It has been awhile since I wrote the Minute by Minute Tot School post, and have since been asked to update with a detailed post of what our homeschool time looks like now with a 4th grader, Kindergartner and Tot Schooler. I am breaking this idea into 4 parts, probably 5 when all is said and done, but 4 planned parts for now! If you missed any other parts, see links below…
- Before the Homeschool Day
- Our Homeschool Morning
- Our Homeschool Afternoon {that’s this post}
- After the Homeschool Day
How I recorded our day……
I kept a notebook with me, my iPod {camera}, and my good camera. I took TONS of pictures and jotted down notes throughout the day. It isn’t easy, but makes for a very true-to-life account for you all. Good news – the day we recorded – March 7, 2012, was a very typical day for us! I was hoping it would give a good look at what is “normal” for us and it does!
For details about each child’s curriculum, see: Our Current Curriculum
12:25 pm
I am done with kitchen cleaning and head back into the schoolroom to find the boys reading together I told them to do this when they finished their lunch}.
I spend 10 minutes on the computer-email, Twitter, Facebook, Comments, Pinterest.
12:35
Our upstairs neighbor and my friend comes down to check on our school status {they live in the apartment owned by my parents above our schoolroom, their 5 kids are nieces and nephews they care for}. Her kids have a half day of public school and are wanting to play with my kids. This give the boys great motivation to get school work done. I estimate an hour and a half and tell her I will text her.
12:40
Start school with the boys after they clean up the books.
PacMan has this today…
I get Krash started on some independent Calvert work, a phonics sheet and a math sheet-both which are easy work for him.
Pac sits with me at my desk and we dive into grammar, math, and a special math review for his standardized state testing coming up.
I turn around and bust Krash petting the cat and not doing his work {it’s cute but distracting}.
1:00
Pac and I gather Science and SS and head into the living room to read, he likes to cuddle on the couch together while I read to him. Another perk of Homeschooling, couch school.
1:10
Pac heads to do his independent work {grammar, math, science}, I switch to working with Krash. First I move him along in completing his independent work, as he was supposed to be done by now.
1:15
We move to the floor for his All About Reading lesson. He isn’t thrilled since we are repeating lesson 16, since he doesn’t have a solid grasp on the “th” sound. But he likes the egg-flipping game so he’s OK.
1:22
Pac wanders over for help with his grammar, silly kid just didn’t read the directions well and once I read them he gets it and goes back to do his work.
1:30
Krash and I are done with All About Reading, and move onto some Skylanders school work! I made a digraph activity for him to work on the same thing he’s learning in AAR. He loves it.
1:35
Krash and I read his Morning Message together, he LOVES this! I read, then he reads-highlighting any words he can read by himself. Then we count together!
1:40
Krash moves to iPad school, he can choose form a selection of “school games’” he chooses ABCs of God.
1:45
Pac announces that he is finished with his schoolwork. I remind him that today is trash day {his chore that he hates}. He goes off to do it, complaining mildly {probably since he knows I am recording the day}. I begin to scan our recent set of Calvert assessments in to our cyber school.
1:55
Pac is done with his chores, and runs to get his friends. They all head outside to play! The official school day is done! I can still hear Ladybug through the monitor reading to herself. She stays up there until Daddy gets her at 3. With the boys I continued “room time” after naps wore out. I am doing this with her too, so I can continue to have quieter school time with the boys. She seems to really enjoy her quiet time.
Notes about the Day…
We normally end our school day anywhere between 2:00-3:00, sometimes later if it is a writing day. This was an easier day for Pac, mostly because he didn’t have writing and because math was VERY easy. On harder math days, school goes much longer! Attitudes were a bit more in check than usual since they knew I was recording the day. Figure in a few more attitude issues and then you’d have a more normal day. My husband comes home from work at 3:00 and then is home through dinner before he goes back out to work for the evening {ministry stuff-teaching Bible studies, and such}.
Part 4 of this series will share what a normal after school and evening time looks like for us!
If any of you are inspired to write your own, “A Day in Our Homeschool Life” series, I would love it! Be sure to send me the links if you do!