So this is the final week of the Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop hosted by At Heart of the Matter {online}. This week's topic is "A Day in the Life."
As a short disclaimer, let me say that this is a look at last week, when we had no therapies or other major interruptions. This week we added back in Madeline's therapies (4 hour-long sessions, spread over three days), as well as two appointments in Indianapolis. In September, we will add taking Olivia to preschool three mornings a week (two-hour days...Glen will take her as often as possible so as not to halt homeschool for very long.), as well as a women's Bible study that I'm helping with every other week. (Yes! That every other Wednesday will be a little crazy: homeschool, preschool, Bible-study, therapy, and choir/kids' church at night!)
Without further ado..."A Day in the Life."
6:00 or 6:30 I get up, start the coffee pot, sit in our easy chair enjoying coffee and quiet time, reading my Bible and Bible-study book and journal about what I read. Shower, dress, check email and Google reader and The Homeschool Lounge feeds.
7:30 Girls up and while they work through the first part of their routine (pictured below), I change and dress Madeline. Then Carli has quiet time on her own or with Madeline while I do quiet time with Olivia (only about 5 minutes). Then breakfast/cleanup...Ok, I admit it! We only have cooked breakfasts about 3 or 4 times a week. Some days we just need to get started on school. Some days I do the dishes then, or Carli does, and some days we just get on with school and do dishes at lunch.
8:30 or so We start school with Bible and then work through the remaining workboxes. I mix up the order everyday so that we don't get too bored! :) Now that there are other things that come up during our school day, like therapy, I place Carli's number tag on the opposite side of the box for those things that she can do by herself, i.e., reading, Math worksheet, activities, etc. If we have therapy, I try to set it up so that we can work through lessons I need to teach before then, and then she can cover the boxes she can do on her own during therapy.
Workboxes include...
- Bible or Bible activity
- phonics and worksheets
- math and worksheets
- history/geography and/or activity
- science and notebooking page for documenting experiment
- art
- music
- read aloud
- "reader" (doing Sonlight's second-grade list this year)
- random activities (like Math Wrap-Ups from Usborne, or an extra supplement to something we're studying)
- book basket, handwriting or copywork.
Some of those aren't everyday, but you get the idea.
10 or 10:30 Small snack and quick pickup of the school room, then continue working through the boxes until lunch.While Carli works diligently on her projects and lessons...
Olivia either works with us, or works on a letter activity...
...or plays and reads...
...while Madeline crawls around getting into everything and is just being too adorable for words. See?
12:00 or 12:30 Lunch/cleanup and outside play time.
1:00 or so. Maddy and Livy lay down for a nap and Carli and I work on what's left, usually not very much by this point.
After school I work on the house and laundry and working on the next day's workboxes and researching for future lessons, while Carli plays outside or inside with this humongous handmade dollhouse someone just donated to our (limited) space...or whatever her little heart wants to do (ok, that was hyperbole, but you know...).
6:00 or so Supper/clean up with Bible reading by Daddy, more outside/inside play for the girls.
8:00 Kids inside for baths, bedtime snack, picking out next-day's clothes, quick room pickup, read-aloud with Mommy and/or Daddy.
9:00 Bedtime for kids, but usually with reading or music for a while.
After the kiddos are in bed, I continue to work on my chores or school stuff, take some computer time. I go for a walk around 9:30 and chat with my mother for a while. After that, if I'm done with all (most) (ok, some!) of the work I need to do, I read and/or watch a show/movie with Glen. I try to be in bed by 11 or midnight. Sometimes happens, sometimes doesn't.
One thing that has made our routine a little bit easier is that Maddy is almost completely off the g-tube. She eats what we eat (pureed) or Stage 3 baby food and small bites of soft Gerber cookies, etc, and drinks from a cup with Thick-it added. SO we're eating as a family of 5 a lot now! She now has a better routine of eating, napping, and bedtime, and it makes mommy a lot happier!
Thanks to A Heart of the Matter {online} for hosting this blog hop!
Stay tuned! Coming soon: First week of school using My Father's World curriculum.