Kris’s homeschool day in the life (with a 17-, 19- and 23-year-old )

Written by Kris Bales of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

A note from Jamie: Welcome to our 9th annual Homeschool Day in the Life series! So happy to have you here, and so grateful for Kris kicking our series off with today’s post:

Are you ready for full transparency? I was dreading this day-in-the-life post. With two homeschool graduates and a high school junior, talking about our homeschool day is pretty boring.

Then I realized that the title is Kris’s homeschool day in the life, not Kris’s kids’ homeschool day in the life. While our homeschool may be somewhat boring right now, my days are not.

Not only are my days exciting to me, but it occurred to me that they might seem like a beautiful daydream to those of you who are still knee-deep in long-division or teaching a kid to read.

I might be throwing someone a lifeline. So here you go:

Morning

This morning was unusual. I was slightly coherent at 7:00 when Megan, my 17-year-old, cracked my bedroom door and whispered for the dogs. Even now, several hours later, I don’t know what possessed her to see if they needed to go outside. I thought I was the only one who knew how to do that.

She had already retreated to her room by the time I stumbled my way down to the kitchen half an hour later. It was a quiet morning for us – us being me, my three dogs, and whichever of our six cats were in the house at the time.

Josh, my 19-year-old, works 3rd shift and he’s usually coming in about that time, but he was off last night. He was still asleep with his German Shepherd pup, Ada. Her absence was the reason for the quiet.

I got everyone fed and got my morning dose of caffeine before heading back to my room for a shower. I’m never fully awake until I’ve had my shower and caffeine. I try not to talk to anyone other than dogs and cats before then. It works out better for everyone.

By 8:30, I was back downstairs playing with ferrets for a few minutes before getting started. Yes, ferrets. Two of them. It’s a total zoo around here, y’all.

Hearing the TV coming from Megan’s room, I poked my head in to talk to her. She said she woke up at 5:00 and couldn’t go back to sleep. It didn’t take long to rectify that.

I didn’t nag her about schoolwork yet. It was way too early. She usually does most of her work between midnight and 3:00 a.m. She’s a night owl like my daughter Brianna (now 23, married, and living 2 hours away) always was.

Settling in my desk chair around 9:00, I read my Bible (or, you know, the Bible app on my phone) before turning on my laptop. While it booted up, I had time to make some notes in my planner. I jotted down today’s to-do list and this week’s appointments.

Once the laptop was ready, I did a quick check of Facebook before opening Scrivener, the writing program I’m using in my goal to get a novel manuscript ready to submit for publication by the end of 2019 or early part of 2020. Squee!

After dreaming about it for years, I plan to make 2019 the year I do it. I told myself I had to write at least 500 words – get something on paper – before I get to other work.

I wound up writing nearly 1000!

A little after 11:00 now, my usual lunchtime, I stopped and made myself a grilled cheese – like, seriously, every. single. day. You’d think I’d be tired of them by now, but I’m not. They’re quick and easy, and I’m only making lunch for one these days.

Afternoon

After lunch, since the house is still quiet, I decided to take a power nap. Yes, I do realize what a luxury this is, and I enjoyed it.

Afterwards, it’s time to get busy. I put the finishing touches on a blog post for my site before starting this one. I’ve got some more blogging and social media work to get finished before dinner.

Around 4:00pm, Megan popped in to tell me goodbye on her way out the door to work. Her schedule is a little less crazy now that the holidays are over. She’ll actually be home around 9:00 tonight. She’ll tackle school sometime after that. This year, along with a few other odds and ends, she’s doing:

• Exploring Creation with Marine Biology (Apologia)
• American Literature (Apologia)
• Health and Nutrition (Her absolute favorite subject ever, also by Apologia)
• Teaching Textbooks
• Trail Guide to World Geography (and the high school bundle from Geography Matters)

Evening

Around 5:00 or 5:30, I’ll stop to make dinner (or give in to Josh’s suggestion of Chick-fil-A).

After that, I may work a little more before kicking back with my husband to watch mindless TV and play games on our phone. It’s an exciting life, y’all, but that’s one of our favorite things to do. We’re working our way back through Elementary on Hulu, one of my favorite shows.

So, moms of littles, hang in there. It does get easier and, believe it or not, you’ll miss those days of teaching reading and long division.

I mean, maybe not in a “Gee, I wish I could do that every single day,” kind of way, but in a “Wow, how did they grow up so fast” kind of way.

My, how the days have changed:

• 2018: Kris’s homeschool day in the life (with a 16-, 18- and 22-year-old)
• 2017: Kris’s homeschool day in the life (with a 15-, 17-, and 21-year-old)
• 2016: Kris’s homeschool day in the life (with a 14-, 16- and 20-year-old)
• 2015: Kris’s homeschool day in the life (with a 13, 15, & 19-year-old)
• 2014: Kris’s homeschool day in the life (with a 12-, 14-, and 18-year old)
• 2013: Kris’s homeschool day in the life (with an 11-, 13-, & 17-year-old)
• 2012: Kris’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 16-, 12-, and 10-year-old)

If you found this post helpful, subscribe via email here to receive Jamie’s FREE ebook, Secrets of a Successful Homeschool Mom!