A Day in the Life of a (not-so-perfect) Homeschool Family

We post about a lot of things- places we go, projects we've completed, people we're with, activities we've been a part of, lessons learned, and so on. But it recently occurred to us that we really don't post- or take pictures of- what we do the most around here, at least this time of year- and that is: SCHOOL! We're all about making our life our school, yes, and school our life, but the reality is, we do spend quite a lot of time just doing plain old sit-down-with-a-textbook school. So, we decided to capture what a regular morning around here looks like to help us remember years from now, just in case we forget...

 Most days have some- or more- glitches here and there, but the day is bound to be a failure if we don't start it out right. Gotta get our directions for the day!

 After breakfast and Bible time with Dad, its off to do chores and music. Jared has dish duty and Kenan helps. Amazing how heartily and cheerfully the morning chores were tackled as soon as the camera appeared. Maybe its worth getting it out more often! : )

Every morning, Faith blesses us with beautiful music while she practices and we work.

At 8:40 our school day officially gets underway. (Why 8:40? so we are definitely started by 8:45!) We enjoy some songs, scripture, and prayer and then IF we did actually get started at 8:40.....

...there might be some time to read a bit together. (if your family hasn't discovered the Grandma's Attic series in its entirety, you are missing out!)

Around 9, the older two go downstairs to start their school with some spelling together and the rest of us stay on the couch for more singing and character training.

We love these resources from the Learning Parent (Character Concepts)

After that its time for us all to go downstairs and hit the books. They're just oh so studious, aren't they?

Faith says: I enjoy school (for the most part) and like to learn - some subjects more than others :) Science and Government are probably on the top of the list this year, with math clear down at the bottom. I'm so glad I'm home schooled with the best teacher! So overall, school isn't bad for me - but just think how much more I could do in a day, if I didn't spend all my time doing school!  

Marcus says: Can't wait until I'm done.

Jared says: My favorite subject is geography. My second is cursive. I really like that, too. In geography I have learned all the countries of South America. Geography is a special time with Mom and Lily. I love my teacher and my school.

Lily says: I do geography and science with Jared and I learned that South America has the longest mountain range, the largest river, the largest tropical rain forest, the driest desert, and the highest waterfall. 

Kenan says: me hungry

At 10:15, Jared and Lily have time with Mom for geography and science. We love that part of the day!

And a little later, Faith and Marcus do government/civics together. Then we have a time of read-aloud together- another favorite part of the day. 

During the morning, all five of us have some individual time with Kenan. He loves that! And inbetween times, he is always wondering what he should play "with himself." 

The morning always go way too fast and pretty soon, its time to make lunch. Who makes is depends on the day. As far as Kenan, he's up there everyday!

So that's just a snapshot of our school day. The afternoons seem to go faster than the mornings. There's leftover school, chores, music, laundry, kitchen jobs, and all the multitudes of other tasks that are necessary to keep a house and school running. 

Everything is set to run smoothly; however, all seven of us bear a healthy dose of human flesh and, well, there are plenty of bumps along the way. But, still, its a great way to raise a family (in case you are interested)!

And at the end of the day, we can feel blessed and thankful and good, that once again, God allowed us the privilege of living and loving and sharing together in this day. 

  PS: just in case you were wondering about the "not-so-perfect" part about this post, we will share that we have this hanging in our basement because well, it just.... fits.