Homeschooling Moms : Sample Day

I homeschool in Ohio, so the requirements are a bit different. My daughter is in 2nd grade. We typically begin school around 9 each morning and are usually done by noon. She attends our local Christian school 2 times a week for PE and one time for art. So those subjects are covered there. Our day usually consists of

Bible (10 min)
Language Arts (15-20 min)
Handwriting (5 min) She writes in others subjects but is practicing cursive.
Phonics Game (5-10 min) she loves these so I keep doing them
Reading (15 min)
Math Activity (5 min)
Math page (15 min)
Spelling (10 min)
History (20 min-4 days a week)
Science (20 min- 2 days a week)
Music (piano lessons and practice)
Me Reading to her (15 min)

We take breaks often and I also have a 5 year old doing preschool at home and an 18 month old to keep out of trouble. Plus I babysit my 4 year old nephew so things are always distracting us.

I think it is all what you make of it. No two homeschoolers days will look alike. You make it yours. That is one of the beauties of homeschooling.

We homeschool through MNVA, which is part of the K12 system. My daughter is in 2nd grade for all courses except math, where she is in 3rd. It is technically a public school, but I do everything at home and she has one homeroom class online each week which is basically fluff. Her lessons are a mix of online and "at the table"...more at the table at this age. The school does have suggestions as to how much time you SHOULD spend on things, which I will give you...and in parentheses, I'll give you how much time it ACTUALLY takes.

Literature and Comprehension - 1 hr. (20 minutes)
Handwriting - 10 min. (0. Her handwriting is beautiful, she writes for every other class, and I hate busy work.)
Spelling - 15 min. (15 min)
Vocabulary - 15 min. (5 min. tops)
Writing Skills - 15 min. (10-60 minutes, depending on the assignment.)

Math - 60 min. (60 min. on average)

Science - 60 min. (20 min.)

History - 60 min (20-30 min.)

Art - 45 min. (30-60 min)

Music - 45 min. (0. Both my husband and I are professional musicians and do not like the music curriculum the school offers, so I got permission to entirely skip the course with the understanding that we are teaching music. We spend at least 30 minutes a day on our own music education.)

When the lessons take much less time that suggested, it's because they are simple and she understands them easily with no read need to reinforce it. Like I said, can't stand busy work.

History is 3 times a week, Science the other two days, and Art twice a week. All other courses are daily.

We are done with Literature for the year because she flew threw the lessons, so she is now selecting books to read and completing book reports. Currently reading Beezus and Ramona.

We would've been done with math too early, so we do not do math on Fridays. Fridays are "Fact Fridays" where we drill multiplication facts (currently.)

I have to turn in samples of math and writing once a month, as well as a P.E. calendar. Next year, she will be required to complete standardized testing as per state requirements.

I LOVE homeschooling, I love our curriculum, and I love the flexibility. We don't have to wake up at six and rush to get ready, we can take an hour to eat breakfast and watch cartoons, we are usually done with school by lunch (sometimes another hour after lunch, if we get a particularly late start), we don't have to cram lunch into 25 minutes.

For my daughter, I love it because she doesn't have to face peer pressure, bullies, etc, and is allowed to work at her own pace in a nurturing, relaxed environment. She gets plenty of socialization through church, Awana, and multiple summer activities.

Your schedule sounds a lot like ours, with the exception of the charter school situation. I'm not sure what to think of that...it seems like it would be hard to keep track of essentially two different schools, but if you can do it and it works for your family, great!

When my daughter is in middle school, she'll be able to join the public system for things like band, shop, home ec, sports, etc, and the school is literally three blocks down the street. ;)

In 5 years of homeschooling, every year was slightly different.

In general:

- Quarterly schedule changes (outside classes & sports)
- School break camps (usually drama or science camp) in between quarters (which is when I put together the next quaryer's curriculum)
- Unschooling for 1 month in winter & summer (we didn't take breaks, but schooled year round. I LOVED our Unschooling months, he came up with things Id never have dreamed of)

In general

WINTER
4am UP
5am-7am Carschooling
8am-4pm Snowboarding + school during hot chocolate breaks
4pm-6pm Carschooling & dinner
6pm - Home/ shower/ bed

SUMMER
8am UP
10am-6pm Swimming & school during breaks
10pm Bedtime

We typically did 1 years curriculum each winter & summer, and then 1 years combined for spring & fall (apx 3 years every year).

My son is ADHD so the intense physical activity of snow season & swim season really helped out tons.

Spring & Fall we mostly tread water. Still moving, but fairly slooooowly.

Those season had similar schedules.

UP at 7am
10am school start
12pm lunch & doc or outing
1pm afternoon class (home or outside class)
3pm finis
4pm Tea
6pm Sports or outside class
7pm dinner
9pm bed

I'm sure you're doing this, even though you don't mention it, but make sure you are also using math manipulatives, and not just the ipad to teach them math. Real manipulatives help children understand math concepts in a way that they don't learn without it.

Also, when you do your enrichment, try to mix the disciplines together. My son's 3rd grade teacher used a cooking class every Wednesday morning to teach science, reading and math together. (And they enjoyed the fruits of their labor too!) She used the computer to write stories about the food and what they liked about the cooking. When you take them to a museum, have them research a particular exhibit. For their art "class", have them draw the exhibit as well. Mix up the disciplines so that they are doing them all in regards to one exhibit.

There are parks that have exercise trails. That might be nice for their "PE" class.

I don't homeschool, but friends of mine have told me that this is what they do.

Dawn

We don't have a set start or end time right now due to my 6 month old and our still unpredictable sleep schedule, but our average day looks like this:

My oldest (5th grade) does math, grammar, spelling, a dictation exercise, science, Latin, a logic exercise, memory work, religion, and ends his day with history.

My second (3rd grade) does grammar, spelling, a dictation exercise, math, Latin, memory work, science, religion, and history.

My third (in 1st grade) does science, reading, handwriting, spelling, math, grammar, and history.

I also do pre-k work about 2-3 days a week with my four year old.

Because I'm working with several kids at different levels, I stagger lessons that are independent work with the lessons where I have to instruct. So, for instance, I'll do the math lesson with my oldest (fairly brief lesson) and let him go work (takes about an hour for him to finish), give a brief lesson to my second in grammar and let him go work on it and spelling (an independent work assignment) while I teach my third science and reading (both instruction intensive). It can be hectic and frustrating when people don't stay on task, but overall, it works for us.

If they focus and if there aren't too many interruptions, we can finish everyone's work plus instruction time in 5-6 hours. They do a lot of reading (fiction and nonfiction) during the day, so it's not technically in the schedule, and they write reports for fun (my nerdy genes, I guess).

We also have one day a week of scouts (where they are around plenty of other kids), and another day of the week, we have piano and voice lessons. Every day, we take about an hour and a half break from school while a friend of mine (also a homeschooler) and her children come over. The mom and I exercise (great time to talk), and the kids play. We take field trips (educational and/or just for fun) at least once a month, and participate in our local homeschool co-op off and on.

Requirements are fairly light here. I keep a portfolio just in case but have never been asked to submit work. I give the kids a monthly report card and keep a notebook of grades that includes a list of all assignments completed in all subjects. I'm debating doing standardized tests with them at the end of the year just to provide a reference point, but it's not required here.

Your schedule sounds busy to me, but I've found that the one certain thing about homeschoolers is that they find the best thing that works for their families. I love our schedule, for the most part. I will love it more when my little guy lets us work more set hours so we can finish earlier.

Mostly, I just relish the time teaching my kids and working with them. They frequently impress me with their grasp of various subjects, and I just love to see them figure things out. I love it when they make connections between real life and the things they've been learning. Teaching them also gives me an outlet for my creative side as well as a way to channel my absolute love of learning (plus, it's the one time in life that my otherwise fairly useless English degree has come in handy). I actually enjoy relearning the simple grammar, math, and science concepts that I haven't had in years. It makes me really appreciate all the nitty gritty details of life that are sometimes easy to overlook.

We usually start about 8 am. I spend an hour or so with my 4th grader we usually do math or history first. Either takes about an hour. Then while he is doing some independent spelling, writing, math sheet, reading whatever, I have my 2nd grader start ith math. She then also works on the assignment, and spelling, writing reading etc. and I do a phonics lesson with my preschooler. Then usually science, or literature, depending on the day, with the older two. Then some math stuff with the preschooler. Then finish up with the big kids, anything they need help with. Then a little reading with my preschooler. All in all my school day takes 6-7 hours, but not all the kids are doing school work the whole time, only me, lol. When they aren't doing school there are chores that I assign as well as the occasional documentary or educational game. Sometimes I spend much more time on one kid or one subject depending on struggles. That's what is nice about it.

yours sounds fine. a lot more structured than i would like, but not everyone is as messy and eclectic as i<G>. and i too did the portfolio and sample work option rather than use an umbrella. i think most umbrellas are better, i'm just cheap.
your kids sound self-motivated and supported enough to have a really productive schedule. do they like it?
rather than daily requirements, i did weekly ones and let them work through it on their time. there were occasions where they'd be rushing on saturday and saturday night to get it all done (sundays were my deadline) but not often. and as time went on, they usually chose to do what yours do, get the 'have-tos' out of the way early so their time would be freed up later.
of course, co-ops and field trips played into the scheduling too.
it sounds as if things are whirring along nicely for you. well done!
:) khairete
S.