This is our first year, so I’ve never really seen what a homeschool student does all day. We’ve been at it over a month now and I have to say, my kids are soooo much less stressed than they were at public school. Of course they are! you say. They are sitting around at home all day, right?
Not exactly.
But we really don’t miss the pre-dawn hustle of dragging out of bed, scarfing breakfast down, searching for clothes and books and then scrambling to school (we never could get ready in time to catch the school bus at 6:40 a.m.) Sometimes before I could even have a cup of coffee. And for that, I say YAY for homeschool.
This is how a typical day goes in our homeschool:
I wake up at 5:00 a.m. to get my husband off to work by 6:00 a.m. (he’s awesome, by the way)
I have a few hours to sit in silence – my favorite thing as an introvert. I usually drink my coffee on our back porch, eat breakfast, make the bed, workout, shower and get some work done (I’m a writer) before the kids get up.
The kids usually wake up around 8 or 9. They head out to feed the animals and do their morning chores while I get breakfast ready.
School starts somewhere around 9:30 or 10:00.
*side note: In the beginning, I created a very rigid schedule with times and certain activities that had to fit into that time slot. I very quickly found out this did not work for us. It may work for others, but we just can’t fit into a schedule.
I created a weekly homeschool planner that’s really working for us right now. No time slots, no subjects. Just spaces to add in what I want them to work on at that point. The takes A LOT of stress off of me and the kids.
*Another side note: I created a free printable for you to download. It’s a little different than the one pictured, but the download has a TON of other pages that I know you’ll use. Just look on the right side of the page and you’ll see the download link.
The kids follow their lessons for the week that I make on Monday mornings. I write all of the expected assignments for the week. They can choose to do science all in one day, or break it up into 5 days, whatever works.
Lunch is around noon so we take a break and watch some Full House or Home Improvement reruns while we eat.
After lunch they finish their work by around 2:00 or so, depending on the workload. They have a snack and take a short break.
After a break, afternoon chores get done or sometimes we go straight into playing. We live on 20 acres in the middle of nowhere, so they do a lot of playing and learning outside.
On Fridays, there are activities for homeschoolers in the closest city like bowling, skating, etc and we try to do that every other week or so. It is a 35-45 minute drive each way, so we don’t always make those.
This is our typical day. Every other Monday we go to the local co-op for an extra bible, state history, science, and art classes.
I know this schedule will change as the kids’ change subjects and learning styles, but for now, this works for us.
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