I was recently emailed by a sweet mom who wanted to know about a typical day at our house. She is praying about homeschooling and has a house full of children and wonders what a day looks like at our house. I thought that was a great question and a great request for a blog post!

Our typical day is very different than what it was a few years ago when my older girls were younger. At that time I sat down and taught them every subject, graded every paper, stayed on a strict schedule, and was very organized(or tried to be). It was fun teaching them every morning...having one doing seatwork while the other one was with me worked very well. The morning usually flowed nicely and we were done by noon. Sometimes they had a few afternoon *homework* type things to finish up, but the large amount of school work was done. We would have lunch and they would have quiet time in their rooms reading and listening to music. I had a goal when they were younger...it was to teach and train them to be mostly independent with their school work by a couple of years or so. I wanted them to be able to follow their lessons and assignments responsibly without much help needed from me. With a new baby on the way and desiring for more children, I knew that they would have to eventually be self motivated and responsible for learning the material I organized and put before them. So, much of my time was helping them become independent. This does not mean, that now, I never work with them or help out with projects and such...this just means on a daily basis, they are doing their school by themselves and as things come up that they have questions about or need help with, we attend to those as needed.

As I have had 2 more children in the last 4 years, things have changed a lot and my husband and I feel that younger children need more attention (the big girls had me all those years)...now,I must be interacting with the younger children...teaching and training them as consistently as possible. So, my older girls have really been a blessing by doing most of the school work independently. I still grade most things and oversee everything, but for the most part, they know what to do! These last few years have been uniquely easy as a homeschool mom...so all that preparation and training has paid off. I have spent most of my time caring for the younger ones, while the older ones have done very well continuing on...with the help of DVDs and CD roms...wonderfully written textbooks...like Apologia Science, and activities and reading that does not require my *teaching* them.

Next year will be slightly more challenging as my third oldest will be beginning pre K and some kindergarten things with me. Abigail, my second oldest, will be doing Sonlight with me for History, Literature, and Bible. She will remain independent with Math( Teaching Textbooks--we are switching to this Math program after seeing it at the homeschool convention!) and Science (Apologia). I am really looking forward to it, though! I can't wait to get all of our new books in!!!

I thought a flexible schedule of a typical day for us would be helpful...this would show what a day looks like for us. This is not written in stone...it is just how a normal day goes.

6am- Arise and run or exercise at home
6:40- Quiet time and some computer time
7:15 or so everyone wakes up-I will make breakfast or my older 2 will make something at times
7:30- Breakfast with the family and read the Bible with the children...we are going through Matthew right now.
7:45 Abigail cleans up breakfast dishes
8:00- Older girls begin school (see their schedule below)
8:00- Preschool time with Evie and Jack Henry
Memory work(Lord's Prayer, pledge, books of the Bible, scripture)
8:15- Leading Little ones to God, A Beka flash a cards for Bible, Phonics, and Math(this is VERY low kew)
9:00- If I have not had a shower yet, I take a shower, put on makeup, dry hair while little ones look at books and play in my bedroom.
9:30- Do a little cleaning, little ones go along with me or work puzzles
10:00- Read to the little ones( I have a box of books we use this for this time)
11:00- Begin lunch preparations
11:30- Lunch
12:00- Abigail cleans up lunch dishes...I may take the younger ones outside for a while.
1:00- Little ones naptime or quiet time
1:00- Grade and look over school things for older ones..older ones do their life skills
1:30- Somedays we do the *Girl Talk* book or a devotional together.
2:00- Computer time(check blog, write emails,etc) or reading time
3:00 Little ones wake up...snack and juice
3:30- 4:00- Play outside if the weather is nice
4:30- Begin any dinner preparations
5:30- Daddy comes home...celebration time!
6:00 Dinner...Gracie cleans up the dinner dishes
7:00 Family Worship time(not every night, but we try to do this most nights)
8:00-8:30 Prepare for bedtime: Read to little ones, Daddy prays with older ones
9:00- Lights out and bedtime for all children

Also, we have piano once a week, soccer practices, violin lessons, orthodontist appts...at various times.

Oldest's School Schedule
8:00- Geometry with a dvd
9:00- Spanish with Rosetta Stone cd rom
9:30- Apologia Biology
10:00- World Geography(dvd) or Health
11:00- English
11:30- Lunch
12:00- Practice piano
12:30- American Literature
1:00 Lifeskills and time with mom

Next Oldest's Schedule
7:00- Bible
7:30- Breakfast
8:00- Math
9:00 Reading
9:30- Language
10:30- Penmanship
10:45- Spelling
11:30- Lunch
12:00- History
12:30- Science or Health
1:00 Life skills and time with mom

A great book that I bought the year before we began homeschooling was this. It was so helpful and still is...I highly recommend it to anybody thinking about homeschooling...it made me see how doable it really was. It made me feel like *I can do this* and gave me great encouragement. It became incredibly helpful as God added to our family with more children. This website has some very good articles,too!