Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 12- and 14- year old) ~
Written by Lusi Austin from That Homeschool Life
This past year has seen more stability for me in my ongoing symptoms of living with Systemic Lupus (SLE and five other auto immune diseases). I’ve been able to manage to do more on this new meds regime. Oh man, am I thankful!
Here’s a peek into how our homeschool day usually runs.
Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 12- & 14-year-old)
Coffee. Always coffee to start the day.
I usually return some emails and get some work done in the quiet on the computer over that coffee. I keep my Bible next to my laptop and will often start off my morning with some Proverbs or Psalms. Nothing like a little ancient wisdom to help me start off the day.
Since my last ‘Day in the Life’ post, our life has changed quite a bit. Our daughter, Zippi (14) was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last year. Sometimes, Zip will be awake in the night (with me) treating a hypo (or two on a bad night!) The next morning we’ll need to sleep in.
Thank God for homeschooling!
When she and our son (Zeeki 12) wake up, they come and kiss me. Then, I’ll punch in the codes for their devices so that they can listen to music. Zeeki will often read over breakfast.
Our Morning Rhythm
Chores are tackled by us all after breakfast time. I often have help here to pop dinner in the slow cooker. And just like my coffee – I’d be lost without my slow cooker!
With chores done, we usually head to the loungeroom or go under our trees (depending on the weather!) This is the time for us to tackle something together. It’s usually something from our Planning Monday Morning list.
We might do some of our Story of the World read aloud and activity sheets. We almost always tackle maths in the morning too. If we have a science kit to work on, we will do it here.
After a morning tea break, we usually do a read-aloud. My kiddos have always focused better in the mornings. If we need to leave the house to run errands or do some learning-in-the-community, we will do it here!
Sometimes we head to the library, art gallery or take our learning to our favourite coffee shop. Zippi loves taking her textiles journal there and adding to it. Zeeki loves taking a clipboard and drawing materials to work on a cartoon there.
At some point in the morning, there are always doggy snuggles too – we have three dogs and our kids love spending time with them.
Our Afternoon Rhythm
The kids get their own lunches – often leftovers or a snack platter. Zippi will bolus for her food. I am in awe of how well she has adjusted. This is such a learning journey for us all.
The kids will usually read to themselves over lunch or watch a show together. After lunch, we branch out into something of our own interest.
Zippi loves making and designing clothing and costumes. She recently made a Mad Hatter’s outfit (including the hat)! If she’s not sewing, she might be searching Pinterest for inspiration, working on her textiles journal or continuing to work on her croquis skills.
My son wants to be an engineer! So in the afternoons, Zeeki can usually be found tackling a new Lego technic creation. He just saved up for his own 3D printer and this year will be learning CAD for the first time.
Zip and Zeek were elected onto our local Youth Council – so some afternoons they may attend a meeting or activity. You might find Zeeki playing basketball at the local community gymnasium. At other times, they’ll be hanging out at youth group or having a friend over.
In the afternoons, I usually work on the play I am currently producing and directing.
Our Evening Rhythm
Everyone has a chore to do to help get dinner to the table. We take turns to cook each night. At the moment we are reading through the book called Building a Family of Faith (afflink) and I usually read some of this over dinner.
Quite often, we’ll have extra teenage bodies around our table – they all come in (and call me mother!) and I adore having them here.
After dinner, we clean the kitchen and then do our own thing. We might walk the dogs at this time of day. Depending on what happened during the day, we might add in a game or another read aloud here.
I love that each day is different. I hope this snapshot is an encouragement to you!
Hugs from Australia,
Lusi x
My, how the days have changed:
- 2023: Lusi’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with an 11- and 13- year old)
- 2022: Lusi’s homeschool day in the life (with a 10-, 12-, 17-, 18-, 19-, year old)
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