Written by Jamie Martin of Simple Homeschool
Our 8th annual day in the life series is wrapping up, but first, we want you to share YOUR day! Tell us about what’s working now, and what your family has learned so far this year.
Remember, each of us does things a little differently, and there is no one perfect way – we want to know what makes your homeschool unique!
How to take part
Please link to your own day in the life post using the linky below. (If you don’t have a blog, feel free to share the details of your day in the comments section.)
In the “name” section, write your title like this “Jamie’s day w/ a 12, 13, & 14-year-old” – that will help readers find posts that interest them most.
Thank you so much for being a part of this series. I can’t wait to take a look at what each of you share!
“The routines that shape our days locate us – from the places we visit to the small rituals that give us pause.” – Louisa Thomsen Brits, The Book of Hygge
If you’re reading this post in an email or reader and want to check out everyone’s links, just click here to go to the blog — enjoy!
Weekend homeschool links
Loved the series again this year, it’s always fantastic!
Kelly’s DITL with a 13, 12, 12, 11, and 8 year old.
https://fearlesshomeschool.com/out-about-homeschool-day-life/
Kelly’s latest post: How the Start Homeschooling Summit improved our homeschool – instantly
Ah, I was hoping to share, but our days have been unfortunately full of stomach and respiratory viruses for the last few weeks. :/ But I’m so excited to look through these today! Thanks for this, Jamie!
Faith’s latest post: The Heroic Minute: How skipping the snooze button can transform your life every single day
Michaela’s day in the life with a 12, 10, 7, and 3 year old
8:00-Everyone does their morning routine-breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth and hair, practice instruments, feed animals
9:00-Morning time with everyone-read a Psalm, Scripture memory, music theory flashcards, math bingo
9:30-Independent work for older 3, read to 3 year old
10:00-Check math and handwriting and do LA with 7 year old
10:30-Do LA with 10 year old, work on math if necessary
11:00-Do Latin with 12 year old
11:30-This is ideally for chores, but we rarely are done with all the above by this time!
As soon as the 7 year old is done with school, she goes outside with the 3 year old. If the 10 year old gets finished before lunch, she goes outside too.
12:00-Eat lunch/free time (I usually find some alone time!)
1:00-3 year old naps, 12 year old continues ind work, 10 year old, 7 year old, and I do memory work, map work, poetry, history or science, and a read aloud.
2:00-On Mondays, I have childcare because I direct Challenge A and use this time to prep.
On Tuesdays, we have music lessons.
We have Our Classical Conversations community day on Wednesdays.
On Thursdays and Fridays, we do chores during this time and then have free time to relax or volunteer.
I have resisted a strict schedule for years (This is our 8th year of homeschooling.) Once I realized that you have to move on to the next thing when it is time, we stayed right on schedule. We may not finish everything every day, but we are so much more productive than we have been in the past! And school doesn’t drag on and on and on, unless we want it to. ????
Our days begin with chores for the 12yo,and getting the others off to work or college. After everyone is off we begin w/ Rod & Staff Bible, Teaching Textbooks math then Rod & Staff grammar. On Monday’s I teach Total Language Plus to my 12yo and another boy then we have 2 other boys join us as I teach IEW. The rest of the week my son works on homework for these classes. Alternate days we work on science(Apologia), History (Khan Academy), Logic, and an artists study. I really like finishing around lunch time so that we have time to do other things we enjoy. He loves any outdoor activity and I love to sew and basket weave. I try to keep it basic /simple. I want our time together to be enjoyable, I do not want him or myself to hate school work so I don’t overwhelm him with too much. I have learned quite a bit with homeschooling the older 3 . HTH
In our house we take it easy and try not to commit to too much. We are a stay at home mom, kindergarten age daughter and a papa that mostly works from home, living in Oakland. We fill our days with books, podcasts/audio stories, music, cooking, art and lots of play. Monday afternoon is tap class. Wednesday is a school day which consist of classes, meet ups and playing with mates for hours. Adding a swim class next month to the mix. We go libraries, museums, farmers markets, parks/gardens and general adventuring. We are car free and live simply. Every day is different and dynamic and rich with experience. I am sure first grade will present more of a routine for us but right now we are embracing that we do not have to do a lot of sit down work every day. It is casually mixed in through out instead.
Carrie’s day with a 3.5 yo and 1.5 yo:
We JUST started putting any kind of regular “school work” into our days in the new year. I’m only posting because it was really hard for me to know how and where to start, being brand new to homeschooling, so maybe this will help someone else that’s looking to start soon 🙂
In the mornings, during breakfast, we focus on about 5-10 minutes of “memory work”. For us, this has included a bi-monthly Bible verse, mommy & daddy’s phone numbers, his full name (first, middle and last), his birthday, and the days of the week. We also talk about the date (month + number), and what is on our agenda for the day. I’m trying to incorporate a monthly character focus as well (i.e. obedience), so we sometimes talk a bit about what that means, why it’s important, and what is expected in regards to that trait. We also read a Bible story from the Jesus Storybook Bible while he is eating breakfast. After this, we just go about our day as usual.
After nap (or what has become quiet time most days), we sit down and do a couple of worksheets, usually 3. We’re going over a new letter and number each week, so I always have one worksheet geared towards each of those things. My son is loving mazes, so he asks for a maze every day, and I oblige :). After we get through our worksheets (which I easily find for free online), he is done, and that takes us about 10-15 minutes. So our total “school time” at age 3.5 is about 20-30 minutes a day. He is enjoying it, and it has been really manageable for me as I find my way on this homeschooling journey.
There have been a few other things I’ve tried to incorporate just whenever throughout the week – library books focusing on our letter of the week or character trait of the month, games (like hide and seek) practicing counting up to our number of the week, a craft that goes with something we’re learning about, etc. We also have a subscription to Reading Eggs (online), which has been wonderful for him, and he does that whenever he asks to, which usually ends up being 2-3 times per week for 20-30 minutes at a time. He is pretty good with shapes and colors, so we haven’t spent much additional time on those things. Overall, we have both been enjoying it.
K’s day with a 7 and 4 year old
Jelly Telly for the boys while I read my Bible and get my head straight for the day.
Breakfast which also includes family devotion time and bible verse memorisation
Regular chores and an extra one for all.
I swam laps while the boys played and then we planted veggie seeds in egg cartons.
Kid school is couch time – reading aloud time.
Table time – writing and math game for the 7 yr old and whatever the 4 yr old feels like trying.
Another game all together. Then with the rain pouring, the boys go make mud pies while I do some Mum heart group prep.
Lunch. Rest time – a daily ritual for all.
Poetry tea. Art venture lesson and finishing Singing in the rain will fill the arvo.
Hopefully daddy will be home in the daylight for some cricket or soccer play in the front yard.
Yay! Great post, Mom! I’ve just read the other post that you wrote too. It was Awesome!
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Looking forward to this year’s glimpse into the lives of fellow homeschoolers. To each his (or her)own!
I wake up with my husband everyday, usually between 430-530am. We share some morning snuggles and then I pack his food for the day and send him away. With *lots of kisses! I return to my “spot” on the couch with my blanket and read. Depending on the day, I either dive into me Historical Fiction novel, my marriage book {You & Me Forever by Francis & Lisa Chan}, or jump right into my Bible reading. *just depends on the day! The house is quiet except for the noises of making & sipping coffee until my boys wake! They usually stir around 745-800am.
They usually jump right into their own quiet time, which gives me some additional time to begin working on the day’s chores. They stay quiet for about an hour, until I call them to breakfast. Breakfast is usually filled with talking to Daddy on the phone and seeing how things are for him! We share love and laughter with him before beginning our day!
We clean up from breakfast, brush teeth and ready ourselves for school. History is always read-aloud, which I usually start just after breakfast. If our day is full and we need to hit the ground running, we read history as our evening Family Read-Aloud. {our current read is Heroes of History: George Washington Carver}. My 9 year old and I complete Language Arts first, always. This is “not his thing” so we do it first. My go-to, God send LA Curriculum has been The Good & Beautiful by Jenny Phillips. *highly recommend! Once we finished together, one on one, he grabs the computer and does his lesson in Teaching Textbooks on his own. Again, *highly recommend! While my 9 yo and I work, my 7 yo works on his math drill pages and readies himself for me to sit with him for Math and LA. Math for him is Saxon and LA is of course, The Good & Beautiful!
Once math and LA are complete, both boys work on handwriting (cursive included) and drill work for language and math.
We finish and we carry on to our chores! We farm. We garden all year round. We also run a trucking company, so we stay busy! Some days, Mama teaches nursing at a local School of Nursing. On those days, time is spent with family and lots of learning takes place outside of “school.”
I would say that we are unschoolers for the most part with a solid math and LA foundation! We learn by living and we love the journey. Follow along on Instagram and my blog to get into our hearts! *thanks for reading!
Amy’s day w/ a 9 and 7-year-old”’s latest post: Why our Family works together, in ALL that we do.
Elizabeth’s day w/ a 16, 13, 11, and 4 yo.
My husband wakes me up with kisses when he leaves for work @ 6:30. I lay in bed and read until 7:00 then get up, shower, and get ready for the day. I walk by each girl’s room and knock on doors, turn on lights, encourage them to wake up and get moving, because we have a busy day planned.
I head down stairs, let the dog out, and make my breakfast. I make my 13 yo a to do list and holler out a 20 minute warning. As I tidy up the kitchen, they start wandering down and getting breakfast.
I head out a few minutes late with all but the 13 yo. This is her prized day home alone. The 16 yo I drop off at the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center for volunteer work. I take the 4 yo to storytime at the library while the 11 yo searches for a new cookbook to check out. It’s time for a craft by the time she makes it back to us. She helps the 4yo with her craft.
We head over to Chic Fil A to meet friends for lunch and playtime. The rain prevents our normal picnic and playtime at the park. Its a welcome change of pace, though.
After lunch, we pick up the 16 yo, and she eats the lunch we brought for her while we drive to the 4 year olds speech therapy appt. The 11 year old reads to us from her Trixie Beldon book. The 16yo and 11yo read while they wait for the 4yo and me.
We get home a little after 2pm. The 13 year old has completed her to do list and is drawing at the table. After talking with me about the tasks she’s completed, she heads up to shower and get ready for our roller skating get together in a couple of hours. The 16 yo and 11 yo do their math and then go to get ready, too. I do puzzles with the 4 year old taking time to point out letters with her, count the puzzle pieces, and work on some of her speech therapy assignments.
At 4 I start dinner. We’re done and cleaned up by 5. We head to the skating rink where the kids get social time while skating, and the moms and 1 dad visit.
We get home by about 7:30, and my husband is home. He found his dinner in the warming drawer. After some visiting with dad, the girls head upstairs for their wind down time. The husband and I watch some TV. We head to bed about 10, knocking on doors and saying lights out and good night on the way.
Thank you! A day in the life with a 13, 11, 5, 3, and 1 year old- with Tourette Syndrome and various other unique and “special needs”