2015 Homeschool Day in the Life

How many years have I been posting a "day in the life"? I'll have to look back but I think this may be the fourth year. I really do it for posterities sake as much as I do it to join in the group of others sharing their days too.  It's fun to look back on the past years to see what "normal" was and it's fun to look at the many ways homeschooling can look in various homes. Thanks to Simple Homeschool for giving me the opportunity:)

I'm Rachel and I've been doing this homeschool gig for 10 years. Yep. What started as not sending my 4 year old to junior kindergarten because what was that anyway? turned into hey, I think I can manage to teach my own child and probably do a better job to if we can do this through grade 3 and really lay a foundation of spiritual, intellectual and emotional health, I'll be happy.  That 4 year old is now in his first year in high school and he graduated our homeschool last spring.

My second child, who is now in grade 3, has never known not sitting by my side and joining in our days of learning. She could sing the continents and oceans song when she was three.  She memorized the Sermon on the Mount along with us when she was 7. She learned what the countries of Africa were when she was 6.  She's benefited in ways I'll probably never know by growing up in this environment. But now that her older brother is at boarding school and not living at home full time, it's all her. This year she's an only!

What makes my family unique is what guides our studies, priorities and curriculum choices. This is my favourite part of homeschooling! We don't need to fit into a nice, neat box with everyone else. We can be who we are and tailor our education choices to fit.

My family is Christian (Lutheran, to be exact!), we have both a biological child and an adopted child, we are a pastor's family, we're musically inclined, we're American and Canadian, we live no where near family, we're homebodies and social butterflies.  All these qualities and more translate into our top priorities being to teach and learn Scripture, maintain contact and grow in understanding of the Chinese culture our daughter was born in, be active in various church programs, sing in the choir and play violin, make our own traditions and travel as a family, grow a much greater awareness of the whole world and enjoy being home after being out and about! That's us - in a nutshell.

While each day definitely has it's own personality or program we're off to, there is a basic rhythm to our homeschool and this is what I'd like to share. And so .... (drum roll, please) .... I give you ....
Thursday.

Hosanna (my daughter) has a number of things that need to be accomplished before we sit down together at 9am. This includes basic chores like getting herself ready, making her bed and eating breakfast. It also includes some work done on her own. She fills in the next page of her "Luther's Small Catechism for kids" workbook, writes out her memory verse for the week, writes a page in her journal, does a page in her cursive workbook, measures the growth of "The Plant" and records, completes half a lesson in "Explode the Code",  and does the days instalment of "Xtra Math" and Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor on my computer. It's up to her to plan her morning accordingly to get all this done. These are all things I know she can do on her own and we go over her work once I sit down with her.

After this, we start on our work together and the lessons I teach. I wrote a post in September on the curriculum we are using this year.

We begin our daily lessons with our Bible story lesson for the week.  It usually takes us about 3 days to complete one lesson, so I break it up into segments and we take about 15- 20 minutes each day. I do this first because I know (from experience) that if the rest of the day goes terribly wrong and nothing else gets done, at least we did what was important. Amen.

Next up is math. Because she's already done timed math facts on the computer earlier, I usually leave that part out of our lesson.  We do a lesson a day and depending on how she does on the front side of the Saxon worksheet, she may or may not be required to do the other side. Sometimes I just pick part of side B if I think she needs to review certain areas.

Language Arts is next. She's already practiced her cursive and phonics. This is our time to do "Learning Language Arts Through Literature - Yellow book".  I will also occasionally (not today) throw in a writing lesson from Institute for Excellence in Writing but this year is more of an introduction and getting her feet wet in the art of writing.

It's time for Science! I finally found a curriculum I am loving. We don't do it every day (once or twice a week) but today I am ready for the experiment. We are learning about how air takes up space and how temperature can affect it.

The whole Science thing took me longer to pull off than I anticipated. I had dinner to put in the crockpot and I had to get lunch started. Hosanna was disappointed we didn't have time to get to History so she took matters into her own hands while I made the panini sandwiches.  She read out loud about Catherine the Great of Russia and what a jerk her husband, Peter, was.  Then she asked me the questions from the activity book to see how well I was listening. She thought she was pretty funny!

We didn't have a lot of time to lolly-gag at lunch. We had her swimming lesson to get to. Out the door we went and she enjoyed her weekly 45 minute lesson at a pool nearby.  Lesson time is just as much for homeschool moms as the lessons are for kids. This is the time where we give each other moral support and a shoulder to cry on. On this day, my friend and I shared stories of our older kids in their first year of "brick and mortar school" and how they're driving us nuts by not listening to our wise, sage advice in all aspects of their lives. What? Teenagers don't appreciate being told how they should do things? 

Now may be a good time to mention I've got a bit of a side job. I'm a hairdresser by trade. The ironic thing is that after I finished my first year of university ohsomanyyearsago, my mother suggested I stay in school to complete the teaching degree I had started because "you never know, you may have to teach your own kids someday". To which I did not respond as if she had given me wise, sage advice and laughed. out. loud. and decided I wanted to "do hair".  Hilarious (insert sarcasm).  But it's all worked out quite nicely because I still am somehow able to manage to teach my kids the alphabet and make some extra money on the side by cutting hair. This last summer we invested in finishing off our basement and included a small salon for me to work from.  So now that you're caught up on that ..

We hustled home from swimming class because I had hair appointments to get back to for the afternoon. While I highlighted and cut a few heads of hair, Zanna played with the neighbour friend and had a grand ole' time socializing. As did I in the basement salon catching up with friends while making them beautiful.

I always appreciate the pre-planning and time I put into our menu for the week when I come up from the basement after working, or into the house after being out all afternoon and smell dinner ready in the crockpot! Today I made a recipe I grew up with and is now one of my family's favourites!

Snow Plow Stew 

2 lbs stew beef cut into 1" pieces
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 101/2 oz. can of cream of mushroom soup
1 4 oz. can whole mushrooms
1/2 cup red wine

Combine all ingredients in the Crock-Pot. Stir together well. Cover and cook on Low for 8-12 hours. Serve over Wild Rice.

Normally when I've been constantly moving through the whole day, I'm pretty shot energy wise by the time the supper dishes are cleaned up. I usually read to Hosanna to wind the both of us down for the day. But today I kept going a little longer and went out to the Dollar Store with Hosanna to get a few things and to swing by church as a favour to my husband (there's a story but it's not that exciting).  I can assure you that after that, I was exhausted and done for the day. After putting Hosanna to bed and putting my pj's and robe on, I parked my behind on the couch and enjoyed watching the "American Idol" try-outs and hanging out with my husband for the evening.



That's a day-in-the-life of our homeschool. Yes, homeschooling an "only" is definitely a lot quieter than with multiple kids! But it comes with many blessings too and lots of one on one time. Feel free to ask any questions. Thanks for stopping by!