Will You Share About Your Day?
When we first began home educating back in 2000 I was very interested in hearing how other women ran their home schools. I wanted to know all the details. Did they keep a schedule? Did they use chore charts and curriculum? Did they say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning? Did they get dressed every day? I look back now and know why I was so interested. I was looking for a measuring stick. I wanted to know if what I was doing was going to be good enough.
Now, years later, I rarely worry about whether what I am doing measures up to other people’s standards, but am more concerned with meeting the Lord’s standards and my husband’s expectations. I have successfully graduated my oldest and she seems to be functioning quite well as an adult. That has given me confidence and perspective.
However, after having said that, I am always wanting to tweak my schedule, or change how we are doing chores, or look for a better, faster, more efficient way to do my household work. In our town, we have a ministry called: HFHG (Home For His Glory). I had the pleasure of attending a recent meeting of theirs where 4 different women got up and shared a “Peek into my day.” Each woman shared her schedule and a little about her philosophy for helping her home and homeschool run smoothly. I enjoyed this meeting so much and gleaned some great ideas from all the speakers.
Then I was reminded of how much I craved that kind of insight when I first started staying home and wondered if some of my readers would enjoy the same kind of discussion. If you have the time and energy would you like to come by the website and share a little about your day? Whether you homeschool, stay home full time, or work outside the home, I would love to hear about how you manage your time and your days. I know this will be a fun area for others to read and share ideas. I hope this will be a source of encouragement for women- lots of women just like you and me who are seeking balance, perspective and success in this journey of being a godly wife and mother.
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“I wanted to know if what I was doing was going to be good enough.” You have summed up all the thoughts in my head in one sentence. Great idea, I really look forward to reading this and posting something of my own.
Hi,
Right now I don’t have a schedule but hope to have one in the near future. We have 4 little children ages 3, 18 months and 10 week old twins. I have a planner that has a list of basics to be done each day such as getting dressed, having your quiet time, etc., along with having basic house keeping chores for each day of the week. It has been great in helping me establish routines and to make sure I keep up with things. I also have a lady that comes in once a week for 3 hours to do cleaning or what ever I need. This has been a real lifesaver for me as I had to be on bed rest for awhile before the twins were born and frees me to take care of my little ones more. Ok, here is a general idea of how our day goes:
We work on cleaning up the house and the list of chores for that day. I take breaks to nurse the babies (about 1 hour out of every 2 hours is spent nursing) and read or play with the older ones. We work on our letters and numbers on and off through out the day as I think of it. After lunch everyone takes a nap… or is supposed to. 
3yr old does not like naps and it is usually a struggle with her to go to sleep. If everyone goes to sleep then I use that time to finish up cleaning, read or take a nap myself. They usually go to sleep around 2:00-3:00 and sleep until Daddy gets home around 6:15. Then we have dinner, Bible reading and some family time before going to bed.
Daddy leaves for work around 7:30, depending on how late we got to bed and how many times I was up nursing the babies I may or may not get up at this time.
Once I get up I use the quiet time before the children get up to do my computer things or devotions. Then the little ones get up and we have breakfast, get dressed and do our teeth and hair. This takes a good hour or more.
One of the things I want to do today is make a chart for 3 year old on what chores she needs to do each morning and post it on the fridge so that she can learn to do them on her own.
I look forward to hearing from all the other ladies on how their day goes!
We pulled our children from public school about 4 years ago to homeschool them. That first year I had them say the Pledge of Allegiance everyday, we had desks that they all sat at, we had workbooks, we did worksheets, I stood in the front of the room and taught them. Our kids soon grew tired of this…frankly so did I!! The next year we did unit studies and we all loved it. It was such a great fit for our family since our children are 15, 12, 10. The next year we were under attack from family members that went as far to contact our school district telling them that we were not doing what we should do…they were against homeschooling from the start. Thankfully our school district could see that homeschooling WAS working for our children. Our children’s grandparents just didn’t see it…they didn’t want to see it. So after all of that I went back to the “classroom” style because I was worried about them not learning enough or what they should. It didn’t matter that the kids were not really learning more…just learning right. So now here we are in our current year back to unit studies using The Prairie Primer, which is centered around Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. Our children love this. We are all so happy. We have learned that just because one child does well in a situation where text books and workbooks are used doesn’t mean that everyone has to use them. Follow God’s direction in your children’s education he will not steer you wrong.
Dear Malia,
When I read your invitation to post our schedule I didn’t hesitate. I never give up an opportunity to write! I hope to give some testimony to other families out there who are considering home educating on how important it is to be with your children and not so important what your schedule is. Forgive the length of this post, but sometimes giving testimony takes some time.
I have been home educating for only 1.5 years. Before I started home educating I did countless hours of research on how it was to be done. In nearly every website or book I read, the author would always say to take it slow your first year and not to get discouraged. So, I happily took their advice. We have started out VERY slow. We only do about 3 hours of school a day, 4 times a week. I find that is plenty of time to cover the basics of their grade. We also do year round school with lots of vacations so we can meet our state requirements for days in school.
My oldest is, by school age, a 5th grader, but held back one year in 1st grade by the school. This year she will graduate 4th grade a little earlier than the schools this spring. I also have a Kindergartener working at the 1st grade level, and a 3 year old, getting ready to turn 4 year old, who we do no official education with as of yet.
The first year was unstructured for the most part. We tried to get school done in the mornings, but if something else came up, we just moved it to the afternoon or skipped it all together. I am sure there are those out there who are asking, how then, do I teach the kids of about self-discipline and keeping a schedule. Well, honestly, school wasn’t our priority last year. Our goal going into the first year was not so much about giving our children a better education than the schools could give; it was to reconnect with our oldest daughter specifically. We felt like the public school did damage to her emotional well being and what we found out was that it wasn’t specifically the school; it was the institution and the life style we had to participate in to please the institution that was detrimental. Having set that goal, as we look back over last year and the progress she has made, we feel our first year was a success.
Before going into our first year she had very little confidence and at the end of 2nd grade, and 8 years old, she was struggling with our authority over her. To get her to even ride her bike we would have to give long confidence building talks that would still end in her giving up after the first couple of feet. She would give teachers and family outsiders much more respect than she would us, her parents. She would often be defiant and stubborn at home and be an angel in social situations. I have to say, I am pleased that she knew how to act in public, but home life is so vitally important that it became a deep concern for us.
As we tried to discover where the problem lied, I personally came to the conclusion that I was the problem. From the moment my precious daughter got out of bed I was hurrying her out the door. She was at school from 8am – 4pm. When she arrived home we would have a battle of wills to do homework and chores vs. watching TV until it was time for activities like church, Girl Scouts, and sports. By the time her dad got home, I was ready to wash my hands of her and would turn parenting over to him for the evening where he would struggle with her in much the same way. We also noticed that to get her to mind us, we had to break her spirit frequently. In my heart of hearts, I believe that is what caused her issues of self confidence. A scathing reproach on our parenting, to be sure, but it is so important for others to see how the lifestyle we have to submit our families to under the authority of the school system can be so damaging to our children and to the family.
We finally had enough when we found at the end of her 2nd grade year, that she had passed all her classes with A’s and B’s but she could barely read and spell. Her math skills were barely on grade level and most of her class had passed her in their sleep. Why was OUR daughter struggling academically so much more than the rest and why were they passing her with A’s and B’s when they would then tell us she was performing lower than average? There was talk about special education and her being developmentally delayed. This infuriated me! It is so hard to see your child be the one who struggles when it seems the others around you are doing so well academically. It is my belief that her struggle was just more apparent than some.
Our school was a good one to be sure, according to the standards the state and federal governments have set. It is one of the top in Indiana, but I wonder, behind closed doors, how many of those children were struggling emotionally? How many of them will grow up to be independent thinkers and creative geniuses? How many of them will know how to succeed in college and in the work place? How many of them will have the courage of heart to take the road less traveled? How many of them will have loving, meaningful relationships with their families? Or, will they all know how to go to school really well?
I want to put a disclaimer in here that I respect those who have to, or want to, put their children into public or private school. I don’t mean this to be a condemnation of parents who don’t choose to homeschool. There are definitely people out there who can make that lifestyle work for them and thrive in it. I admire you for your ability to do so. We just couldn’t make that work for our family.
After much prayer and discussion, we started our school. Over the last year and a half, we have seen our daughter blossom. She still struggles with self confidence, but she is gaining ground. Our relationship has grown beyond what I could have hoped for. She is a brilliant light in my life now. She is a huge help to me around the house, helps tremendously with her younger brother, and is a great friend to her little sitter. Academically she still struggles with spelling, but that might be because she is my daughter (I still struggle in this area). Her reading skills have leaped forward (she has a deep love for reading now) and her math skills are on grade level.
The largest benefit from the time together has been for me. I have got to know my daughter and come to appreciate her unique voice. I have learned what a companionate young lady she has always been. I believe God has blessed her with this gift and it will be a guiding force in her life. It is so fulfilling to be able to know my daughter on this level, and a true blessing.
I credit this success totally to God. If it weren’t for His love and my understanding of His love for every individual in our family, including me, I don’t think I would have had the courage to take this on. He also softened my husband’s heart on the issue. Years ago when we first put our oldest in preschool we spoke about home educating and he was dead set against it. And, most importantly, thanks be to God for this blessed country where we have the freedom to live our lives as we see fit. We all must endeavor to protect that freedom. I pray for guidance in raising the next generation of protectors.
So here is what you have been waiting for — our schedule. We are very flexible, which I feel is the best part of home education. If we need to spend time with family or friends, we do it with no rearguard for what might need to be completed in our studies. If one of the kids or I am sick, we take the day off. If the schools have the day off and the neighbors want to play, we cut the lessons short and get to playing. Do we really learn anything? Well, like I said, daughter number 1 is catching up to grade level and finishing this year ahead of the schools, and daughter number 2 is a year ahead. Son number 1, and the youngest, just isn’t ready to start on his own, but he often sits with one of his sisters and watches their online studies. It is like a cartoon for him. So I would say, all in all, our kids are right on target academically and more importantly, spiritually and emotionally.
Thank you, Malia, for this opportunity.
7am: Hubby leaves for work, I get some tea and check email, news, and devotional
8am – 9am: Kids Rise, Dress, Eat, Chores
9am – 12pm: Home Studies
12pm -1pm: Lunch and Afternoon Chores
1pm – 4pm: Errands, Cleaning, Computer Time, Kids Free Time, More Studies if needed, nap time for little ones, Personal Development
4pm – 8pm: Activities (Sports, Church, Meetings, Social Groups)
5pm – 6pm: Dinner prep (but that is lessened with freezer cooking)
6pm – 7pm: Dinner and Clean up
7pm – 9pm: Relax with the kids and hubby (game, movie, chat)
8pm – 9pm: Bedtime Routine for the kids with Dad, Mom gets a breather and a shower
9pm – 11pm: Personal Time - Special Time with Hubby, Reading, Movie
11pm – 12pm Bedtime
We got rid of cable.
That is why you don’t see “TV Time” on there.
We are also going to be adding a homeschool P.E. class and piano lessons at the Y in the next month so our daytime schedule will change a little. We don’t have a co-op school, but I pray one day we will. For now, all our studies are at home.
I have recently rediscovered lists! I make a list every night for the next day (knowing it is likely I will need to modify it the next morning!) that has the things I am wanting to get accomplished the next day. I have a generic list in MS WOrd I work from that has the basics for everyday (so I do not forget simple things like taking my vitamins) and I copy and paste it into a new list for the day. Then I can consult my calendar and add or delete items from my list based on the specific needs of the day. My lists include Dailies, Food, School, Appointments, Home Blessings, & other. In this way, not only do I know what I want to get done in a particular day, but my kids can look at it too and see what needs doing. It has helped at house blessing time especially because they can see exactly what I want done (we have a rotating cleaning schedule). Mealtimes are smoother as well because I have a reminder in the morning if I need to take anything out of the freezer for lunch or supper and any timke consuming meal prep that might be required. Alternatively, if the day is going crazy, I can look at my planned meals for the week list (yes, another list!) and see what I can switch around and still have supplies on hand for. It has cut down on last minute trips to the store and meal prep stress a lot!
All that said, I am not a planner by nature! I have resisted this sort of structure for years never realizing what a blessing it would be for our family.
Do I accomplish everything on my list every day? NO. But I do get a lot done and I can still be flexible with a good understanding of what I am sacrificing in terms of time when we want to be spontaneous and do something random. Beautiful day? want to go to the park? Okay let’s go, but understand that it might mean more laundry on library day!
I will post about our days, I sure can relate to those first few years wanting to know exactly how everyone else was home schooling, so that I could have some kind of yardstick to measure with!
Now I am almost 6 full years into HS’ing and being a SAHM (both came simutaneously for me) and I no longer need a yard stick hah ha- I know that each family does what works for their individual family, and whatever they do He will work it all for good. There is something to be said for obeying God’s precepts (they are there for our good, and His glory) and I do believe that all of God’s children desire to have His guidance in not just their HS’ing, but in their lives entirely, every part. Every job, and every relationship. That being said, our days look as it works for our family and as the Lord would lead our individual family, although I am a sinful person saved by God’s grace alone He does use me despite myself to manage our home. educate our children, cook our meals and along with my husband choose and provide for our children’s entertainment. I also have pursued my continuing education in diffferent seasons as it has fit in best for the needs of our family, as well as served other families in different ways in different seasons, as God has lead us. I started out back in ‘02 with my idea of a ‘good’ HS’ing environment- basically, public school at home (which was all I had ever known, and all my oldest child had known for the first 2 and 1/2 years of his education.) I started the days with the pledge of allegience (which I hadn’t even memorized fully in Pub.Scl.) and breakfast, different learning subjects, lunch, a scheduled PE time, and more scheduled subjects until the time to end the school day had come, and we would wrap up at 3pm just as all the PS students were walking home from their schooling. Nothing wrong with that if it works for your family, but I had some difficulty with mine because my son had different needs (and part of the reason I had taken him out of PS was because he had been having some difficulties with the teachers, and been diagnosed in Kindergarden with ADHD and ODD.) It dawned on me that HS’ing had to be about his individual needs or it would not work- and of course this is the whole beauty of HS’ing along with giving our children a Christ-centered education, and I had missed the gift! I adapted our HS’ing to his needs as well as ours, as we had done all along with the rest of our lives, and HS’ing became much easier for both of us and also more of a Joy. Today, just beginning his high school adeventures, my son is well educated and very able to work independently as well as in a team, or with an instructor. I can see God’s grace woven through all of the years, and am much more relaxed as a HS’er now for my 2nd grader and 4 year old soon to be Kindergartner. I look forward to all these new adventures, knowing that ‘big leaps’ will grow out of the soil of regular old daily life, and that God will be the fertilizer in that soil- making it healthy and wonderful. I know that I will sin and I will obey in the mixture that is life, and that I will love God and be jelous for His glory throughout all of my life, by God’s grace, as well. I think one of the best gifts a parent can give a child is for them to see that their parents are in need of a Savior just as much as they are, and to see us obey, sin at times, repent at those times, be granted vast grace and forgiveness by God and in living in front of them in those ways they too learn how to live. My dear ‘Mom in the Lord’ taught me that several years ago, and I hope to share it with as many Mom’s as I can because it has blessed me and my entire family for life to learn that and find it to be true. God bless all you beloved adopted children of God out there!
Oh, for those who still like practicals we do start school around a certain time, but that can be flexible as needs arise and we complete our subjects most foundational first ( because my kids need to tackle those first, hah ha) so Prayer time and Bible reading come first- then we do Arithmetic and Grammar/Language , and writing skills. To follow is lunch, the other subjects (Whichever Science course, Geography and Civics studies, History studies, Reading a good book
and Health studies.
The schooling usually begins and ends by 2pm for us, but it may be 3 or 4 some days (depending on how many breaks to do other stuff we took suring the days) and all of that is Ok with us. I always prapare dinner within a timing of an hour from whenever my husband will be home, and we have healthy snacks to tide us over until family meal time on days when he works later. Above all, God’s grace is over all! Today we are going roller skating in an hour with friends and will have hot dogs for lunch there with them, then come home afterwards and do school in the afternoon until a bit before dinner-time. Then we will eat together, and enjoy Friday evening together as a family.
” How good it is to sing praises to Our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him.” Pslams 147:1
Thank you, Mallia, for this helpful thread of discussion.
I’m a new wife and soon-to-be mommy come June, the Lord-willing, I’m looking forward to learning from these comments and schedule ideas. I’m traveling a new path, and one that I want to bring glory to God in so very much!
We have been homeschooling for seven years now and have had the same type schedule from the start. We do school most everyday of the work week unless there is something important that comes up. This doesn’t happen often, but we are flexible and realize that this is one of the perks of homeschoolling. I am up by 7-7:30 and my homeschooled kids who are 10 and 14 are up by 8-8:30. We dress,eat breakfast, do some minor morning chores and then usually sit down together to read the Bible and pray together. This starts between 9-9:30. We also do our reading together of whatever we are working on at the time. This could be a History novel or books or a fictional book that we are reading together. I find this gives my kids some time to wake up especially now that they are a little older. Sometimes we are working on a lapbook and will then go to the table and work on that since we do a lot of lapbooks for history. We then move on with our other school work usually starting with Math and then break around 12 for lunch. We usually break for one hour for lunch and get back to school work until about three in the afternoon. The afternoon is filled with chores, playing, excercise, individual projects, sports practices, church and dinner prep depending on which day of the week it is. We do have a co-op day which takes us out of the house around 11:30 until 4:00ish. Our evenings are spent with Dad eating, watching some TV(which I hate), bathing, playing, or whatever they are into at the time. I’d say we do around five hours of school each day give or take: some days more, some days less. We usually sit at the kitchen table or on the couch for reading. My older son now likes to use the desk in his room to do his work sometimes. It seem no matter how I try to change the schedule if I am not satisfied we always come back to this one. It seems to work for us. I would love to get up earlier myself and get my kids up earlier, but we are good with it like it is for now. It is all I can do to get my 14 year old out of the bed these days:) That’s our day.
I’m a business and Elem Ed major and have had jobs in both fields. I sub once a week for our school district to supplement our income, which let’s me be at home with my gorgeous 2 year old boy. I may be biased, but right now he is working on a preschool curriculum so we’re trying to read up on being gifted, both of us have been designated with high IQ’s. Anyway since I know both my husband and I did not have overly stimulating educations, I was even considered a trouble maker because I was bored in classes, I have been trying to follow his lead and give him as much information that he wants to learn in a day. For example: Today we read a couple of chapters from Boxcar Children #1 and he was asking me questions about why the children were not with their mommy and daddy, where the puppy came from and why are they living in a boxcar. He also answered comprehensive questions about the chapter as we went along, what where the children doing, where were the going and why. So from these examples you can see I have to be on top of things and unfortunatly I do have many times a week where cleaning goes by the way side, but I try. So I do try to schedule. Here’s what I would like for our schedule and we follow on some days and food and lunch are pretty scheduled.
7-8-wake-up, exercise, shower
8-devotional
8:30-make hubbies lunch and start morning meal for everyone
9-Daddy leaves for work, clean-up kitchen, watch a show, finish eating
9:30-finish clean-up, Bible, Circle-Time
10-11-Storytime(Tues,Thurs), Pool(Mon,Wed,Fri,Sun) Sabbath School/Church
11-1-Flashcards, Arttime, Leapfrog, creative play
1-2-lunch w cookingtime
2-2:30-Storytime w playtime
2:30-5:30-naptime, computertime and plantime
5:30-6:30-storytime w playtime
6:30-7-dinner prep, clean-up
7-8-dinner
8-9-daddytime
9-bedtime routine, story
10-dad homework, mom plantime
11-personal read, bedtime
I did a blog post of our “normal” schedule, it can be seen here: http://broadhorizonsschool.blogspot.com/2010/01/day-in-life.html
We are in our 10th year of homeschooling. I still wonder if I am “doing it right!” But the kids seem to be learning well. Our oldest started private school in K4 where they taught her to read, count, and various other things. I started homeschooling with a pre-programmed kid. We started homeschooling her in K5 - she is now in 9th grade. She has a brother in 4th grade, and a brother in 2nd grade, a K5 sister, and a 4 year old sister. I use A Beka for all of the kids as it works well for us. I prefer the “school” type of teaching with workbooks, tests, etc. I don’t do much school with the 4 and 6 year olds, they just seem to pick things up from their siblings and the little bit of PBS they watch during the day.
Our daily schedule goes as follows: (If anyone gets done with a subject early, they move on to the next one and earn a longer break in the afternoon)
5:00 am - DH and I get up and while he gets ready for work I make his lunch and probably iron his pants for the day (really should be done beforehand!)
5:40 am - DH leaves for work and I get showered, then do the ironing, or some sewing. Some days I just sleep in the recliner.
7:00 am - wake the kids who are to get up get dressed, make their beds and report for breakfast. (Usually cereal, pancakes, or coffee cake) I walk the dog.
8:00 am - we all hit the door for a mile long walk around the neighborhood. This is PE for them and exercise for me and my 9th grader.
8:30 - 8:45 am - We prepare for school. I bring out a folding table into the dining room so the 4 and 6 yo DDs have a place to do puzzles, color, play with playdough, make words with magnets, flashcards or whatever. Legos are too noisy.
8:45 - 9:15 am - Pledges, Bible reading, then work on memorizing Psalm 119. There are 180 school days, and 176 verses, so a verse a day. We’re working on it.
9:15 - 10:15 am - DD does Health or History, DS does Math, and DS does Spelling, Phonics, and Reading with me.
10:15 - 10:30 am BREAK TIME!
10:30 - 11:30 am - DD does English, DS does Writing, Language, Spelling, and Reading with me, DS does math.
11:30 - 12:30 pm - lunch time and outside time
12:30 - 1:30 pm - DD does math, DS does History with me, and DS does Health with me.
1:30 - 1:45 pm - BREAK TIME
1:45 - 2:45pm - DD does Science, DS does Science, and DS does Writing, and Seatwork.
2:45 - 3:00 pm clean up the mess.
3:00 - 4:00 pm - outside time or whatever they would like to do. I usually work on grades or sewing or just watch afternoon PBS with them.
4:00 - 5:15 pm cook dinner.
5:15 pm - DH comes home so dinner is on the table waiting for him when he gets here.
As soon as dinner is over, DD and I go for a 2 mile walk around the neighborhood while DH and DSs clean up dinner. When we get home then I visit with DH, or sew, or read, and the kids play in their rooms.
Chores are on charts on the refrigerator and each child is responsible to do their chores each day. We do them either in the morning while we are getting ready, or at lunchtime, or in the afternoon when we are done with school. Laundry and other housework is done during the school day when I get a chance. I schedule days off so I can do grades - I am really bad at getting these done. By the time school is over, I am ready to be done with it for the day and doing grades is no fun.
During some times of the year, we have football practice/games or baseball & softball practice /games as early as 5:30 and often times running until 8:00. We have 2 playing football, and 3 playing baseball/softball. Those are crazy days! Usually we are out at the recreation department on Mon, Tue, Thu, and sometimes Sat morning. Church is Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Weds night. WHEW! Friday morning grocery shopping every other week makes me adjust the schedule and shorten the day, but it fits.
When realtives come to visit, they are always worn out when they leave and tell me to “Rest, you’re probably worn out.” Our poor parents!
Sorry this is so long, but as I always say, with 5 kids, everything about us is either really big or in multiples.