What Is Our Day Like? Our Typical Homeschooling Day

Summary: When we tell people we homeschool, one of the first questions I am asked is, "What is your day like?" The following is a typical day: I get up early, about 7:00 or 7:30 to have some quiet time, read the newspaper, and have coffee. When Aaron gets up, about 7:45 or 8:00, we all have breakfast together, Mom, Dad, and Son. The "school day" begins after we clean up the dishes and walk the dog. I don't really like to call it the "school day" because it is actually a "life da...

When we tell people we homeschool, one of the first questions I am asked is, "What is your day like?" The following is a typical day: I get up early, about 7:00 or 7:30 to have some quiet time, read the newspaper, and have coffee. When Aaron gets up, about 7:45 or 8:00, we all have breakfast together, Mom, Dad, and Son. The "school day" begins after we clean up the dishes and walk the dog. I don't really like to call it the "school day" because it is actually a "life day", how we spend our life. We spend about one hour first thing doing Bible verse and Bible. Aaron reads the verse chosen for the day and reviews the verses from the previous days. He doesn't have to say them word for word, paraphrasing is ok. Then we read from where ever we left off in the Bible. I am using the suggested weekly Bible reading schedule from What Your Child Needs to Know When by Robin Sampson. Then, he writes the Bible verse to practice his copywork. He then can draw a picture from the story, write something in his own words, or any other additional appropriate activity. If we do nothing else all day, the Bible lesson is the most important. The lesson incorporates reading, listening, penmanship, spelling, vocabulary, and sometimes even math. Did you know "a beka" is a unit of measure equal to .02 oz.? Next, we practice our logic using Building Thinking Skills Student Edition; Plus Instruction and Answer Guide - Level 3 Verbal - Two Book Set by Sandra Parks and Howard Black. This workbook is practice of critical thinking skills for reading, writing, math, and science. I did have to purchase the Instruction and Answer Guide as well as the Student Guide. We usually do one or two pages depending on the exercise. Next comes reading. We chose the Original McGuffey's Eclectic School Series. Based on Aaron's reading level, we chose The Original McGuffey's Eclectic Third Reader (Eclectic school series.) It is great. In another post, I'll go into detail about why it is so amazing. Reading is again another hour. Of course we can take a snack break in between. Math is next. We are using the Saxon Math 7/6: Homeschool Edition. Again, more detail will follow about the Saxon Math series. We use the direction in the student guide and I also incorporate flash cards, addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division, also, time and money, into the warm up. We go through the new material together, then I fix lunch while Aaron works on the Lesson Practice. We have lunch and then he can finish his work on his own, with a little help when he needs it. After lunch it is time for a walk to clear our heads and then finishing up any extra projects such as history reading, or timeline, or free reading. We are usually finished by 2:00 or 2:30. I will go into detail about the math, reading, spelling, logic, and history lessons later. Also, physical activities and field trips are included in the plan. We have great days working and playing together.