Not Back-to-School Blog Hop ~ A Day in the Life

We are only one week into our Journey for 2012/2013, but I think we have established a pretty good routine.

6:30 a.m. ~ Dawson and I get up. He jumps in the shower and I grab my coffee, Bible, devotional, and journal and sit down in my favorite chair for some quiet time.

7:00 a.m. ~ I get dressed and get Dawson some breakfast.

7:25 a.m. ~ Dawson and I drive the 4 blocks to my parents' so that he can catch his ride to school. My mom, dad, niece Rylee, Dawson, and I all sit on their front porch and wait for Rylee's friend to come pick them up. After they are gone we talk for a couple more minutes before my dad leaves for work and I head back home. (I am finding this to be precious time.)

8:00 a.m.~ I have to get home quick and get my bike, because my mom and her friend, Brenda, are coming down the street to get me. We ride our bikes to the community park and walk three miles. Then we ride back home.

9:00 a.m. ~ I am home and Brynne is usually just waking up. I get the dogs settled, get her breakfast and jump in the shower.

9:30 a.m. ~ If Eli is not already awake, I wake him up and get his breakfast while I finish getting ready. Then I make the beds, get their clothes out for them to get dressed, and prepare our dining room for our school day while they are getting dressed, brushing their teeth, and fixing their hair.

10:00 a.m. ~ School starts. We have been starting our day with Bible, and then moving right into Grammar, Spelling, Writing, and Math. I have found, however, that Eli starts to fizzle out between Grammar and Spelling. So, this week I think I will work in a break. Maybe I'll let them each choose a few small toys to play with while I read out of our current read-a-long, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He's so excited to get to Math that I shouldn't have much trouble getting them started back up. He just needs to have a break from sitting at the table.

11:30 ish ~ We are ready for a lunch break. Depending on how much prodding Eli has needed, sometimes we aren't ready until closer to noon. (On Mondays we head over to my mom's for lunch because my aunt comes through town on her way to work for a visit, and I love to see her.) I also use this time while the kids are eating and taking a break to run out and see my grandma at the nursing home.

1:00 p.m. ~ By this time I am wanting us to be deep into our current unit study. Last week we studied Caves. This week we are doing our first Five in a Row unit on The Story About Ping. This is also the time of day that the kids do their independent reading.

2:30 p.m. ~ By this time I am ready to end our day with P.E. We are reviewing a specific Physical Education curriculum that we are loving, so we get out some pent-up energy then.

3:00 p.m. ~ I'm off to pick Dawson up from school.

3:30 p.m. ~ It's time for mom to take a 30 minute power nap. I do this while the kids play.

4:00 p.m. ~ I'm back up and ready to start thinking about dinner.

Evenings ~ The rest of our evening, the kids play. Dawson does his homework. I get caught up on some computer work and housework. We have dinner and clean up the house from our active day. Some evenings we go for a walk, or go to the school playground to play, or walk to the Dairy Queen for a treat, or walk to grandma and papa's for a visit. Usually I water my plants or get my recycling together or put out the trash for pickup. We typically watch a little bit of television. I give the kids a bath, and try to have them in bed by about 8:30 p.m. They take the dogs with them so I can have some alone time to load the dishwasher and do a final house pickup. I also collapse on the couch with a glass of wine to watch some of my shows. Until I am ready for bed, the kids will watch some t.v. in their room, play with some toys in their bed, play Nintendo 3DS or the iPad.

10:00 p.m. ~ It's lights out.

The only real variation from this schedule is Fridays. On Friday, we do Bible, Writing, Fun/Living Math, Art and Nature. Our days are a little more free-flowing and slow. We go to the park for a picnic lunch and to explore (and get in a little play equipment time for P.E.). On our way home we stop by the public library so Eli and Brynne can get on the computers. They have some really great educational games that they love to play, especially ones on U.S. and World Geography. This also gives me time to check out books we will need for the next week or make a list of books I need to get from another library.

And that's our day, in a nutshell. It looks simple. However, I always feel like we are behind and rushing. And so far there has been lots of interruptions, like my grandma being in and out of the hospital and my niece being sick and in the hospital for a couple of days. But that's the beauty of homeschooling. Interruptions are life's lessons, so we embrace them and move on.

How about you? What's your day look like?

Have you missed my other posts in the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop? Here's what I had to say about ...

Curriculum
Classroom
Students

As usual, the Hop has been fun! See you next year!