Homeschool Daily Schedule

After 6 months of trying to figure out what works, we have a great working schedule!!  So, here's a peak into our daily homeschooling life....

5am-8am - I wake, have quiet time, exercise sometimes, read, get dressed, check email/FB, blog, etc.  I do not do ALL these things everyday.  Yes, sometimes I simply sleep in and skip the rest!

7:30 - boys get up, dressed, work on chores, etc

8am - breakfast.  Breakfast is usually easy with eggs & fruit/smoothie, sausage & fruit/smoothie, or toast & fruit/smoothie.  Sometime we sit down together, sometimes I make it and let the boys take it in the living room to watch their favorite PBS morning show...Curious George.  shhh...don't tell Dad, but I am the mom that lets the kids eat in the living room.

8:30am - Kids begin their work.  We use the workbox system which I absolutely LOVE.  The boys thrive on it.  I have simplified our version quite a bit from the link I attached above but the concept is the same, we just execute it differently. We set the timer for one hour to see how many boxes we can get through.  Thankfully the boys have not learned to hurry through work just to get it done...I hope this continues.  They are usually pretty accurate, but maybe that's because I make them redo it if it isn't done correctly the first time.  I'm usually trying to hurry them along because they can get distracted.

9:30 - timer goes off around this time and we set it for a 15 min break

9:45 - I read to the boys, do history and Bible lessons (this can take anywhere from 30-45 min)

10:30 - 15 min break

10:45 - 11:15 - finish up boxes (most of the time this is individual work.  I try to have them do all the stuff they need me for at the beginning of the day so then I can work on other things while they finish up).

Afternoons are a bit more flexible depending on what our day looks like.  Usually Isaac has some work to finish up in the afternoon.  We have some quiet and relaxed time. They also watch Science lessons then.  They do Science experiments with Dad on weekends or evenings when it works and we also try to have them involved in everyday stuff like projects, cooking, etc.  I just love the flexibility homeschooling offers!!  

Fridays we only work on core subjects (do Bible, history, Science and read-alouds Mon-Thurs) so it's a bit shorter.  We try to make Fridays also more hands on with field trips, projects with Dad, etc.

This is NOT a perfect schedule followed exactly like this every day but a good framework for our routines.  One huge lesson I've learned is that I cannot possibly teach everything I'd like to.  I was overwhelming us all by doing that so I keep it flexible knowing that as we get more comfortable, I can add more in.  I'm excited to look ahead for next year with new eyes and wisdom seeing what I'd like to study and shoot for.