Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Today : Tuesday

Today I thought I would share a typical day for us. I don’t follow a strict schedule for schooling. I have what I want to get done every week, and I try my best. But things happen. Last week was to be our last week of school before the holidays, but Zach was sick several days. Then we went to Magic Kingdom at Disney World on Friday. So we have a bit of school left to finish up this week. We also have a Christmas party on Friday with our homeschool group, and on Thursday I thought I would take the kids to Hollywood Studios. We were told that the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are a good time to go to Disney World since it isn’t as crowded.

I am always interested to see how homeschoolers spend their days.


8:00 I got up. Since it has been cold, we let the dogs sleep in bed with us to help keep them and us warm. But I was tired of being sandwiched between Gonzo and Penny. I’m checking out flickr before I get the kids up.

8:15 Woke kids up, set table for breakfast. Zach eats cereal every day. Marguerite doesn’t (english muffin today).

8:45 Everyone up. Everyone eating breakfast. Billy off to work. The kids are being silly and fooling around while eating with me saying “who’s eating?” every couple of minutes trying to keep them on track. I’m eating (cottage cheese with grape jam) and reading blogs.

9:15 I’m done eating. The kids are still farting around at the table. I’ve filled and started the dishwasher. I don’t wash on a “schedule”. I run it when it is full. M finished her “chores” before eating, so she is working on perler beads. Z will do his morning chores when he is done eating.

10:00 Schooling with Marguerite. We worked briefly on phonics, read a few pages of Leif the Lucky, a chapter (page) of Tree in the Trail, a chapter of Child’s History of the World, and part of the last chapter of Understood Betsy (both my children love this book – I do too!). Marguerite also played her piano piece. Zach worked on his independent school work. He read some of his astronomy book, a few pages of his reader, and a chapter of Minn of the Mississippi.

11:00 Marguerite is now in her room playing. Zach and I are reading a little bit of Age of Fable, and reading a chapter of Robinson Crusoe. Zach also practiced his piano pieces.

12:00 Zach is working on math, and I’m getting lunch ready.

12:30 Kids eating lunch (chicken nuggets and orange slices) and watching a little tv (Authur and Martha Speaks), then wrestling on the couch while their show ends. There are days when Z is completely annoyed with his sister, and there are days when he can’t leave her alone. Today is the latter.

1:48 TV show ended, they are hiding under a mass of blankets hoping I won’t dig them out. Or maybe hoping I will.

together

2:00 Z’s doing math, M is helping gra-gra (my mil) put away the clean dishes. I’m farting around on the internet. Z’s motivated to do math because he wants to go shopping with M and I this afternoon – lego has put out new pirate sets!

4:30 Home from running errands. Kids are playing board games. My kids tend to either play separately, or run/chase/annoy each other. They don’t tend to sit down and play together. I’m trying to foster that in them. I had to intervene and play with them for a game. I want them to enjoy each other – to realize the value of the other.

6:00 Billy’s going out to see a guy movie with a friend. So I picked up some McDonald’s cheeseburgers for the dinner. The kids are eating (cheeseburger, yogurt and raisins) and watching Pollyanna. They watched it for the first time last night. They are making gra–gra watch it with them.

7:00 Pollyanna’s over. Z finished is last math problems. Z is in the shower. M’s making more perler bead creations. Z will iron them tonight or tomorrow. I pay him $0.15 a piece.

I’m going to predict the rest so that I can post this tonight.

7:30 M takes a shower then does perler beads. Z plays on the computer probably looking up Nintendo wii games and looking at the new pirate legos on the lego website.

8:30 M gets ready for bed. If she finishes before nine, she will spend a few minutes with gra-gra. I usually start watching tv sometime in here. If I haven't eaten dinner yet, I will now.

9:00 M goes to bed. Zach spends a little time with gra-gra, gets ready for bed then gets in bed and reads. I usually turn his light off around 10:30.

11:30 ish – I go to bed and read for a bit or look at my doll quilt wall (across from my bed) and have quilty thoughts.

A day in our life. Most school days are a variation of this day. I like the idea of sharing our day with you. What do you think? Hope it wasn't too much information for you!

good night friends!

6 comments:

Lori said...

i love getting to peek into your day! :^)

Tine said...

That's interesting :) It sounds like a very good thing, homeschooling. Our days are very different, getting up much earlier, out of the house in the wee hours of the morning, away from each other for a large part of the day etc

Clare said...

This is going to make me look so stupid, but what are the benefits of home schooling in the USA? I've read lots of blogs where the kids are taught at home and have always wondered why.

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the Campfollower said...

I am going to start homeschooling My Emma after the Christmas break. We are both pretty excited about it all. All the books and stuff came last week. I am so thrilled you do this too! I love you even more now!

Tia

Anonymous said...

I know this is an old post, but I thought I'd leave a comment anyway.

I homeschool my 4 girls and we have used a lot of the same books you mentioned. Do you use Ambleside? I don't meet many who do. That's funny that you love Understood Betsy. We really didn't like it and just put it away. Funny.

Love the look of all of your stuff.