Hey there Busy Mom’s! Welcome to my little home here on the web. I wanted to give you a peak into my day…
What does a typical homeschool day look like? I get asked this question a lot. And really, the answer is that it will look different for everyone. But today I want to give you a peek into what many of our days tend to look like.
We desire to pursue hands-on learning, rich dialogue and engaging books to inspire us on this learning journey with our four children (9, 7, 5, almost 2). As a mother, I’m called to cultivate the culture of my home, the culture that will shape who my children become. We are raising world-changers, so our goal is to weave our faith, curiosity and learning into the fabric of everyday living.
I love the idea of being spontaneous, but I’ve found that my children and I function best when there is routine. Once there is a clear routine and clear expectations in place, it is easy and enjoyable to be spontaneous on occasion.
So here is a general idea of a typical day in our home.
5am ~ My goal’s been to embrace early mornings, starting at 5, so I can get a bit of writing in before my day starts. I’m just not sure if I can make this a reality just yet. I’m usually up between 5:30-5:45. The last few weeks have been crazy with getting my new book launched, but typically I have my devotions and go for a run/walk. I have the best chats with God while I’m outside and I’ve found this time critical for the rest of my day. My oldest will start doing a mile run 2 days a week with our PE co-op in October, so I’m thinking of bringing him along in the mornings so he can start to prepare!
6:30 ~ The kids are up, getting dressed and tidying up their bedroom. The boys don’t do much in their bedroom except sleep and yet it looks like a tornado swept through nearly every morning. hmmmm, maybe 3 boys in one room isn’t such a bright idea. 😉 I’m thankful that their bedroom escapades have resulted in only mess and no broken bones.
I know many homeschool families “do school” in their pj’s. I find that we are more focused and productive when we are fully dressed and ready to face the day.
7am ~ Breakfast {for ease I have a breakfast rotation: granola or cold cereal T,TH. Oatmeal M,W,F}
7:30 ~ Kitchen clean up, music practice
8am ~ Circle Time! I find it is essential to all come together. We start out by singing our morning “Invitation” song! We discovered this song several years ago. It is so beautiful to focus our thoughts on the Lord and the connection everything that happens in our day. We also spend time praying over the requests in our prayer bowl. I usually let my youngest son pick a fun book to read. I plan on having a finger play element here for the toddler. We also do a family devotion together of some kind and our Bible memory work here. Sometimes we’ll even throw in a spontaneous nature walk around the neighborhood here.
Here’s a crude video of our Invitation song that we wanted to spontaneously share with you!
9-11:30 ~ This is when do our basics: Math, Phonics, Spelling, Grammar and typing. Every 15-25 minutes, we call for a brain break! It seriously saves our sanity during this focused time of getting the “basics” done! We also squeeze in chore time here when someone is needs my help and I’m busy! If chores are done and I’m occupied with someone, the others traipse outside to play!
11:30-1pm ~ Lunch and read aloud time! We read A LOT! Sometimes it is while the boys eat lunch. Other times, I let them color, hang upside-down from the couch or play with playdough. I’ve found that busy hands make for focused minds! What can I say? Movement matters and dramatically increases retention rates!
1-2pm ~ Everyone takes time to rest, read and refuel. Even though Greta is the only one who naps, we have an afternoon siesta time for EVERYONE. The boys can read, take a nap, or quietly play. I have an hour to collect myself, sometimes eat lunch {if I was reading to them over lunch time} and catch up on email.
2-4 ~ Our unit study activities, art with our amazing pastel’s, and free play. This along with our read aloud times are the highlight of our days. It is the learning that doesn’t feel like learning. If we happen to only get to our unit study stuff and not cover any of the math or spelling, the boys don’t even realize that we’ve done “school” as most of the world views it!
Once October rolls around, we’ll be starting back with PE two afternoons a week.
Dinner Time: A time to share our discoveries from the day with Dad! I’m trying to get better about texting him with updates, so he knows what kinds of questions to ask the kids!
Variations:
And because really no two days are ever alike, here are a few of the ways we deviate from the norm.
- Wednesday we reverse the schedule and go into our unit study “fun” learning. We tackle the basics that afternoon.
- Friday will be co-op day with another family! Woot!
- We also like to take spontaneous trips to the zoo or out hiking just for the fun of it. Sometimes we take these fun outings when I’m feeling like we aren’t gelling well as a family. Going out to explore and play is a powerful way to reconnect!
- Sometimes character lessons overtake the planned lessons. We make time for these important impromptu life-lessons too!
I’m getting back on the 6 week meal rotation bandwagon. It saved me so much hassle before and I’m going to specialize it to fit our schedule this year. Thanks to all of the wonderful crock pot ideas you gave me, I’m going to try and integrate more of those into my week to make for easier meal prep.
What are essentials in your routine? Where do you land on the schedule/routine spectrum? {Spontaneous-All-the-Time to Every-Moment-Scheduled}
Here’s our Curriculum Choices for 2013-2014
This is so interesting, thank you. I realise I’m a bit late to the party… do you have a more recent post about an average day? How have things changed or stayed tge same?
No. But I am definitely overdue for one. 🙂
Heather, this blog is a great encouragement to me.
I’d love to hear briefly if this routine has changed at all as your oldest has gotten older or if you still keep your afternoons loose. I’m having trouble not feeling pressure academically as my oldest is now in 5th grade and am trying to strike a balance and have realistic expectations.
Great article.
Can u recommend some good read aloud?
Hi Amanda, There are so many great read-alouds. If your kids are really young and you haven’t read these yet, we love the Winnie the Pooh original books and Paddington the Bear. Other favorites in our house have been, Homer Price, Mr. Popper Penguins, A Cricket in Time Square, BoxCar Children and of course The Chronicles of Narnia. Those are a few to get you started.
Hi Heather! I just love this post. I have a four year old that will be starting school next year and I am going to home school her. I am just so excited to teach her myself and bring God and school together for an amazing journey. Right now she just does abcmouse.com but I was wondering where do you get your curriculum? The Christian academy I will be homeschooling through provides their own. Is this something you are familiar with or do you go to mardel or elsewhere for your lessons Thanks for your help!
I am a grandmother of 16 and two more on the way (one any day now). I homeschooled my 7 children. I still have one that is a senior this year. I have seen so many benefits to homeschooling children. My husband and I have a website to help parents go through the Bible with their children. Each day’s lesson only lasts about 5 minutes. Check it out and see what you think. Thank you for your advice to mothers.
Love Love Love! I am just getting my sea legs. Jumping back onto the homeschool boat with a baby girl this time. Just the encouragement I needed to get our schedule floating.
I would be delighted as always to have you link up with Momma notes. Thanks for grace as I became momma to 6, its back up and running. I jot some notes on Monday. But you can link up any day. Just moms. Sharing our notes. Creating a melody.
Happy day,
Sarah
This was very helpful heather. I am thankful for the time and effort you put into the blog- it serves many well.
I love your schedule! Thanks for sharing! It is fascinating to me to see how others do this with a toddler in tow too! I want reading to be a huge part of our days too. I’m hoping this year-Caleb grows a lot in this skill so it can be! Thanks for sharing your beautiful life with us! XO, Erica
Heather,
I am a brand new homeschooling mom with a 5 yr old and 2 year old. A few SUPER practical questions:
– If you get up at 5:00/5:30 – what time do you go to bed?!
– When do you grocery shop/clean your house? With/without kids?
– What chores do your kiddos help with and at what ages?
– And did I catch this correctly earlier … you plan your entire homeschool YEAR out in the summer?? (I was thinking of doing monthly planning since this is my first time at the rodeo…)
Thank you so much! You ARE a total inspiration!
Kendel from Alabama
Hi Kendel! Congrats on the new adventure that you are embarking on. What great questions. Here are some of my answers:
1) my goal has been 5am, but I’m just not able to do it on a regular basis. I burn the candle at both ends. At the earliest, I’m in bed by 10, often times it is closer to midnight. Don’t worry that this is normal for homeschool mother’s however. God has led me to blog as well as minister alongside my husband to homeschool families here. In order to carve out quiet time to focus on writing and such, I end up staying up late.
2) My husband goes to work late on Wednesdays, so I head out at 7am and get back around 8ish from our farmer’s market store. They have double ad’s on those days, so I pick up most of our groceries there and usually sans kids which is how I can get in and out so quick. Once our PE starts back up in October, my goal is to add errands after PE and have dinner ready in the crockpot those nights. I make a costco run with the kids late some afternoon about 2x a month.
3) Cleaning… I simply can’t do it all and this is what takes the hit in our home. I’ve been working on training the boys to clean. The older two are getting better with bathrooms, but my absent minded 5 year old still needs me working alongside him. I probably do a deep clean once a month and will spend a Saturday doing it. One of my closest friends cleans far more frequently than this, but she doesn’t blog and having a really clean house is very important to her. You’ll need to figure out what is important for you and your family and then plan accordingly.
I’ve been bringing the kids alongside me as I clean most of the time. It takes a lot longer {hence why my house isn’t as clean as I’d like}, but they are in the process of learning. Our picture job charts are helpful – especially for the younger ones: https://www.heatherhaupt.com/2011/05/20/picture-chore-chart-tutorial/
4) I do very general planning for the year. We do unit studies, so I’ll decide what I want to do that year and map out a general – “We’ll spend 1 month on this topic and 6 weeks on that one, etc.” My detailed lesson plans which what I actually want to accomplish each week are usually done in 4-6 week chunks. I’ve also found it easier to keep lesson plan sheets per topic/subject. Life happens and it is pretty much impossible to keep us going at the exact same pace with every area. Sometimes a child struggles and we take longer, other times they speed ahead. And sometimes you get pregnant and that throws everything off. 😉
I did want to add that when my oldest was 5, we had a much simpler routine. We didn’t do anything but free play and chores after lunch. 15-20 minutes for phonics, 15-20 minutes for math and time to read and explore INTERESTING topics is all you need. Training in chores and character were naturally woven into our day and provided amazing opportunities to learn and grow!
I have lots of helpful links on this page. It was a resource page I put together for a talk I gave this summer. The links are perfect for the preschool/kindergarten stage. https://www.heatherhaupt.com/preschool/
Enjoy this precious time with your two kids! One of the sweetest benefits is the relationships forged between you and them and between siblings.
I love reading your blog entries…so inspirational and helpful.
I’m wondering if you are willing to give a bit of guidance about teaching children about God. It seems like it should be so simple, yet I feel like my son does not “get” it or put it as a first in his life at all.
I’d love to, Bridget. It’s been a while since I’ve blogged on this topic. Do you have specific questions. I’d love to share on this topic that is near and dear to all of our hearts again next month! Feel free to email me: heather{at}heatherhaupt{dot}com
Your school room looks adorable with the big tree…is it a decal?
No. We put up painters tape, drew an outline for a tree and then cut out the tree part so we had a stencil. We spray-painted the inside and removed the rest of the tape once dry. I love our tree! Sometimes, we’ll add leaves for the seasons since we don’t see typical seasons here in the desert.
Thank you Heather for sharing your day! You look organized with 4 under toe! Your days sound smooth and lovely. Thanks, Holly