Learnin' Stuff: February 2009

Several people have asked what our typical home school day is like. The truth is that there are no “typical” days. Of course, we have a general routine that we follow, but each day’s routine is somewhat different. That is mostly because we are working around various activities, but also because we’ve chosen to address different aspects of our curriculum on separate days of the week. Often, we do not get everything done that we plan to on a given day, so we just double up another day, do some of our reading at bedtime, or even do some projects over the weekend. That said, I’ll attempt to summarize what our week looks like (rather than a specific day).

I am up feeding Eliza at 7:00 a.m., and the big kids usually join us in my bed until she is done. After we do morning chores and routine of getting dressed, eating breakfast, etc. we are usually ready to start school by 8:30 (sometimes earlier, sometimes later). Conveniently, this coincides with when Eliza goes down for her morning nap. We start with our devotional Bible reading, which relates to a different character trait and corresponding memory verse each week. After Bible, we go through that day’s “read-alouds”. Usually that means a chapter or two from whatever literature book we are working on, although sometimes we postpone literature reading until bedtime if we have a busy day ahead. We also read a lesson in history or science, depending on the day. M/W/F is history (ancient history this year), T/TH is science (astronomy). For science though, we usually read one week, and the next week we do experiments/activities that relate to the previous week’s lessons. If we are on an “experiment/activity” week, we usually wait until after lunch to do it, or push it to Friday or the weekend. On Wednesdays our read-aloud time also includes a couple of poetry selections and a missionary story.

After our read-alouds, we move on to “seatwork.” For Jack, that means handwriting, math and phonics. For Hannah, that means handwriting, math, phonics and English. Usually they just start their next assignment in their phonics and handwriting books, and if they need additional instruction, I help them with it. (The lessons are pretty self-explanatory). I do most English lessons with Hannah orally but occasionally have her write out a lesson. I also go over new concepts in math with her as we come to them, but otherwise she just works independently. Jack uses a different Math program that includes video instruction. So, when he starts a new lesson, I watch the video with him, go over the concept to make sure he understands, and answer any questions he has about the assignment. Then he works independently on it for a few days until he is ready to go on to the next lesson. Sometime during “seatwork” time, Eliza usually wakes up and is ready to eat again (about 10:00). If the kids finish their seatwork before I am done feeding her, they go practice their musical instruments and do independent reading (assigned). Otherwise, I check all their work and they correct it before they go on to do those things. Fridays are “no seatwork” days. So, we do all the read-aloud stuff, but no handwriting, phonics, math, or English. Instead, we work on our history timeline and other history activities/crafts, do art lessons/projects or any science activities that we’ve gotten behind on.

That is the end of “school” for the day. Generally we finish up around lunchtime (noonish). Sometimes a little before, sometimes a little after, depending on when we got started and what attitudes were like! But at the very latest, 1:30/2:00. Sometimes seatwork assignments that didn’t get finished during the regular school time get done in the afternoon instead of going out to play with friends (if the reason was because of bad attitude, dawdling, etc.). Sometimes we just grab the lap desks and the assignments get completed in the car (if the reason was simply that we ran out of time before we had to be someplace).

The end of school usually means the beginning of the day’s activities. Mondays, we are free in the afternoon, but Jack and Dave do Christian Service Brigade in the evening. (So we are usually trying to make an early dinner so they can be out the door by 6:30). Tuesdays we had basketball (just finished the season last week) from 12:30-1:30, then an hour of speech therapy. Then it is usually home to play outside and make another early dinner because two Tuesdays out of the month, Hannah and I go to FaithKeepers in the evening. Wednesdays we actually have NOTHING in the afternoon or evening (at least until soccer/baseball start again) and it is awesome! Usually I get caught up on stuff around the house or do grocery shopping and the kids spend much of the afternoon and early evening playing outside with their neighbor friends. Dave or I sit outside with them when they do, because unfortunately you have to these days for safety reasons. But, we usually do stuff in the garage or socialize with OUR neighbor friends at that time, too. Thursday afternoons are a repeat of Tuesday, except in the evening, we host our church small group in our home. So, after speech therapy we are usually frantically cleaning house and having yet another early dinner! Fridays we take Hannah and Jack to music lessons after lunch, usually followed by more neighborhood playtime and our “Family Nite.” Dave makes his homemade pizza and we all watch a movie or play games together. This ritual has been put on hold temporarily while Jack is taking an 8-week karate class that happens to meet on Friday nights (a gift from my mom and dad). If he decides to continue taking karate, though, he will move to a different class time so we can preserve our family tradition! Saturdays are “whatever” days -- right now we don’t have any scheduled activities, but that will change when baseball starts. Dave and I also try to make Saturdays a date night at least once a month. Sundays we go to church of course, followed by a leisurely few hours until we take Hannah and her friend Tatyana back up to the church for choir practice in the late afternoon.

Am I crazy? Probably. Okay… yes, definitely. I just thank God I have an amazing husband with a variable work schedule and a willingness to help me with everything! Also Eliza has been a dream baby. She just goes with the flow and even when she is off her nap schedule she still does reasonably well. She is still sleeping 11 hours at night so that makes Mama very happy! :o) Sorry this is such a loooong post….our version of “typical” is just a little bit complicated!

January came and went quickly, or at least it seemed that way to me! With the start of the year came several other "starts" for our family. Both Hannah and Jack started basketball, and Jack started karate lessons (a gift from Namaw and Poppy). Hannah and Jack also both started going to speech therapy sessions -- Hannah for "s" and "r" sounds, and Jack for "sh" and "r" sounds. That process seems to be going well so far.

We celebrated Jack's 6th birthday with a "camo/outdoor" party at Cabelas, and had a lot of fun. Eliza turned 4 months old, discovered her toes, and started rolling up on her side from her back and from her tummy to her back. We finished off the month with all three kids getting some sort of virus (fever and head congestion), but all seem to be fine now.

One of my new year's resolutions is to post more home school information on my blog, so stay tuned for more on that front (hopefully I'll get something else up later this week).

Hannah is such a great big sister and babysitter! I am so blessed to have such a willing helper!

Jack blows out his candles on his "fish bait" dirt cake.

Enjoying the great outdoors...indoors...at Cabelas.

Christmas and Birthday brought a variety of weaponry, from light sabres to Nerf guns. Here is Jack with his neighbor friends having one of their afternoon battles.