Homeschooling is a deeply personal decision which has been forced on everyone across the nation recently due to the Covid-19 outbreak. We are going to share our homeschool schedule with you. Now in saying that each homeschool should and will look differently based on several things. We have been homeschooling for over 9 years. I was a classroom teacher before I started homeschooling my own children. I have learned a lot and continue to learn more everyday. It’s hard, everything worthwhile is.

First of all we use My Father’s World Curriculum we love it for multiple reasons. It is written with a Christian worldview. It also follows a Charlotte Mason educational philosophy. I have personally grown while teaching our children and believe it has a lot to do with the support we have from My Father’s World. Every purchase goes to support Bible translation. I could go on and on. This doesn’t mean there are not other great options out there, this is just what we have fallen in love with.

When we first started to homeschool I tried to recreate the classroom experience in our home. This did not work for multiple reasons. Last year I attended a Teach them Diligently conference. It was so encouraging and refreshing. One of the breakouts was by the authors of 5 in a Row (another great curriculum). He reminded me why we chose to homeschool. We wanted close relationships with our children and we wanted every opportunity to point them to the Gospel. That’s it in a nutshell, sometimes Math is not the most important thing going on with our children.

MORNING:

First of all our home is not always clean and orderly, we live here. It’s a process. I get up and wake up the children. They eat breakfast, brush their teeth, get dressed and have their quiet time.

CUBBIES:

Each child (we have 6) has a cubby they keep their books in. After their quiet time, they self start on what they can do by themselves.

MATH:

We have used and liked several Math curriculums. We are currently uses CTCmath and it was half off on HSLDA’s website. Half off

READING:

I read out loud to them. This has been invaluable to our whole family. The older ones now read most of their assignments to themselves so I can have time to read more to the younger ones but to be honest I wish I had time to read it all to them.

EXTRA:

Now that we are self quarantining all extra curricula’s have been put on hold. We have joined Yousician so the children can continue to learn their instruments.

WORK:

I am a wedding photographer. I need to reply to my couples, send proposals, update our website, create timelines, edit sessions etc. I will get up before they do to do some of this. I also work at nap time when the others are free reading. I stay up after they go to bed and like right now, they are playing outside.

OUTSIDE:

We spend a lot of our day (weather permitting) outside. Playing, tea parties, reading, finding bugs and lizards, etc. We also love to hike at all our local parks.

GARDENING:

We will garden some this spring. The kids also help with yard work. Everyone pitches in with what they are able to do.

SENSORY ACTIVITIES:

Our 5 year old foster child does sensory activities during instruction time in the morning. There are lots of ideas on Pinterest for this.

LUNCH:

All the children help with lunch, this is usually simple like sandwiches, corndogs or leftovers.

DYSLEXIA:

I have learned that not all children learn the same way. I beat myself up because I had to be doing something wrong. Then I found out my child has dyslexia. This is not a disease it’s just a different way the brain learns. I have also found out she has lots of other gifts and talents and is incredibly bright. She just doesn’t read on a grade level that someone said she should be at. I read out loud to her. We love Hoopla because she loves to read and this allows her to listen to audiobooks for free with a library card.

PLAYING:

Play is the work of a child. Our children dress up (sometimes reenact a story they just read). They build forts, play with legos, dolls, paint etc. They learn so much while playing. They also learn conflict resolution.

SCIENCE:

I’m not as good at this as I should be but kids learn best through doing. So sometimes that is simple experiments, sometimes that is cooking and baking.

LAUNDRY:

It’s never done. That’s it.

CHORES:

All our children have age appropriate chores. Everyone does their own laundry, the older ones help the younger ones.

SNACKS:

Kids always want to snack. We have a snack in the morning and a snack in the afternoon around 3. I always have fruit though, because that is something I can say yes to, and water.

This is what our homeschool schedule looks like (sometimes), yours will look different and that is ok. Don’t sweat the small stuff, ultimately it’s all small stuff. Take breaks. This time will seem like it will last forever but they will only be home for a little while.

SCHEDULE:

For those who want a more detailed time schedule from another homeschool mom, click HERE

OTHER FAVORITES:

Adventures in Odyssey is something they love to listen to while they fold clothes.

Honey for a Child’s Heart

For more information about us click HERE