A day in the life of a homeschooler

I am often asked by people what exactly do we do during homeschool (it varies) and how long we school for (it varies), what the kids think of it (they love it, most days), how I like it (I love it, most days)etc... So I decided to take pictures of a typical homeschool day so you can see what we are up to. So this is what our day looked like today.
7:00, Mom and dad's alarm goes off and in walks Anna. She is usually up before 7 and when she hears our alarm she comes wandering in our room for some cuddles.
7:20 After two snoozes it is time to get up, Jadon and Camden's shade gets opened and they slowly get out of bed and make their way to the living room.
8:00 Breakfast is served.
We typically do get dressed in our day clothes but today we decided upon a jammie day, overcast days are perfect for wearing jammies and being comfortable.
8:30 The kids play Rushhour Jr.

While I read this outloud to the kids

I have found that if I just make the kids sit and do nothing while I read, they can't focus and get easily distracted but if I let them draw or play with legos or play Rushhour Jr., they listen well and hear every word I am saying. Interesting huh? Well, it works. At any given moment I can ask them what I just said and all three will repeat word for word the sentence I just read. So it works for us. We read chapter 5 this morning. I just love these books!
9:00, devotions begin. The kids grab their own Bibles and today they navigated to Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Since Christmas we have been going through the Old Testament just hitting some highlights of each book. We got a great little guide from Berean that highlights each book and even points us to a few verses to read from each book highlighting the main theme/themes. The kids have also learned about the beginning books, the books of history, books of poetry, and the major/minor prophets. Next week we will dive into the New Testament and finish that this summer.

9:20, Chores. We incorporate some morning chores into our homeschool day. So after devotions the kids make their beds and feed the pets.

After chores were done they got a 10 minute break and the boys chose to do this

while Anna had to sit on her bed and do nothing because she got into some trouble during devotions.

9:40 After break it was time for spelling. Last semester I just worked with Camden on Level 1 of All About Spelling while I did a different spelling program with Jadon but this semester I brought Jadon into Level 2 of All About Spelling along with Camden (and Anna when she is not at preschool). I love this curriculum! I like how I can teach all the kids at the same time but still challenge each of them depending on their level.

10:00ish (I don't really look at the clock much during homeschool but I think our lesson was about 20 minutes today.)
The kids took another 10 minute break so I could make a phone call. Our daily work is written on the white board and we mark off as we go. This really helps Camden so he can see what still needs to be done and gives him a sense of accomplishment as we mark things off.

10:10 The boys worked independently on their grammar and math while I read with Anna. Jadon usually does his work at the school table

while Camden switches it up and works just about anywhere. Today he stood in front of the TV

Anna chose to read to me on her bed while wearing a blanket on her head.

10:35, Jadon worked on editing a story he has been writing. Our goal is to have them finished this week by Friday. Jadon's story is 5 pages long, written on college lined notebook paper, double spaced. It is about.....take a guess....reptiles of course. Since Camden finished his story on Monday, it was about Free Running, he had his reading time with mom.

Anna was playing a game by herself. The kids are pretty good about not interrupting me when I am working one on one. So Camden read this book today which is part of the Hooked on Phonics program we are working through. And he also worked on a 1 minute reading program that builds fluency.
10:55, Mom works with Jadon on reading. Today we read about classification of amphibians and reptiles. No surprise there. Jadon is working through a herpalogy lap book and the reading came from there.
11:10, I sent the boys to play legos while Anna and I worked on math while using these. Today we worked on subtraction.

11:30, We accomplished everything on our list and it was time to make lunch, eat, and get ready for Karate.

The boys opted for a pic nic in their room since they were very busy with legos. Yes, I let them eat in their room on the floor.

12:15, tummies are full and it's time to get dressed for Karate.
12:40, time to leave for Karate
1:00 to 2:20 Part of our homeschooling involves Karate at Kaizen Martial Arts Academy. I guess you can think of it as P.E. but it is so much more.



2:45 we pulled back in the driveway and our school day is done. Sometimes we will have work to finish from the morning but today we were able to get it all done before Karate. So it is free time the rest of the day. The boys have chosen to play legos while Anna is way too quite and I really need to go see what she is up to? Before I know it it will be time to make dinner, have some family time with dad, do our nightly chores, get ready for bed, plan for another homeschool day and then say goodnight world and wake up and do this all over again. I love homeschooling and I am falling in love with my kids even more, even through the challenges. Even though some days can be really hard (like Monday, bad. bad. day), we have days like today where everything runs smoothly and the work gets done and we all feel a sense of accomplishment.
It's now 4:28 and I really need to get some potatoes in the oven. It's baked potato night. Signing off for now, until next time!