A Day in the Life: The Ingalls Family

One of your favorite series is back! Today is our last Day in the Life installment for this school year and joining us is the Ingalls Family. If this is your first time reading about this series, it is a one we started 5 years ago where a current family shares their typical homeschool day. This series, as we share in this educational journey together, peeks inside what real SLOCA life looks like behind closed doors. It provides great encouragement to hear stories of how others are doing this path less traveled life we call SLOCA.

Go ahead, get settled, and read on…

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We are the Ingalls Family, Cameron, Anna (Track B Jr.K teacher) , Asher (Intermediate), Cohen (Kinder), and Acacia (Tiny Wonders). Currently in our 5th year at SLOCA and my 3rd year on staff.  My husband is a media producer and wedding photographer. We homeschool out of our cozy 2 bedroom house in SLO. There is a bonus room off the dining room that has become our creative/homeschool space.  We usually do school all over the house but that is our mission control room. Welcome to our Day in the Life.

7:00 am

Crawl out of bed, it’s cold and I’m tired.  My 18 mo old is getting molars and has been waking me a lot lately.  Usually, I like to get up a lot earlier than the kids but today sleep was needed.  I head to the espresso machine for a boost.

7:20

My oldest wakes and comes out of his shared room with his other 2 sleeping siblings.  He asks what day it is and when he realizes it is Wed (at home day) asks if he can get started on his math while he eats his breakfast. I enthusiastically say YES.

7:25

I hear sister calling from her crib, I go into the kids’ room to get her and hear a sleepy ‘morning mama’ from my middle boy.  Sister wants to snuggle brother in his bed and when my oldest hears sister is awake he also wants to join the snuggle party. *sigh* my heart is happy.

7:40

I remind them all it is a home day and they have morning responsibilities before beginning their work.  I hear a unanimous “I know” and I head to get dressed. Today is a yoga pants kind of day, I do not plan on going anywhere and put my ‘homework clothes’ on.  The boys have decided to play legos together and put school off. Sister is helping herself to breakfast with the cereal that has been left out on the table. I start my first of a million redirecting moments with my toddler.  She asks to color and is repeating “paper!” Over and over. I quickly set her up to make myself something to eat and before I know it she’s already done coloring, bringing me her paper and has a marker on her head. As long as it’s not on the wall I’m happy.  She begs for playdough now and I put her in her seat to eat.

8:30

I am still not dressed for my day, kids are playing on their own activities and I have been filtering emails and other work on the computer.  School is already laid out for the day – I typically do that on a big white board the evening before. I find I am more clear-headed for our home mornings if I know what our school day will look like. The boys are finally eating breakfast and say they are ready to begin their day.  My intermediate looks at the to-do list of school and whines about it being ‘so much’. We break it down and he agrees it’s not any more than usual. My kinder is already complaining about all the reading I am going to make him do.  We talk about picking what you would like to do least and getting that done first – he agrees to do his reading as soon as breakfast is done and he is dressed for the day.

9:20

I was able to do some vacuuming, one bathroom cleaned and some light dusting.  Everyone has successfully eaten breakfast, half dressed and is happily engaged in some form of play.  I try to stay unnoticed and finish getting myself ready.

9:40

Everyone is (finally) dressed and ready to branch off to begin school. I have found that that is a must before homeschool.  There is usually always a reason to leave the house mid-morning or day, and it is way more stressful to coach everyone to hurry and get dressed because we have to go right now. Also, they are required to get up and start their day that way on class days so I want it to be routine before learning.  We all do better when we are prepared, physically and mentally.

9:45

My tummy is grumbling and I realize I have yet to have breakfast.  I heat up some leftover potatoes and sausage from last night – and my now cold coffee.  The two youngest are playing fort and my oldest is now getting started on his math. We talk about it for a min and he says he is ready to start on his own.  He is one problem away from finishing when he informs me he was supposed to be doing subtraction and NOT addition! I say ‘well let’s think about it this way – what great practice you just had!’ He is less than amused.

10:00

My husband is usually around first thing in the mornings but had a 7 am meeting and was out of the house before I was awake.  He calls so I talk to him for awhile. When I return to check on everyone the boys are off playing legos again and I have to go in on put-people-back-on-their-school duties.  I start reading with my kinder while sister crawls over us and demands we read her her book of choice. She is a big distraction so I nurse her a few mins while brother reads.

My oldest is feeling rather frustrated and is now declaring he is not going to do the rest of his math.  He is cooling down on his bed while I am still trying to finish reading with my kinder.

10:45

We have had some attitude adjusting and he is ready to go back to math.  Before that happens I have asked him to occupy sister while I finish up a few things with my kinder. Everyone declares they are starving. I realize we all need a little sunshine.  I open up the backdoor. My oldest makes a snack while I fill the water table and put sister on the trampoline.

11:45

Snacks were a great change of course and while everyone was eating I read SOTW.  After that, the two youngest got into a water activity together and I was able to focus on spelling with my intermediate.  Slow and steady we are on course it seems. Naptime is in the next hour and I am already planning what that will look like.

12:10

Surprise!! Everyone is eating again.

12:30

Big brother is working on his BWJ and listening to an audiobook. Sister is eating as kinder brother does his copywork.  I am grabbing a bite to eat.

I walk out of the room because everyone is happy…for a little bit.  I hear my kinder screaming because his sister is trying to draw on his copywork. He is fighting interference as she marks with pens on his paper.  I remover her and put her down because she is arching her back and screaming. The second I put the camera up to take a pic of the picture she smiles and strikes a pose – go figure.

I grab my now cold lunch and sit down on the couch to read her a few books before she goes down for a nap. Little brother joins us.

12:55

Sister is down *sigh*. I feel like I can focus now.  I drink a pre-workout drink and go to help my kinder with math.  My intermediate is still working on his black death entry in his BWJ (adding lots of facts and colorings to embellish) as well as the book he is listening on audible Percy Jackson.  

Sometime between 1 and 2:15 – I finish math with my kinder and the last few things on our grid.  He is done for the day and is now able to work on something quiet and creative. He chooses to use the glue gun and popsicle sticks.  Now to help my intermediate finish the day. We revisit math because now he is in a better headspace to listen and accept help. He quickly finishes the last couple of problems with ease.  We move onto his 5W stick graphic for his end of the year crayon person. He quickly finishes since it was almost done and he now is working on finishing his creative narrative on the black death.  Boys are outside working with glue sticks while I do a quick workout. I have really struggled to make that time for myself each day but know that I am a better mom, wife, and teacher because of it.  I joined a 6-week group to help me have a sense of community while I workout at home and I am in week 2 of 6. So far it has been great. I won’t always do it this way but when I feel tethered to my house and do not have the freedom to join a gym right now, it is currently filling that need.  

2:45

I lost track of keeping time but it’s now 2:45.  Workout is done and the boys are eating, again. Sister should be awake soon and I will need to finish literature and FLL with my intermediate.  I am also starting to think about what I am going to do for dinner – the ever looming question.

3:00

Sister wakes. We snuggle and read a bit, get her snack. Brothers are still happily creating things.

3:45

I read Canterbury Tales to my intermediate and we finish our homeschool day with discussion questions and FLL. He still needs to put the finishing touches on his creative narrative due tomorrow but he does not need my help with that.  

4:00

I send the kids outside to play basketball while I try to get some of my own much-needed work done.  I teach tomorrow and need to gather a few supplies as well as put some things together for next week’s lesson plan in Jr.K.  We eat dinner around 6 when my husband will come home. Bedtime is around 7:45/8 for the boys and around 8:30 for the lady. After our family time, I will most likely get back on my computer for work prep and emails. Working hard this week so that we can take time to rest over the weekend.  Thankful for this busy life.

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What an incredibly busy but RICH life, Anna! Thank you for sharing your day with us. Homeschooling with little ones is challenging and you truly can’t take your eyes off them…

…but we love seeing how creative parents are with their home days…

As usual, these Day in the Life posts affirms that though those home days are full to the brim (and most days, they’re overflowing), they still stand to be of the greatest experiences and rewards a homeschooling parent can have.

We hope you enjoyed reading about the Ingalls today! If you haven’t had a chance to read the others, we included the links below. This year covered all the levels, from Tiny Wonders to High School, and even our Teachers! Check them out below if you’re curious to see how other families in your level do their home days.

Dow Family

Jenei Family

Root Family

High School Edition w/one of our graduating seniors, Carina Womack

Teacher’s Edition w/Tiny Wonders teacher, April Bodine

 

And if you’re interested in sharing about YOUR home day next year school year, please let us know! We’d love to hear about YOURS!!