Day in the Life

I said I wasn't participating in "day in the life" week on the blog hop, but the idea truly fascinated me. So...I decided to do it today. No pre-planning or glorifying what we did. Nothing was changed... :)

I am pretty embarrassed to say that we usually don't get up until 8 or later. My husband doesn't go to work until 10am, so the kids are usually the first ones up. I just can't survive...well..I don't do well with very little sleep.
At around 8am I heard the kids up. I rebelled and rolled back over since there were no fire alarms going off. ha.
When I did get up at 8:30 and walk into the living room, they were playing Little Big Planet. Together. Success! I think this was a great homeschool lesson on life, getting along, and the game itself requires teamwork and pretty complicated problem solving skills. Yeah, I planned their morning to be so stimulating!

(Ideal schedule insert: My ideal is to get my morning Bible/quiet time done first thing before hitting the floor, hopefully that will improve with the Good Morning Girls project. Also, one day earlier in the week all three of us did a workout video before starting school work. Well, I did it and they popped in and out for parts that were age appropriate. That is my ideal start to the day and one we hope to improve on!)

8:45: Put eggs on to boil for second breakfast.

And get out vitamins for the day. A big thing for us.

8:50: we all sat down for first course breakfast of cereal and milk. I perused my Operation Christmas Child materials that came in the mail earlier this week. It's almost time!

While I waited for the eggs to be ready, I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher.

And the kids watched Phineas and Ferb while I....

prepared the eggs. Katie gets two "deviled" and Noah gets two plain yolks. I eat deviled with Katie.

At 9:40 I put a load of clothes in to wash and go to print out the spelling tests. When I come back the kids do some weight lifting to get their brains moving for the day.

10:00 we finally begin "official" school for the day. First thing, character education and prayer. We have a Bible verse that goes along with this also.

Then poetry memorization time. They are doing great learning Wynken Blynken and Nod, after we put it to the tune of a made up song!

Daily Oral Language. This is a little book I got from someone for free...it's Abeka. It basically just has you repeating "correctly written and phrased" sentences to hear them said correctly. Older aged kids correct sentences on paper. More or less I just like how it makes my kids listen in detail to a long sentence that I have said and repeat it back to me. Works their listening and future note taking skills I think.

10:25: Math review. This was short today. We usually test on what we learned for the week but due to vacation last week and learning some pretty big things this week, we just did more review. We will add it to what we learn next week for testing.


Then time for a little spelling cram work right before testing today.

At 10:30, dad calls to talk to the kids.

Time for read alouds from the library! 10:50am

11:05am, snack time...yogurt and cookies.
While they snack I change out the laundry and fold and put away towels.
Gather up more laundry and cringe at the messes around the house.

Then it's time for spelling and phonics tests. 11:20am

They take turns doing their reading books individually while I test the other one.

12:07 and we're finished with sit down school for the day. Just a two hour day...easy on Fridays...tests, review, etc. Most days take longer with phonics lessons, Math dvd lessons, etc.
I start regrouping for the next week and tackle this mess of a rolling cart.

While I am working on organizing next week's lessons and cleaning off the cart, the kids work on art. We studied about "forms" as in things that are not flat in art. They made 3D paper horses earlier in the week. Today I let them go to the table and use the construction paper, scissors, and tape to just create. They work on it for a while, then Noah decides to get up and play Wii baseball.

1:17pm

Katie, however, continues to work on her project. She makes forms of me and Corey though she does point out that they really art just flat.
I want to be more prepared for next week than I was this week, so I go to print out the spelling activities from spelling city. While I am at the computer I read a few blogs, and send some emails about the good morning girls group I am joining/creating for the fall.

I come back and finish cleaning off the cart. You might not see a difference, but I sure do! ha!
Thanks for the three drawer organizer Karen!

Can you believe I didn't take a photo of lunch??
1:37 finished prep for next week and trade out laundry, then make lunch.
During lunch I create a template for our new menu plans. Noah is very pleased.

He loves knowing what we are going to have for dinner. I think this has lifted a great big worry off his shoulders! ha!
No photos between lunch and dinner

2:00: eat lunch, check a few blogs, create template

2:40: put away towels the kids folded after lunch. HA! Mentally congratulate myself on not refolding them before putting them in the closet, then smile when I have to refold them before they will fit in the closet. ha ha.

The rest of the afternoon the kids play together, and play educational games on the computer. I intend to take a short nap but it does not happen. I decide to start a section in my school organizer binder for keeping a list of wanted supplies for next school year. Then I decide to look up prices online, then I get distracted looking at history curriculum (something I have failed in teaching so far, but didn't want to start too early....looking at next year), then get into a conversation on facebook with a friend on chat about her history curriculum.

No major meltdowns or fights, the kids play well together.

4:20: finished wild tangent.

4:40: played War with Noah

5:05: finished full game of War with Noah. Katie was playing in her room. Straightened up living room, searched for phone charger as phone is about to die. Almost literally die myself from the mortifying sight of what lives under our couch cushions! EEk...left that for another day!

5:25: put pizza dough out on counter to warm to room temperature. Sweep floors, clean toilets and sinks and mirrors in the bathrooms while the kids do a quick room blitz cleaning.

5:50pm: make pizzas, put in oven. Send email to a couple of contacts about American Heritage Girls troop for Katie.

6:20pm: pizza done. eat dinner....


I hang up and put away the last of the clothes while the kids finish eating. They take two forevers to eat a meal! ha!

6:45: Corey called
6:50: Bethany called
7:00: Call Corey back, he talks to the kids before bed.

7:20pm: played a game of Uno with the kids. They brush their teeth and change into clean pajamas! (love it!)

7:49: Watch one mini episode of Phineas and Ferb before bed.

8:10pm: tuck Katie in after devotional and prayer.

8:15pm: tuck Noah in after devotional and prayer.

I take a relaxing hot bath, then go turn their lights off at 8:49pm.
Then it's time to blog about our day! :)

I was very nervous about writing down everything we did in a day. Especially on a Friday when schoolwork is a minimum. We didn't do any history lessons or science experiments. But, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I am sure there are people who do a lot less. And, I know there are a ton of families who get a lot more done in a day. Especially other homeschool moms. But this is just one day out of many. And I was home with my children...guiding their learning...enjoying their thoughts and ideas.... There were also plenty of tiny things that didn't get recorded...like the cleaning up after snack, and lunch, and dinner...ha. And the little spats here and there that got intercepted and diffused.
We had an early night because we have to be up very early in the morning at church for dress rehearsal for the musical at church this weekend.

This makes me want to do this again sometime...and compare how I think our time spent was better or not as well spent. Hope you enjoyed!