HOMESCHOOLING | A DAY IN THE LIFE

Homeschooling schedule

I attended public school growing up and both my parents worked outside of the home.  To me, a school schedule consisted of being up at 6 am, sharing one bathroom with five other people and rushing out of the door to make it to school on time. We were out of the house all day and didn’t see one another until dinnertime.  When my husband and I decided to homeschool, the only blueprint I had was the one I grew up with. I grew up in a loving home, but I wanted to be more present in my kid’s lives and truly believe that we are called to homeschool our children.

So I grabbed our alarm clock, set a strict schedule (down to the minute) and frustrated our entire family as I pushed all six of us to keep my strict timeline. 

It took me three days before I tossed my 6 am wakeup call and minute-to-minute schedule out of the window.  I took a step back and studied our family rhythm. I worked backward and found a way to plan our school schedule around our life and not the other way around. These days, our schedule is still structured, but there are no 6 am wakeup calls for the kids or stress-induced timelines.   We work on time blocks and have specific priorities for each day. We have (strict) school days for four days out of the week, and prioritize one day for music, art, crafts and/or field trips. Sundays are the Lord’s day where Alex and I serve as Sunday school teachers, attend worship service and have a family service that evening as well.  Sunday afternoons are family days where we focus on spending quality time together and usually order food from our favorite restaurant.

Below is an inside look at our day to day homeschooling schedule. Keep scrolling for all of the links and details on some of our favorite homeschooling books.

Here’s what a normal homeschooling schedule:

6:00 am – 7:30 am – Alex and I wake up. We have our bible study and then he heads to the gym and I get ready for the day. I usually throw on workout clothes, shorts or casual wear. I have my coffee and read a few snippets of my own devotional or read a chapter of whatever book I’m reading at the time.  The kids are usually still sleeping during this time so I take some time to work as well. This is the time where I answer emails, work content creation on my blog or catch up on my Instagram.

7:30 am – 8:30 am – Breakfast and Bible time with the kids.  We love reading through the book Indescribable and the kids watch Abeka’s bible lesson.  Breakfasts are easy at our home. We usually alternate between oatmeal, eggs or yogurt. Then everyone gets ready for the school day and freshens up before we start our day.

9:00 am – 11:00 am – Grace works on her Abeka curriculum and I work with the younger two on letters, numbers, matching etc.   This is also the time when I play with our Harrison, give him snacks, and put him down for a nap. Grace’s curriculum is online and she’s able to do a lot of it on her own. I check on her periodically and help her with anything she may need. (I’ll post a separate review on Abeka. This is our second year using that curriculum and we really enjoy it)

11:00 am – 12:30 pm – Snack time and Grace gets a break from school.  The kids usually watch an educational show while I get lunch ready and answer work emails.  The little kids put away all of their school supplies and get ready for lunch.

12:30 pm – 2:00 pm – Haddon and Emory take naps and Harrison, Grace and I finish up her curriculum.  Because we only focus on school 4 days out of the week, we really push our school days and try to double up our lessons.  I check her writing; we work on her spelling lists, and get our memorization work out of the way.

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Snack time and we head outside.  Grace finishes up her school for the day and the little ones play with their scooters, chalk, bubbles or jump on the trampoline. During the cooler months, we head to the playroom and make a mess! We use our imagination and play until it’s time for dinner prep.

By this time, we are done with our school day and get ready for dinner.

We follow the same homeschooling schedule on the “non-school” days except we move from music to art to outings. 

This is pretty much how our days flow.  I like to focus on time blocks and we do our best to stick with them.  After school, we focus on chores and usually have an evening activity with our church (which we really look forward to!)

We make it a point to have family dinners and spend the evening chatting about our day, working on our memory verses and spend time with Alex.  The kids are in bed around 8 pm and Alex and I work, hang out and call it by 11 pm.

On weekends, or whenever Alex is home from work, it’s a free for all. The kids usually skip naps (because we’re out and about) and we focus on being outdoors as a family.

Phew!

There are no perfect days for us but we strive to make the most of our time as a family and as Christians.  Our goal is always to do our best, to honor God and to show grace to ourselves and to one another. 

A few of our favorites:

Abeka curriculum | Indescribable Devotional book | Handwriting without tears | USA flashcards | Watercolor paint books | Write on – wipe off books

Find more here: aleandtere.com