Homeschool:: A Day in the Life

"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning."          ~ J.B. Priestley

A Day in the Life

~ with a newborn (Daphne), 20 month old (Seraphina), 4 year old (Kiki), 6 year old (Charlotte), 12 year old (Bella) and 14 year old (Casen)

Mornings are precious in our home. We are slow and warm and still pretty sleepy because the day begins quite early. Lee is up before dawn to get Casen and Bella off to school and do farm chores, letting me catch up on a little shut eye since I'm up nursing our baby throughout the night. The three younger ones get up with Daddy and have breakfast. By the time I come out, Lee is heading out of the door for work. The girls and I settle in to getting dressed (some days), a movie, listening to some music, drawing, or just quietly (or rambunctiously) playing. Today, we all got dressed and turned up some nice folky tunes and let the morning ease on by.

While we've only been trying to incorporate a bit of formal homeschooling into our rhythm since last year, we've always been a "life's full of lessons" kinda family. At this time in our life we're striving to build a mini homestead on our land, complete with chickens, sheep, pigs we share with our neighbor, and the never-ending task of garden plans and upkeep. We've had many successes and failures but as we look to the Springtime we are hopeful for a more "productive" season; both with our education and farming.

Our little school room

Our school room space is really our old living room turned dining room turned school room. Our home is less than 1000 sq. feet, which for eight human bodies, two cats, and a large breed dog, can feel pretty tight at times. I don't have all the storage space I crave, finding an empty space to gather ones' self is usually not an option, and the noise permeates the entirety of the house. We've all compromised something to live in this small space so we can lead the lifestyle we are choosing. Our homeschool space may just be the most organized space in the house. What you see in the picture is all we need; a table for working and a bookshelf to hold our supplies. < The other pieces of furniture you're seeing are our dish cabinet and my craft supplies dresser which doubles as a place to hold our printer and our cats >

Learning about Abstract Art

Our homeschooling schedule is built around the baby's nursing requests and meal times, diaper changes, naps, and when I can find the energy to wrap my head around a lesson. Seraphina (our 20 month old) has minimal capacity for distraction. She always seems to know when someone is trying to get her involved in something. Most days she won't even fall for it making it really difficult to steal away any moment long enough to complete a lesson.

All that aside, the homeschool rhythms we are creating are very rich, motivated, beautiful, and full of joy and exhilaration as we all learn something new together.  Charlotte and Kiki (our 6 and 4 year olds) are the only ones homeschooling full time right now but we supplement the olders as necessary (they go to our local public school). We are using Waldorf and Charlotte Mason inspired curricula for our homeschooling and use those same principals to help our older children with their lessons from school. 

 On a "typical" day we might have some time in the morning/early afternoon, while Daphne is napping or Seraphina is distracted, to begin our main lessons with Charlotte. Kiki will either work along side of us drawing or "writing" or asking a bazillion questions on whatever topic is at hand. She is only 4 so I try to let her lead me for when she's ready for a learning lesson. Depending on where she's at, you might find Kiki and Seraphina teaming up for a dual distraction like this:

A bit of Curious George for the win!

 While I'm not always pleased with the amount of screen time the younger ones get during the day, sometimes it's the only thing that allows Charlotte and me a bit of time to really dig deep and have a nice, full lesson. The lessons we manage to do everyday consist of spelling, writing, reading, math, and handwork. The lessons we are less consistent with are language arts, science, and social studies.  We do those in blocks and tend to complete them in a good amount of time, but less frequently. I sit and plan out what specific lessons we will do either that morning or the night before. Not having a plan scheduled out a week or more in advance works for me because I am then free to augment our lessons to fit where it is we are at at that moment. Having a plan and then not following it, for whatever reason, brings up feelings of failure and overwhelm for me. So, for now, this works. On a "typical" day we are able to get our lessons done in about 2-3 hours. Other days we will scatter the lessons as we need to throughout the day, usually finishing well before supper.

 

Learning to read has been Charlotte's biggest accomplishment. She's been working so hard, all self motivated, so we spend much time sitting (which happens often while I'm with our nursling) and reading. This is one part of homeschooling that I love so much; seeing and experiencing all the "firsts". 

 

Tandem packing our littlest girls

Seeing as I am only 5 weeks postpartum, I have a lot in the way of muscle building to do to be able to accomplish this feat with any regularity and longevity. Our toddler loves to be in a back pack and packing the newborn is sometimes the only way I find that I can be hands free. This set up may just be the key to the girls and I being freed up to accomplish things like: cleaning our wool fleeces, working in the garden, tending to the chickens, painting and other in-depth crafting projects (which we adore), going for walks, heading to the park and other outings, etc.

 

The weather this winter has been so frigid so the girls and I haven't spent a lot of time out of doors together. That being said, when Daddy is home, the youngest girls have someone to pal around with so I am then able to have more focused time with Charlotte and/or Kiki. Daddy,however, will bundle the girls up and get them outside. This is their "do work" time which usually consists of activities like cleaning the chicken coop, getting hay for the animals, visiting the neighbors, going for walks, building something, playing in the snow and ice skating, running errands etc. Sometimes all of the girls go which means I'm afforded some time to get my household chores done or just spend some quality time with our baby.

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Here is a little snapshot into our homeschool rhythm based on a "typical" day::

Morning:: 6am-10:30am (some things we do during this time)

We wake and have breakfast, get dressed, read, play, listen to music, draw, play with play dough, watch a movie, check the chickens/bring out the compost, have snack, snuggle with the baby, get Seraphina down for a nap, nurse the baby, wash the morning dishes, get the laundry in the wash, phase one of play space clean up (with a small house clean ups need to happen more frequently throughout the day)

Afternoon:: 10:30am-1:00pm Homeschooling hours

Spelling, math, writing, reading, science or social studies, language arts, art, music (alternating days for the last 5 subjects), the littles may have a movie, play, or draw. Between lessons I'll switch the laundry to the dryer, prepare a bit for lunch, and try to finish my first cup of coffee (which is inevitably cold)

Late Afternoon:: 1:00pm-2:00pm

We have lunch and then rest for a bit during this time 

Later Afternoon:: 2:00pm-5:00pm (some things we do during this time)

Have a snack, play, read, handwork, draw, bake, do household chores (clean up school room/play spaces), go outside (the bigger girls do this on their own), prepare for dinner, welcome the big kids home, shuttle big kids to their various after school activities, have afternoon tea with friends

Evening:: 5:00pm-10:00pm (some things we do during this time)

We have dinner, welcome Daddy home (if he's working), chat about our day, clean up dinner, have a crazy dance party to work the wiggles out, help the big kids with their school work, have baths, get into pjs, the littles are in bed by 8pm, and Lee and I hit the hay somewhere around 10pm after we spend some time together catching up and preparing to do it all over again tomorrow!

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I realize this is not a traditional homeschool experience, but like all experiences, they are deeply personal. This routine is what works for us right now in the season of life we are in. I'm sure as we all change and grow, so will our routines. If there's one thing I've learned, it's this: 

"The less of routine, the more of life." ~ Amos Bronson Alcott

~ Thank you for visiting our Homeschool Day in the Life ~