a day in the life in our homeschool; 11 and 8 years old

I have been thinking a lot about our homeschool and where we are right now. I suppose that is typical with this point in the year. Due to winter-break-planning-notes I had made (and paid attention to), winter break 2015 was absolutely lovely and re-entry was a bit of a shock. January was a hard month for me. A lot of homeschoolers struggle in February, but it was January for me. I was going through a lot of deep thinking of where we were, where we were headed, and needing to get myself (and therefore our homeschool) unstuck. I found some new inspiration, made some subtle changes (some external to our homeschool, some internal attitude shifts) and things are feeling really good right now.

Art appreciation with a Brave Writer (Julie Bogart) Periscope replay

My kids are in a drawn out age of transition. Either that or I am in a drawn out stage of over-thinking! They aren't little littles anymore, but neither, not even my eldest, is independent yet. While both of our kids are sensitive, one falls into the highly sensitive category, with anxiety, as well, so I am always learning and re-calibrating when to set-limits, when to encourage and assist, and when to back off, support, and watch what unfolds independently. The reality is, that higher needs, intense kids can process their feelings in big ways that can affect the entire day for everyone, so I am ever mindful.


 


We have changed some of our activities recently, so this is our new normal...for now. I have been struggling with the lack of balance between (my awareness of) the value in all of the activities we have been doing with the lack of rhythm our days/weeks have had. The imbalance has been leaving some of us stressed out. I really want our lessons to happen in the morning, because I am less tired then! I like our afternoons to be for activities, projects, quiet time, play time, etc.

Our kids are part of a homeschool 4-H club, which has been such an incredible learning and growth experience for us. The challenge has been that projects meet once monthly, so it makes scheduling difficult and the inconsistency can be challenging for some kids. (A project at a given time once per month means nothing can be regularly scheduled at that time on that day of the week.) We also school through a charter. Charters are all unique, but ours offers weekly classes/activities, which we love to participate in.

Playing a homemade math game.

Morning:
I try to be up early, well before the kids, so I can exercise, meditate, and start the day before I have company. The day goes so much more smoothly when this happens. The last month or two (winter hibernating?) this has been harder. I am back at it now, waking at about 5:30am, getting some water, doing a load of laundry, exercising (short; less than 30 minutes, during which I listen to an audio talk, read, or check email on my phone), and meditating. Ideally, I can get a cup of tea and have 5 minutes to think about our day and my plans before I am joined by my tribe.

The kids are generally up with the first glimmers of daylight, which is ~6:30 am as of this post. I have begun letting there be time and space for their transition from sleep into our day. (It was happening anyway, but now I accept it and don't get frustrated by it, which makes a huge difference.) They might read, play, or do some handwork during this time. I make breakfast, which we have planned daily and repeats every week. (Monday; oatmeal, Tuesday; homemade granola, Wednesday; eggs and toast, Thursday; millet, etc.) I used to expect help from the kids for breakfast and morning table setting, but, for now, I am not and our flow is better. 

I plan our meals for breakfast and dinner. Lunches are leftovers or packed for day outings. When meals are planned ahead, meal time goes much more smoothly.

 Big sister showing little brother what a music measure is. Made Mamma happy.

After sharing our gratitudes and eating breakfast, which is our family meal of the day, we say good-bye to Daddy (around 8 am), and get ourselves ready for the day. I used to move the kids into chores from here, then a walk, but our day gets so easily derailed at this point, that now I just move into a morning read-aloud time. I have a selection of books I choose in advance, related to or from our main lessons, which I read aloud. The kids might return to their play, handwork, or might come snuggle with me while I read, but this is now cozy and comfortable, rather than at the table. Often, the read-alouds prompt insightful conversations. We do this for 45 minutes or so and then head outside for a walk or to kick the soccer ball around. (If the kids are squirrely, we head out for the walk before read aloud, so they can get their ya-yas out.)

Lala Bug hand sewed the skirt for her doll (which used to be my doll when I was her age).

We come back in for a snack and some lesson work time with math, writing, and sometimes other subjects. We are working together most of the time, sometimes on the same material (at different levels), sometimes on the same overall subject, but different materials. I have seen growth, because there used be distress if one child was working and the other child was excused and playing, but that doesn't seem to be an issue at the moment.

Lunch: 
By 12:00 pm, we are ready for lunch. I might read-aloud again at lunch time. (This used to be my main read-aloud time, but now the morning is, so it is less so now.)

Afternoon: Our afternoons are a combination of finishing morning lesson work, chores, quiet time, active time, play, lesson based projects, and/or out-of-the-home activities.

Evenings: We tend to be an earlier-to-eat/bed family than most, so we have dinner by 6pm, because any later makes everything later. The kids are ideally in bed by 8 pm or so. They share a room, which is becoming harder, and Lala Bug probably could use a later bedtime, but she isn't terribly independent and isn't clamoring to stay up later, so unless she is up later for some special (one on one) time, I selfishly want them both in bed so I can get a little wind down time and Hubby and I can have time before bed. When it slips to 9pm, I end up in bed late, too. (We have a small house and are do-it-yourselfers. Creative, light, less, right? This just means we are working on problem solving room arrangements for growing kids, one of whom has always had an intense need to be alone a lot.)



Mondays: Most Mondays we have our morning routine. After lunch we often have a 4-H activity. One of the Mondays the 4-H activity takes the place of our morning routine, too. Mondays, late afternoon, Lala Bug has ballet.

Tuesday: This just became a full day at home. After much consideration and some fruitless guilt, we have paused on the kids' morning soccer class. It is a homeschool group we all love, but the time just broke apart our whole day and I have been feeling the need to have some more consistent time at home. We just made this shift and we'll see how it works. Little Brown Mouse used to live for Tuesday morning soccer, but he is the one who asked for a break. Lala Bug used to just tag along, but she joined and is now so invested in soccer that she was reluctant to pause.

Wednesday: Our homeschool charter classes or activities day. (Classes happen twice a year for 6-8 weeks per session. This is alone time for me! The remaining weeks of the school year are activities, field trips, holidays, or testing.) In the afternoon, we have our weekly visit to the library, and Lala Bug has ballet again.

Thursday: With the exception of the one time a month that the kids have a morning 4-H project, this is our second home day of the week.

Friday: One of my kiddos is in occupational therapy and the morning was the time slot available. If we aren't dragging our feet, we can get our morning read aloud in before we go. Home for lunch and then to Little Brown Mouse's ukulele lesson.

Weekends: Family (extended included) and house DIY time. Sometimes we go camping (with or without friends) or to the mountains.

I drew one candle, then each child asked if they could add one!

It seems so lovely and straight forward all typed up like this. The reality is that, just as it is for most homeschoolers, lesson time is full of interruptions for multiple snacks, bathroom breaks, questions, and conversations. Additionally, I only touch on this a little, but with a higher needs child, chunks of time may be spent addressing issues that are extra challenging for the exceptional child and then, sometimes, for the child who wasn't getting attention while the sibling got attention. This makes me feel both challenged by and blessed to be home educating our children.

Life is definitely more full at this age and stage than it was when they were little.  I used to have no problem just being at home. Now, I am learning, again, how to set limits, while still supporting their interests.

What does a day/week in your homeschool look like?

Here is a little more about our homeschool:
Our Educational Journey
Saving a Day Gone Wonky
Homelearning Plan, grades 5 and 2 (although I tweaked a lot in January)
All posts under Homelearning