If you’ve been reading here long, you know that I keep a very loose schedule during our school days. I like to have a general routine in place, but just about every day looks different depending on the needs of the moment.
For instance, this week our family is helping with our local Meals-on-Wheels. Matt’s been taking two boys with him each morning. We’re just rearranging the schedule a little bit to make this happen. We want our boys to understand that serving others comes first (and that they still have to get the school work done later!).
As is our tradition, we hit the store last week to purchase a few school supplies, then went out for lunch.
We’ve had this before-school tradition for at least seven years and we look forward to this treat every year!
Here, without any specific hour of the day assigned to each line item (because it truly is different each day), is what I’ve outlined for our routine this year. (Read the specifics about the curriculum we’ll be using here.)
1. I wake up first in our household. After beginning my morning with prayer and Bible reading, I use this quiet time to check email and do website work. (one hour)
2. The boys wake up and spend time reading their Bibles while I fix breakfast. (20 minutes)
3. We eat breakfast together and during this time, I read the Bible and a devotional book to everyone. (We’re reading through the book of Matthew and More Than a Carpenter, by Josh McDowell right now.) We work together to clean up the kitchen. (one hour)
4. Asa, Justus and Elias begin working through their assigned school lessons – doing what they can do on their own (math, English, etc.). I work with Malachi on reading, phonics and math. (one hour)
5. I read History/Geography to Justus and Elias. Malachi does individual work (if possible) or plays legos. Asa continues to work on his own. (30 minutes)
6. Justus and Elias work together on their History/Geography projects (Eastern Hemisphere Explorer, adapted from Sonlight). I read History with Asa (mostly because I want to learn myself!). Malachi does puzzles or magnetics. (45 minutes)
Malachi had a great time working on these Three-Letter Words Puzzle Cards today.
I highly recommend them if you have a beginning reader. I think I got them at Walmart,
but linked them to Amazon if that’s easier for you, and so that you could see what I was talking about.
7. Matt does Spelling with Justus and Elias, then works with Asa on Science, Spelling and/or Spanish (depending on the day). Malachi is assigned to work in his Explode the Code books. I check email and take care of any pressing website work, then I work on fixing lunch. (one hour)
8. Lunchtime! Matt leads us through Bible memory work. While we eat, I read a read aloud. (I eat a little faster than my kids, by the way. That’s why I’m able to read while we have meals. Plus, this helps mealtime be a little more…calm.) ;)
9. I read Science to Justus, Elias and Malachi, then they work on their Science Animal Project, with help from me as needed. Asa works on his own. (30 minutes)
10. Justus and Elias have their reading time. Asa works on his own. I read to Malachi. (30 minutes)
11. Everyone finishes their assignments for the day and works together to put away books and tidy up the house. (however long this takes)
12. Downtime, Curious George time, trampoline time, mess the house back up time – for the boys. I try to get some writing done or answer emails. (2-3 hours)
13. Work together to make dinner, then eat together. We visit or read aloud while we eat.
14. Evening times look different every day depending on whether we have company, soccer games, Bible class or a free evening. Bedtime is therefore flexible, but always includes family prayer time and sometimes more reading aloud.
15. After the boys are tucked in, I do more website work while Matt gets any work done that he needs to do.
Here are all of my past home school posts if you’d like to read through them to learn more about how this works for us!
I’ll be sure to let you know if ever a day actually goes exactly according to schedule. Don’t get your hopes up.
Do you like to keep to a strict schedule each day, or do you hold a loose routine like we do?
I am so enjoying your website! I am currently putting together out school schedule (we have 6 at home, 1 is married), we begin on the 15th of this month. I actually used those flashcards when my oldest girls were little! They loved them. I still have them, I will have to get them out again! Thanks! :) We have an 18, 11, 8, 6, 4 & 2yo. I have found that we do a lot more orally than on paper, so this year I do want to incorporate more “paper” work and wkbk work. I love your recipes and see that we have a similar style :) So pleased to see a mother who loves the Lord and is raising her children for God’s glory!! Oh, I liked the picture of your bookshelf! Our bookshelf looked like that once!! :) I put everyone’s books in small see-thru plastic totes. They have their name on the front and used to allow them to decorate with stickers, but that got completely out of hand LOL. Thanks again for the inspiration. God bless!
Zen :)
Thanks for sharing your schedule! I love knowing more about what other home schooling households look like on an ideal day.
We’ve had a very go with the flow schedule for our almost 11 year old since I finished graduate school just over 3 years ago. The first semester after I was done was a little more structured because I was teaching at the University, but budgeting issues meant my position was no longer available. Since we no longer had things that we had to get done we just did work when ever.
Since that time we’ve added two little ones to our family and I feel the need to have more structure to our days, especially since the youngest was born 4 months ago. Going from 2 children to 3 children really just overwhelmed me. We have been working on setting up routines, doesn’t have to be the exact times, although I would like that, but in the morning we do xyz. On Friday we do a library run, etc. It helps me feel like I’m more in control.
We don’t home school, but summer time can easily devolve into chaos if there’s no structure. My kids have a morning routine that they must complete before anything “fun” is done. Eat, brush teeth and hair, dress, clean rooms, make beds and complete their daily chore.
After that, we stay pretty busy. I try to schedule at least one major thing a day. Swim lesson, library event, etc. On the days we have nothing, though, it’s good to just veg-out and relax.
Interesting day – I do something similar in that I have a basic framework but each day looks different!
Have a great school year!
I admire your ability to homeschool. I am not a great teacher and therefore, do not school at home, except for things like art (we don’t have an art program at the elementary school) and some other things.
I recognize that Wal-mart aisle, I’m from Geneva and a friend of mine told me about your site (she’s from Exeter).
I am working on trying to get healthier in cooking, but it’s a slower process here. I do like your new cooking e-books, by the way!
Fun – maybe we’ll run into each other sometime!
Great post! I love your organization, flexibility, focus on doing things as a family and focus on God. May God bless your family and your year homeschooling!
Wow! I am in awe of you right now.
I have just recently discovered your website and have been making lots of yummy food from your recipes, and even made a gallon of hand soap (thanks for that!).
I have four kids as well (14,11,9 and 20 months) but do not home school, and I have to admit that I am looking forward to the structure that is coming up with the start of the school year. Our summers have NO structure whatsoever.
I love that you encourage your children to serve others first.
Haha! Thanks for this post. It is reassuring to see how other homeschooling families handle life. We have a schedule, though, like you, I don’t think we have ever had a day in which we followed it completely. Writing out the schedule helps me to evaluate how we spend our time and to avoid OVER-scheduling. My goal is to complete all our school work in the mornings, leaving the afternoons for things like co-op, reading clubs, imaginative play, naps, and helping our elderly neighbor.
Like you, we enjoy read-alouds. Last year I began doing listening lunches. We subscribe to myaudioschool.com which has a ton of audiobooks categorized by historical time period. This enables us to listen while we prepare and clean up lunch together. It also saves my voice :-)
Thank you for sharing! I am so excited about our first year of “school” starting soon with my 3 year old :-) Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
Thanks!
You aluded to it – but do you have any advice on teaching table manners…or at least not eating like a barbarian? My son is one of those that it doesn’t come naturally to – you know, falling out of chairs, can’t seem to sit for an entire meal, even chairs near him fall over seemingly unexplained. It’s hard not to scold him because we’ve always had pretty routine, well-rounded meals at the table as a family. He’s 7 and it seems like he should have fallen in line by now! We try reading a little, but I eat moderately slow. Also, if we read he just listens really well instead of eating. He’s the kid who has a lot going on in his brain and heart, but his body hasn’t kept up. So, talbe manners advice, please?
Sounds like your guy is a ball of fun energy!! I guess I don’t have anything wonderful to suggest – our six year old doesn’t like sitting through a meal either, even when I’m reading. We just continue to remind him to sit and listen (and eat!) – and if he truly is being naughty (disobeying us), he is punished (loses dessert privilege or Curious George time later).
How much time did you spend on homeschool when your oldest was 6? Was it as scheduled as this when you had babies? Can you tell I have little ones? (3 & 1) :-)
When our kids were little, we spent MUCH less time on school work, for sure! We have to spend this much time now simply because our kids are older and because there are four of them who are school age with different books to get through.
Where my 9th grader takes about 5 hours a day to get everything done, my six year old can get everything done in around an hour, depending on his focus and the day – and even then, the one hour isn’t all at once. I try to get a focused thirty-forty five minutes in to do reading and math. Then later he joins us when we do science. I squeeze in some phonics (Explode the Code) whenever I have a moment to get him going on it.
When mine were all little like yours, I just grabbed 15 minute intervals of time as I found them. Baby is happy playing on the floor? Quick let’s do a reading lesson. Little ones down for a nap? Perfect time to grab the math book. I simply worked in our school day when I could – preferably in the morning so I could reserve afternoon time for some down time for me too, if possible.
Anyway, hope that super long comment offered a little bit of suggestion. :)
Thanks! That does give some reassurance! I am a schedule girl – and love schedules….
But it has been difficult for us to maintain one for school with my little ones.
I do much as you described above now.
Weather’s nice? We wanna play outside! Raining? Let’s do ____ .
My 6 yr old 1st grader is on Math-U-See, some Paces, some Apologia science books that I will read aloud,
some Abeka History, Piano lessons, Christian Liberty Spelling…….
And she never spends more than 60-90 minutes total in a day. (I don’t do everything above everyday,
just touch and go).
I am wanting to buy your Learn to Serve for my 3 1/2 yr old :-)
She is starting to show a real interest in recognizing her letters and numbers.
I like teaching!
Thanks for posting your schedule… I am always curious how others “get it all done” who are homeschooling older kids (ours are 3rd, 1st, and 2 years). I feel like even now with the few hours we spend on school, its still hard to find time to keep up with the laundry, dishes, cooking and cleaning that also needs to be done, and I wonder how its going to work when I have to spend most of the day on school! I don’t see anywhere on your schedule where you are getting cleaning done, other than picking up. Do you have any kind of a cleaning schedule? or do it all on the weekends? Very curious! :)
I love seeing other people’s schedules. This is our first year homeschooling. I have a 2nd, K, and almost 3 yr old. It’s challenging and I struggle with getting all the schooling done. My 2nd grader can be pretty focused and gets through the material. My K is not nearly as focused and would rather draw than anything else. We’ve got math (Saxon) & English (Bob Jones) down. I started Story of the World for history, but I have other things I want to do for history too. We haven’t really started science yet. I have ideas, but that’s it. We try to get done by lunch time and then after lunch is quiet time, swim time (if it’s nice) and then hopefully DaDa is home! :) I’m hoping that as we get into the swing of things, it will be easier to do.
This is a great post! This is also our first year of homeschooling, where I have a 4.5 yr old starting Kindergarten, 3 yr old ready for pre-school, and a 16 month old who loves to tag along. :) Our schedule will look something like this:
Wake, “Morning 5”–this is the list of what my kiddos do on their own before coming downstairs (potty, brush teeth/hair, dress self, make bed, wash hands).
Breakfast + Table Chores
Bible, Praise, Prayer, Character Lessons
AM Chores (this comes from a weekly list of chores)
Free play and snack (outside if weather permits)
Read Alouds from Sonlight + activity, if desired
Afternoon chores
Lunch + Table Chores
Memory Verse and Character review
Prayers, then nap/rest times
When my preschooler and toddler go down for nap, I do 1 hour of 1-on-1 schooltime and chores training with my kindergartner, then he lays down for a rest time (and so do I, since we are all napping or resting at this time for about 45-60 minutes).
Then I wake up my preschooler and we do 30 minutes or so of preschool stuff 1-on-1.
Afternoon snack + Table chores.
Quick cleanup before daddy arrives home from work (he gets off early–this happens around 3:45pm).
Half-hour of “room time” where all three kiddos play together in one of their rooms while I do some dinner prep.
Daddy home! And every evening varies. :)
Thanks for the idea of scheduling with several kids having schoolwork!
Hi, I hope you don’t mind my asking, but I am interested in what you
mean by “chore training”. What does this involve/which chores do you
train them to do? I would like to do something like this w/ my kids.
Thanks!
Hi Emily–I don’t mind at all! Chore Training is when I take the time to TEACH my children how to do a chore. I have taught them everything from dusting with a duster and dustrag, vacuuming and sweeping up a mess of crumbs, and most recently taught my 4.5 yr old how to wash the windows! I taught him this chore one-on-one, so that I could concentrate on him and on showing him the proper way to do it–and also so I could really watch him as he tried. It is a very short time frame–usually just 5-10-15 minutes a day, depending on the chore. I first tell him what I’m going to teach him (what chore: such as “how to wash windows”). Then I tell him the steps–spray, wipe the edges, wipe the middle. Then I show him myself on one or two of the window panes, repeating the steps as I do it. (I’m still learning his learning style–so I tell how and show him how too).) Then I get him to do one of the window panes. If he does it correctly, I have him do a few more. If not done correctly, I’ll show him another pane or two. It really is just taking the time to teach the chores. And then, when they have learned how to do them correctly, you can add them to your child’s chore list (we have daily, weekly, monthly chores) and simply follow up for diligence. A child is so confident doing things like chores when you’ve really taken the time to teach them how! :) And a confident child, or at least my confident child, is much more responsible and diligent at 4.5 yrs old because of it! Hope that helps! I am happy to share my chore charts with you if you’d like an idea of what we do and when! Just let m eknow!
Thanks so much for your reply! And yes, I’d like to see the chore
charts- thanks!
I’m not quite sure how to get you the chore charts to see other than to email them. Do you want me to do that? :)
Sure, its [email protected]
Would you please email me the charts as well? [email protected]
Can you please email me the charts also?
[email protected]
This is my first year to homeschool my son (9 years old, 3rd grade). He was in public school K-2nd grade. We wanted him to receive a Christian education and wanted him to be able to work at his pace (which is fast). He is like the information machine, the more we give him the more info he wants. He was not getting that in public school. He is also very smart and was getting bored in traditional public school. I went with Christian Liberty Press for his curriculum this year. I want to get Math U See but they are currently out of stock. I would love advise on curriculum. I was told by 2 homeschooling mom’s that Christian Liberty Press was a great curriculum to start with so that is what we went with.
So I’ve been looking for those puzzle flashcards for two months now! Finally found them at Hobby Lobby. :>)