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There is no typical day for us – each day brings about its opportunities and challenges though the structure of our day often remains the same. Today, I’m sharing our ‘usual day’ that is what it might look like on paper, but interspersed are photos of not the usual activities.
Because we look at the whole of our family life as learning and training opportunities for our children I really have to start telling you about our day from about 6.00am onwards, though some of the children like to wake earlier (as I do). The key time is that by 8.00am we need to have completed our personal responsibilities and are ready to join in with whatever the family is doing. In these two hours we need to get up, make bed, get dressed, have our quiet time, go for exercise (which not everyone is doing at the moment), have breakfast and do our designated chore.
Peter had an opportunity to do an autopsy and show the kids the insides which was great since we are currently studying the Human Body
this is what I thought about the autopsy!
At 8.00 we start with family devotions and a family meeting where we talk about the activities for the day and fill in everyone’s diaries for the day.
8.30 – 12.30 is our focus or study time. During this time on a study day we study the following
- Bible study
- Character (one week a month)
- Discipline Studies – Math, Writing, and anything that needs regular practice – this differs for each child. Music, Drawing, Typing, Handwriting
- General Knowledge such as history, geography and science
Grooming and Deportment lessons: this is how NOT to stand, if you are going to be a lady!
I teach Character with everyone (even Joshua) joining in. When I teach Bible study it is just with Nomi and Daniel as Josh and Jess do their own independently. Everyone does their Discipline studies mostly by themselves though I still work with Daniel on his reading/writing skills. I am available to help anyone should they need it though there is often about ½ hour for me to do something else – maybe get a few office tasks done, or cook something, or clean something. Nomi and Jess both study general knowledge topics by themselves and I teach Daniel one on one, using Sonlight.
We have study days Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday our focus differs as the girls volunteer at Mainly Music. I do a little study with Daniel but my main task is cleaning the house while Daniel does yard maintenance. Friday is very flexible. We either try to go and enjoy God’s creation (depending on the weather) or we stay in the airconditioning and study living math and writing classes, though when it is that hot we may try and go to the pool for swimming/exercise.
Alternatively our focus time could be spent on a family project instead of study. For example we may be on a morning tea roster and we spend that time in the morning cooking, we may have gifts that need to be made and we sew, we may need to spend extra time cleaning the house or visiting with people. I make sure that our activities during this focus time are purposeful and consistent with our goals for our family.
Nomi learning to juggle at a homeschool co-op
12.30 – 1.30 is our lunch and chore time.
1.30 – 2.30 is independent study time. This used to be a rest time when they were younger, nowadays it is generally used for reading and/or writing but it is a time where I ask not to be disturbed if possible.
2.30-5.00 Productive Free time or Family project time. During this time the children read, create, or play. The goal is for them to be purposeful in their activities but they have free choice of how they spend their time unless the family has a commitment. This has given them time to pursue personal interests and talents.
Daniel has taken an interest in cooking and cooked this multi-layer cake
5.00 – 7.30 Chore time and family time including meal time, read aloud and clean up.
7.30 – 8.00 get ready for bed, reading, lights out (for Daniel, Nomi and Jess)
My children go to bed fairly early but we find this gives them the amount of sleep they need. When my children get to around 15 we’ve given them the freedom to choose their own bedtime, based on the idea that they will be responsible and get enough sleep to function the next day. Josh, Jess and Daniel all like to get up around 5.30 (not that they always do!)
That is the outline of our days. Each day is different as we make use of the opportunities that come our way. I have found though, that having a structure for our days gives our children a sense of ownership to their activities – they can go ahead and do what needs to be done without me calling each and every shot. This is particularly important as they grow older, but even when they were younger a familiar structure gave them security, knowing that today would be similar to yesterday. But on the other hand it has helped them be flexible as well, because I can simply say “Our focus today won’t be study but we’ll be working on this project” and they can make the adjustments to their day and expectations.
Do you have a structure to your day that gives you the freedom to live as a family? A structure that helps you achieve what you want for your family?
Eeeew! I’m with you on that one Belinda! That looks gross! Thanks for sharing again. Useful information.
Ew i wish I’d been prepared for that autopsy photo!
I was eating!
I love your outlook toward homeschooling – it being a lifestyle. I’m still trying to get out of a “school” mindset although we’ve homeschooled many years. With regards to study, do you set goals or help your children set goals with what you want to cover in a given amount of time – same monthly, termly or yearly? I always have this fear that if I don’t make plans far enough in advance that we’ll somehow get “behind”. Slowly I’m making changes in this area and thank you for this post.
Hi Beth – thank you for dropping by and leaving a comment. Yes it does take a while to change our thinking patterns. And even though I write about it lots – I still have times where I have to stop and get back on track. It is so easy to slip into what we grew up with.
As for setting goals. I have a general idea of where I want to go for a year, broken down into a term. The older kids help me plan this but it isn’t specific and there are no consequences for not completing on schedule. I struggle with that because that is an output goal, rather than achieving understanding. I’d rather my children be behind and understand than just do the work. Our goals are little more based on consistency rather than content. For example I set the goal that we would have 3 math lessons a week, they would complete 1 writing piece a week fully edited etc, they would spend 1 hour a day reading. These types of goals give our children the freedom to struggle or even to fail in understanding the lesson, then it gives them the opportunity to keep trying. To me this is more important.
I do keep an overview of where we are at though because I may have to limit some family projects or activities if I feel they are intruding too much on an academic goal. Of course this is a line that each family has to put in place and monitor. As my children have got older I have protected their study times (3 times a week) a bit more consistently then when they were younger. We may still interrupt but I think carefully about it.
Hope this answers your question.