Our Homeschool Routine - More Than Checking Off The Boxes
Monday, August 26, 2013 at 5:00AM
For our family, a routine is key to a successful homeschool experience.
Children long to know "what comes next". They want to know their teacher (that's you, mom!) has it all under control.
I know on many days this might seem next to impossible, but with a few up front investments and training of your children, your homeschool can run somewhat efficiently, even on those days when life isn't so efficient.
Know what I mean?
If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know I love to take off on interest led tangents, take field trips, and seize every moment. You might also know, however, that I love routine and structure.
In our five years of homeschooling I've learned a few things about how to structure a homeschool day. I'm not claiming this works for everyone, but maybe if it works for us, it MIGHT work for you, too.
Get Up!
My husband leaves for work every morning between 5 and 6 a.m. The nature of our lives is that we get up early.
It works for us.
I used to not think that was the case, and there was a period of time when everyone (not my husband) would wake up on their own. This DID NOT work.
Each morning my alarm clock rings at 5:45 a.m. I know, that's early - it requires I get in bed at a decent hour.
My daughter's alarm clock goes off at 6:45 a.m. My son is always awake by this time, too.
{During this time I've showered and started some laundry}
We follow the SAME morning routine every day. It is comforting to the kids - even when my oldest says she doesn't like it.
Breakfast, devotions, CNN Student News, Classical Conversations Memory Work, and a SQUILT lesson always start the morning. All of this takes about an hour.
My goal is to have us starting the meat of our day by 9:00 or 9:30 a.m.
The "Essentials"
We ALWAYS start the day with math. My brain is more fresh and the kids' brains are more fresh, too.
A typical Saxon math lesson takes a little more than an hour for my daughter and about 45 minutes for my son.
After that, my son knows he has to complete "The Essentials" before we go on to anything else.
I am flexible, however. He is a little boy and needs frequent breaks. We might stop inbetween two subjects and do some timed laps around the house. Or, we might stop and have a granola bar and just chat for a bit.
Or, he might ask me if he can build LEGOS for a few minutes.
I am FINE with that, as long as we're working on the essentials.
Lunch
Lunch time is when we regroup and plan out our afternoon.
It is also when I read aloud.
My daughter sometimes has a favorite book she is reading, so she sits at the table with us and reads her book while I read aloud (I have no idea how she does this, but it works for her!).
We have every single afternoon free except for Tuesdays, when the kids have piano lessons at 2:30.
Other than that, no other activities happen until at least 5:30, so we have a huge chunk of time in the afternoons.
These afternoon hours are for science or history (never both on the same day), a fun art project, or outside play.
I also try to take at least an hour (hopefully two) to devote time to the blog, returning emails, and taking care of business in general.
Clean Up
Since part of our learning area is downstairs in our main kitchen/family room area I make sure everything is cleaned up before I'm starting dinner or we leave for an activity.
I'm a little obsessive about having everything cleaned up, because I just don't think well when the house is a wreck.
The "Real World"
In the real world life doesn't always go as planned.
There are MANY days that don't go exactly as planned.
On those days I realize that God's grace covers all of our faults and problems. I have to trust that we are getting done what needs to get done in GOD'S TIME and not mine.
Some days may call for us to just STOP at 10 in the morning and go for a nature walk.
Now that fall is approaching we may want to be outside A LOT more. We may decide to take a spur of the moment field trip. I might wake up with a migraine. One of the kids might be sick.
You never know what life throws at you.
I am finding, though, that with enough routines in place and enough structure to guide our days, we are more productive, happier, and learning more.
Life is more than just checking off the boxes. It's about living.
Hopefully our homeschool reflects that fact!
What does a day in your homeschool look like?
I'm joining other bloggers and linking up to the Not Back to School Blog Hop. Join us!
Reader Comments (11)
I always see so many similarities in our homeschool when I read your blog. It is encouraging!
I like your morning routine. I forgot about it being "Day in the Life" week. I guess I will get started on recording mine.
Blessings, Dawn
Wonderful! I love they way you build in variance for your kids within the structure--laps for Grant and two books at once for Anna! I also love the free afternoons. They seem hard to hold onto in today's busy world but are great project time for kids and moms!
It's fun to take a look into how other families structure their days. Thanks for sharing yours!
So glad I'm not alone on the obsessive part!! Once I start cleaning - watch out! lol Your day sounds wonderful!! I can't wait until the season of life when we can be a little more flexible with our schedules. It does seem to get easier with older children.
Blessings friend!
Annette
Great schedule. It shows a lot of thought and consideration of the personalities of your children. I LOVE that there is time for laps around the house!
But, my goodness you awake early. I admire people that can get up early. I always am so amazed at how much I get done when I awake early, I'm just usually bone tired by dinner. If only we could complete most of school in the morning.
I understand the clean up need. My family knows how much of a clean / neat obsessed person I am and they attempt to work within those bounds. We are occasionally rushing out the door to an activity because I took the time for us to tidy up before leaving. Sigh. Like the cat cares.
Loved the peek at your day. I love routines and flexibility and feel we've found a great balance lately. Kind of an order we do things, but no time limits. The best thing we've done is starting our day with art. So, after breakfast (which is my first read aloud session) we do art over classical music of some kind (loving Maestro Classics here!). Then we hit math & language followed by project time (Project Passportright now!). I'll read aloud again over lunch and one more good chunk after the toddler is in bed.
Loved this!! We, too, are early risers - and we also start our school day with Math. Seems to work best for all of us, to do it when our minds are fresh.
Have a great day!
What a blessing this was to me! Just yesterday, I was ruminating over how to change up our school schedule and desired new ideas! This was a timely read for me; I, too have a girl who can listen to a book being read while reading one herself : )
Thanks for some very helpful ideas!
Love seeing a peak into your daily routine. We start with math too! I think we are all fresh and it works better in the mornings for all of us :-) That is a great little devotional and I just ordered one for us too. I always love reading your blog too, Mary as I see similarities to what we do as well as things that look new and fun too!
Many blessings for your school year!
Mary, I forgot to thank you for the link to the Omnibus! I purchased it and am loving it!
Cannot wait to use Squilt and thanks so much for answering my questions about it as well.
How are you enjoying Anthony Esolen's book? I think it is phenomenal!