We use a DVD program (Bob Jones) and this is our third year. We start classes with Math because it takes early brain power. We are very interactive with the DVD and I ask questions and reinforce what is being taught. It’s a very good program we enjoy. I also like to have my hands busy so I usually fold laundry (I detest laundry) during class.

9am- 10isham : Breakfast
10-11: clean up, laundry, make beds
11: Math
Break (snack) (some days we run errands right here)
Noon; English/Phonics (mid way break for lunch)
2pm: Free time, I exercise, clean up some more
3pm:Spelling and Science
4pm: Get out and visit people
5 or 6pm: Start dinner with Peanut’s help or not
7pm or 8pm Daddy comes home and we have dinner
9pm bedtime routine for Peanut which includes a Bible Study and scripture memorizing. It can be involved with crafts and such
10pm mom has some time !!!!! maybe… more dishes, cleaning up
It’s a very ish schedule but it works so that we can spend time as a family together during my husband’s busy season.

Thank you for doing this. It is helpful to see how other moms “get it all done,” or don’t but are determined to keep growing and learning. I am firmly in the latter category, but will share with the hope that it will be encouraging to someone else.

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I vacillate between more and less structure in our schooling. I believe our children are learning every moment, even if that lesson is how to treat others with respect even when I dislike their behavior (anger mgmt), how to ride a two-wheeler (PE), or how to do dishes (life skills). For curriculum, I follow a Charlotte Mason, Classical, unit study approach with an occasional bit of unschooling thrown in when Mom gets sick or just worn out. Basically, I like real books and we do notebook pages of some of what we have learned each week. I also prefer games over workbooks, though sometimes I get lazy and use them.

Sometimes I lean toward more structure and wonder whether I should be giving tests and grades, teaching spelling and Latin, and following a strict schedule. For me, those times are usually a response to guilt or fear that I’m not good enough and my children aren’t measuring up to school standards in some way. Then, I am reminded that what ultimately matters is God’s standards and I get back to a good balance.

My housekeeping leaves a lot to be desired. Sometimes we invite people over just for cleaning motivation. Clutter makes me stressed so I try to keep it to a minimum. I like to use the “10 second tidy.” Basically, everyone quickly stops whatever they were doing to tidy up an area that has gotten out of control. Otherwise, I try to clean once per week.

My biggest struggle right now is  balancing my commitment to my family with the needs of our elderly neighbor. She had a mild stroke a few years ago and cannot drive, so we take her to doctor appointments and errands. Unfortunately, this has gotten a bit excessive. I am working to limit my errands with (or for) her to only one afternoon per week. It is very difficult as I feel sorry for her and know that we are called to help widows, yet my priority is my husband and children. I have contacted the local senior center and they offered some suggestions. Balance is difficult. I am learning (the hard way) to pray before committing my time (or answering the phone.)

However, I created my own cookbook with our favorite recipes that are super easy to make for Christmas presents in 2009. One of the mothers that I gave this to had told me that prior to this, she knew how to make mac ‘n cheese and hamburger helper.

Her children were very excited to try these new recipes and she used the opportunity to teach even the youngest how to measure which included a lesson on fractions. They learned about temperatures for the oven, math skills, telling time, and reading.

I don’t have a good example of a typical day, but I do have an example of an ongoing lesson that she has used with this cookbook to teach math, time, nutrition, and reading in a way that kept the kids engaged.

When my little one was still with us, I did do something special with him that new moms can do with their little ones. When out grocery shopping with him, I talked to him about what I was looking at, what it was, what it tasted like, why we should eat it (even though he never ate solid food), and even discussing the price differences between the two options or the nutrition labels. 5 years after he has passed, I still have such fond memories of those times together.

And just think, we all need to learn and understand the skills to cook & shop for food wisely. These are two skills that are so multi-faceted to what skills can be taught to your children and a valuable lesson for later in life that I wanted to share.

I firmly believe that children who are involved in meal planning and cooking are much more likely to eat what is before them. There is nothing worse that wasting food because the kids won’t eat it.

Also, I didn’t get the benefit of learning to cook from my Mom. Not that she didn’t try, but she started when I was a teen when I hated most of what she made (I became a very picky eater) so I no longer wanted to learn because she always cooked with onions and peppers which I hated (and still do). It is actually something that I now regret and wish that I let her teach me. I hear about those who did learn to cook with their parents and the bond that it created. I envy that. I also never got to learn from my Mom her gardening skills. Now I am in my 30s and am reading books to learn how to garden. I don’t yet have a place to garden, but I want to have a small sprouts garden indoors. I regret not learning how to garden before becaue it is healthier and cheaper to grow your own veggies. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of raiding the garden for fruits and veggies and being too full for dinner sometimes because I ate so much.

I humbly share my story/ routine really only to encourage those who are still struggling, even after many years, and may be with illness too. May my story be met w/ grace.

The most encouraging homeschooling article I ever read, I believe was in a HSLDA magazine. The story was of Christopher Klicka & his wife’s family, I believe. I found it very encouraging, because they were both quite ill, but home-schooled through it all. This is where our life fits in.

I have a long list of diagnoses & life is just so hard for me to keep up with.
I prefer to be an orderly person, and do so as much as possible. I would LIKE to have more of a regular routine, but w/ illness & constant fatigue, you never know what’s going to happen. You can only do your best, and that is what I do.

My kids are nearly 12 & 10 & we’ve been h’scling from the start.

Every day my husband goes to work ( Tues-Sat.), I wake up w/ him, which currently, is 5:30/6 am… make his breakfast & lunch & see him off w/ a kiss & blessings.
Then, depending on how much sleep I got (depending whether I could breathe through the night or not, or such…) and how I felt, whether rested enough or not, I’d either stay up or go back to bed & get some rest. (For rest is critical to my health right now & I aim to get better for my children’s sake) IF I’m able to stay up, we all get tons done, and I feel successful & happy. If I have to go back to bed, I feel rested, but feel like a constant failure, never getting enough done.

We are constantly trying to figure out a routine that works best for us, and am continually trying to be more flexible in some areas, and more disciplined in others.
I do have lots of lists & to-do lists, though it certainly doesn’t mean it comes close to all getting done, but the priorities have a way of getting done, don’t they?

So whenever we do wake up, we take our supplements, eat, start laundry, put away dishes, dump garbages, & pick up laundry piles.

When moved to do so, or character has been troublesome, we are sure to do our Bible reading together, & in the morning. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. (Sometimes we read Bible together in Mama’s bed while Daddy is showering in the evening, and sometimes I just remind the kids to read their Bible before sleeping, and sometime I read my Bible & sometimes I don’t… just sheerly feel too busy or too tired) but keep aiming to be more consistent here. How’s that for honesty?

Anyway, after all that… we do school UNTIL WE GET HUNGRY or need a break, than we eat, maybe clean up a few more things, keep rotating laundry…. take a walk out in the country about 3:30 or so. (3:30 because that’s when the mail comes by, and that’s before it gets dark, as this is Winter). May take a break & watch some Christian video, or get right back to school & may be doing so until 8 pm often times. (And eat together the kids & I, somewhere in between/ more clean-up.) Then rest together & enjoy one another, maybe reading Bible, or kids reading Bible aloud, memorizing scriptures, reading a chapter story book together, or a Christian movie or play a game, or just hang out quietly.

Some weeks our focus is on helping others, or fellowship, or preparing for the next holiday or birthday, or taking a week to do some more unpacking….

But there’s ALWAYS educating going on. -Teaching the children yet again, HOW to wash the dishes properly, step by step…. teaching them how to cook another kind of food, how to read a recipe, double a recipe, change a recipe, how to research, how to make phonecalls, how to use a new kind of tool, how to, how to… how to….

I love teaching my children! (I’d love to have several more children, if I could just regain health!)

And yes, our priorities are character, love, Bible, reading, writing, math, and THEN the rest…. We have been using mainly workbooks, & are moving into using more & more REAL books to teach & to learn. (Used to do the pledge years ago… tossed that out… keep trying to get rid of the public school routine we often try do duplicate, unknowingly.)

We do school at the table, we do it on the bed, we do it on the floor, we do it on the couch, we do it in the car on the go, or in a waiting room…. we do school anywhere….

In 2009, “our lives fell apart” as I like to explain it. In one & the same month, we lost our home- which we owned,, right after we laboriously took care of Grandma for 2 mo. while she was passing away, (a very, very stressful time, very wearing on all of us, due to family interference/ drug addict family members- NOT because of Grandma)… so while recovering from that, just 1 wk later, lost our home, and had to be out in 30 days!

We then moved to a temporary home, for 2 mo, which was “unlivable” as some of our Christian friends have said. That’s a whole ‘nother story, but which God provided for in the next steps beautifully!…. (To GOD be the Glory!)

But then we moved AGAIN… and I thank God… but we did move not only twice in one year, but twice in 2 mo. time…. and after 16 yrs. of marriage have acquired MUCH by this time, and that is a LOT to move! Do you remember your last move? Boy- I had forgotten how much work.. and it’s a LOT more work, the more stuff you’ve acquired! Add on constant fatigue to this, trying to get healthier, eat healthier, make more food from scratch, learn how to cook healthier, research HOW to get over your illnesses, homeschooling, unpacking, (making order out of chaos) and the every day required chores, of dishes (by hand now), laundry, child-training, etc… Lots to get done, and not much energy to help.

I say all that because, my kids have lost a LOT of schooling time during that year, & we are still trying to get caught up. I feel like I’m drowning. But this is a season for us, and God obviously has His plans, & they are not mine. He has things He wants us to go through together, and to learn.

I know my kids WILL get caught up, and they WILL excel, and pass their grade level at some point. Their brain matures every year, and that helps a great deal, as they are just capable of more, thanks to God & to His glory!

I know God is teaching us all godly character, patience, unconditional love, compassion for others, continually learning not to judge others.. .for we just haven’t walked in their shoes… learning flexibility, and contentment regardless of circumstances.

Mother, maybe you’re ill, like me, and such stories of routine (or lack of) are quite hard to find. May you be encouraged & comforted. There are more of us out there than is mentioned. For what kind of story is this to WANT to share, after all? I do have friends that have adult children now, (homeschooling Christians) & they have a routine much like this (very relaxed). Some would shudder at their relaxed routine, perhaps. But they have the best godly- characterized children, and they themselves are SUCH a godly example, and their kids are plenty educated. -Women who USED to be perfectionists, but are fully-recovered & most content!

God bless all Mothers!!

Thanks for letting me share about my day!
Have a lovely one
Renata:)

8 up and dressed
9 breakfast
10-12 pledg, story time and educational videos
12 lunch
1-3 Bible time, crafts, writting
3 snack
3:30-5 P.E.
5-6 supper
6-7 free time
7-8 bath and bedtime
We do chores through out the day and Sunday is the Lords day and family time.