"Schedule" is the Name of the Game - A Day in the Life

Monday we started our 5th year of homeschooling. 5th year! It hardly seems possible that what started as a response to a desperate plea from a struggling 7th grade boy to help him with social struggles has turned into a way of life. I can't imagine our life without homeschooling.

Summers and breaks are great! We relax to the max and really recharge. However, not having a schedule wrecks havoc on my ability to get anything done. Although I cherish the time off, I feel so much better physically and mentally when we have a schedule.

So here's what will typically be happening in the Taulman home on Monday through Friday ...

6:00 a.m. - Mom's alarm goes off. The dogs are more enthusiastic than I am to jump out of bed, but I do it anyway to take them potty and grab a cup of chamomile tea. The three of us climb back into bed and I spend some time in Bible study. At this time I am reading Living So That by Wendy Blight.

6:30 a.m. - I get up and get dressed in workout clothes for my date with Gilad. He and I meet in the living room, with a few of his friends, and complete one of his DVR'd "Body Sculpt" workouts.

7:00 a.m. - I sit down with my computer to check in with my friend Jodi (my accountability partner) and browse through my e-mail and Blogger feed. Dawson gets up about this time to get ready for school. He leaves at 7:30 a.m.

7:15 a.m. - Macie shows up. I get her settled watching a show and then I resume working on the computer.

7:30 - 7:45 a.m. - I jump in the shower and get ready for the day, make my bed, etc.

8:30 a.m. - I wake up the grizzly bears, er ... Eli and Brynne, to get them slowly moving into their day. They have breakfast and try to wake up. I start my household chore of the day. Here is my schedule:

• Mounds of Laundry and Mop it Monday (laundry, vacuuming, mopping)
• Toilets Tuesday (clean the bathroom)
• Wipe it Wednesday (dust)
• Tidy Up Thursday (put things back where they belong)
• Finish up Laundry and Floors Friday (redo of Monday)

9:00 a.m. - Macie and I do her schoolwork. We are doing a page of Handwriting Without Tears, learning a letter of the week (worksheet from HWT) and reading phonics books for the letter of the week.

9:30 a.m. - Eli and Brynne get dressed, brush teeth, and fix hair.

10:00 a.m. - It's time for school! We sit down at the dining room table for our Bible time. Then we move into the living room to watch an episode of CNN Student News on the computer (the now) before we launch into our reading of our current Little House book and start on our Prairie Primer study (the then). This has us spreading out all over the house depending on what we are doing at the time. We could be reading, watching a video, writing in our vocabulary or Bible journals, doing a science experiment or doing a project for social studies.

11:45 a.m. - The kids each read for 15 minutes while I fix lunch. Macie goes home.

12:00 p.m. - LUNCH BREAK!! The kids usually eat a quick lunch and then play, work on crafts, or build with legos.

1:00 p.m. - We do math, grammar, and then finish any of our Prairie Primer activities. I intended for us to also work on our writing course during this time, as well, but the 3:00 p.m. activity has seemed to take it's place for now.

3:00 p.m. - We snuggle up on the couch or on my bed to watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie. This has become our favorite time of the day. The kids are absolutely LOVING this show and it is bringing back some fond memories of my family watching it together on Mondays at 7:00 p.m. I remember that when Pa cried, my dad cried. And when my dad cried, we all cried. I have been teary at the end of each episode we have watched this week. And, man, I had forgotten all of the character lessons built into one episode. The history is fantastic. It's just great!

Dawson gets out of school around this time, also, and arrives soon. He is usually starving and ready to go upstairs to play video games or take a nap.

3:45 p.m. - The kids read for another 15 minutes.

4:00 p.m. - The end of our school day. I get us all cleaned up and the kids pretty much evaporate. I don't see them again until around dinner time. To be honest, sometimes I lay down on the couch when I am done cleaning up and take a 30 minute power nap. I am usually exhausted after a day of teaching!

4:30 p.m. - Time to get back up and thinking about dinner prep.

5:30 p.m. - We either eat now, or later if Brynne has volleyball practice. If she has a game, we eat around her games. If it's a volleyball night, you can scratch my nap. There just isn't time.

The rest of the evening is for kitchen cleanup, house tidying, t.v. watching, hanging out, playing board games, reading, playing, etc. At some point Brynne and I usually go for a run or a ride bike. We are back home to take showers by 8:00 p.m. or so.

8:30 p.m. - The kids go to bed.

9:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. - I go to bed and read.

10:30 p.m. (at the latest) - Lights out! Tomorrow will be here all too soon!

Our days are all pretty much the same. The only real differences are on Thursdays when have art co-op from 12:30 - 2:30 and then gardening class at the library from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. On Fridays we only do Math and get caught up on any Prairie Primer activities we didn't get completed during the week. It's also time to get our house cleaned and back in order to welcome daddy home from work for the weekend. We get in some practical skills study and, sometimes, a trip to "town" to get groceries.