Natalie's Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 10-year-old and 7-year-old)

I'm linking up to Simple Homeschool for their Day in the Life Series this week.

If it's your first time here, welcome to Our Great Homeschool Experiment!  Because our youngest attends a full-day Kindergarten at a local private school, our day starts a little differently from most homeschoolers.  I hope you enjoy a peek at a Day in the Life of our homeschool...


6:00 a.m. I (am supposed to) wake up for a shower and my Quiet Time before the kids rise.  If I've hit snooze too many times and just have time for a shower, I'll try to do my Quiet Time later in the morning when the test subjects are working on their Bible curriculum in the morning.

7:00 a.m.  I wake RA, and get started on breakfast while she dresses and makes her bed.

7:15 a.m.  RA comes down for breakfast and I wake the boys.  While they dress and make their beds, I make RA's lunch and pack her backpack for school.

7:30 a.m.  RA is usually still eating breakfast and the test subjects have joined her by now.  While everyone is together at the breakfast table, I read a chapter from the Jesus Storybook Bible aloud.

7:40 a.m.  While RA brushes her teeth, I eat a quick breakfast.  Then I brush her hair and help her get ready for school while the boys finish eating breakfast, brush their teeth and get ready to go.

8:00 a.m.  We all pile in the minivan to drop RA at school.  This is a quick trip and unless I need to walk her in to her class on a particular morning, it only takes about 15 minutes round trip.

8:30 a.m.  If all has gone well, by this time, we are seated at the homeschool table and working on the assignment sheets for the day.  The test subjects fill out their daily assignment sheets based on a weekly calendar I give them on Monday mornings.  I supervise to make sure they each copy their assignments correctly and hopefully within 10 minutes or so, we are off and running.  The boys do most of their work tucked into couches or comfy chairs with tray tables for writing.

8:40 to 10:30 a.m.  With the exception of Bible, History and Science, the boys are not usually working on the same subject at the same time.  This gives me the opportunity to work with one in a subject he might need help with while the other is able to work more independently.  Each morning we begin with Bible Time and then proceed through the following subjects, not necessarily in this order:

• Bible
• Handwriting (for TS 2)
• Math
• Language Arts

10:30 a.m.  Snack and Break Time- while the boys have a quick snack and break, I usually try to do some paperwork or make a brief phone call. 

11:00 a.m.  to 12: 30 p.m.  After snack and a short break, we have another stretch of time to work.  We often begin this time with our read aloud for History, and then work through some more academic subjects:

• History
• Independent Reading (chapter book of their own choosing)
• Reading Responses
• Piano Practice

12:30 p.m. Lunch and Break Time- we eat lunch together and then while the boys play, I usually do a chore or two around the house before our afternoon begins.

1:00 p.m.  After lunch and another short break, we spend the afternoon finishing up any academics that have not yet been completed and begin working on "electives."  None of these electives are done everyday.

• Finish up academics
• Piano Lessons (on Tuesdays)
• Health
• Spanish
• Keyboarding

2:20 p.m.  We pile back into the minivan to pick up RA from school.  

3:00 p.m.  We all have a snack together and share about our day.  Lately, I've been talking to the kids about what the Bible says about attitudes during this time.  

3:30 p.m.  I help RA with homework while the boys enjoy some free time.  They are limited to two 30 minute "media times" per day that they can use only after we have our snack together after school.  Sometimes, they choose to take advantage of those media times right away and other days they play together instead, usually something physical like basketball, baseball or football.    

4:30 p.m.  I try to get dinner started around this time.  Or I at least think about getting dinner started at this time :)

5:30 or 6 p.m.  Dinner- sometimes Dad is home in time for all of us to eat together and sometimes he is not.  Either way, I eat with the kids and we do our evening chores after dinner.

7 p.m.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the boys have Science with Dad.  On the other evenings, they have free time again until bedtime.  

7:30 p.m.  Bedtime for RA*

8:30 p.m.  Bedtime for TS 1*

9:00 p.m.  Bedtime for TS 2*

*Lately, it seems like these bedtimes have become more of a nice idea than a consistent routine.  We just finished a health unit on sleep though so we are working on getting back into a healthy sleep pattern :)

You may have noticed that Gym and Art are missing from our school days.  That is because we attend a weekly co-op on Fridays where the boys each take an art and gym class.  They also take another enrichment class at co-op.  This semester TS 1 is taking a class on Native Americans while TS 2 is taking a class based on the curriculum Five in a Row.

If you're curious about our curricula, you can check it out here.

I hope you enjoyed a peek at our day.  Is your homeschool day similar?  Is it very different?