Every day is different, but this falls somewhere between where we aim and where we strike:
6:15 Hit the snooze button
6:24 Hit the snooze button
6:33 Hit the snooze button
6:42 Rise
- Hit the button on the coffeemaker;
- shower & dress
- breakfast for Hubby
7:30
- Hubby leaves
- drink some coffee in front of the computer; nurse the baby;
- rouse any children that are still in bed
- children make their beds, dress, brush hair
8:00 Chores & Breakfast
9:30 Start school:
- Bible & catechism
- Science (Bigs & Middles read while I do phonics with the Littles)
- History (being covered now during family worship, so we skip during the day)
- Grammar (often just a Mad-Lib done as a group – fun!)
- Geography (usually map labelling, with Middles copying from Bigs)
- Penmanship (letters, italic workbooks, or copywork)
12:00 Lunch & chores
1:00 Back to school:
- Saxon Math
- Free reading
3:00 Naps/quiet time
- I try to take a catnap, then putter about working on bills, dinner, etc.
- The older girls finish math if we’re running behind, blog, work outside, read, etc.
- The 3 youngest nap.
4:30 Afternoon
- Chores
- Dinner prep
- Projects
- General cleanup
6:30 Dinner
7:30 Dishes
8:30 Family worship
9:00 Bed for Littles & Middles
10:00 Bed for Bigs
11:00 Pack Hubby’s lunch and set up coffee for tomorrow; check email one more time
11:30 Bed for Mom & Dad
Sprinkled throughout the day:
- Reading aloud to Littles (but not nearly enough!)
- Nursing baby in front of the computer, while blogging or emailing
- Quick whole-house pickups
- Laundry (takes longer than usual w/o a dryer)
- All that general mommy stuff that doesn’t quite fit in a schedule
Hubby gets home anywhere between 6:30 and 8. He likes us to eat w/o him if he’s later than 6:30, so that we have time for family worship before the Littles get too tired.
We don’t achieve this schedule perfectly and it’s still not our ideal, but we do manage to hit all the main points 3-4 times/week. Saturdays and Sundays are entirely different, so 3-4 isn’t too bad!
Related posts:
What does your family worship in the evenings consist of? Have you found any good way of including littles (especially sleepy littles?)
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one to sometimes nurse my baby at the computer
Our family worship right now is guided by Sunday school. Our church is going through the book of Numbers at the rate of 4 chapters/week, a book titled 100 Greatest Events in Christian History, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The little ones do participate as well, and even take notes copying down letters one by one.
About nursing at the computer: all my babies have been convinced that the computer chair is for nursing. The 14 month old takes me by the hand and leads me there when she wants to nurse.
Sounds very similar to our day-even the multiple snooze alarm taps!
If you never aim at anything-you will never hit your target!
What do you use for a curriculum to homeschool, other than Saxon for math? I’m really enjoying reading your blog. Thank you! Mandy