{photos by Jenny Bischoff}
Down Home's “A Day in the Life” series has been running for a couple of years now, and it's been a fun way to peek inside the homes of other SLOCA families and see what a homeschooling day is like for someone else. We usually find many situations we can relate to on our own home days, and see that no one does it all perfectly (and often we don’t do it all!). As the blog coordinator, I’ve put together several installments of A Day in the Life for other families, but never written one myself. So I thought I’d give it a try.
My name is Jenny and I have three kids here at SLOCA on Track A: Kate, a freshman attending sloCAHS, Georgia, a Lower Middle School 5th grader, and Calvin, a Primary 2nd grader. We use workboxes with the younger two, but not the way they were intended to be used. They provide storage, organization, and some structure for us, and I do find them extremely helpful. This year our home days have been taking longer than they have in the past, with the jump up to Lower Middle School. This particular day was not too heavy, but we are still trying to find that ideal rhythm and pace, and for now I’m okay with school continuing into the late afternoon if needed.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Today is a little out of the ordinary in that my oldest daughter (Kate) is going to school today (even though it’s a home day for her) to meet up with a few other high schoolers and work on some assignments. Typically she is totally independent though, and on home days she completes her school work in her room or in the living room, emerging for food and drink and maybe a chat every once in awhile. This morning she gets picked up by a friend early and is out of the house before the other kids even wake up.
8:20 am
My goal is to start at 8 am but that almost never happens. 8:20 isn’t bad! We dive right into math facts – Georgia doing timed multiplication practice on the iPad, while Calvin does a Singapore Mental Math strip.
8:30 am
I read a Bible story to the kids, which I meant to do first, but forgot. At least math facts are done!
8:50 am
Back to math. I do Calvin’s lesson with him, and then he begs me to let him make a “part-whole” poster that looks like one I have hanging in our school room. I wasn’t really intending to do a craft project this early in the morning, but he’s so passionate about wanting to make one that I can’t say no. It’s great, this is what homeschooling is all about, right? I’m just trying not to watch the clock.
{He's so proud!}
Georgia does her Latin assignment, Typing, and practices her Beowulf recitation on her own during this time. She can be pretty independent with many subjects, but needs someone to keep her on track and help prevent distractions.
9:45 am
Break time. I send the kids outside with a timer set for 10 minutes. If they come back in with the timer when it beeps, they get chocolate chips with their snack. (The number of chocolate chips is determined by how many math facts they got correct earlier.) I have discovered this bribe to be a very effective way to get them back into the house in a timely manner. While they are out playing, I look over Georgia’s math Home Instructor’s Guide, because I hadn’t done that yet.
10 am
Kids are eating a snack at the kitchen table while we talk about their favorite parts of Beowulf. Usually during snack time I read Calvin’s assigned literature aloud to both of them, but since we’ve finished the book, today we just discuss it.
10:15 am
I help get Georgia started on writing her IEW rough draft. Calvin draws a picture to go with his favorite part of Beowulf.
10:30 am
Calvin and I do grammar, phonics (with many complaints of “Mom, this is a LOT of reading….”), and practice his poem recitation of “The Song of Mr. Toad,” which he just loves. It warms my heart to see him recite with such pure joy! I keep checking in on Georgia, who is daydreaming and slowly working on that rough draft.
{She does enjoy writing, it appears.}
11:15 am
I meant to do this right after snack – we all watch a quick video sent by Calvin’s teacher about the weapons of Beowulf. Twice. And they still ask “Please, just one more time!”
Then we all take another quick break. I have no idea what the kids are doing. I check email – oops, I really try not to do that during homeschool time, but sometimes I get sucked in. More snacks are consumed.
Suddenly it’s 11:45 am
…and I don’t know where the last 20 minutes have gone! Oh well, back at it. They just ate something so time for Math with Georgia. It’s a long lesson, and she’s a bit lethargic, complaining that “all of her muscles hurt.” Could be growing pains – that girl is sprouting up! I administer Tylenol.
Meanwhile, Calvin’s history reading is a chapter from Story of the World that we read last week, so he listens to it again with headphones then does copy work while I sit between the two and try to keep an eye on both. To accompany this copy work in his history journal, Calvin has decided that he wants to draw an extremely intricate mosaic of the Hagia Sophia that will take him an AGE to complete. But it’s awesome. And it gives me time to work with Georgia. He is feeling very artsy-craftsy today!
{An ambitious project}
12:15 pm
Kids are working away and I’m sitting between them texting with a friend about how our home day is going and answering questions about the grid. Oops again, something else I usually try not to get distracted by during homeschooling! 
12:45 pm
I’m finally making lunch! The kids decide (on their own, really) to plug headphones into our little iPod shuffle and listen to music while they eat and continue math/drawing. Are they learning this multi-tasking from me? Strange.
{I wouldn't want this every day, but it's actually quite lovely.}
Often at lunch we will listen to Story of the World (Calvin’s history) while we all eat – you see that I like to take advantage of eating times and read/listen to something while I have a captive audience. (So yes, I guess they do get it from me!) But today Calvin already listened to history on his own, and they are quiet and happy, so I simply enjoy a few moments of silence.
1:15 pm
Outside break again. The hula hoops come out.
1:35 pm
Time to round them back up.
2 pm
Yes, it did take a full 25 minutes today to get them back in the house, get a drink, use the bathroom, and do whatever else they needed to do. I didn’t have chocolate chips working for me this time.
I do Spelling with Calvin, while Georgia finishes her math and then completes her Science journal assignment. Calvin is released to go play after Spelling.
2:45 pm
We are all moving a little slowly, but it’s ok. We do Georgia’s history reading while Calvin goes back to working on his mosaic. He’s super-motivated to finish it, so I don’t hear the usual “what can I DO?” from him, which is what he normally says when he’s finished with his work before his sister. I eat something for lunch, because I forgot to earlier!
3:15 pm
Grammar and Spelling with Georgia. She insists that she can’t possibly sit up and wants to lay on the floor for Grammar. Sure, fine.
{Oh the drama!}
We finish up everything except Georgia’s Art assignment (not going to get to that today), and they have a short amount of free time.
4:15 pm
Paul comes home to pick up the kids and takes Georgia to gymnastics (apparently her energy has returned), then goes to play tennis with Calvin. I sit on the couch and do nothing for a few minutes, then start to think about when to get dinner started.
We often read Georgia’s assigned literature together aloud as a family in the evenings, but this evening we are in between books. Whew! This day was actually fairly mild, with little bickering or interruptions, and only the usual amount of complaining. It's been a rather satisfying day overall. This isn't always the case, I assure you! But I love having them home on these days, I love learning with them, and seeing them get excited about something. It's a lot of work, but so worth it! And I’m equally glad they are going to school tomorrow…
