A lot of people are curious about what our homeschool schedule really looks like and they are often surprised at how simple, relaxed, and integrated with normal life it actually is. While I consider our whole day to be our home school “schedule” because to us, all of life is school– this is what the academic portion of our day looks like:
Our Homeschool Schedule
After everyone is awake and fed, I briefly talk with my Teenager and make sure he is getting started on his reading and lessons for the day. At this point, he is a mostly independent student, with me being available for trouble shooting and accountability. He does the majority of his work in his room.
With my three littles, we gather in the homeschool room for our Morning Basket time. Basically, I, or one of my children, reads aloud from the bible and various book selections for that quarter. We cover art and composer study during this time too. I read from our science book, but we save the lab work for later. History and geography are usually intertwined within our reading selections so, as needed, we stop and look at maps, or we may search for something online about a time period in history. With each reading selection, we also do Narration.
From start to finish, all of this takes at least two hours with many interruptions and breaks.
Once we’ve finished with our Morning Basket time, I send my 11-year old to the computer for his math lessons. While he is working on that, I work with my 7 year-old on his phonics lessons and copywork. I usually have my 3 year-old coloring or doing a puzzle during this time. When my 11-year old is finished with math, he begins his copywork and private reading and my 7-year old jumps on the computer for his math program. I spend this 20 minutes or so with my 3-year old covering the alphabet, colors, shapes, and reading a couple books. If that seems overwhelming, let me assure you that it really isn’t. We are all in the same room, and usually, each lesson takes no more than 15 minutes.
Lunch Time
By the time we get done with all of this, it is usually lunch time. A check-in with the Teenager takes a couple minutes to ensure that he is on track or to lend help if needed. We eat lunch while watching a couple educational videos. Amazon and Netflix have so many to choose from, our current favorites to watch are Travel with Kids and Wild Kratts. We’ve also watched Documentaries, Biographies, Science, and History shows and, depending on the subject matter, I may ask the Teenager to join in. I love having the option of watching things with the kids because it is a relaxing part of our homeschool week, but learning is still taking place. Win! After lunch, we finish up any reading or work that didn’t get completed, like lab work, and then we go to our rooms for Quiet Time.
After Quiet Time…
After Quiet time, we come back together for art/craft/project time. This lasts for about an hour and then we are officially ‘done’ for the day.
The thing about homeschooling is that it’s never really ‘done’. The kids are always learning or wanting to learn about something so lessons are never ‘over’. If they find an interesting insect in the backyard at 5pm, then studying and identifying commences. If the 11 year-old wants to help make dinner at 7 pm, then working with measurements and kitchen safety becomes a lesson. Figuring out how to build a Lego bridge for a Lego movie in the making, making sure the lighting and background is proper for the set, voicing the characters and positioning the blocks and minifigs over and over again may look like simple child’s play, but in reality– it is learning.
Our lifestyle as homeschoolers commissions us to take the time at any hour to learn. There are no set hours for this learning to take place, it’s only a matter of pausing to take advantage of the opportunities that are always there. So, while there is a portion of our day dedicated to specific subjects, our true “homeschool schedule” is around the clock, 7 days a week.
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