Written by contributor Lora Lynn Fanning of Vitafamiliae

It seems this “day in the life” assignment always comes around when I’m in the midst of transition or crisis, but I suppose that’s just what homeschooling is: educating our kids in the middle of Life.

Our family moved to a new house last month. My school room looks like this. Not exactly Pinterest-worthy, yet, is it?

The good news is, despite moving, the flu, the holidays, and another cold amongst us, we’re still plugging away with school.

Our school day is divided into two chunks. We have a morning session that involves me teaching directly. Once their time with me is finished, my kids are free to play for a bit. After lunch, there is a chunk reserved for independent school work.

I’m essentially working with two levels of students: those who can read and those who can’t.
[Read more...]

Written by contributor Hillary Boucher

A note from Jamie: Until Sunday you can purchase both of my books, Steady Days & Mindset for Moms, as part of a motherhood ebook bundle–5 titles for just $7.40! Head here for more details.

Our day-to-day homeschooling changes through the year due to the fact that my husband runs a seasonal business and I work full-time from home.

I am going to highlight a day in the life from this past fall. It was one of our busiest times of the year in terms of work and I’d like to add perspective for other families who may be wondering if homeschooling is possible with working parents.

In our experience it is possible to work and homeschool if you have flexibility in your job. It takes extra planning, discipline and coordination and can be challenging.
[Read more...]

Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool, also blogs about motherhood at Steady Mom

When my kids were younger, I needed a detailed schedule to infuse our home with a little peace. Life was CHAOTIC with a newly-adopted four-year-old on top of a three- and two-year-old, and many days my head swam dizzy with the busy-ness of it all.

It was good crazy, but crazy it was. As it seemed my kids didn’t have much of an attention span (because they didn’t, ha!), no activity lasted longer than 15 minutes. So for a while, I scheduled accordingly.

Now that season feels incredibly far away–five whole years have passed! And I’ve finally discovered both the beauty and the flexibility of using long chunks of time to put our days together.

All times in this post are merely a guideline–we flex as much or as little as needed. Plenty of days we call the whole thing off. As my friend Renee Tougas from FIMBY puts it so well, this is our “usually, not always” rhythm:

The Mama’s Day

[Read more...]

This post written by contributing writer Kris Bales of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

I used to think we were really atypical homeschoolers as far as our schedule is concerned, but over the last few years more and more late-starting homeschooling families have spoken up and let me know that we’re not alone. Late-risers unite! {grin}

My children are 17, 13, and 11. Studies have shown that teens need more sleep than elementary-aged kids or adults and I love that homeschooling allows my teens to adopt a schedule that lets them focus on schoolwork when they’re at their mental peak for the day – which is not before noon.
[Read more...]