every day. This makes a nice break in things, and keeps him happy.
There is at least 1 hour of quiet time everyday so I can get some paperwork done and my youngest two sleep. My older two will work on crafts, play a board game or read. Once that is over then they all go outside and play in the back yard.
The kids do another quick pick up before dinner so things are tidy when my husband gets home while I make dinner. We try to eat by 6pm so that we have the rest of the evening to listen to music, play games, or watch a movie.
Bedtime is at 8:30pm for the youngest two and 9pm for the older two. I am in bed and hopefully asleep by 10pm, otherwise it really messes up the next day.
There are other things during the week that mess this up like: co-op on Monday mornings, Girl Scouts on Tuesday afternoons, and Boy Scouts on Thursday evenings. Those are the times that you just have to go with the flow.
Samantha Hatcher
Hey! I’m Donna. Mom to 5 great kids. Homeschool mom for 24 years.
Our children range in age from 29ds multi-handicapped, functions at 1 year level.
27dd, Homeschool grad of 2000, 181/2ds, Homeschool grad of 2008,
161/2ds Still homeschooled, 11/12th gr., 15dd Still homeschooled, 9th gr.
Our schedule has changed many times throughout the years,
adjusting to our needs and the children. I’ve become much more relaxed. :o)
The past few years my dh Ray has taken over our teen boys education, which has
allowed me to spend more one on one time with 15dd.
This year I’ve adopted more of a CM approach with my dd. THANK YOU Cindy!! :o)
So this year our schedule is very relaxed. I’m NOT stressing out NO MORE!!! lol
This is what it looks like so far………….
Between 8-9am breakfast and morning chores.
Begin school work about 10am……Sarabeth and I do Bible together.
About 10:30am Sarabeth does her independent studies.
12am Lunch
12:30 to 1pm Sarabeth and I will do History or Science together…maybe a
Nature walk/study.
Finished by 2pm, or whenever! 😀
This may change throughout the year. I’m going to be very flexible.
We’ve just begun our new school year and so far this new relaxed way
has been sooooo nice! \o/ :o)
In Christ, Donna
I love scheduling. I’m having a little trouble this year getting going because we are doing some new things for school, and it is taking me some time to get it all worked out.
I have a 9, 7, 4, and 3 year old. My husband works and goes to school, so he is not home much during the week. Because of this I try to schedule all our day, so we stay in a routine and it helps me when I home with no other adult all day! We also try to go see daddy at work occasionally. I have purposefully made Wednesday my run around day. On that day we usually go to the library, we may go eat with daddy, we run errands, and then Wednesday night is AWANA.
Here is our regular day (so far):
8- breakfast
8:30 dress and chores
9- Personal Bible reading and study AWANA
9:30 Bible
10- Math/LA (kids rotate)
10:40 Snack
11- Math/LA (kids rotate)
12- Lunch
12:30 Chores; free time
1:15- History or science
2- Rest/quiet time
4- up and snack
5:30 supper
7:30 start bedtime routine
9: Lights out
I do table activities with the little girls while the big ones are working. I’m having a hard time really scheduling that right now. we just sort of fit it in as it works. We try to all be outside together after supper if the weather permits, and I also encourage the kids to go outside after the lunch chores.
As I said, we’re having to change and adapt, but we are getting there.
Leah Courtney
I’m Colleen Day, mom to 3 boys (14, 12, and 7) and wife of 17 years to an amazing man! I love Cindy’s suggestion to structure our days around our husbands. My days vary based on his schedule but basically:
I get up between 6 and 6:30. While my husband exercises I get our teenage son up and send him to the shower. I start the coffee, put away the dinner dishes and start breakfast. I get the other boys up and make sure they eat. My husband is done with his workout about now so while he sits for a minute and has some coffee, I make sure our oldest is done in the bathroom. After my husband is showered we eat breakfast together. We start school as soon as he leaves for work. We do Bible time together and then I spend an hour with the two oldest boys to get them started. Then they move on to other work they can do on their own. Next I start school with our youngest, we work until about noon when it is time for lunch. After lunch is our project time, we do most of our hands on things in the afternoon. I leave around 3:30 to pick up my nieces (I babysit them in the afternoons) the I do my daily cleaning when I get home. I start dinner around 5 and we eat when my husband comes home. The evenings are usually spent with various activities (scouts, church, Tae Kwon Do etc.) I do make sure I stay up for at least an hour with my husband after all the kids are in bed. I do my quiet time in my room before I go to bed.
Fridays are a bit different, we deliver for Meals-on Wheels on Friday so it is Errand Day, we also go to the library and do our nature studies then as well.
We are a pastor’s family of eight. There is my husband, myself and our six children. We have 17yo identical twin daughters, 11yo ds, 8yo dd, 4yo ds, and 2yo ds. We live in south Georgia on the family farm in my grandparent’s remodeled farmhouse. Life is good! This is our twelfth year of homeschooling, and I have two SENIORS this year! Gulp! This is my first time doing ‘Mommy Homework’ although I’ve done quite a few of Cindy’s seminars and listened to tons of audios and read lots of her books.
My husband arises very early to get ready for work. He is bi-vocational, and during the week he works as a underground utilities locator in a nearby town. He ‘does’ breakfast and gets everyone up around 6:45-7:00 am to eat and get ready for the day. We start school between 7:30 and 8:00, but the oldest three children are very independent and sometimes start even earlier. They are supposed to be dressed, teeth/hair brushed, and beds made before we start.
Sometimes I will let the little ones sleep a little longer so I can work on math with my two middles without interruption, but for the most part here’s what we do.
7:30-8:00 This is when we ‘officially’ start our school day! Because things change from day to day, I just consider the block of time between 8:00 and 12:30 pm our morning ‘school’ time.
My 17yo twins begin working independently in their room while I start with the two middles in the kitchen. Because I use the same spelling with my 11yo and 8yo, many times we’ll start with that.
Next, I will usually do dictation with the 11yo while the 8yo does copywork/handwriting…then we switch.
They both have math in the morning, and I also assign science for independent reading…then narraration. I use a weekly assignment sheet for both my middles, so they know what they have to do…this is a HUGE timesaver for us as they will move from task to task and check off things as they are completed.
Then while I read history with/to each of my middles, the other one is working independently on some other assignment.
During this time I am also doing lunch prep, starting/switching laundry, and giving the two littles something constructive to do. I will also let them watch a Leap Frog phonics video such as the Letter Factory. Even the 2yo knows some of his letters and sounds from watching this excellent DVD. I also do ‘school’ with the 4yo…I use a combination of Winter Promise’s Journeys of Imagination, Living Books K, and Preschool Plus with him. Of course, the 2yo is right there ‘doing school’ too! But hey, exposure is great!
Also, during this block of time, my twins will come to me if they have questions, but for the most part, they are self-taught and self-motivated. I choose the curriculum/books/etc….but they set the pace and do ALL the record keeping, etc. themselves. What a blessing!
12:30 We usually break for lunch.
1:00 Finish up anything left from school…the olders will sometimes work until 3:00 to finish.
Second Tuesday of each month at 2:00…Homeschool 4-H Group
Alternating Wednesdays at 3:30 Art lessons for one twin and the 8yo and photography lessons for the other twin
Alternate Thursdays at 2:00 Either Homeschool Group or Sewing Lessons for the Girls
On the days we’re home, afternoons are used for projects, free time, arts and crafts, reading, etc.
4:30 I begin supper preparations…my husband gets off work at 5:00
5:30 Supper
My twins do kitchen clean-up at night, alternating each night on dishes/sweeping, etc. They are also great about doing a nightly clean up on main rooms and hot spots.
8:30 Bath time for littles then reading books.
9:00ish My husband does Bible Study with the family.
9:30 Littles in bed…most of the time! The older children can stay up a little later reading if they choose.
10:00 My husband usually likes to be in bed no later than 10:00…although I’m more of a night owl and will usually read when it’s finally quiet! I try really hard to be in bed by 11:00 at the latest…depends on how good the book is! LOL
Although we don’t really follow a ‘strict’ schedule at our home, per say, we do try to have a daily framework or routine where the ‘big things’ like mealtimes, Bible time, bed times, etc. are pretty regular and that helps in the grand scheme of things.
I’m looking forward to seeing how others plan their day!
I’m very tempted to stay anonymous on this one because I hate to admit what my schedule actually looks like right now 🙁 but what can I say, how can I pass up Mommy Homework Credit??
Our family: Me, dh (VP engineering/sales, travels and works unpredictable hours when he’s in town), dd14, dd11, ds7, & dd4 (plus two large dogs, 2 goldfish, a hermit crab, and a ton of extended family in the immediate area!)
I won’t even pretend I’m close to a schedule, but there is a vague sense of routine evolving.
I am now TRYING to get up by about 6:30 am (as opposed to whenever the sound of squabbling siblings woke me which was the plan until the past week or two). Shower/quiet time/breakfast with the littles/tidy up downstairs/start a load of wash if needed. Dh leaves for work around 7:15-7:30.
.
Table time with the littles. Wake the big girls around 8-8:30 and get them moving. Read to the littles. Read aloud to the bigs when the littles wander off to play. Go over assignments with the bigs.
Scramble around doing chores here & there as people are occupied, sneak in a little computer time.
Lunch in there somewhere between 12-1, dd11 usually makes it just because she likes to work in the kitchen.
Afternoons, finish up assignments, crafts, outside play, etc.
Dinner prep/dinner, typically around 5:15. Occasionally dh joins us. Usually he SAYS he will then doesn’t show up. Off to evening activities.
Littles in bed anywhere between 8:30-9:30. Bigs drift off to their rooms around 11:00. I go to bed anywhere between 10:30-1:00.
Then, add in the routine breakers:
DD4 attends preschool MWF ams (I know, not the choice most of you would make, there are a lot of reasons why we’ve chosen that path and it does work for us most days :)).
DD7 plays homeschool soccer M ams.
Co-op Wed 8:30-2:30.
We’ve been visiting another co-op that meets only twice a month, on Thursdays (10-1:30 1st Th, 10-12 2nd Th) as it is closer to home. May switch to that one only soon, don’t know.
DD14 has a babysitting job Fri ams, 8:45-10:30 counting travel time (she bike-rides there).
And then there’s the nights:
M/W 6-7:30, ds7 has soccer; T/TH dd11 has field hockey (same time frame). Wed nights starting next week, ds7 & dd4 attend Awana at a neighborhood church. DD14 has senior high bible study 2nd & 4th Wed 7-9, DD11, junior high bible study 2nd & 4th Th. DD14 has Generation Joshua mtg 1st Mon.
And we won’t talk about the weekends.
Yes, I’ve discussed this with my husband. There isn’t anything he wants to take out of the schedule. In fact, if he sees a blank spot on the calendar, he’s inclined to think of MORE things to do (I’ve taken to writing bigger so it looks like there’s less free time available, LOL).
Some weeks it doesn’t feel nearly as out of control as it looks typing it, but I would love to make changes. I will definitely breathe a sign of relief at the end of the fall sports season, somehow the spring season of softball/baseball just never seems quite so hectic (probably because we’re in a better routine of every day life, this time of year seems like EVERYTHING changes!).
If nothing else, I hope reading this makes someone out there somewhere feel better about the choices they’ve made. This is definitely a matter of prayer in my life right now, but I’m also trying to learn to accept my husband’s leadership even if it does leave me tearing my heart out in utter frustration some days!
Cari
Hello, I’m Diane. Married to Lee , a licensed builder, for 35 years. Mother to 7 – oldest 32 and youngest and only one still schooling is 15. Our second oldest is married and has given us two grandchildren , with another on the way next April. At this moment in time the other six are living at home – they all have been involved in missionary/ministy opportunites around the world. We are watching and praying for how God will be using them next.
With so many “adults” in the home, it often seems hard to concentrate just on schooling for ds3. But we are planning ahead for college and so that is helping me to make time to keep records and plan how to get required subjects taken.
Our flexible normal schedule:
6:30 – 7:30 make breakfast for all and lunches for dh and ds2
8- 12 do studies in basement with ds3
12-1 lunch with those at home – catch up with dd1, dd2, dd3, dd4 news and schedules, etc.
1-3 time for more studies , if needed
3-5 run errands, computer time, fix supper
Enjoying doing studies in basement – less distractions with others in home and I can catch up on projects, l.e. sewing, crafts, scrapbooking, while ds3 does work.
We’re all very involved with our church and it requires alot to keep up with everybody’s schedules and make sure we have family time
Hi
I have 6 children with another on the way soon – November! 🙂 (Ages 14, 12, 10, 6, 4, 2)
We have just changed our routine – we now school in the afternoon. So far it has worked much better for our family.
We start the day with morning chores, devotions, a walk, breakfast, clean up and family worship.
Then everyone has chore time – varies according to what day it is.
Then the children have “free time” to play outside, etc. while I have time to do whatever I need to do that day – pay bills, declutter, etc.
We all help get lunch on and then the younger children take naps.
I do a unit study with the other children, then the older ones do their independent work while I help the younger ones. I squeeze a nap in there, while they get a short break from school. Then we come back, finish what needs to be finished and take turns with the younger ones who are now up from their nap.
Supper and clean up
Reading time – first to little ones and then to older ones.
Bedtime (varies according to age)
So that is the plan – it rarely comes out perfect, but it guides us through our day. I try not to pay too much attention to the clock, as that makes me more stressed about the schedule.
Lori Graveling
Hi:
I am a homeschooling mom of one daughter, Nicole, who is in the 8th grade and will be 14 later this month. We are in our third year homeschooling. We decided to try Abeka DVD this year and my daughter seems to love it.
I am up at 6:15 a.m. and shower, mop, and get my coffee while I watch Joyce Meyer’s on my computer. I then read my daughter’s chatlogs with her friends and do my daily chores. Since my daughter is a night owl we don’t start school until noon and work through the afternoon. I wake my daughter at 10:30 and she does her morning routine while I make lunch/brunch. I have two home businesses which I will do work for while she is watching her DVD tapes. I watch these with her.
We are also very involved in a local homeschool group and participate in several activities which I must juggle around her schoolwork.
I have been married to my husband, Rick, for almost 21 years. I have always stayed at home since the birth of Nicole. She did go to public school from K-5 but only because my husband didn’t support me homeschooling but I prayed for all those years for God to change his heart and he finally did.
Have a blessed day!
Jane Northrop
Hi! I’ve got 4 bouncy boys (11, 8, 4, and 1) and my DH works 2nd shift + overtime. We start our day around 8 with quiet time. We follow with breakfast and chores and try to start school by 10. On every other Tuesday we have co-op from 9-1130 but usually we get as much school done as we can before lunch. On Wednesdays we go to a local library for story time and craft followed by park day at 1:30pm. Everyday except Tuesday we have a physical education type class. One boy does TaeKwonDo 2 days and the other is in Boxing.
If my oldest has any reading that isn’t finished he usually does it after the younger kids go to bed. The youngest 2 go to bed about 8pm and the 2nd oldest at 9pm. The oldest has a target bed time of 10pm.
We usually save any messy or fun science or history projects for on the weekend when Dad can join in.
We are flexible and adapt some every week.
Ok, well, I am not much for exact schedules because somehow, some way-we get off them. I tried really hard to do the CM way with the time blocks and all….but alas…I found what was happening was that we may have finished up something and since time wasn’t up for that….I struggled to wing it to meet the time frame. Or we found ourselves very engrossed with the lesson and if time was up-well, I had to call it over. I mean-geez, go past the appointed time? That lasted about a week. I realized I would lose great teaching moments if I had to interject, “Well, done for now-not scheduled for any more time…” I also knew I was becoming a slave to the clock…which then leads to a stronghold. I didn’t want that.
SO-I make a rough schedule and that really just lays out what should be done for that day. If we have to slide something to the next day…we do. A thought out plan, especially for high school- is important. I just wrote a post about how I use my Edu-Track to type up what I want covered each day by my high schooler (dd14); and then slip it into a folder for her to use. I have one for my early elementary student (ds7) that I refer to during the week. Keeps us on task…but there are no time slots there.
Also, because of who lives here (my dd20 and ds18 are both full-time college students with jobs that have them coming and going…it is like a revolving door here at times) and my hubby who is required to travel up to 12 days per month-so his schedule is crazy…I can never be too sure what each week will bring. Toss an occassional Tag-along with daddy on a trip and there is a recipe for pitching any schedule out the window.
Since this year has only been officially going for 3 days…hard to say what our hopeful overall schedule will be. I layed out 2 weeks and we’ll see how it goes. I am sure I will need to tweek it here and there to get a good flow down pat.
I am so not into doing each subject every day…boring and tedious! So, what I came up with for now is….
High Schooler:
Math: M-Th
Science: M, T, Th
Lang. Arts stuff (includes a variety of things: LLATL, WG, Writing, Copywork, Dictation, reading) some are not done on all days listed: M, W, F
Bible-every day
German-every day but it is only for 10-15 mins
History-M, W, F
Geography: T and TH
Friday is a 1/2 day: leaving the afternoon for nothing, or field trips, games, fun stuff
We do Nature study when it ties to the science or the weather isn’t ugly. I am scheduling in more as the weeks progress.
We are doing Home Ec with her too, but that is really learned by life experience-that is tied in to many dinners, washing and etc. I will be adding lots of fun stuff like interior decorating, clothing design, sewing (had one class already), flower arranging and whatever else sounds fun. I guess I will just keep adding til we can add no more.
I will also add basic Latin-but not until the winter.
Ok, then for the Elementary Student:
4 day weeks with games and fun on Friday.
He is in the short lessons mode: so he can do a lot of the same things each day and not get bored.
Reading skills/writing
Bible
Math
Science
World Cultures
Nature Study
Copywork
Geography
(we are using SL for him, so that is all layed out in the nice TE…including the science and Lang. Arts)
Geography is doing map puzzles, some Montessori matching works, finding stuff on the map and so forth. Oh, and using the compass which every Daniel Boone wanna-be needs to know (and that would be him)
He gets a lot of real life experience helping daddy with the cars, yard stuff, bikes, fixing stuff around the house and so forth.
I do not do a totally formal schooling for the younger ones. Didn’t work for my fam. Killed the love of learning. Bad, very bad. So we take the more relaxed approach until they are 10.
I try to start by 9:30, but that isn’t always the case. We go until we are done with the list. But we take many “shake out your Ya-Yas breaks” and “Go play a tad.” breaks to keep him from becoming “stupid” over an assignment.
I have to alternate between a basic non-reader to a high schooler and that is a juggling act in of itself. So I alternate hard stuff for one while the other does “can do by themselves” work. Then switch up.
I try to reserve 7 pm for myself. I read my Bible, do my huge prayers, read other books (usually have 3 or 4 going at a time) and just veg by myself during that time.
Dad is a great help and will keep the fam away so I get a break. When he isn’t home-luckily, my kids are old enough to fend for themselves long enough for me to get my time. They know if I don’t-well it can get ugly.
Oh-and I do occassionally help the 2 older ones with college stuff (editing papers, etc.)
SO-my days are interesting.
Dinner is ready (thank you hubby) and I am off. Good assignment!
Sheri Hagemann
6 am I wake and shower and do devos, pay bills, catch up on email
7 am older girls get up and shower, dress,
7:30 Morning chores
7:45 wake up little ones
8 am breakfast
8:30 Violin practice for Naomi, Alyvia has devos and gets ready for bus ( she is still foster child till adoption goes through), Little ones have devos with me.
9 am bus comes, Naomi does independent studies, I work with little ones in ” school”
11:45 Lunch
12:30 any dishes needing done, laundry rotated, little ones down for nap, Naomi and I work on Math Language, spelling, anything else we come up with,
2:30 or 3 school work is done, we clean up, afternoon chores, put away clean laundry
3:55 Alyvia comes home
Kids play while I make dinner, Alyvia usually helps and tells me about her day.
5:30 or 6 we eat dinner
Little ones to bed by 7:30, Alyvia 8 and Naomi 8:30 free time to play, watch movie…. till bedtime
After that I spend time with DH, take bubble bath, read, email….
Bed by 10 or 10:30
Michelle
My schedule! HA! you are funny Cindy!
just kidding…we do have at least a skeleton to our day.
First of all, I try to follow this weekly layout.
Monday-cleaning (we have a Bible Study in our home on Monday night, so I like to do the deeper cleaning on this day)
Tuesday- errand day (all of our errands are done this day. Only on rare occassions do we get out more than once a week. this helps us stick to our daily routines and cut back on gas budget)
Wednesday- cooking (prepare any foods that were purchased on Tues. like chopping veggies, etc. All baking and freezer cooking is done on this day as well)
Thursday- laundry day. we only do laundry once a week due to using a laundromat. the morning is set aside for sorting, washing, folding, and putting everything away. the kids and I work together and we are usually finished before lunch)
Friday- touch up cleaning and family day. (we get the house looking decent and usually spend special time with daddy on Friday
Saturday- free day…anything goes on Friday
Sunday- worship and rest
That is our weekly schedule and here is our daily schedule…loosely.
Morning routine
Get up
Chores (includes daily Bible time)
Breakfast
school work without mom for olders
This morning routine works so that the kids are self directed and I can “get stuff done” I usually cook breakfast, clean up the kitchen, get little ones started on their daily activities and inspect chores during this time.
Mid-morning routine
My time is usually spent working with my oldest son on school work.
The other kids have directed activities that rotate to keep little ones out of trouble.
Quick clean up of all rooms before dad gets home from work and class.
If there is time, we may play outside for a bit.
Daddy time
Due to my husband’s odd schedule dictated by the mid-night shift for work and morning classes for seminary, we stop whatever we are doing when daddy arrives home and spend time with him. This varies from day to day. This is also the time we try to do our family devotion.
Lunch
Afternoon routine
littles down for quiet time or nap
free time for oldest if he is finished with his work
I work with my middle son on his school work while the little ones are having quiet time. I can give him my attention with fewer interruptions during this time.
late afternoon routine
quick clean up house and start dinner
free time for all kids. usually we play outside.
no one is allowed to wander aimlessly during free time. if you can’t find something to do…mom will find something for you.
evening routine
dinner
bath
clean up again.
brush teeth
read aloud or movie
bedtime for littles (no later than 8)
read alone before bed for olders
That’s about it. 🙂
Laney
I am a homeschool mom of two girls – 13 years old and 9 years old. My husband works as a maintenance man at a bakery and he keeps early morning hours. My daughters are very good about getting up in the morning and having breakfast. THen they start on their schoolwork. I help with questions. We try to work on schoolwork during the morning hours and then they have free time until the other kids get home from school. My youngest is learning how to knit and she loves to draw. My oldest loves to draw, design her own dolls and doll clothes, and her latest love is making stop motion animation. On Wednesdays, my youngest goes to Quiz Kids and my oldest goes to youth group. We are still adjusting to having the youngest home and at times it is stressful but we are determined to make it work.
Lynn Perry
What schedule? Oh, how I wish I could have one but I just can’t seem to stick with one. I know my life would go much easier with one. Please pray for me everyone! When we do have a schedule I try to get our homeschooling done before the Dad gets home, cause once he’s home I lose all attention until he settles down for a nap. Only homeschooling 2 but they are 8 years apart so I have a hard time getting both done at the same time. So my goal this year is to work on my schedule then we can all be happy!
Robin
This is my first post. Hopefully it will end up where it is suppose to go.
My name is Jill. I am happily married to dear hubby for almost 14 years. We have 2 dear children DD is 15 and DS is 12. We have only been homeschooling for 3 ½ years. Hubby travels quite a bit and we try to go with him when we can, I do a little photography and have been a scrapbook consultant for almost 10 years.
This year we just have an unorganized routine. For the first 3 years of HSing we tried the timed schedule thing. It was more a slave driver for us than a helper. So this year I tossed the clock, schedule, the guilt of not staying on time and ALL classes outside of home in the trash!
This has been our schedule for the past month of “school” and has been great.
Our days are rather relaxed. We try to be up no later than 9am. If dear hubby is in town then I get up with him and then enjoy quite time.
Bible study with the kids and then we start school.
It’s the basic subjects and lots of good books. This year I am starting to implement the CM method – it has been a little hard for my public school, textbook, worksheet brain. Dear daughter loves it and our son is coming around.
Lunch, chores and more school.
When school is finished its free time. My kids are allowed 1 hour a day for electronics (tv, computer, video games, etc) – yes, we use an actual timer, its great for my son, it gives him a 10 and 5 min warning. If we have behavior issues during the day they lose time from this hour.
Then its dinner and family time. Sometimes it’s an audio book, sitting around playing a game, talking or “educational” TV.
We try to be in bed by 10 or 11pm. We like evenings especially when dad is in town.
So far this “schedule/routine” is working for us; we do tweak it when we need to.
I am enjoying reading all the other posts. Thanks Ladies!
Blessings, Jill
We are a family of 6, soon to be 7. My dh works from home so we are a family that is together nearly 24/7. Our daughters are ages 9, 5, 3.5, and almost 12 months. We live on a small family farm with 5 Jersey cows, 1 jersey bull calf, and twin calves. We have 49 chickens, 3 roosters (and one of our hens just hatched out 2 chicks!!) 5 ducks, 2 geese, and a dog. We go more by a “routine” than a schedule.
Every morning I get up and fix breakfast. We clean up the kitchen and I head out to milk and feed while the girls play. My dh usually goes with me, but sometimes he has to work with a client. (He’s a computer guru/farmer!!)
After milking and feeding I clean up my mess and we start school. We focus mainly on reading and math and the other stuff happens naturally. We do science every day here on our farm and our history comes from living books. Right now my oldest is reading through the Little House books…she LOVES them!! I am a nutrition freak. We make our own bread and raise our own grass fed beef and I use herbs rather than over the counter medicine to treat sickness so we have health lessons all the time!!
Every morning I rock my baby to sleep around 10 more or less.
After we do school we will either work on chores or the girls will play while I prepare lunch. We eat lunch, clean up our mess and play outside for a while. Then either I or my oldest will rock the baby to sleep and sometimes I will grab a quick catnap. Then we do chores and play until time to prepare supper. Usually we are outside either working or playing. Then we eat supper, clean up the kitchen, and head back outside until it gets dark. (We spend A LOT of time outside!!) We love nature and enjoy everything from the cows to the cicada’s crawling up the trees.
My girls don’t have a specific betime. Usually, we come in when it’s dark, get showers, grab a quick snack, brush teeth and go to bed. Then dh and I will stay up and do whatever until we are ready to hit the sack.
We don’t have a specific family devotional time. We read throughout the day or sometimes in the morning and sometimes at night.
I used to think that life would be great if we could do the same thing at the same time every day, but that just doesn’t work for our family. We never know what the day will bring…we just try to roll with the punches!!
I know there are probably things I do that I forgot to mention. I don’t think about them…I just do them. 🙂
Hi All,
I have a student husband 5 days a week with a heavy course load, 4 boys – almost 10yo, 6.5yo, 3.5yo and 10.5 weeks old. Right now I seem to operate on 2 types of schedule with one common theme – crisis.
One is to have the baby sleeping or being awake happily therefore I am doing housework and squeezing in some school at the basic phonics level or some Singapore Maths for the eldest in a rushed feeling of get all I can done while the baby is happy because usually a type two day will happen any moment now!
The other schedule involves me walking around the block most of the day settling an unsettled baby and getting absolutely none of my other things done. Obviously schedule one days follow the second as I try to catch up,
I will be grateful to get out of this stage but do enjoy those lovely baby goo’s and gah’s when he is awake on the good days and this is only a season.
Best wishes
Jen in Oz
hi Cindy from Australia :O)
Some background…. i am a SAHM with three small children dd6, ds4 and ds3. My husband works from 6:30 til 3:30 and sometimes til 5pm and sometimes weekends at the power station here. We live in town…
My day…
Get up and help DH get to work ie clothes, food, bits and pieces
Shower and God time – psalms at the moment and prayer for my day
Children rise, dress and breakfasted
Morning jobs- i like to get these out of the way by nine so that i can enjoy some time with the children (jobs always include kitchen tidy, washing, vacuuming of main room and general tidy of other rooms)
Outdoor time- now that it is spring i try to spend as much time outdoors either in our backyard, a farm we visit regularly or the park with bike tracks :O) i relax and direct as needed (sometimes behaviour, mostly something they could explore like examining seeds, finding insects, photographing birds, tracking ants :O)
Lunch – outdoors at the moment :O)
Rest time for an hour (my quiet time with the Lord)
Outdoor time again and afternoon chores (washing in and kitchen tidied)
Dinner Prep
Baths
Computer time (the children all have 20 mins each when DH comes home while we catch up and he winds down)
Dinner
Toilet, teeth, stories
Bed
I haven’t put any time in as i would be lying if i said i keep to a schedule. Children wake between 7-8am, lunch at 12pm, rest at 12:30pm, bed down at between 7-8pm and are all USUALLY asleep by 8:30pm. SOMETIMES :O)))
i then tidy my kitchen and have some computer time – am supposed to have prayer and bible reading time here but still avoiding it :O(
thank you again Cindy for wonderful and thought provoking homework. i am HOPING/ PRAYING to be able to homeschool beginning of 2009 (Jan is our start of year) so i need to start looking at how this will be best incorporated to suit my VERY outdoorsy/ NON bookish children!!!
In Jesus
Pauline
Ok, This is the best one I’ve come up with in years. It’s nearly work-able! 🙂
We have 10 children ages 18 to 1, and recently moved to a new state. My mom has some minor health concerns but moved with us and lives in an apt made from a detached garage (how priveledged I am!). DH works long hours, but is good about know the kids need him. All the children help w/ youngers. I’m still fighting that they shouldn’t have to do this month, but it’s working!
Between 5:30 and 6:30, wake, pray w/ dh
get devotions in if possible,
make little guys bkfst (cereal, toast, fruit or oatmeal cookies!)
7:00 get everyone up
8:00 everyone dressed, devotions and breakfeasted
8:30…littles are “distributed” amoung olders. Mom makes calls, gets mail out
8:30-11:30, I do school with younger individually. We have a detailed schedule in which others, including my mom, help out w/ the other littles.
11:30-outside time
12 lunch, clean up, get littles ready for “free reading”
1:30 Free reading for littles for at least one hour
school work with others
4:30, mom comes over so I can do desk work and clean up my room
5 : 00 chores and baths (olders take baths in am or pm)
6 supper
8 Daddy put littles to bed
That is our schedule, but what really helps is the following two things.
1. Everyone has their own laundry basket, and a day on which to do it. I even have the littles have their own basket, so I don’t, ideally, have to short which clothing is whoose.
2. We have a buddy in case mom can’t help, and to get shoes on etc
3. Eveyone has a ROOM of the house for a week. Encourages more responsibility. Otherwise, if you dust but someone doesn’t vacuum, your room still looks yuck!
hth
Monique Stam
I have 6 children, and the Lord has gotten us used to a lot of action, and let us know over a period of years that we need to be able to deal with just about anything!
21b going to community college, starting a business with dad, and planning a wedding.
11g reads like there is no tomorrow and loves “living history” books, in 8th grade
6b is going over the periodic table of elements ( he loves science!), in 2nd grade.
4b in Kindergarten. Also have a 2 1/2b and 8mos old girl.
We really do not keep much of a schedule.
We usually do short term and long term goals more than a schedule, my kids learn so much more when we stay away from schedules! It gives us time to dance around the house if we are having a stressfull day, or to skip our chores for the day and have a picnic outside, if it is raining we will make a HUGE tent in the living room. I have to give my kids a lot of time for questions, discussing things is how my 6b learns so much. My kids tend to teach each other things a lot of the time ( 6b is teaching 4b how to ad and the alphabet, 11g is teaching 6b his art course and helps him with his cooking).
No, we are not just all fun-and-games, but my kids beg me to do school ! My 11g has a goal of taking English Comp 1 at a community college when she is 12, and having her first book published when she is 15. My 6b collects things he might need to make his first robot, as soon as he can read a little better. My 4b can write the alphabet perfect, but my 6b is only this year writing letters but reads at a second grade level and is doing 3rd grade math!
We watch a lot of T.V. learning shows like Standard Deviants and Biology 101-Biology According to the Days of Creation. They play on the computer every day, they are pretty much only allowed learning games ( tycoon games are also learning games, they grow a business!). We do chores as needed, my 6b is begging me to let him do more. Our house is far from perfect, but it is worth having a messy (not dirty!) house in order to learn more!
One awesome thing I have learned; If you act excited, really excited about a subject, your kids will get excited about it too ( and usually you will forget you were pretending).
Wow! Everyone seems so organized. I’m going to feel bad about posting our “schedule”. : )
My name is Angie, and I’m engaged to Mike. I have 4 boys, ages 16, 15, 7, and 6. The two oldest go to the local public high school. I started homeschooling with my two youngest last year. We tried to get a schedule in where we could hit on each subject everyday, but that wasn’t been working for us. We were spending 8 & 9 hours in our classroom alone! Not to mention the things we did outside or in the kitchen or elsewhere in our home.
Mike works from 11 AM – 8 PM, so we are now starting our “school” day after he leaves for work. We usually have things to finish up after he leaves (clean up kitchen, hang laundry, etc) so we start around 11 AM. Boys can spend some time with him before he leaves too.
6:00 AM Two oldest get up & get ready for school & eat
6:30 AM Two oldest walk to bus stop
6:30 – 8:00AM Mom straightens up house if needed, throws in a load of laundry, gets the bathroom to herself! : ) Gets school things ready, checks email
8:00 AM Mike gets up, dress, we eat, I pack his lunch for work, we have some quiet time to talk
9:00 AM The two youngest wake up, dress, eat
10:15 AM Mike leaves for work
This is really where our schedule ends. Til about 11 Am the boys & I clean up kitchen, hang laundry, call Nana (my mom)
11 AM or there abouts … we start our school day … Pledge, song, prayer, we go over the days of the week, what today is, what yesterday was, what tomorrow will be, what season it is, what the weather is outside, go over our bible verse, talk about God, Jesus, what he expects from us. I’ve never really gone to church, but have been since I meet Mike & so we are learning all this together. I want my boys to know God & to be better people than they could be without knowing Him. We read a book, they do some copywork.
We break for lunch & some need play time … they have too much energy … I throw in another load of laundry, clean up the kitchen, hang laundry
About 1:30 PM (or about) Back to school … we work on phonics, sight words, reading, math, right now we are doing apples, so we have lots of books on apples, do apple poems, draw pictures of apples … you get the idea.
3:45 PM Two older boys get back from phs, eat a snack, clean up after themselves, read
4:00 PM We are usually done with our school day, Fridays we go to the library, since it’s been hot we sometimes go to my Mom’s & swim. After swimming the boys are starved, so they get something to eat. We go home, clean up (something that is never always done!), older boys usually walk down to a friend’s house, younger boys are forced out of the house to go play. They would rather watch tv, but it’s nice out & they are going out!!! LoL
Around 7 PM I’ll start getting dinner ready. Mike gets home about 8:15 or so. He leaves earlier in the morning so he can spend time with the boys before they have to go to bed.
We eat dinner when he gets home. Right now we are watching Planet Earth after dinner is over. They boys are loving it & I have to say so am I!!! Really awesome footage & I would highly recommend it to everyone. My younger boys can’t get enough of it & they just can’t stand having to wait til the next night to watch the next part! LoL Once the Planet Earth series is over we’ll go back to Mike reading a bible story to the boys everynight & then discussing it with them … and me. 🙂
Then the younger boys are off to bed, the older boys take their showers & get ready for the next school day & I usually have some questions & want more indepth knowledge of what Mike read to us that evening. So we sit around and talk about the bible & God usually until the older boys go to bed, which is 11 PM.
Well, they go to their room … they usually read for about an hour & then turn the lights off to go to sleep.
Mike & I will watch a movie or tv, surf the net, Mom finishes planning the work we’ll go over the next day.
We head to bed around 1 AM.
Weekends are usually spent doing something together. Mike is off every weekend, which is really nice.
Saturdays are usually lazy until the afternoon. We may go shopping or go to the flea market (most just to look around). We’ll spend the day at the park or if there is something special planned we’ll go to that. Like this weekend our town is having a Homecoming (parade, live music, car show, children’s games, inflatables & such) that we are going to. Next Saturday is the Apple Festival in Jackson, OH … so that fits in with our apple theme & we are planning on going to that & the apple orchard that is there. If nothing is going on we all tend to sleep in on Saturday … usually til around 10 AM. Yard work is done on Saturdays in the evening. We’ll have “school” if we took a day off during the week.
Sundays we all get up early (7:00 AM) Mike & I fix breakfast, we eat & then get dressed for church, leave for church a little after 9 AM. We get home around noon & fix lunch. For some reason everyone is starving after church! : ) After lunch Mike talks about the bible with us. The rest of the day is either busy finishing up yard work or something around the house. Sometimes we have something else planned that we go to (park if it’s a nice day … in the winter we’ll stay home). We have lots of board games & cards that we’ll play. We put puzzles together. The older boys like to spend sometime on the internet. Sometimes Mike will take the little ones fishing or something like that so they get some good quality time together.
I could learn to be more consistent, especially with scheduling and be more relaxed with everyone.
Thank you for making me think.
Tasha Stanton
I am 46 yo been married for 17 years, we have a 14 yods and a 12 yodd. We live in the Mts of NC pretty rural. My husband has always had a work schedual that we can not plan on him to be home at all really. If he is off from work he works for himself and also seems to be on call most of the time. You know those guys who when no one shows up they call my dh so he goes.
A day for us could be a Tuesday. 🙂 I get up at 5:15 AM with dh and send him off to work by a little before 6 AM. I do on on line bible study till about 7 AM then wake dd
she and I meet a walking partner and we walk from 7:30-8:30.
bible reading, devotional reading and prayer from 9-10 ish then
dc do chores for how ever long it takes them to get the things they need to get done. I too do some chores. I check email after that and after chore time
dc do some school work. They both work independendantly.
they also fix their own lunches, sometimes they even share what they fix with each other or me.
Piano lessons at 1:45 PM so often dd and I leave early and go to the library, second hand store, and animal shelter before lessons.
home around 3 PM we might do some read aloud, which we all enjoy.
have supper around 6
around 5 PM we try and listen to WGCR AM on the radio to be up on current event and such. A local preacher does a talk show and we learn all the true news then, not a biased news show.
in the evening sometime we play a game, read aloud, or if dh is home he might turn on the tv.
bed about 10 PM
that is what a day could look like but it sure is not what I would like our day to look like. 🙂 lol
I hope/plan to impliment some table time in our day right after our bible time, for a bit of time maybe 30 minutes total, just so I feel like we are getting some basics done. I plan on them to work on character/ bible notebooks, Language Arts notebooks and Math copywork at that time.
Nancy~Jane Holbrook
That last post was meant for the prior homework, sorry about the double post.
I have a 13 yo daughter and a four yo son. My husband has a regular day job, but does travel a lot. We have no family nearby and we have not used a babysitter. We are relatively new to the area.
We moved here for my DH to get a new job and our old home never sold. We can’t afford two payments anymore and we are moving back and he will work in a different office and travel 1 hour each way until it sells. I am trying to get ready for moving back and start school too.
I don’t have my school schedule set up yet, but it may end up similar to a public one, as long as she has her work done.
I bought her the “Connect the Thoughts” program which recommends 9-4 incl PE/elective until my DD can be more self motivated. I am planning on using Before Five in a Row w DS. We are also using Geography Trails (World) and Singapore Primary Math for DD.
This whole schedule thing is part of my problem. I need to be consistent.
My cleaning schedule is:
Daily:
laundry, clothing
DustMop/swifter tile floors for my zone, DD has her zones too
Mon: mending & Mirrors
Dishes, keep sink clean: I do T,Th & Sat (DD does M, W, F)
Litterbox and sweep area, I do M, W, F (DD does T, Th & Sat)
Tues-DD does her towels, I wash Toothbrushes and bath Toys in DW, and do Toes (clip toenails on Toes-Day)
Wed: I do cleaning towels (use instead of paper towels when possible)
Thurs: Dust-Day, I do my towels, and do something extra for my Hair
Fri: I do my son’s sheets and do Floors (vacuum/mop)
Sat: DD does her sheets
Sun: I do my sheets
I am also doing decluttering too.
That’s all for now. The dryer has stopped.
Hi,
I am a homeschooling mom to two kids. 12g and 2b. We get up each day around 7am. I get my husband packed for work and get breakfast made. We usuaaly will do math along with breakfast while the two year old is in his highchair eating. Then we do spelling of 10 common words my dd needs to learn. Then we are off to get ready for the day. After beds are made laundry is started then it is back to read aloud time. While I get the two year old a little morning nap my dd works on her Total Language Plus, which we just started this year. Along with some copywork and her vision therapy homework. After nap is it now time to make lunch. After lunch we will do more activities or projects my dd may be working on with the two year old helping and get everything ready for dinner that evening. Then afternoon nap time comes and We all take a little break. I get some computer time. My dd gets some quiet time and the two year old gets his much needed nap.
After nap we pick up the house and get dinner ready. We greet our daddy/husband when he gets home. Have dinner as a family. Then the rest of the evening is family time, bath time, bedtime.
That is our usual day around here.
Hi! I’m Rosanne Muncy. I have 9 children and homeschool. I’m an at-home mom. The ages of our kids are: 18, 17, 10, 8, 6, 5, 3, and twin 1 1/2 year olds. We live outside of a small town in WY. Oh, yeah, I’m 42 years old. I love my kids, my hubby, home schooling, being outside, reading, and being in God’s Word.
So here goes, our schedule:
I have a big confession: I SLEEP IN EVERY DAY BUT SUNDAY!!!!!
I know, it’s terrible. It’s horrible. Yes, but I love it!! 🙂
5:00 a.m. – I’m sleeping. My 18 yr old son gets up and goes to the gym to work out.
6:30 a.m. – I’m sleeping 🙂 My hubby wakes up, takes a shower, and leaves for work. Kisses me good-bye about 7:15 a.m. and I groggily say good-bye.
7:00 a.m. – I’m still sleeping 🙂 but my 18 yr old son gets home, showers, and goes to community college. He’s in the middle of applying for the Air Force Academy also.
7:30 a.m. – I’m still sleeping (or pretending to). My 17 yr. old daughter gets up, eats breakfast, showers, and starts school. She is in charge of her own schoolwork.
Also, my 5 little girls ages 3-10 get up and put on a movie. We don’t get TV but they are allowed to put on any DVD we have. Usually Roy Rogers or Veggie Tales. Sometimes it’s I Love Lucy.
8:00 a.m. – my eyes are still closed.
8:30 a.m. – My twin boys (age 1 1/2) are still sleeping usually but I start to get up. I get ready for the day.
9:00 a.m. – my twins are usually still sleeping so I have to WAKE THEM UP! I know, I know, it’s crazy. Let sleeping babes lie, right? Well, I’m a fool and I wake them up. If only to feed all 7 little kids at the same time.
9:30 – boys diapers are changed and they’re dressed. I’ve already started breakfast. Either oatmeal, muffins, eggs and toast or something similar. No cold cereal.
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – I start my bread (I bake all of our bread), and my 10 and 8 year olds do chores. My 6,5, and 3 year olds take a while to get dressed and clean their room. By 10:30 we’re ready for our Daily Devotions.
10:30 – We say a morning prayer, review the 10 commandments (yes, my 3 year old knows them), read a chapter in the Bible, learn our weekly Bible verse, and work on our hymn of the month. Then it’s time to start school by 11:00.
11:00 a.m. – As the twins and my 3 year old play around us in the living room (our house is an open environment. living room, kitchen, dining all in one BIG room), my 10 and 8 yr. old do Calculadder. My 5 & 6 yr. old start their Singapore Math.
Then, whenever someone’s done with a subject they take turns coming to me in my big chair for instruction or help. We use Singapore Math, Learning Language Arts through Literature, The Story of the World, Apologia Astronomy, Notebooking for U.S. History (idea from Cindy Rushton’s noteboking), Explode the Code, Building Thinking Skills, Italic Handwriting, The History of US, and I read a lot of library books. My 18 yr. old son works part-time at the library and we get lots of great books because he’s thoughtful enough to bring them home for his little sisters and brothers.
Noon – My hubby comes home amid shouts of “Daddy’s home, Daddy’s home”. We’re still doing school so the poor guy has to fend for himself for lunch. Sometimes he makes my lunch if it looks like we’re having a clingy day. Clingy days are when I have both boys AND my 3 yr old on me while I’m teaching school.
1:00 p.m. – Hubby goes back to work. Oldest son gets home from college, eats lunch and retreats to his room to do homework. 17 yr old daughter comes up and eats lunch as well.
1:30 p.m. – The 7 little kids and I eat lunch (if I haven’t eaten with hubby). The 10 and 8 yr old help the littler ones but they can manage on their own if the twins are fussy.
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. – Play outside!!!!!!!!! YAY
2:30 p.m. – Twins, 3 yr old take a nap. Oldest son goes to work, oldest daughter does chores. The rest either keep playing outside or finish up any schoolwork if necessary. Otherwise, they always have some kind of project. Either, crocheting, creating masterpieces, exploring, bug collecting, etc.
3:30 p.m. – Depending on day, we do different things.
Monday – stay home
Tuesday – piano and flute lessons for 8 and 10 year old, then Book Nook Club @ library twice a month
Wednesday – Storytime @ library for 3 & 5 yr olds (but everyone else listens and gets books they want) At 5:00 we all go swimming at swim team. 7:00 we go to Bible Study
Thursdays – stay home
Fridays – stay home
5:00 p.m. – Start dinner
6:00 – 6:30 p.m. – Hubby & oldest son home. Eat dinner.
7:30 – 8:30 p.m. – We all read or go outside. Oldest son may have homework or volunteer work with Boy Scouts.
8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. – get little kids to bed. Say family prayers.
9:30 p.m. – laundry, dishes, etc.
Bedtime – anywhere between 10 and 11 at night. If boys cranky then it can be as late as midnight. I don’t sleep well at night because I’m up a lot.
This is our weekday schedule.
Saturdays my hubby is usually hunting and takes some of the kids with him depending on what he’s hunting. We eat everything he shoots. I never buy meat at the market. We eat elk, deer, antelope, goose, sagegrouse, turkey pheasant, etc. Summers we all go fishing on Saturdays in our motorhome. Saturdays is also the day I get everyone’s clothes ready for church on Sunday.
Sunday – church starts at 8:30 a.m. and Sunday school is right afterwards. We come home, have a big brunch, and go riding bikes, go for a drive, do yard work, or just stay home and relax.
Well, that’s our schedule in the Muncy house. If I’m lucky, I get a walk every night. I go even in the rain and snow. Once a month my hubby and I have a lunch date, just the two of us. We love our big family and living in Wonderful Wyoming.
God bless you 🙂
Hello Ladies my name is Gretchen Morrison and I have my degree in Accounting and Elementary Education, but have decided to be a stay at home mom for right now. I have a wonderful husband who owns his own computer repair/networking company. I also have an adorable little boy whom we both dote on, who is 13 months old. We work on a routine schedule which can change often. I wish we were more scheduled, but I’m trying and that’s a start right. I am also trying to get up earlier so I can have my exercise time and some Bible time in the morning and evening.
Here we go:
7-8:30 alarm goes off and we all get up at sometime, usually when our son cries out to get out of bed to nurse(which happens every 3-4 hours)
8-8:30 make hubbies lunch and morning meal
8:30-9:30 hubbie leaves for work and mommy and baby have a little play time
9:30-10:30 morning meal for mommy and baby
10:30-11:30 morning play in bedroom with learning toys, reading and music time
11:30-1:30 baby nap / mommy cleans, checks computer, relaxes
1:30-2:30 make and eat lunch
2:30-3 baby computer work/play time with leapfrog programs
3-4 snack then upstairs playtime with learning toys, reading and music time
4-6 baby nap / mommy cleans, checks computer, relaxes
6-8 upstairs playtime playtime with learning toys, reading and music time and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with a snack sometime
8-8:30 dinner for baby and mommy (daddy gets it when he gets home, depends when that is some nights)
8:30-8:45 bathtime
8:45-9 bed routine- Bible story, cuddle time, songs, nursing then daddy does prayers and puts baby to bed
9-12 clean, quiet time with hubbie, bath, reading, hubbie does homework, keep up to date on school information, etc.
12-?- sleep, nurse around 4 while teething
Wow, this is quite the topic! We have a very different schedule at our house due to our handicapped son and some days we aren’t as consistent with the schedule as other days. But here is what we try to do.
4:30 – 7:00 Daddy and Mother get up, get dressed, devotions, exercise and get ready for breakfast
7:00 – 8:00 Family breakfast, dd puts up clean dishes from the dishwasher, dd & ds get dressed and ready for school
8:00 – 12:00 DD works on her school work (Switched on Schoolhouse)
9:00 – 10:00 DS and mom work on school work
10:00 – 12:00 DS works on coloring and educational movies
12:00 – 12:30 Mom fixes lunch for family
12:30 – 1:30 Lunch for the whole family
1:30 – 5:00 Mom works on the house and fixes supper, dd finishes school work, writes her aunt on the computer, helps with the her jobs. Ds keeps busy playing and then does his jobs.
5:00 – 6:00 Daddy comes home from work and we eat supper together as a family.
7:00 – 8:00 We do projects around the house and then kids get ready for bed by picking up their toys.
8:00 – 9:00 Watch some old time movies before they go to bed.
9:00 – Dh and I get things finished up around the house and if any dh needs to work on anything from work he does it after the kids are asleep
I am trying to work on having a more relaxed outlook on life with the kids this year. Having a handicapped child is different to teach than my dd but God is giving us grace.
Thanks Cindy, for all your help! You have been a blessing to our family. God bless you and your wonderful family.
Orilla Crider
I have four bouncing boys! 12, 9, 8, and 3. Try as we might schedules run from plan A (all those best laid plans of mice and mom) to schedules BCD and so on (those are all the revsions I have to make cause the 3 year old decided to make his own breakfast while mama was in the potty, and bigger brothers decided they didn’t want to get out of bed, and when you can’t find the 8 year olds shoes cause he left them in the car the night before). But when things are running somewhat smoothly we usually do something like this:
7:00ish mom trys to pray
7:30ish kids start to get up and snuggle with mom
8:00 Breakfast
8:30 Sid the Science kid on PBS
9:00 table time (one to two subjects each day, all done in no more than 30 minutes total as the older boys are all in the Autism spectrum and attention spans run short.)
10:00 Mom packs lunchs and takes care of 3 year olds needs (what ever they may be at the time
11:00 Take three older boys to therapy (drop off at 11:30)
11:30 to 4:00 run errands, clean house play with Noah (3 year old)
4:00 drive back to therapy to pick up older boys
5:00 arrive back home (rest …hahahaha)
5:30 make dinner
6:00 eat dinner
6:30 ish down time (computers , tv, etc.)
8:30 bed time for kids (gigggle) usually ends up closer to 9:15
9:15 house work, computer time for mom, lesson planning etc. etc.
Needless to say there is a lot of room for improvement. Our situation is a bit different from most folks and extremely chanllenging. I’m really hoping to learn from this wonderful group.
Blessings to all
Amber
Ok, I have to say “wow!” you darling ladies get up early! I’m feeling a little embarrassed. The only time I’m up at 6:00 is to use the bathroom! I just think the sun needs a little time to get started before I come into the picture.
We are a family or 4. Mom, dad, sister (9) and brother (4 months) and a loved (by someone, I’m sure) dog and cat. Dad works somewhat normal hours and is currently working from our house while his office building is being remodeled. When he goes back to the office, our schedule will change some. Mostly it will involve me getting up earlier-yuk.
We are in the process of trying to find a routine that works for us. I’m stuck somewhere in between wanting a fair amount of order in my home and being allergic to a tight schedule. I know, they seem like opposites, and now you see the problem. But, I’m learning a lot from dear, dear, Cindy Rushton, and hope is on the horizon. I would say we lean more on routines than a schedule. Also, with a new baby with reflux, my day is more or less governed by his needs at the moment. So, a normal day in our house might only happen once. A good day in our house is when some learning has taken place, some love has been shared,
everyone has clean clothes for tomorrow, and there was at least one meal! But Cindy asked for a schedule so here goes, I’ll share our “schedule” the best I can.
6:00 baby is up and dad is up with him; I just had to get credit that someone in our house is up at that insane hour.
8:30 mom showers and tries to grab breakfast and a quiet time
9:00 sister rises and eats breakfast while doing any number of things including handcrafts, playing with brother, and t.v. We’re changing our routine to exclude t.v. but that habit is dying hard.
After breakfast we do chores with the goal of being done by 10:00.
we used to start lessons whenever all other things were “ready”. Well, since that is nearly impossible, we were having some pretty bad school days. Now I require that we begin lessons at 10:00 regardless of what anyone is doing. This can be harsh because sometimes she is in the middle of a very worthy activity. But for my own sanity, we have to start by 10:00. Maybe the excitement to get back to that friendship bracelet, or that play she is writing, will be motivation to get her “scheduled” work done.
10:00 OK, so this is lesson time. On a typical day she will do some mix of the following: read and narrate a section of her Bible, listen to a portion of a history story read by me, we are somewhat following Lessons in History early American, math (ACE) copywork, fiddle practice, Irish dance and ballet practice, independent reading and narration, and notebooking- anything from any of the above subjects or life as it happens. (sorry about my terrible punctuation, I’ve got to brush up on those rules!)
That is our Tues.-Thurs. routine.
Monday is a tutorial with lots of great classes, including science, yay!
Thursday afternoon is fiddle lesson and two dance classes.
Friday we reserve for Bible, math, make-up work, and notebooking.
We try to finish up by 2:30, keeping in mind the many interruptions caused by baby brother.
2:30-5:30 free time for all.
This is when I finally get to check my e-mail and do all my fun computer stuff, like get my freebie from freebie of the day. This is a major change. After a very discouraging day not too long ago I begged God to show me how to simplify and get things done. He was faithful to show me that my daughter is not going to hop up and start lessons if I’m stuck on the computer. It doesn’t matter how worthy the thing is that I’m doing, it’s just not the right time for it. So, from now on, mom gets free time when daughter gets free time. I try to throw some house work in while caring for the baby and helping with lessons. I would say it’s working out better this way.
5:30 mom is cooking and sister is setting the table, etc.
We are incorporating a new routine at supper as well. We will be doing two things, one; memorizing scriptures that deal with who Jesus is, and 2; sister will tell daddy about her day (narration in disguise)
Whenever supper is done we all pitch in and get it cleaned up. After clearing the table, sister entertains us by practicing her fiddle while I finish up. Then we make sure the living room is picked up and that I have all I need to get through another night with baby brother. Then it’s free time till 8:30 at which time we read, talk, watch impromptu skits, dances, etc and hopefully fall asleep somewhere in the vicinity of 10:00.
Then I’m up several times .
Then we do it all over again and count how many days till Saturday!
So that’s it, our “schedule”. Nothing fancy and no records being broken, but it works for us, well, sort of! I’m still learning, and by the grace of our loving God, still improving.
blessings,
Beth
p.s. it’s 10:00 p.m. and daddy and daughter are watching a history channel show about 9-11. So you see what I mean about us not really having a schedule. It’s all just an ideal framework.
goodnight ladies, if mama don’t go to bed, don’t nobody go to bed!
We have a large family with 4 boys still at home. (18,16,14,11) Two are working outside the home during the day. I am going to start a new schedule next week. There have been some changes around my house and I have had to rethink my days. I will have two schedules: a schedule for days I have running to do and a schedule for the days I have the luxury of staying home all day. I’ve been struggling for the last couple of months to get something down for new routines and have asked friends to pray and I think I’ve finally got some answers.
On the running days, I will try to do my quiet time the night before so I don’t miss out on the most important thing. I will leave the morning free for running errands and taking walks. If the kids stay at home, they can watch educational dvd’s from the library and work on copywork or other subjects they don’t need my supervision on. If I get home early, I may take a quick nap to get refreshed for the afternoon. After lunch, we will do some quick basics for school and spend time reading. I will make dinner around 3 in time for my husband and the boys at 4. Our evenings are pretty chaotic, unfortunately. I would like to try and have a time after supper where we can at least read the Bible together before everyone starts doing their own things. With the kids getting older, they seem to be running in different directions. They are doing good things, but it is a little hectic. So, our evenings are play it by ear and survival. It is easier not to plan specific things in the evenings, then we aren’t disappointed when it doesn’t happen.
On days that I am home, I will start the day with a nice, long time with the Lord. Then, I will wake up the kids and get dinner in the crockpot for that day. We will get our school basics out of the way and while they are having free time in the afternoons, I will try to work on projects around the house and my music.
I do respite care in my home or keep my grandkids overnight on the weekends, so I try to keep a pretty loose schedule on the weekends. Sundays are reserved for morning and evening church and the afternoon snuggling up for a nap with my husband. Ladies with young toddlers…hang in there! You will do this someday too. I finally can after 28 years of motherhood! Of course, sometimes one of the kids will drop in and so much for the nap! But this is what we strive for.
This doesn’t seem like much of a routine, but I think it will give us a framework for all types of days. Although we only have four children at home, we have married children and grandchildren. Therefore, we have lots of interruptions. Your kids never stop needing you, which is a blessing!
Cindy, thank you so much for this topic. It forced me to write down my new routine instead of swirling it around in my head. I feel ready to tackle my life again : )
Linda Howard
Hi everyone,
I am Cynthia Albright, mommy to two blessings, MaryEllen, 8 and Donnie, 7. My husband is a manager at Pilot, and his hours fluctuate. We live in beautiful Georgia.
We just moved into a mobile home which we are fixing up, so right now the kids’ room is the living room. 🙂 Daddy gets home around 10:30 – 11pm most nights, so we all do not get to bed until around midnight. Some days he works early, and our day starts earlier.
Here is a typical day:
I get up at 8am to read the bible, check email etc.
Around 9am, I dress and prepare for our day.
Usually about 10am, the kids are waking up. Since they are in the living room, I wait until they are up before I start making noise in the kitchen. So now is when breakfast preperation begins.
We have a menu for each day. Mon- oatmeal, Tues – malto meal, Wed – pancakes or waffles (using leftover oatmeal from Mon), Wed – eggs and grits, Thurs – leftover from Wed, Fri -surprise (rice cereal, volcano pancake, etc.), Sat & Sun -sweet cereal days.
After breakfast, Daddy is preparing to leave for work to be there by noon. He has a 20 min. commute. The kids do morning duties (dress, teeth, hair, etc.) and we give Daddy hugs good-bye.
We start studies around noon. We start with Devotions. Then we move on the the 3r’s.
We have a snack and break for about 30 minutes, and then we resume with History or Science (we alternate days).
By now it is usually close 3pm. – We do any necessary chores and the kids have free time. They read, draw or do something quiet for atleast a half-hour.
Dinner is usually around 5-6pm. Depending on when we had our snack/lunch.
After dinner and clean-up, we do our read-aloud.
After read-aloud, the kids have to shower/chore/free time. Most of the time laundry isn’t done until this time and it needs to be put up.
Our day ends with dessert and a final reading.
The kids can play quietly until Daddy gets home. Sometimes they watch a short DVD.
Daddy comes home and we spend about 20-30 minutes with him before lights go out.
We do not go by time of the day because it varies depending what Daddy’s (Don) day is like. We take Cindy’s advice and go around his schedule. His days off are spent with family.
Somedays I do reward good behavior with computer time (30 min). Not everyday though.
That is pretty much it. I would like to have a ‘schedule’ schedule, but for now we need to go with the flow. As long as we are advancing in our studies I try not to get discouraged.
*********************
I enjoyed reading about everyone’s days. It always looks so nice written down. Like us, I am sure there are bumps in the road. But that is what is so good about homeschooling. If we do get behind, we HAVE the weekend to catch up or the WHOLE summer!! I love it and so do the kids.
Blessings,
Cynthia
After being on the road for the better part of three months – it is nice to be home and get back into routine.
For years I was a down to the minute planner and had everything scheduled in to the day. As my children grew and my health deteriorated I let a lot, of what I felt was important to plan, go by the wayside.
And we survived! LOL.
Now we have what I call a semi routine. It is a general routine based on things we need to get done as well as want to get done. It is flexible too – some days we do chores before breakfast and some days we do it after.
One given is time on our beds after lunch. This is generally till 2. How long it is depends on what time we get done with lunch but is usually an hour to hour1/2.
Wake between 5.30 and 6. Prayer time with the Lord before I get out of bed.
Kids up – Cuddle Time, Breakfast, Chores, Washing on, – All by 8 am (ish)
8 – 12 is learning time.
Lunch at 12 ish then onto bed time – reading, writing stories, or quiet time for everyone.
This includes me. I try to get my bible study and Lord time done during this time as the whole house is quiet. Some days I may take a nap and ask the kids to wake me at a certain time (so I don’t stay there 🙂 )
Afternoon is either play, some form of exercise (ie badminton in the back yard, swimming), or productive free time for the younger two, the older two will do some further studies but in an area of their interests. Chores finished here if not done in the morning.
Dinner is around 6 -7, then we have family time, this can included reading, playing a game or something like that.
Bedtime is 8pm with a half hour of reading. All my kids go to bed at that time…from my almost 15 yo (in a couple of weeks) down to my 8 yo. Then my husband and I spend time together and do the things we are both working on to get us out of here.
Our bedtime is between 10 – 11, unless hubby has an early shift.
Which brings me to his shifts. One week he goes to work early and one work in the mid afternoon and may not be home till midnight. That is also subject to sudden change depending on flying schedules.
So I have to adjust the daily routine sometimes depending what hubby wants to do when he is home during our morning bit of the routine.
Like getting our main meal ready for lunch instead of in the evening. So that’s where the flexibility is.
I still have a copy of my “old” schedule – but I would have to scan it and send it in because it is so full it would take far too long to type it in here. LOL. Glad God helped me relax!
Sharyn
Every year is so different! This year I have a 17yob that will graduate in May, a 15yob who is used to doing everything with his older brother, and an 11yog with whom I am developing a strong relationship with this year.
One of the ways my dd and I are developing our relationship is by me spending MUCH time with her, during her school time. Since she desires to be a SAHM when she grows up, we are working on things like arts/crafts, cooking, cleaning, and hospitality. I got a neat study called “The Fruit of the Spirit Teas” from CurrClick, years ago and we are using it. We intend to have one tea part each month. We are adding a craft to our time as well.
I start my day by getting up with my darling husband each morning. He fixes us both a cup of tea and then we go to different rooms to spend some time with the Lord. This is a vital time for me. It was harder to get up when my dd was little and would wake up during the night but after she slept through the night, it got easier. (Not easy, just easier . . . I am a night owl by nature and would prefer to stay up late and then sleep in but I married an early bird who cannot go to sleep without me in the bed, so I submit. 🙂 The other thing I realized is that not only do I not like going to bed but I don’t like to get up, no matter what time it is, so I just force myself to do it.)
At 7:00am, I fix dh’s breakfast and lunch. Then I finish my time with the Lord. Then I get dressed and ready to start my day.
We try to start school by 8 or 8:30am with our morning devotion (praying, singing, sharing what we studied the day before, and quoting memory verses). Then I do a read aloud (one or two chapters).
Then my dd and I go to my room and read the Bible and do some Bible study.
We then listen to an audio (currently Pebbly Brook Farm stories from Jill Novak or ones from homeschoolradioshows.com).
Then we read an article from Jill Novak’s Girlhood Home Companion—which is awesome! It has really touched on some areas that we’ve needed, here lately.
We move on through the following list, some days eliminating some items, as time dictates. We don’t focus on what we do or don’t get done (as we will ensure we do ones the next day that we didn’t get to today), we are ensuring that we are relating and bonding. We have had some great times together, already this year.
Art/Craft (latch hook rug, cross stitch, counted cross stitch, sketching, drawing, painting, or craft of some kind)
Spelling
Read book (currently Felice Gerwitz’s creation mysteries—which are really fun!)
Copywork
History (I have Pictorial Encyclopedia of American History that we are reading through)
Lapbook (currently zebras but many other freebies available in my saved files)
Math
Hospitality (this is when we plan our tea, make our invitations, menu, craft, etc)
Spanish
Then we Clean for 15 minutes (ok, so this is still something we haven’t gotten done yet but are planning to get busy with the Holiday Grand Plan)
She then practices her music (keyboard on the computer)
Wii Fit or Mario Dance Dance Revolution
Then she helps me cook dinner and writes in her journal before bed.
The boys are pretty much on their own after our read aloud time. Like I said, things are really different from other years.
Michele ºÜº
Ok, again I wanted to read all 100 posts here but I can’t do that so here’s my schedule keep in mind I’m not homeschooling yet but want to get started maybe you can help.
About my family: I’m Alyssa, 27 year old wife and mom to Baker (age 4) , Lily (age 18 months) and Brady Cade (age 2 months) currently my hubby works 8-5 and my son goes to PreK at a CHristian school from 7:30 am – 10:45 am.
I would like to start a “homeschooling” time for my 2 oldest possibly in the afternoons.
Here is my current daily schedule:
7:30 am Quiet Time
8:00 am Check my email
8:30 am Shower / Breakfast
9:00 am Client Work (I work from home as a ghostwriter)
10:30 am – I go pick up my son this takes 30 min or so)
11:00 am – Noon – Our lunchtime
Noon – 1 pm – I try to do some more work I also have a ministry so I work on that.
1-3 pm we do household chores and such (this is possibly a good time to do homeschooling
3-4 I do household stuff such as bill paying, budgeting, etc.
then we cook dinner, hubby is home around this time and I usually just do family time from then on.
I would appreciate all tips and advice!
~ Alyssa Avant
Our Daily Schedule
About me: I am Heidi Jo a 34 year old wife to one and mom to 4 (Anri 10, Celina 9, Samuel 5 and Elijah 4) My husband runs our family shoe business and works usually from 8 to 6 but also has to do much work at home. His days are very flexible, which we love. I have been homeschooling 7 years and use a very Non-schooling approach to our school. I love the ideas of Charlote Mason, Heart of Wisdom, and Classical, we love to use them all in different ways. I also work from home for my husband.
I use a check off list rather then a timed schedule. Being tied to a time schedule just did not work for us. Mostly because more often then note our days are not perfect! As I am sure you know. So I have a list that we go by and we just check off as we go. Everything usually gets done, but if school and chores are drawn out, free time is cut very short! Anyways…..here it is.
1. Wake up (very slow going at our house), eat, dress and personal devotions.
2. Morning Chores (this is when I start dinner prep)
3. Bible Time with everyone, even Dad if he is still home
4. School Review (a basic going over what is to be done for the day) and snack
5. Girl’s independent school (Math, Copywork, Art, Creative Writing, Foreign Language, History Reading) I do table time with the boys.
6. Lunch
7. Read Aloud
8. Finish Up school work/Mom’s computer time
9. Handy Craft (we are all working on cross stitching now, my boys usually build something)
10. Free time/Mom’s work time
11. Dinner and Devotions
12. Evening Chores
13. Bedtime for the kids
14. I spend time with my hubby doing projects and such
I find the simpler the better for us.