{photos by Erin Augustine}
Here’s one last Day in the Life blog post… we’ve enjoyed them so much and are thrilled to bring you one more before we finish up the school year. THANK YOU, families, for letting us into your homes to share an ordinary day with you! Today’s blogger will introduce herself and her family, so without further ado…
Hi! We’re the Augustine Family, and we are in our third year at SLOCA, on Track B. Together, we are Erin and Jason, our son Brennan just turned 7 and is in level 1 Primary, and our daughter Blake just turned 5 and is in Jr. K. Here is a typical day in our lives on a Monday homeschool day in SLO:
5:30 am
I wake up, have coffee with the husband, read for pleasure, and go over the grid.
6:30
Kids are still sleeping (which is unusual). I set out supplies for the day, and open books to appropriate pages.
7:00
Write thank you notes that the kids will use as copy work. They both had birthdays last week (they’re 6 days shy of being exactly 2 years apart), and we have lots of thank you notes to write.
7:15
I shower. Just as I’m beginning, I hear them talking in their room. They’re awake!
7:20
I’m in the shower and hear them sprinting down the hall. For the rest of my shower I hear lots of yelling, banging, and laughing. Brennan opens the door to the bathroom and yells “I see London I see France…” you know the rest. This is something he must have just learned in his dreams, and continues to repeat it every 10 minutes for the rest of the day. I start giving myself a pep talk for the day.
7:45
I check on them after getting ready, and they are busy playing house with babies and guns. They always need about an hour of imaginative play in the morning.
8:00
Off to make breakfast. Brennan argues about which days he has agreed to eat eggs instead of oatmeal (he’s agreed to Monday and Thursday), but finally agrees to the eggs if I “toast the sourdough perfectly and put Irish Butter on it.” I can do that.
8:15
Eat. Breakfast is scrambled eggs on toast (with Irish Butter), and strawberries.
8:30
Brennan sees work set out at the other end of the table, and decides to start copy work! The school day has officially begun.
8:45
Math for Brennan. I jump right in while I still have him seated at the table and ready to work. We had a crazy week last week with both birthdays. We had family visiting, and it was the first year they wanted separate parties. I felt that I didn’t do a thorough job on last week’s lessons, so today starts with lots of review. During our serious math work, I ask Blake to play independently, which usually means torturing, I mean playing with, the cat.
8:55
Blake playing with the cat is more than I can handle (lots of sad meowing) so I ask her to start her ‘copy work’ (tracing the thank you note). She gets through two lines.
9:05
Brennan needs a break, so we call recess. We got through all of our review and current day’s lesson, but haven’t yet made it to the workbook pages. I now eat my cold eggs.
9:30
Timer goes off for recess, but both kids are deep in lego creating (this always happens) so I take the history reading to them. Brennan squeals in excitement when I walk through the door with SOTW (squeals because he gets to keep building, not because he’s so in love with SOTW). Still haven’t finished the math pages.
We read about the Dutch in the New World and how they “bought” Manhattan Island for $24 from the Lenape, but the Dutch ultimately lost their Empire in the New World to the English, and New Amsterdam was renamed New York.
10:00
The kids ask to go for a walk because it’s gorgeous out, and I agree. Blake is now in her third outfit for the day. On our walk, we borrowed books from The Little Free Library that is in front of a neighbor’s house, went into a neighbor’s garage to try out his new rowing machine (PE!), played hopscotch, and recited poetry. It was a good walk.
10:50
Return from our walk. Set out frozen acai puree to defrost for snack. Brennan immediately goes out back to play basketball. (They never can get enough play!) I’m starting to feel like the day is slipping by and we haven’t accomplished much. I do a sorting activity with Blake from her grid while brother is outside.
11:00
Brennan is back inside and helps Blake sort.
11:05
I start math workbook pages with Brennan while acai is still defrosting. Blake has stopped sorting because she doesn’t want to do it independently and I started working with Brennan on math again. I realize Brennan has the math down, so I leave him to work with Blake on the sorting.
11:20
Brennan has finished his math pages and joins Blake in the sorting, but has a different idea of how the cars should be sorted: “These are all race cars, they all have numbers.” “These are coconut colored not white.” Argument starts.
11:30
Sit down for snack. They have acai with granola, and I have greek yogurt with granola and bananas. I come across a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson on the flap of the granola box that lifts my spirits.
11:35
Blake is wound up during snack, and I’m trying to go over a missed math page with Brennan. I ask her to finish her ‘copy work,’ but she finds the cat to read to instead. I’m feeling like we’re all over the place but not really finishing anything. We decide to focus on eating, and not read or go over math at the same time. 
11:45
Math is finally complete. A voice in my head is trying to make me feel behind, but the reality is that we’re doing great. I’m not stressed, we’re together, and we’re all engaged. I’m at the table alone, finishing my snack (though it’s technically lunch time), taking these notes on our day, and the kids are now reading together. Life is great.
……And daddy just came home for lunch.
12:00 pm
Read A Midsummer’s Night Dream to both kids and make a character map.
12:30
Read aloud Nancy Drew to both kids.
1:10
Blake colors and Brennan copies the character map we made into his journal. Then he reads two short books to me. (I feel so fortunate to be able to take the reading instruction at our own pace. This boy LOVES books and being read to, but when reading instruction began last year, he was really put off by it. We took a break from the formal instruction and picked back up in 1st grade, and now everything has really clicked and he is reading so well!)
1:30
Lunch! Cheese tortellini and the rest of the strawberries from breakfast. I quiz them on mental math while they eat.
2:00
Spelling with Brennan. The lesson is on making words plural. Blake is reading independently.
2:15
Grammar. Writing proper dates. Easy Peasy.
2:30
OPG with Brennan. The lesson is challenging for him, and he gets frustrated. We revisit a previous lesson instead.
2:45
Blake practices writing numbers on whiteboard. She’s left handed and everything is confusing for the poor girl! She writes right to left so she can see what she’s doing and doesn’t cover her work with her hand, then she switches to writing with her right hand because her left hand is erasing all her work. We’ll hopefully work that out when she actually begins handwriting in Kindergarten.
3:00
Done with the grid!! I take out fish to thaw for dinner, and then shoot hoops with the kids. I tend to the chickens while I’m out there.
3:15
There’s new sand in the sand box that the kids are pretty stoked about. I take advantage of the quiet time and go inside and read.
4:00
Our neighbor/Brennan’s best friend comes over to play. Lego building ensues.
4:45
Friend goes home. Blake is in her brother’s clothes which is her 4th outfit of the day. They’re playing babies again and I’ve started the dinner.
5:15
Dad comes home.
5:30
Eat dinner. Grilled fish and quinoa with broccoli.
6:00
Dad and the kids play basketball while I clean up. Blake has no outfit on now.
6:30
Husband left for a board meeting. Dang it. He usually does bedtime routine. Kids are still outside playing.
7:30
Bath time. They’re very sandy from that new sand.
8:00
Read more of Nancy Drew.
8:45
Bed time (it’s gotten so much later since it’s staying light so long!)
9:00
Spend some time on the internet and then finish my book.
10:00
Bed time for mom!
The quote by Robert Louis Stevenson really speaks to our SLOCA life at this stage with little kids. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” This quote isn’t new to me, as I’ve seen it every time I open a new box of granola : ) I find the timing perfect, that I was reminded of this quote on the day I am documenting what we do all day. Some days I feel like we are moving so slowly and hardly getting anything checked off the list. But every day, we are planting those seeds. Every day we are present, fully engaged, reading, talking, analyzing, playing. Our family is thriving, and we are so happy living the SLOCA life.
This is so encouraging, Erin! Thank you for taking the time to write down your day to share with us. There are so many great tips and ideas embedded here, as well as plenty of things we can all relate to. And what a relevant quote to come across, too! Keep planting those seeds, everyone…
