(Last Updated on October 25, 2023)
I love seeing how homeschool families do life! It’s been over a year since I’ve done a “Day in the Life” post of our own – it’s definitely time to give you another glimpse!
(Click here to check out the previous one.)
My kids are another year older (so am I, of course, but we don’t need to dwell on that). And each school year brings new changes and challenges. So here’s a peek into our world these days.
(There may be affiliate links in this post – click here to learn more. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
A Day in our Homeschooling Life
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Note: I’ve put in bold the actual academic goals I had on my kids’ lists for today so you can see how “school” is woven in throughout the day.
7:37am
My husband and I wake up. He’s been working from home for most of 2020, so we’ve been getting lazier with no train schedule to keep us on track (train pun not intended).
We eat our Multigrain Cheerios together. He goes to take a shower. I listen to part of my daily Bible reading on the Dwell app, get the table set for the kids, and straighten up the kitchen that’s still a mess from last night.
8:00am
“Oldest” (6th grade son) comes downstairs and makes a beeline for the couch to continue reading Book 3 of the Wingfeather Saga. (We love this book series!!)
8:10am
“Middle” (3rd grade son) wakes up, gets his cereal and plops down at the kitchen table with Book 2 of the Wingfeather Saga. (Did I mention we love this book series?)
8:20am
I decide to push my luck and try and get an uninterrupted shower since everyone is occupied and my daughter is still asleep.
8:21am
As I walk up the steps to the bathroom, I hear a tiny, Cindy Lou Who voice call “mama” from the bedroom.
I stop in to say good morning and open the curtains for “Youngest” (our 4 year old daughter). Sensing I was about to take a shower, she implores, “Stay here! Don’t take a shower! Don’t worry, you won’t be stinky! Scratch my back.”
8:22am
I scratch her back for a few minutes and then tell her I must take a shower or I will be stinky. As I leave the room, she replies, “Well…don’t lock the door!”
8:30am
I actually get a shower! No interruptions! I can tell it’s going to be a good day.
Sometime between 8:30am and 8:43am
My husband does morning Bible reading with the boys while Oldest eats breakfast. Husband didn’t know he was supposed to take a picture of it for the blog post…
8:43am
Youngest is still in bed, reading books and humming to herself.
The boys are still reading, too, so I start a load of laundry in our retro washer and straighten up the house for a couple minutes.
8:50am
Everyone is still reading! It’s so quiet! I soak in the rare moment of silence for about twelve seconds.
Then I check emails, call about a doctor’s bill, and clean up the kitchen (again). I go to feed Fish (our betta fish) and see that there’s already a checkmark by this morning’s feeding on our chart! Middle remembered to feed her without me reminding him!
This IS going to be a good day!
9:05am
Youngest finally comes downstairs in her new rainbow unicorn robe to eat breakfast. I give the boys a “get-to-a-good-stopping-point” warning (I find it causes less push-back than a “two-minutes-left” warning).
9:15am
The boys check their school lists (you can find more about their To-Do lists here).
Middle starts his piano practicing. Youngest watches his “concert.” Oldest begs to have more reading time since he’s so close to finishing his book.
9:20am
I encourage Youngest to get dressed for the day. She convinces me that putting on PJ shorts under her robe will suffice since we’re not going anywhere today.
9:30am
Oldest finishes the last chapter of his book and goes to practice his vocabulary words on Quizlet.
Youngest wants to do her “candy math” so she counts chocolate chips by two and we practice adding them together. Then she happily eats her work.
9:40am
I work with Oldest and Middle on their creative writing unit. We didn’t get to it yesterday so we do two day’s worth to catch up.
Meanwhile, Youngest finds her keepsake box and plays with the notes and trinkets (like her flattened souvenir penny collection).
10:25am
Snack time!
We eat together while I continue our read aloud, On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Yes, this means I sometimes talk with my mouth full.
11:00am
Oldest does his math. It’s time for some multiplication review – his favorite! (not)
Middle practices his French horn for band.
I help Youngest pickup the mess she made earlier.
After that, we work on her AWANA Cubbies book and practice her Bible verse.
With her previous mess cleaned up, she starts making a new mess playing with the papers in the piano bench. I do a little more kitchen cleanup and get my steps in when the boys – one upstairs and one downstairs – alternate calling me for help.
11:35am
I give the kids a little free time while I get lunch ready and switch the laundry to the dryer. I lost track of what they were all doing but haven’t found signs of any shenanigans… yet.
12:00pm
Lunch time!
12:30pm
Despite their grumblings, I make them go outside in the snow to play. For the first five minutes, they glare at me from outside the sliding door. But then someone asks for a plastic cup so I give them one. The others want cups, too. Pretty soon everyone is inventing “snow sprayers” (punch a disposable cup and watch it spray snow…) and building snow towers and loving it.
It kind of reminds me of our experiences with strewing. Just a little spark leads to all kinds of creative ideas.
While they play, I catch up on emails and texts. I also remember to login to BookIt and award them their reading incentive program coupons. Pizza Hut for lunch tomorrow!
1:20pm
Despite their grumblings, I make them come inside. They shed their wet boots and snowsuits and we have a quick lesson on proper care of our wet outerwear (i.e. don’t leave them in a heap on the floor).
1:30pm
They all have hot cocoa to warm up.
Youngest starts her weekly FaceTime call with her five-year-old cousin.
1:45pm
With Youngest occupied, the boys and I buckle down to work on history together.
2:25pm
Middle starts his math while Oldest goes to practice his drums and bells for band.
I bring up the laundry and do a quick cleanup of the living room.
2:30pm
Youngest is off of her FaceTime call and I remind her to please finish her lunch and hot cocoa in time to eat her snack. How someone can eat all day long and still manage to hardly eat anything at all is beyond me.
2:45pm
Middle reads his Bible and works on AWANA.
Oldest finishes practicing drums and moves on to piano and then his inventions.
While the boys are busy, I have a chance to work with Youngest on some reading and writing. She works on a dot-to-dot and gets another scratch’n’sniff sticker for reading a page in her Word Mastery phonics book.
She becomes fascinated with the camera I’m using for the blog post pictures and wants to try it. She asks me to show you her photography work: “Pinecones” and “Peach.”
After taking the peach picture, Youngest runs off to play. I take a moment to (you guessed it) straighten up the kitchen.
3:15pm
I realize Youngest has been awfully quiet for a while now. I begin to worry about the mess I’ll find. Thankfully, I find her looking at books in her room.
The day has gotten away from us so we do a quick cleanup and the kids check their lists to see what they have left to do.
3:30pm
We all need a break so they watch their TV show of the day. Youngest picks Wild Kratts (as usual) while the boys watch Dragons: Race to the Edge (no surprise there either).
I use the break time to workout downstairs. It’s leg day. Ugh.
After that, I stumble up the steps with my tired, post-workout, jelly legs and make the snack.
3:55pm
Time for a very late snack (usually we have our afternoon snack closer to 2:30pm).
4:15pm
Quiet time!
I work on this blog post, check my emails, and do some paperwork.
Oldest does his AWANA, Bible, and grammar. Then he plays beanbags, makes some inventions, and makes a pop-up card for a friend.
Middle starts out laying on the floor, bored. After he gets bored of being bored, he finishes up his AWANA. Then he goes back to being bored.
Youngest dumps out a puzzle. She leaves it there and then plays with blocks, books, and a few other toys.
5:15pm
Quiet time is over and Youngest wants to show everyone the “obstacle course” she made in the living room.
This inspires the others to show off things they’ve made over the past few days, so they run around the house doing that for a few minutes.
Middle also adds a few finishing touches to his DIY skeeball.
5:30pm
My husband is done with work and comes down from his make-shift office (our bedroom). We watch an announcement from the President on YouTube while I get dinner ready. It’s leftover night.
5:45pm
Dinner time! And we have cookies from our unbelievably, never-ending stash of Christmas treats for dessert.
6:10pm
After dinner everyone scatters. Oldest takes a shower, Middle goes back to his skeeball, and Youngest s-l-o-w-l-y picks at her dinner. I cleanup the kitchen yet again.
6:25pm
We play a quick game of Eye Found It together.
7:00pm
Oldest plays with Dad while Middle has his AWANA Zoom call.
I start Youngest’s bedtime routine with her. She picks a book to read together and then we play shadow puppets.
7:20pm
Youngest is in bed for the night.
I decide to make some progress on my drastic 2021 decluttering goals (inspired by The Minimal Mom). Tonight I tackle sweaters and I continue to fill up my “give away” and “recycle” clothing bags!
8:00pm
Now the boys switch places. Middle plays with Dad while Oldest has his AWANA Zoom call. And I get back to work on this blog post!
8:30pm
The boys watch Jeopardy with Dad and then get ready for bed.
9:00pm
Bedtime for Oldest and Middle.
Phew. I made it to the end of the day and you made it to the end of this post! Congratulations to us both!
Remember, this is just one day in the life of one homeschooling family. Your days will look different and even the rest of my own week won’t look like today.
Homeschooling gives you the freedom to learn in whatever ways work best for your family. Happy Homeschooling!
Subscribe today to receive new posts via email!
