A Day in the Life: In Which I Explain Our Hectic Schedule

Since reading a friend's recent “Day in the Life” post, I've wanted to write an updated one. I reposted our “Day in the Life” from 2006 a few weeks ago, but I've been waiting for a “normal” day around here for weeks! Blizzards, sickness, and a crazy schedule have interfered until now, but this Monday will be as normal as it gets around here, even if it is Saint Patrick's Day!

Warning! Extremely long post ahead!

Monday, March 17, 2014

Early Morning: In Which The Day Gets Underway

The night hasn't been very restful, as I awakened at 3 AM or so and then again at 5 AM or so for no good reason. But I woke up before the alarm, at 6:15. I did some stretching in bed, then laid back down until after my husband got up at 6:30. I finally roll out of bed at 6:50. The house feels toasty warm by now, but the temperature shows only about 6 degrees outside.

Between 7:00 and 8:00 AM, I spend some quiet time snuggled into my cozy robe in the recliner, my favorite coffee mug in one hand and my phone in the other, getting caught up on Facebook. I pray with Bob before he leaves for work and then sort the laundry from Saturday for the kids to fold when they get up. Next I power up the Kindle to do my devotional reading and also read a chapter of a book on e-book marketing.

Our fourteen-year-old son James gets up earlier than normal, probably around 7:15. Bob calls Emily down several times since she needs to catch up on her missed schoolwork from last week, but the seventeen-year-old does not emerge. Suzy, age 11, turns up MUCH earlier than normal, around 7:45. Finally Emily patters down the stairs. The kids make some headway on their chores and get their own breakfast, usually just cereal. Sun streams in the windows which makes it easier to be productive.

Around 8:00, I throw in a load of laundry, then I change into workout clothes. I hop on the treadmill at 8:20 and walk while watching Raising Hope on Netflix. I have been seeking shows that are 22 minutes long since that's how long I want to walk. I am attempting to get back to running someday soon. A quick shower follows the workout.

Morning: In Which We Begin Formal Learning

We are supposed to start lessons at 9, but no one is going to be ready right on the hour. We are close today though! So, I pour another cup of coffee with French vanilla creamer and gobble a bowl of yogurt and Kashi. Time to corral the kids for the beginning of lessons.

Only ten minutes late! We start our Bible lesson by singing two hymns a capella: Stand up Stand Up for Jesus and Rescue the Perishing. I read a devotional and short prayer from Powerful Prayers for Your Family by David and Heather Kopp, and then we move into our prayer time, round robin style. Next is a lesson from Character Building for Families (volume 1 by Lee Ann Rubsam). The topic is cheerfulness illustrated with examples of Joseph and Samuel. To round out the Bible time, I read aloud a short chapter from Don't Check Your Brain at the Door by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler which refutes myths many believe about Jesus and the Bible.

A short aside here to note that, today, attitudes are bad. We have a card system for discipline and a couple children have already lost the bulk of their cards. I am determined to stick to it for the long haul, though, knowing the rewards will be worthwhile. (Note: both Tuesday and Wednesday's attitudes have been MUCH improved.)

While I have the kids all at the table, we cover the subjects that concern all of them. So, first we review some Korean karate terms and information for their written black belt test. Another subject we do all together is penmanship. This year we have focused on handwriting. Today's cursive page bothers them because, for the first time, there is no cursive model on the page for them to follow. They have to look at printed text, remember the cursive letters, and write them. This challenges them and there is some initial opposition. (Yes, I know that all my kids really should know cursive by now, but I recently realized that none of them know it well – too much typing, I guess! So this year's study is intended to rectify that.)

Next on the agenda is to check over last week's work to see if there are any incomplete assignments. Usually we do this on Thursday or Friday, but we neglected it last week. I don't like starting a week with last week's work, but sometimes it happens. Suzy knows what she needs to work on from last week. James has Logic lessons to finish and Emily has research and some reading journal entries to write.

Now is the time when Emily usually heads off for some independent work time. I review with her the manner in which she should be completing her reading journal and send her to the living room to finish it. While she is doing that, I read the next history lesson to James and Suzy from Mystery of History 3. The topic? John Knox and the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. While I do that, Suzy colors a page from her famous landmarks coloring book. She usually tries to find one with a corresponding location to our lesson, so today she colors the Highland mountains.

Doing independent work

After the history lesson, I tell Emily to stop journaling and get on with her research. She is writing a research paper on Michigan's role in the Underground Railroad, but she is clueless as to how to accomplish the research. This task requires a lot of abilities that she struggles with – time management, skimming and scanning, choosing information, higher level thinking skills. She is way behind on the research for this assignment, mostly because she really doesn't know how to manage it, or even how to know what information to locate. Something else she needs to learn is to ask for help when she doesn't understand. I can't help her right this minute though, so I tell her to find her thesis statement and review it.

James needs some help with his logic lesson from Introductory Logic from Mars Hill (Canon Press), so I sit with him and explain the concepts while he does his incomplete exercises. During this time, Suzy does her art lesson – watercolor on a wet outline design from The Usborne Book of Art Ideas.

After they are finished, I quiz first James then Suzy on their spelling words from Spelling Power. After the quiz, each one goes off to practice their words and write sentences.

Somewhere in there I ate a muffin with butter and raspberry jam and got the last half cup of coffee. Today might be a day where I wish I had more coffee.

Now I have a bit of time to work with Emily on her research question. We do a rough outline of her topics and I reiterate how she should take notes. Then I move her to the table with her materials and set her to taking notes.

While she is doing this, James is working on his German lesson. He is using the free service at Duolingo and he NEVER complains about doing it. He seems to be making satisfactory progress.

Suzy has disappeared upstairs. I wonder what she's doing up there. But I realize the kids might want clean uniforms for the karate promotion this afternoon so I move the wet load to the dryer and wash the doboks (Korean for uniform). I do my hair and makeup. Suzy comes back down and tells me my hair looks pretty. :-) Then she does 20 minutes of math on Khan Academy.

Afternoon: In Which We Work Independently

I get myself some leftovers for lunch and instruct the kids to feed themselves from Leftovers Only today. Usually they are allowed to make their own lunches, but the leftovers are taking over!

At 12:15 or so, I sit down to work on my paid work hours. We have to leave in a couple of hours, so I want to get as much done as I can before we leave. Suzy is doing the dishes. She knows it's her job and she whines about the amount of dishes (which truly is quite a lot) but she does them without any prompting.

After about half an hour, I think about the wet uniforms and go transfer them to the dryer, hoping it won't shut off unexpectedly as it has a tendency to do. When I sit back down, I have received an email about our possible roof loan, and so I look up some numbers to answer the email.

After a few minutes, I have to confiscate James' phone because he is playing a game instead of doing his schoolwork. He moves on to reading A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I set Emily another goal for her research note taking. Suzy is still doing dishes which seems like it's taking a long time though possibly she has done some other things in there too.

Suzy finishes the dishes at 1:13 and I hear her run upstairs. After a couple of minutes, I inquire as to her next activity and get her started on her Teaching Textbooks 6 math. I plug in headphones and attempt to do an hour of concentrated effort on my work. I am listening to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

After about half an hour, James brings me his answers for the first chapter in A Study in Scarlet. We discuss them briefly and then I go over the instructions for the paragraph I want him to write as a response to the reading. He heads off but returns shortly, complaining loudly about the IEW requirements of the paragraph I have assigned. I am firm and send him off with many admonitions for silence.

At 2:00 Suzy reminds her brother and sister to get their uniforms on. I am still attempting to work.

Mid-Afternoon: In Which We Leave The House

At 2:25, we leave for our 3:00 karate class. We recently bought a “new” van with a CD player. After a more than a year without one in the car, we are appreciating having that convenience again. Sometimes we listen to educational CDs, but lately we have been listening to the soundtrack of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which everyone enjoys.

Red 2 Gold:
less than a year to Black Belt!

We arrive at karate a few minutes early and my oldest child is already there. YAY! I love to see him. David is 19 and in his first year of college about 45 minutes away. He lives on campus, so we mainly see him at karate class. Today all my kids are being promoted to Red 2 Gold level. I dropped out of karate 3 months ago, so this is the first promotion I have not participated in. I don't feel sad though.

While the kids are in class, I work for about 35 minutes. (Thankfully the karate studio, or dojang, has wi-fi.) David leaves a bit early, giving me a hug and a kiss before he goes. This is exam week for him – the last week of term 2 - so he will be home on Friday for a couple weeks of break.

After class, we run next door to the shoe store. Suzy is in need of some new athletic shoes since she has none that fit that are also suitable for volleyball. She finds some she likes very quickly which is a miracle, made even more miraculous by the fact that I can afford them.

We head out to meet my husband. He is off 1 hour early today to go to a 5:00 doctor appointment. The timing worked out well for him to take the older two kids home on his way. Otherwise they would have to stay in town with me because Suzy has her first volleyball practice tonight.

Evening: In Which One of Us Plays Volleyball

Sitting in McD

Suzy and I head back to town to sit at McDonald's to eat dinner and finish the last 90 minutes of my work hours. The internet is SO SLOW at McDonald's that it's driving me nuts and ruining my rate per hour. Some teenage girls giggle madly for a long time in the corner booth. V. distracting. (At home, James heats up some more leftovers for dinner.)

While I work, Suzy does a few of her assignments. She writes 6 sentences about the chapter she read in Stuart Little. She types them on my phone since she forgot to bring any paper. She also does 10 minutes on the DragonBox algebra app. Last she completes a speed reading exercise from an A Beka speed and comprehension book. (One of the few things I like from A Beka)

Suzy (pink shirt, NEW blue shoes)
with her gr 4-6 team

After my work hours are complete, we head over to the school where practice is being held. We are a few minutes early. Suzy has been here before, but I have not. This attractive middle school has a roomy pleasant gym with a glossy floor, currently occupied with lots of kids working on volleyball skills. Suzy's practice isn't until 7, so we go back out in the hall. She bounces the ball around while I play on my phone. After a while, Suzy's best friend and teammate arrives. Her mom is my good friend and she and I chat for a while before she heads out. I settle in to watch practice and to read on the Kindle app on my phone.

Practice ends at 8:00. A couple of my friends have arrived with their older girls for their 8:00 practice. I chat with them for a few minutes then head out with Suzy. On the drive home, with Joseph on the CD player, Suzy falls asleep. Long long day for her!

Volleyball drills

A quick stop at the post office is the last thing for us before we arrive home. We don't have mail delivery in our small village, so a stop at the post office is nearly a daily occurrence.

When we get home, I gently poke Suzy awake. Inside, Emily is working on her research and James is napping on my bed. They both have accomplished some of their lessons while they were home alone. The internet is out again, which is annoying. These outages have become more and more frequent over the last few days. I fiddle with the modem and after a while it comes on, but it is intermittent all evening. Hopefully when our new modem arrives, the problems will be resolved.

Nighttime: In Which We Begin to Fall Asleep

Suzy's bedtime is 9:30, so I send her off, then realize Emily is not accomplishing much in the way of research. I redirect her to do her free reading for 30 minutes and then journal writing for 5 minutes, so at least she can mark SOMETHING off her list.

Being Silly with James

At around 10:00, I tell Emily to shower and go to bed. James is supposed to go to bed too, but he bribes me by rubbing my neck, which has been bothering me all day. The internet has come back on so I watch Merlin on Netflix. The internet cuts out several times during the show. Annoying. After the show, I send James to bed and watch one more show by myself – Last Man Standing. By this time, it's 11:15 and I am exhausted, so I go to bed.

The Overview: In Which I Analyze the Day

Yes, this really is an average “good day” in our home education. We started fairly close to 'on time'. I spent the morning working with the kids and got my work hours done by early evening. We often have afternoon or evening activities, so that part is normal. The attitudes were a bit worse today than average. I know this can be solved with consistency.

One thing I really need to work on with these kids is QUIET WORK TIME. Each one feels perfectly entitled to talk aloud or make noise at any time of the day. James really has been loud since the day he was born. When he was a baby, I had to change my style of homeschooling because his noises were such an disruption. I could not read aloud. He continues to be a loud kid. Now that he's 14, I think we can reasonably expect him to know when it is okay to be loud and when it is unacceptable. I don't mean to single James out. All of us, including me, can work on this.

If you made it to the end of our very long day, I congratulate you! Any questions?

A Look Back at a Day... Eight Years Ago

A friend posted a "day in the life" post on her blog and it made me think of this post I wrote eight years ago. Wow, how life has changed in eight years of homeschooling. My youngest is now the age that my oldest was when I wrote this. Enjoy! Maybe I will give you an updated look at our homeschool day sometime soon.

Tuesday February 21, 2006

BIO – We are a family of 6.  Bob and I have been married for 18 years this June.  Our children are David - age 11, Emily – almost age 9, James – age 6, and Suzanne – almost age 4.  Our children have always been homeschooled.

CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP  At 7:45, my alarm startles me out of sleep and I see that Suzy, age 3-1/2, and James, age 6, have climbed in bed with us at some point.  I thank the Lord for a king sized bed for the umpteenth time!  The four of us cuddle and chat.  I do an impromptu speech lesson with James – pronouncing “licorice”.  We work on his speech sounds throughout the day, as they come to our attention, since he has trouble with several speech sounds, including “L” and “R”.

Around 8:05, I haul myself out of bed and my oldest, David, age 11, comes pounding down the stairs, also jumping in bed with Daddy for a quick cuddle.  Emily, nearly age 9 and the late sleeper of the family, is still asleep and will probably have to be awakened sometime soon.  I peer outside to evaluate our Michigan winter weather conditions and notice a few snowflakes floating down.  The high today is expected to be 33, which is warmer than the last few days but still not warm enough for extended outdoor play, depending upon the windchill.  So, another day of indoor activities looms ahead.

Suzy announces, “Me made your bed, Mom!”  I thank her, grinning at the mental picture I get of the bed's appearance.  David shares some Everlasting Gobstoppers with his siblings, bought with his own money; this is not our usual before breakfast fare, but still a sweet thought.  Emily appears, to my surprise, and  I ask her jokingly if she smelled the candy and she says YES!

By 9:00, all beds are made (or so I'm told!), breakfasts are eaten, heads are combed, teeth are brushed, and bodies are dressed.  It's time for school!

“Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love,” I sing out, calling the children to the kitchen table for Bible study.  This is the opening line to the hymn we are currently learning.  They come running, with schoolboxes in tow, joining in with the song.  I have seen the singing of hymns disappear from modern churches and I am determined that my children will be familiar with a number of these masterpieces, so we learn a new one each month.

Today in Bible study, we are studying the character trait of Deference, which has been a real eyeopener in our home.  Thankfully my children have risen to the challenge of deferring to others and I've seen a real change in their behavior in the few days that we have been working on it.  Hopefully this new trend continues!   We are using Character Building for Families: Volume 1 by Lee Ann Rubsam.  We alternate character studies out of this book with units from our regular Bible study book – Bible Study Guide for All Ages: Volume 2 by Charles and Mary Baker.

After Bible, most days we do Art.  I have found that my children tend to do their regular schoolwork better if they have done something creative beforehand, so I've instituted art as the second subject we study each day.  The main resource I have been using for our lessons is How to Teach Art to Children from Evan-Moor Publications.  This is a great book that teaches the 7 art elements with great step-by-step directions.  We are currently studying texture and today's project, scratch-board paintings, has been a 2 day project.  The paintings turn out wonderfully, with multicolored highlights shining through the black finish!

Next is Science which is the most challenging subject for me to teach.  After a false start earlier this year, we are now doing a unit study on ecology using The Earth Book from Learning Resources.  Soon we will begin a study on Nutrition.

I move on to History with David and Emily while Suzy and James, who take a break from schooling at this point, play a new Sesame Street game on the computer. We are using Mystery of History Volume 1 by Linda Lacour Hobar this year and our topic for today is The Trojan Horse.  This history curriculum is just what I have been looking for and I plan to stick with it throughout the 5 volume series.  (Volume 2 is currently available.)

Bob leaves around this time for a worker's compensation vocational counseling appointment and some errands.  He is looking for work after being injured on the job 4 years ago and having been under medical care for most of that time.  My kids have really been blessed to have their dad at home with them, even though it's been a long recovery for him!

At 10:30, we finish history and have some pretzels for a snack.  I decide to make banana bread with Suzy while James does his math.  First he does a math test out of Math-U-See Alpha and then I have him work on addition sentences with the Learning Palette (Educational Insights).  Emily does a Math-U-See math test also, from the Beta level, and David, who is waiting for delivery of Math-U-See Epsilon, does 3 math pages from a book on metric measurement.

After math, Emily reads Luke's Fate (a Star Wars reader), David reads The Phantom Tollbooth, and James reads a Bob book aloud with me.  I read a Bob book to Suzy at her request and then she looks at some herself.   I confiscate a green sticky ball from the boys and redirect them to their work as I make some notes for the day.

It's time for Alphabet Island Phonics with James; he is working on 3 letter words with short “a”.  I supervise David doing Handwriting at the same time (cursive h)and then he begins his Electronics study.

Emily, who says she has finished reading, needs some redirection.  I take a balloon away from her and point her toward her Handwriting book.  David and I have a disagreement about how far he is in his electronics book.  He's been working with his dad but not doing the written work.  He says it is hard and makes his head hurt. I encourage him to keep at it and I'll help him later on.

We can all smell the banana bread cooking now – yum!  Emily has finished handwriting and is now reading a short book about Helen Keller – she has a minor fit when it becomes apparent she has not read the whole book even though she said she had and I send her back to read the rest.

At noon I take the bread out – yummy!  Suzy is so proud of it!  David is my helper for food preparation today.  Lucky for me – he decides on a meal (chicken noodle soup & biscuits) and then cooks it all.  Suzy sets the table.  James is playing computer and Emily is reading.  Those 2 will clean up meals today.

At 12:25, we sit down to eat.  I try something new I read about – reading aloud to the children while they eat, and eating my own meal afterward.  I pull out Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis and they cheer!  T

One of my biggest downfalls as a homeschool mom is my lack of reading aloud to the kids.  Our schedule is so full and varied that I have found it difficult to find a regular reading aloud time. Combine that with my general dislike of reading aloud (It's so SLOW!) that we haven't made it a priority.  I generally feel quite guilty about that and when I heard the suggestion to read aloud during lunch, I felt that maybe this was our solution!

After lunch, Emily clears the table, James does the dishes, and David starts his folding.   In our home, we have what we call “1:00 Jobs”.  We do 2-3 loads of laundry a day and it all gets folded in the afternoons.  Each child, even Suzy, does his or her own folding and puts it away.  They each have an additional folding job, such as matching socks, folding washcloths, etc...  Besides the folding, they each complete a chore.  David washes a couple of windows, Emily cleans the bathroom, and James does some dusting.  Suzy takes the recycling out to the bin.

David has such a great attitude today!  A little praise during lunch-making has gone a long way!  James, on the other hand, is being especially recalcitrant during 1:00 Jobs.  No matter, it all works out in the end.

Slipping my shoes off for a minute, I check my email while the kids do their folding.  Most of the schoolwork is done now, with just a few odds and ends to finish up.  The kids finish their chores and James puts in the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD.  We've been watching either this one or the Word Factory every day and it has been helping reinforce his phonics lessons.  All the kids watch, even though it is obviously aimed at lower elementary age children.   After a while, my friend Jen signs on to AIM and we chat for a bit while the kids finish their DVD (and I finish my Diet Coke – ahhhh!).

Just about 1:45, the DVD ends, and I sign offline.  I work with David and Emily on English From the Roots Up (Latin root of the day: video/visum).  While they are making their memory cards, Suzy colors with dry erase markers on a large dry erase board and James plays on the computer (Toy Story).   I strip the sheets off my bed and throw them in the washer.

Once they finish their root word cards (it takes them different amounts of time), David and Emily each have Spelling Power to do.  While I give David his words, I mend a shirt.  Seeing me sew, Suzy decides SHE wants to sew as well.  Not being prepared for teaching an almost 4 year old to sew today, I pull out the lacing cards and she plays with those as I finish spelling with both the older kids.

At 3pm, we have the banana bread as a snack.  I have a difficult time setting aside some bread for Bob to have when he gets home as the kids enjoy it so much!

By 3:15, the kids have donned snow pants, boots, and assorted winter gear and headed outside.  It is a lovely sunny day and much warmer than I imagined it would be, so I think they should be good for at least half an hour outside.

Just before 4pm, I call the kids in as they have pleaded to watch Cyber Chase (PBS) today, one of the very few TV shows that we watch.  While they watch the math show (today's concept – mathematically predictable body proportions), I blog and read email.

The remainder of the afternoon is free time for the kids as I straighten up and make dinner.  Suzy sets the table for me (not without some drama over her favorite plate being dirty) and David assists me with some dinner prep.  After dinner, Emily and James clean up.  Tonight the older 2 kids have baths; the younger 2 had theirs last night.

It's 9pm and I've just tucked the last child in after a few rounds of Uno and a couple picture books.  Now I'll exercise, check email again, spend a little time with my husband and settle down to watch a DVD before heading off to dreamland myself somewhere around midnight.   It's been a long fulfilling day at home!

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Hope you enjoyed that look back! I have been reminded of some important ideas that may make their way back into our lessons.