What is my typical day like?
I had someone ask and didn’t think I could fit it in comments LOL! So here goes…please keep in mine that we are flexible as we have a baby, and unforeseen events daily it seems that cause us to veer off course, but Steady as she goes is my moto! Often you’ll hear “Back to boxes!” coming from me (every few minutes it seems)…especially with the boy who has taken to ‘disappearing’ between boxes, or when we have to stop an activity because the baby has opened a drawer and emptied its contents all over the school room. Wednesdays are different as the girls have dance from noon-2, so we just start earlier to accommodate this. And I’ve kindly spared listing the billion times a day I save my baby from choking hazards and falling off the stairs to her death. Oh and the 3am feedings that we still do because I can’t stand to let her ‘cry it out’. But…with all that said, here’s our ‘plan’ for each day, and I really DO try to follow it! Okay, are you ready?
8:00: Read 1 Psalm & shower for mom as I can’t function with out one
8:30: Breakfast/dishes/toss in load of laundry and/or start dishwasher
9:00: School bell rings (yes, I really have a bell courtesy my mom! They LOVE it!)
9:00 – 10:00: Group time, we all do the following together:
- Calendar, days of week, months of year, counting calendar/hanging pattern chains by each day, put up new weekday discuss yesterday and tomorrow.
- Bible: Pray, Sing songs, do bible study, discuss, review
10am – Workboxes, everyone starts at the same time…this is immediately followed by what I like to think of as organized chaos ;o) (It typically takes us 2 hrs or so to go through our 10 boxes, some days more…)
12noon: Lunch! Followed by outside play, and a few moments for me to do dishes and gather what little sanity I have left before moving on…I also load boxes for the next day during playtime and swap out my laundry to the dryer. Baby goes down for nap.
1:30pm: Science or Geography & fun stuff, this is when we do our Expedition Earth activities and I usually save crafts, art projects, science type experiments etc for this time. (We may also run errands if needed around this time after the baby wakes up of course!)
4pm: Chores like laundry, we have LOTS of laundry, It should be done by now, so we all fold and everyone puts away their own stuff! I usually have my 6yr old help my 3yr old, if she doesn’t want to I will, I don’t make her. (This is different for each family, but I have a chore chart posted in my kitchen and I pay .25/chore. So if someone wants to make money, they’ll go see what needs to be done and do it! This has helped me out a lot! Friday’s are prize day and we go to the dollar store and let them buy something with their earnings,then some goes to Jesus and some goes to savings.
Some kid friendly tasks:
- Swapping clothes from washer to dryer
- Setting the table for dinner
- Emptying the dishwasher (5 and 6 yr old)
- Making their beds
- Feeding the dogs (2 of them!) and cat (1 of them!)
- Sweeping the kitchen floor (my 5 yr old is excellent at this!)
- Cleaning dishes after meals (my 6 yr old just started this, everyone brings their own plate from table to counter and she washes and puts in dishwasher)
- Vacuuming (Really more for the 6 yr old, but I’ll let my 5yr old do his room…he likes it)
- Dusting: Give them little dust rags, or Clorox wet wipes and turn them loose!
5:00pm: Start Dinner…
5:45pm: 10 Minute Tidy: This is where I set a timer and everyone runs around like maniacs cleaning up anything can they find so when Daddy comes home the house is a clean and serene oasis, and he thinks its like that all day ;o)…sorry honey, the secret is out…please don’t come home any earlier than 5:50 unannounced or my reputation will be ruined forever.
6:00pm: Dad enters & asks “So, what did you do all day?” I say “Not much, just lounged around and ate bon-bons.” Dad quizzes kids to make sure I’m kidding.
6:10ish Dinner/dishes/sweep kitchen floor (Seriously, how does it get destroyed after 1 meal?)
7pm-7:30: Bath, family devotions & bedtime – Clean up playroom, take baths, go to bed! My 2nd grader saves her reading assignments to do with Dad after the others have gone to bed so she stays up an extra 30minutes or so. If I didn’t get to box loading earlier, she’ll help me now since she likes to.
8pm: Free time for mom and dad….sit down, sigh…blog…laminate…work for church etc. and praise God we made it through another homeschool day without burning down the house! Aside from hanging out with my husband here are some of the things I do during my “free time”, I also try to do this during playtime if there’s a lull. I know this sounds a little crazy but I was definitely spending too much time on school stuff etc, so having it broken down has helped me not only get it done, but have actual FREE time at night with my husband:
- Mon: Work on letter stuff for next week
- Tues: Print letter stuff
- Wed: cut/laminate letter stuff…then wonder why I’m doing all this work for prek ;o)
- Thurs: Work on workbox schedule for following week
- Friday: Gather materials for following week.
- Weekends: Family time!
10ish: My devotion time…nice and quiet, and I’ve settled down from all the madness of the day. Then I go to bed and pray for God to order my steps for tomorrow that I might get everything done HE wants me to do, and not spend time on stuff that wastes my precious time!
So that’s our schedule for what its worth, hectic, but ordered. Hey, you asked!
When the kids are working through their workboxes, are you working with them individually? I have just started homeschooling and using work boxes. I have a first grader, preK, preschooler and a teeny tot. It has hard to get to all of them so I was wondering how you work it out. Thanks!
Hi Annie,
It’s kind of a balancing act, but yes, I am working with them individually. I try to staggar them, so that while I’m teaching math or phonics to my kindergartner, the other two are doing typing or handwriting, then we swap, and the kindie and 2nd do something independent while I teach the 3rd grader etc. It’s kind of an organized chaos if you will :o)
I do as many subjects together as I can, but for the core stuff, I just don’t see anyway around teaching them individually…
This is our first year homeschooling. Thanks for posting all the useful information and especially the CHORE CARDS!!! It was exactly was I was looking for! You saved me lots of time and since I have been going to bed at 3am for the last few days I most certainly do appreciate the extra time to sleep! thanks again.
Hi Erica!
I was reading this entry and WOW!!! Thank you so much for this… I do have a question does your Kindergartener have 10 work boxes? What subjects are they or are the subjects and games/ activities?
Thanks so much.. oh and by the way I had shown my husband the picture of your school room and he was so inspired we went out to Ikea and he made me my own office area and really fixed up our school room….THANK YOU!!! I will have to post pics on my blog soon!!
Monica Godoy
NY
Hi Monica,
No, my kindergartner has about 6 boxes:
Bible
Spelling
Handwriting
Math
Phonics
Road Trip USA
Erica,
Would you mind terribly posting where your bell came from? I have been searching and cant find anything : /
Oh my goodness, I don’t know. It’s a bronze bell that actually looks like a girl, and her dress is the bell area. It’s VERY old, from when I was a child I think! BUT….check out all of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=school+bell&x=0&y=0
So your workboxes are divided by subject? I’m trying to picture how this works. What about the instruction that goes with each assignment? Do you travel around the table and teach the lesson before the worksheet (I’m thinking about Saxon Math, specifically) or do you call them up to the board for an individual lesson? I am struggling with balancing the instruction time for both kiddos, and would love to know if you have an idea on an effective way to balance independent work with one while the other is receiving instruction. Love your blog–thank you!!!
Hi Amy,
Yes, the workboxes are divided by subject. I put one subject in each drawer. Well, sometimes we share and put 2 subjects in 1 drawer. I do my best to staggar the drawers so that while I am teaching one child, the other 2 are doing independent work, then we switch. We will all do one subject at a time wherever I can because it’s easier. It’s really a balancing act, and you’ll probably have to figure out what works best with your curriculum. My kids have about half they do on their own, then half that requires me to teach so I do my best to alternate.
First off, I’m new to your site (and homeschooling) and I am amazed at how structured you at least attempt to be with your children. I’m having a difficult time getting there with just one child!
My son is not quite 5. He’s a little ahead of the game, and I’m going to attempt a more structured classroom setting beginning in January. Partly because I think he’d benefit from a bit more “class time” and not just bits a pieces all day doing some handwriting here, some counting there, which seems to bore and aggravate him; and partly because we’re expecting our second in March and I’d like him to have some of this under his belt before she comes along.
So, to cut to the chase, my question is: did you start any of your children with a science program when they were 4 or 5? If so, what would you recommend? And if not, did you attempt to cover some science at all and how? My hang up right now seems to be just with science and geography. I’d like him to start as early with these two areas as he does with other basics. Also, we aren’t a Christian household, but I’ve read through a few sample pages of the Exploring Creation series you mention using and am very impressed.
Thanks for your help!
Hi Charla,
No, at age 4-5 you really don’t need to (in our state you aren’t even required to) cover anything but the basics, so like handwriting, phonics, and math. I did add in some basic community worker type things, but that was it. My 4 yr old did do our Expedition Earth with us last year, but really that’s just because we were doing it with the older kids and so she joined in.
If she were my oldest I never would have done that until she was in probably 1st grade. Check out your state requirements, for us you aren’t even required to list them as being homeschooled until they are 7 years old. Now, I do start in preschool, then do kindergarten at 5 which is still mostly basics of math, reading, writing, phonics. Then we do 1st grade at age 6 and I start reporting them then just because mine have birthdays that occur during the school year so I have to.
If you’re just looking for some fun things you can do, the Usborne Science with Water, Usborne Science with Air, and Usborne Science Outdoors books are great. They have simple little lessons with an easy to do experiment that is usually pretty fun. We did those when my oldest was in Kindergarten.
Hope that helps some!
I will be homeschooling next school year for the very first time. I will have a K and 3rd grader along with a brand new baby and a toddler. I have struggled with the scheduling and how to make sure the necessary things get accomplished. This is SO helpful!
Trying to understand the work boxes. We have done the chore packs from titus2.com.I have put lessons in their packs, but are your lessons on index cards? In what kind of box? My cousins are Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar (19 kids and Counting)and they told me about the chore packs. We love them! We love the freedom home educating give us.
I know this is a million years late… but I just found the cutest cleaning tools sized for little ones at Lakeshore learning. For anyone who is wanting to get their kiddos busy with some sweeping and mopping, these look adorable: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca%7CsearchResults~~p%7C2534374302137518~~f%7C/Assortments/Lakeshore/ShopByCategory/dramaticplay/houseplay.jsp
Hi, I am really new to the idea of doing homeschool. A friend referred me to your website! I am way excited to have found a way to organize things. I am still a little overwhelmed though. I currently have a 4 year old and a 1 year old. I am really needing to start some more formal things for my 4 year old, but don’t know where to start. Would love any advice and direction in relation to your website. I know it’s pretty organized and should be self explanatory, but I am so overwhelmed:-) Thank you so much for reading this. Looking forward to your response. Thanks
Lindsey