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Monday, August 27, 2012

Our Typical Homeschool Day


Yes, the picture above looks as if school is all fun and games at our house. Well actually we do try to make it entertaining as we go! No need to be serious all the time!

Before I continue, I want to say that my schedule is going to look different from others, obviously. I'm only teaching 2 kids and they're both teens. When I had 6 kids I was teaching I felt completely overwhelmed, like I had the world on my shoulders, and honestly wouldn't have even made the time to write a post like this. Things are much more relaxed in our homeschool with only two teenagers in the house but I do try to keep some structure and balance to our day. However, I have to admit that schedules do drive me crazy so what you'll read below is written loosely. We are quite flexible with some things but I'm very insistent upon other things. 

Last thing before I start, I want to say that this is not a competition. We all have different plans, schedules, interests, and goals for our children, homes and families. My goal in writing this post is to encourage you not discourage you. We don't complete everything everyday like I would like to but I try to leave time open on Friday to complete what we didn't complete during the week.

As far as a schedule goes, I use a spreadsheet for each subject. This works best for me. I can copy and paste a weekly schedule for my kids to follow and that works well for them.

 Our Fixed Weekday Activities: 

7:30 - ?pm Monday - Family Home Evening
6-7pm Monday-Wednesday: Karate
4-5:30pm - Tuesday - Piano and Voice Lessons
7-8:30pm - Thursday - Scouts and Youth Activities at church

Karate Class - Melanie and Christian are on the same level.
Melanie is third from the left.
           Melanie singing Far From the Home I Love
Christian has asked me not to add anything he's performed. He's a little shy but very talented. 
 Our Mornings: 
6:30 - 7:20 - Melanie attends earlier morning seminary at our church. All LDS high school age kids attend this through high school.
7:00 - I'm up and help my husband get ready for work. 
7:45 - We have family scripture study and family prayer.
8:30 - We begin school.
8:30 - 9:00 - Scripture study - We are focusing on character studies from the scriptures. This is the only study we do together. Things have sure changed a lot over the years!
 Christian's Schedule: 
The white desk in the corner is
Christian's desk but he typically sits
at my desk to work. I have one of those large
U-shaped desks... Notice the box of crackers :)
9:00-9:45 - Math (I shower during this time) 
9:45- 10:30 - History & Geography (We usually only do Geography on Thursdays)
10:30 - 11:15 - Writing
11:15 - 12:00 - Spelling, Grammar, Latin/Greek
12:00 - 2:00 - Lunch, Practice Piano, Reading
2:00 - 2:45 - Science
2:45 - 3:30 - Literature
3:00-6:00 - At this point I either run errands, go to doctor appointments (which I try to always schedule after 4pm), or just get some house work done with the kids help... and on occasion take a nap :)
 Melanie's schedule  is something she's worked out on her own. She's teaching a few students piano and voice during the week. She  attends a few college classes along with her homeschool work and works from 4-6pm at my husband's office a few days a week.
In a previous post Melanie mentioned that she does her school work
on her bed.... Well, this his evidence of that! And yes, there is one
headphone in her ear. Our kids are allowed to listen to music at home and
during school. However they can only have one bud in and it must be
instrumental music only during school, like classical. They all
love classical as they've grown up with it and I found some of them
think better with the music... especially Melanie.
Of course meals are thrown in there as well :) But that's about it for us. We don't do anything extremely out of the ordinary but we do our best.  I look forward to reading how others structure their days.
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3 comments:

  1. You have a nice schedule! I'm in the 6 students, somewhat overwhelmed phase of homeschooling. It is nice to have my older students working independently so I can work with the younger children.

    Thanks for sharing your day!

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  2. Enjoyed...I'm always trying to get new ideas for homeschooling. I have 3 to school grades 6, 4, and K....so after three weeks of schooling I think we have a schedule we can stick too.

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  3. Thanks for sharing your day. We're unschoolers in Australia and love hearing about other homeschoolers' lives and meeting them as we travel!

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