A Homeschool Day in the Life

We're into our second term of homeschooling in the UK now! I saw this series on the Simple Homeschool blog and thought it was a good opportunity to share how our days are going. What you find below is pretty much an 'ideal' day. Of course, in real life you have to add in postmen making deliveries, phones ringing, babies waking up earlier than they should, unplanned dashes to the shop for a necessary item, and people (including Mummy) catching heavy colds or suffering from severe lack of sleep (definitely Mummy on that one)......


7.00 am or so I get up to nurse the baby. My husband makes sure the other children are up by 7.30am. The rule is that they need to come down to breakfast fully dressed on a week-day - it seems to help speed things along! I'm lucky in that my husband works from home and so doesn't need to walk up the stairs to his 'office' until 9am. I prepare the baby's breakfast but leave Hubbie to oversee the rest while I shower, dress and do a few odd chores like laundry or vacuuming. The children finish their morning chores, which includes tidying up their rooms for 'room inspection'. If they pass (which they do 99% of the time) they get a star on their chart, which adds up to a trip to the sweet shop every 6 weeks or so. I'm so thankful to start the day with tidy bedrooms - it really helps my sanity!

8.30 am  We meet in the living room for 'Family Bible Time'. This involves reading the Bible, alternating between the 'real' Bible and a children's Bible, praying using our prayer sticks, and going over our Scripture Memory verses. Daddy then puts the baby down for her nap on his way up to his office at 9am, and the rest of us head to the school room.

9.00 am At the moment the baby sleeps for an hour, which allows the rest of us a good, concentrated time to get some essential schoolwork done. The girls, 10 and 7, get on with copywork, phonics/grammar and maths, while I start the morning helping my 5 year old son. We work through writing out letters, doing some reading/phonics and then some maths. I don't force him if he's not interested. Afterwards he colours or plays with lego while I focus in on some specific maths help for the girls.

10.00 am I get the baby up from her nap. The girls are free to do what they want (usually curl up on the sofa with their latest library book) once they've finished their maths and English. I read a book to my 5 year old.

10.30 am We all have a snack. On nice mornings we might go to the park, the library or go on a nature walk, but during the winter it's hard to get motivated to go outside, in which case I go through various assigned readings and narrations with my 10 and 7 year olds. If I'm feeling energetic we might do a craft.

12.00 pm I set up one of the girls (it alternates each day) on the computer to do their Russian with Rosetta Stone, whilst I feed the baby her lunch and prepare lunch for the rest of us.

1pm I put the baby down for a sleep and Daddy joins us for lunch. Once a week we go swimming or play tennis while the baby sleeps and then have a late lunch when we return. On Fridays the girls have a homeschool art class from 1 till 3. But usually after lunch we carry on with assigned readings and narrations. This is always a good time to read our Shakespeare, undisturbed, while my 5 year old watches a nature documentary.

3pm. The baby gets up. I might do a quick piano lesson with one of the children. On some days we go and collect a friend of Sophie's or Charis's from school and have them come and play. On other days we might go to a playground.

3.30pm Unless we're doing something else, this is our Afternoon Tea time. We drink tea, have a snack, and I use this time to read poetry, read a portion of our Astronomy book or a Nature book, and perhaps look at our Artist print.

4pm We're usually finished now for the day, if we haven't finished earlier. Once a week Charis has gymnastics, but otherwise we all have a rest and I think about preparing dinner. The children have certain chores they have to do before they can watch TV, such us dusting or watering plants.

5-6pm I feed the baby and then the rest of us eat dinner together. One of the children might be out to Guides, Brownies or Boys Brigade afterwards.

7pm The kids start getting ready for bed. I nurse the baby and put her down. Daddy usually reads a story to Nathaniel while I read one of our school 'free reads' to the girls.

8pm I give out final goodnight kisses, close the bedroom doors, and collapse on the sofa!

Abide in Him!


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