Our Homeschool ~ "What does your day look like?"

A friend of mine recently took me out to coffee and asked me some homeschool questions.  The one I had the hardest time with was "What does your day look like?"  Hmmm what does one day look like?  Our days are so different, each one takes on it's own life.  We run with things as they come up and leap from topic to topic to project as the kids come up with things they want to do.  We do have some structure as its needed to help the house run smoothly and the little girls really thrive knowing what to do when.

So as all days are different here is a general guide of what we do in a day

These things happen everyday, mostly in this order:
Wake-up
Animal Chores
Breakfast
Morning Chores
Lunch
Chapter Book reading (We are currently reading Swiss Family Robinson)
Afternoon Chores
More Book Reading (sometimes)
Snack
Dinner
Kitchen Clean-Up and 15 minute tidy
Bedtime for the Littles
Bedtime for the Bigs
Family Devotional (time varies between AM or PM depending on when Dad is home that day)

What happens every week:
Karate, Cub Scouts (with Pink Troop), 4H Meetings (2x month), Church,

What do we do in-between?  That depends.  Here are some things each kid is working on this year:

Madeline ~  At her request she has a full on curriculum this year.  She is using Calvert and she loves it.  She does what she feels like and usually works till lunch time.  Some days it's several lessons in a few subjects and other days its one lesson of each subject.  Maddy is also working on her 4H poultry project, a Coop Tender Poultry book through the ABA/APA, 4H Veterinary Science and, 4H photography curriculum.  She also has a Horse curriculum.  She spends a lot of time reading, playing with her siblings, going on hikes with Dad, she loves to cook, bake, and do crafts.  She loves painting and drawing.  She rides her bike and swims.  Everyday she works with her 4H animals.  She grooms them, clips their nails, cleans their coops, etc.  Weekly she attends Karate, 4H, Church, and has sleepovers whenever she can with friends.  A new addition is a mother/daughter Bible Study that both her and I are working through together.

Michael ~ will usually do some writing, some reading, some math and then he is off to play.  He is also working through the 4H Entomology (insects) Curriculum as well as working on his 4H rabbit project this year.  His reading work involves some phonics and reading out loud.  He initiated the interest in learning to read this year and I couldn't have been happier.  He went from tears to I am going to read a chapter book in really the span of a few days.  He loves to build things and is working through the different activities in his Cub Scout book.  He spends time each day with his rabbits.  He loves to help in the garden and has his own garden box that he tends too.  He likes to go on walks whenever he can around the neighborhood.  He plays a lot with Marah and likes to swim or ride bikes.  Weekly he attends Karate, Cub Scouts, 4H, and Church.  He is my audio visual kid so he loves playing computer games (StarCraft is a favorite) and LEGO.com  He also loves animals so watches documentaries through Netflix a lot.

Marah ~  She is technically in kindergarten this year.  I feel about kindergarten pretty much how I feel about preschool.  Let them hang out with you all day and they will learn everything plus some.  She wants to do everything her big siblings do.  So she has a handwriting book, a nature book, etc.  We read lots of books, do lots of baking, and tons of crafts.  She is outside as much as possible, living and learning.  She works with her 4H rabbits and chickens.  She is doing both projects this year.  She also has her own garden box.  She spends time playing games with Naomi, loves to swim and ride her bike.


Naomi ~ Is only four.  Legally in the state we are in we don't have to register with our districts until age 8.  Naomi just plays, she does what 4 years old's do best.  She gets muddy, she pretends, she dumps, and pours, and paints, and blows bubbles.  She mimics her siblings, and copies her mom.  She mixes and bakes, and colors, and does playdough.  She digs in the garden and saves worms.  She feeds the chickens and collects eggs.  She excels at 4 year old.

So that is it.  That is what we do.  We don't have a school year, we do this year round.  The kids work through curriculum when they want to and they take a break when they want to.  We take breaks when the house needs a clean up day or some one's attitude needs some work.  We do group projects and blow up volcano's, we go on field trips, and we read together a lot.  The library is one of our most used resources.  So Welcome to our homeschool ~ where we live life together and learn while we do it.