A Day In The Life

Hahaha! Doesn't that title make every homeschooler laugh! It really seems that there is no such thing, doesn't it? A 'typical' day of learning just doesn't seem to fit our household. We have outside classes, sports, church groups, etc. Not to mention appointments, field trips, play dates, and other surprise interruptions. Sometimes we just need more "home" in our homeschool! Well, here is a general plan for how we run our day.

My daughters have reached that "tween" age where they have become nocturnal creatures and simply cannot fathom rousing before 9:30 or 10:00 am. I'm told this gets worse :-{   However, my Energizer Bunny of a 7-year-old boy is up before the crack of dawn. Since he is a little bundle of constant movement and noise, I get rolling with his day around 8:00 so that we can get through a number of subjects before those zombies less-than-morning-people even fumble into the the land of the living for breakfast. This has been so key to our success so far this year. I can plan some one-on-one time with my little guy before the chorus of "Mom? I need help!" begins. And my girls can catch up on their Z's so that they can start their day more focused and alert. The girls (5th and 7th grades) are fairly independent this year - YEAH! - so that helps things run more smoothly as well!

So how do we "do" our day? We keep a weekly schedule in front of each child so they can run down their list of what's expected each day.  Here is an example of my son's 2nd grade weekly schedule.

Ok, so the spacing got a little skewed, but it gives you the idea. I keep this schedule is in a picture frame next to where we work so I can always see what comes next. For my VERY checklist-loving son, I use the schedule cards from Cara Carroll over at The First Grade Parade. Hop on over to her blog to get them for yourself, FREE! How amazingly generous of her!

Now a little homeschooling tip here, all those great classroom decor items and posters are fabulous, but we rarely have the wall space for all of them and let's face it, we don't exactly need them to be viewable from the back row by 30 kids, right? So here's what I do --> shrink 'em! I printed these adorable schedule cards by printing 4 pages on 1 piece of card stock. Then, I laminated them and stuck a strip magnet on the back. Now my son can easily see how his day will flow and gleefully put little check marks next to each thing accomplished! 

Leave me a comment below and let me know what tips you've learned to help your day flow more smoothly!