This week comes from a local homeschooling mother starting out on her new journey with her children.
We are 6 months into our homeschooling journey. I withdrew my 10 yr old daughter from public school just before Christmas. We have been “finding our way” for a while. She is a self directed learner, which is great since I work about 50 hours a week running my in home childcare center, and also hold a volunteer position of chapter president of Cloth For A Cause N.S. Here is how our typical day goes:
6:00 - My first alarm goes off. If my 2.5 yr old is not already up for a while (she occasionally will be up at 4-5am), I usually take advantage of hitting the snooze button!
6:30 - No more hitting snooze, force myself up at this point! Put on some coffee and hop in the shower.
6:45 - 7:00ish - Turn on some upbeat music and do a mad dash around the house cleaning up any leftover messes from the night before so parents are not bringing their little ones into a disaster zone, and then drink my coffee and catch up on personal & work emails. I also create “to-do” list at this time for my 10-yr-old (Her list includes 3 chores and about 5-6 school tasks) When we first started out we de-schooled for a while and worked on a lot of self-esteem building activities, positive thinking and dealing with anxiety. We still include a bit of that every day as well as other important life skills. She also works on Math, English/Grammar, French, and Science everyday. We do history/geography a couple times a week as well.
7:30 - Children that come to my daycare can start arriving anytime. (5-6 kiddos here daily including mine)
My 10 yr old rolls out of bed around this time when it starts getting noisy in here and has some free time to do whatever she would like (which sometimes involves grumbling and taking cereal into her room and staring at the wall for a while to wake up, sometimes helping me prep our art activity for the morning, or make a fresh batch of playdough)
8:00 - 10 yr old chooses 2 items on her checklist to complete. Occasionally if in the mood she will do more...
9:00 - snack time (which is usually breakfast time for my girls, unless the 2.5yr old was up at 4am ;) ). While they eat I prep veggies and whatever else I need so its ready to throw together quickly for lunch later.
9:15 - Circle time, then Art happens now with my little ones. Circle time consists of fun songs, rhymes, a game or two and a story based on the current theme. A mix of sitting down and “get the wiggles out” songs. Sometimes my 10 yr old likes to lead this and join in on Art (Process based art experience), if not she will head to her room to work on her checklist.
10:00 - Everyone helps do a quick tidy up of toys and we head outside. The littles all head to the playground area and my 10 yr old often will go for a bike ride or climb a tree for a bit before joining us in the fenced in area. If its a nice day we often will head outside by 9 and eat snack/do circle time outside. I often bring a pile of laundry out to hang out, and a stack of paper work to attempt to do but not much gets done, I am to busy having fun with the kids.
11:30 - Time head inside for lunch and for my 10 yr old to check the mail! She loves going out to see if any postcards have arrived from postcrossing (she has about 20 now!). She will then check on our map and/or “google” the location where the postcard came from to see how far away it is and maybe look up a few facts. She occasionally will help me make lunch or hang out with the littles while I get lunch ready.
12:00 - Lunchtime! I serve lunch and then quickly sweep our play area (which is next to the dining area), close the curtains, put out nap mats down and turn on the rest music. Then I will serve “seconds” to everyone and sit down with them for a few bites and a chat :)
12:30 - Rest time. All the daycare kiddos nap and my 10 yr old and I have some one on one time to finish up her checklist, then she has “screen time” at 1:30. While she is having her screen time I also have mine! Hers usually consists of watching DIY videos on youtube and then go off crafting and making what she just saw, or maybe putting on some music and making up some new dance moves! Mine consists of Hot coffee and Checking emails, scrolling through facebook or maybe, just maybe a phone call to have some grown up conversation!!!
I also take a few mins to jot down some notes from the morning on our tracking spreadsheet so I can see at a glance what we have done over the week, and what we may need to do more of. There are spots to make notes about each subject, outings, books read, educational show watched, etc. There is often much more to write down than just the items on her list. She will play “yoga teacher” or “gymnastics coach” to the preschoolers, read them stories, do lots of crafting/sewing/construction projects for her doll.
2:30 - Rest time is over for the daycare kiddos and I am busy changing diapers again/putting away nap mats, and prepping snack.
3:00 - Afternoon snack- fill our bellies, get cleaned up and head back outside until Moms & Dads come for pick-ups!
5:00 - Daycare kiddos are all gone by now. We often will run an errand or pick up my 10 yr old from choir or dance, have some supper and then play outside in our yard. Sometimes we take a picnic supper to a local park or short hiking trail nearby. Sometimes we head to library to pick up some new books or attend one of the evening programs.
8:30-9:00 - 10 yr old is ready for bed and heads off to read for 30 mins before lights out.
-2.5 year old is often still full of energy and will usually be ready for bed between now and 9:30.
9:30 - With any luck the little one is in bed by now and I might try and get caught up on some paperwork (meal planning, program planning for the littles, or bookkeeping stuff). However, if it was a 4 am wake up day, I just crash so I can start all over tomorrow ;)
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