What a day in our Home School world looks like

I would like to share with you, what a day in our Home Schooling world looks like.
We have been homeschooling, in a sense, since my oldest was born, but technically this year has been our first.
I like to base our learning off of the idea of the natural milestones we reach through life. A Thomas Jefferson Education, really helped me understand the different phases we go through, after we learn to smile, roll over, sit, crawl, walk and talk. We do have the potential and capacity to teach ourselves everything we need to know, with great mentors to guide us and help us.


My kids are ages 1, 3, 6 and 8. This picture is actually a little old, but we have yet to update it. :)

My oldest went to Kindergarten and 1st grade at the public school, but she is happy to do Home School now, and my 6 year old is starting Kindergarten stuff at home too.

When others ask me how we do it, they seem to have an idea that it would be complicated, time consuming, stressful. They also worry, that they wont be smart enough (trust me I worried about that too, but quickly found out, that I have plenty of time to learn, and I am not the only one mentoring them!) I am here to tell you it does not have to be complicated or stressful, at all! We have a lot of fun, and I am actually less stressed with all my kids home, where we can wake up ready to have a fun day, and we are not obligated to drag all 4 kids out of the house, just to drive a mile to the school and then back home, 2 to 3 times a day.
 Yes we need structure, and we still strive for it, and maybe if we lived somewhere where it was warm outside all the time, dragging 4 sleepy little tiny kids outside to a cold vehicle wouldn't have been so frustrating, but I will take the nice warm relaxed home, and happy faces in the morning, over tropical weather any day. :)




In the Core phase of learning
We actually do not do a lot of structured schooling. For now, that is. Right now, as TJED describes it, my kids are in a phase where the most important thing they learn, is the difference between right and wrong. This requires me, to be, their mentor, to be a good example, and to gently guide them through their day, when they make choices. We talk a lot about good manners, and virtues. We also read a lot of books, and we discuss the choices the characters had to make, and talk about what they should and should not have done.
My favorite book that we started reading, is called "The Book of Virtues" by William J. Bennett
. It has a section for each virtue, and in each section, is a poem or a story, that teaches the virtue. Its really great, and whatever curriculum or method you choose, this is a great book to read to your kids anyway.
I also love the "Little House on the Prairie" series, and my kids do too!

Another thing TJED suggests, is to structure your time, but not your content. This provides structure to the kids, and helps them learn responsibility, but it also provides the freedom, they need, to choose what they want to learn, and that leads to the Love of  Learning milestone.


So, here is an example of our "structured"/not structured schedule. :)

I try, to have every body learn to be out of bed by 8 am. I would love to get to a point where we are out of bed by 7, and me out of bed by 6, but do to some personal health issues, I need all the sleep I can get in a night to help with healing. We are getting there though, and when I can get myself into bed by 9 pm, I can get up earlier. My daily goal is to be up, myself by 7, but its a goal I am still working on.On Good days it does happen, otherwise its more like 8 am. :)

• 7 am- I wake up, read my scriptures, and give myself a few minutes to check email, and facebook.
• 8 am- I make my bed, get dressed, and clean up anything in my room that needs it, like taking my water cup to the kitchen, or picking up wrappers or kids toys. 
• next I move to the bathroom, do my hair, and hygiene things. I keep a package of baby wipes on our counter, and I wipe the counters and pick up anything in the bathroom that needs to be put away. 
• I move to the laundry room, which is in the hall by my bathroom. I sort the load from the dryer and start a new load in the washer. My kids and I each have a small basket in the hall that our clothes get sorted into. 
• Then I move into my 1 and 3 year olds room. I get them dressed, and "we" tidy up their room, and we all go down to the kitchen for breakfast. I unload the dishwasher at this time as well.
• 9 am- We all have breakfast and Devotional together. My 6 and 8 year old, have reached the milestone (finally) of getting themselves up and dressed before breakfast! (I thought it would never happen, but after starting a new awesome rewards system, they have both naturally come to be responsible about it on their own.)

Devotional- We do this during breakfast, (we are all gathered around the table, so why not?)  We start by saying a prayer over our meal, which is usually fruit and nuts, and a grain of some sort. Then, starting with my oldest, I ask if she has a spiritual thought to share with us for the day. My 8 year old usually ends up sharing something she learned at church the previous week. I Love It!
 One morning, she took some time coming up stairs. I wondered a little about it, but didn't bug her. Then during devotional, she announced "I have made a decision!" Next Sunday at church, I am going to get up an bear my testimony!" She explained, that she had been thinking about it, in bed, and that was why she didn't come up earlier. She still needs to wait a couple more Sundays for when we have our Fast and Testimony meeting, but she is still planning on doing it! These were the kind of words, that make a mother's heart jump for joy, and it took a lot for me to hold it in, and gently agree with her, that it was a great decision. :)
My 6 year old, kind of picks up on the spirit of it, from her sister, and shares her thought, and then my 3 year old, usually says something random like "I sleep to much", lol, and then my 1 year nods his head and mumbles something serious. It is the cutest thing, and really sets a good mood for our day. After our spiritual thoughts, we recite the scripture we are memorizing, and then the poem we are memorizing. If they pass off, the part we are working on, they earn a treat.

• 10 am- We start our morning chores. For the kids, its finishing up with hygiene, making beds, cleaning up their rooms, or anything on their chore lists, that they can earn a token for. (Tokens for chores, is our new rewards system, then they can turn in thier tokens for treats, or something fun. It works wonderfully!)

I do a 5 minute pickup in the kitchen, and living room, and sweep and vacuum, and then I work on my daily deep cleaning room.

I have a list, laminated and posted in each room, of weekly deep cleaning tasks, and monthly deep cleaning tasks. 
Monday-Kitchen
Tuesday-Laundry and Laundry area
Wednesday-Bathrooms
Thursday-Living room
Friday-Bedrooms
Saturday and Sundays are free days except for 5 minutes up keeping in each area, to prevent overwhelming feelings on other days. When I keep up on all of this, I don't have to clean a whole lot at all.

• 12 pm-I get my baby ready for his nap, we nurse for a bit, and then put him to bed. He will sleep for 4 hours usually, which is really nice. He recently switched from 2 naps a day, to 1 long one a day instead. When he did 2 naps, we did school during his naps, and had a recess in between. Now, we do school stuff all together, during his long nap.
• Between 12:30 pm and 4:30 pm- We have a lunch and bring out the books. During this time, the kids are encouraged, but not forced, to pick a book, or a few, and do personal reading time. Lately, we all gather on the beanbags in my living room, and they listen while I read from The Book of Virtues, or from The Little House on the Prairie. Listening, sometimes involves my 8 year old laying with her eyes closed, picturing what is going on in the story, my 6 year old quietly playing with a toy, and my 3 year old, reading her own book, sometimes to loudly. ;) Today, they ate a snack while I read, and my 8 year old read a page to us too.

After we read together, we discuss what we heard. I start with my 3 year old, and ask her what she thought about the story. I don't get a huge response from her, but at her age, its more the example and routine that is important, and I know when she gets older she will start to want to listen and discuss more. My 6 year old will usually just say a little bit about it, and my 8 year old, usually has the longest response, of discussing character and things done in the story. I love that she is at an age that will discuss more, but it also helps me to understand that my younger ones will get to that age soon enough too, and I can just be patient with them, and set a good example. My 8 year old's example is encouraging to them too.

•      After reading, my kids usually move on to "doing" something. They love to color, or do imaginative play. I am finding this is a perfect moment to have them gather around the table for a lesson or project too. Yesterday, we gathered around the table and made 55 valentines, for each kid to pass out at our Valentines Home School get together this Friday. We also get out our "Draw Now" books, and they learn to draw something from it, and then do copy work, for phonics and writing.They also love going outside and playing. I do yard work while they play, and sometimes they join me.
• We also have an account for my 8 and 6 year old, online at Time for learning. It is an online age based curriculum, for Kindergarten through High School students. They have specific subject lessons to learn throughout a years worth of time, and they have quiz's and tests, but you do not have to do them. They are also not tied down to an outside teacher, or schedule. Its so nice for my kids to get on, and learn fun age appropriate material, to learn math, or science or phonics, but not have them feel forced to learn any of it. They learn it better, when it is their choice to learn it. We pay $34 a month, for the two accounts combined. It is a very good curriculum too, and its fun! The kids usually take an hour each, and learn something fun from it. We don't do it everyday either, just when they want to. 

When one of my older kids, are on the computer, I break out our "100 Easy Lessons to Reading" book, and our "Math U See" books, with the other, and we go over a few lessons, until they are ready to stop.

This is also a time, for us all to explore our talents. We break out the violins, the harmonicas, the art, the dancing, the journals, and anything else that peaks our interest.

• 4:30 pm- I start to get dinner going, and my kids are free to do what they want. 
• 5:30 pm- my son wakes up from his nap by this time, and my husband comes home from work. He usually goes for a jog, or starts his other job, that he does in our living room on his laptop. 
• 6:00 pm-we eat dinner, and discuss our day with Daddy.
• 7:00 pm-we have a 15 minute pickup in our kitchen. The kids each have a chore they are in charge of, my 8 year old loads the dishwasher and Daddy and I finish up the rest. 
• 7:30 pm-The kids all get ready for bed, jammies, brushing teeth, baths, setting out clothes for the next day, and a 5 minute pickup in the living room and bedrooms. 
• 8:00 pm Devotional- We pick a book for Daddy to read to us, sometimes its from "The Book of Virtues". We say a family prayer, and then he and my 8 year old read from the scriptures to us.
• 8:30 pm- I tuck my 1 and 3 year old into bed, and then I go down to my 6 and 8 year old. I say personal prayers with my 3 and 1 year old, and tickle and snuggle and squish them. 
• With my 6 and 8 year old, I ask them about 1 sad thing they had happen during the day, and then 2 happy things, and then we tickle, giggle, snuggle and squish with them. :)
•  9:00 pm-I do a house sweep, and tidy up what I need to, and then hop in bed to read or catch up on my self taught violin lessons.

• 10:00 pm-We really try to have the lights out by this time. 

The one thing I keep in mind the most, is that, this phase will not last the whole Home Schooling Experience. My 8 year old is moving into the love of learning phase, and my younger kids are still in the learning right from wrong phase. Soon, in about 4 years my 8 year old will be 12 and moving into the Scholar phase, where learning particular subjects will be more important to her, and I will be mentoring her through deeper things, and my other kids will be moving into the Love of learning stage.
I find that I myself, am going through a Love of Learning/Scholar phase. Which is super important, for me to take advantage of at this time, and be a good example, by studying the things I want to learn about too.

While we have this routine into place, it took us a bit of refining to get here, to realize it didn't need to be anything stressful or majorly structured. We also have plenty of days, especially on Monday's when we do our grocery shopping too, that our learning is completely "in the moment". We discuss things while traveling, we discuss math, while budgeting, we learn that it is stealing, when we take one little Jelly Bean from the bulk bins, and that yes, we will pay at least a penny for it, if you eat it first. :) Some days if we are out and about, the learning does not come from any book, but just from their mentor passing on information about the moment.

So there you have it! A day in the world, of Home Schooling my Passionate Bookworms! :)