This is "A Day in the Life” Week at the Not Back to School Blog Hop.
I should preface this by saying this is not a normal day in the life…but it is one of those days where the flexibility that homeschooling provides is such a blessing.
2:00 am Monday morning ~ ds8 is up with a hurting belly…he says he doesn’t feel like he needs to get sick, we had spent a couple of hours with friends at a park on Sunday evening and the kiddos {especially ds8} spent lots of time hanging from the monkey bars and bouncing on the seesaw, so I figure it’s probably a pulled muscle. He is very uncomfortable so dh and ds8 head downstairs and put an Andy Griffith DVD on to distract ds8 from the pain. I eventually hear ds8 laughing, and later all is quiet…they’re both asleep, so I can finally fall back to sleep.
7:00am ~ I wake up and sneak downstairs to check on dh and ds8…they are both still asleep, so I head back upstairs and read for a bit…hoping the house remains quiet for a bit longer…
7:30am ~ Everyone is still asleep, so I clean the upstairs bathrooms…I’d really like to climb back in bed and read some more, but I know I should really do something a bit more productive :)
8:00am ~ I hear dh’s voice downstairs so I figure it is safe to head down…all the kiddos are awake by now, and thankfully ds8 is feeling much better :). Dh usually works from home for a little while on Monday mornings…so he heads into our home office to get started. I work on some morning chores {empty the dishwasher, start a load of laundry} and then, since the kiddos are all playing happily {and not complaining about starving}, I head upstairs for a quick shower.
8:30am ~ I am clean :)…and it’s time to get breakfast on the table ~ this morning it is leftover baked oatmeal for dd6 and dh, toast for ds3, ds8, and me…and yogurt all around. During breakfast I also read from our Keys for Kids Devotional…I notice that today’s devotional is part 3 of 3 {we don’t usually read it on Saturday and Sunday} so I read all three parts while the kiddos finish up their breakfast. We all do our clean-up chores and morning jobs {dressed, make beds, brush teeth}.
9:30am ~ Time for Word World ~ ds3’s favorite show…all three kiddos end up watching it in the living room and while they are happily occupied I sneak in some computer time.
10:00am ~ Dh leaves for work, ds8 and dd6 follow him outside so they can holler and wave while he drives off :). I switch the laundry, finish up on the computer and make sure all systems are go for school today.
10:30 ~ Calendar time ~ ds3 adds new numbers to our pocket chart calendar and chooses our weather card; ds8 writes the number of days of school, temperatures, and date information to our morning board; and dd6 makes the date with coins. We sing the weather song, say the pledge, and I give the kiddos a “talking to” about being respectful while we say the pledge…
11:00am ~ Circle time ~ we talk about this week’s family way {responsibility}, practice one of our songs for this term {America the Beautiful}, listen to and sing our Bible Verse song from Seeds of Praise CD {Amen}. I also read a chapter from Catching Their Talk in a Box, and the poem “Hello and Good-by” from The Llama Who Had No Pajama {Sonlight Core K}.
11:30am ~ Ds8 comes out with me while I hang out laundry {it’s an unusually mild day here today}…ds3 and dd6 decide they would rather play inside with with some math manipulatives. My mom calls while I am outside…we make plans for our trip to a Beth Moore conference this weekend {her birthday present to me}. Ds8 goes to get the mail, younger kiddos still playing happily…so I start another load of laundry.
12:00pm ~ Bellies are starting to grumble so I get started on lunch prep {cheese quesadillas, apples, peaches}, while lunch is in the oven I check email. The kiddos are playing candy store with the math manipulatives.
12:30pm ~ lunchtime
1:00pm ~ I work on wrapping a bunch of PBSwap books that I need to mail today…the kiddos work on their lunch clean-up jobs and play candy store for a while longer.
1:30pm ~ We head to the post office to mail PBSwap packages, and then stop by a local orchard for more peaches and apples.
2:15pm ~ We’re back! Time for math for ds8 and dd6…because of our late start {due to ds8’s late night} we only did Calendar Time and Circle Time this morning {we usually do math, spelling, and reading also}. I decide to not worry about spelling and reading today…ds3 plays a computer game while the older kiddos do math at the kitchen table with me.
2:45pm ~ The kiddos take turns playing computer games {they each get 1/2 hour} while I head to the office to type up this post :)
4:00pm ~ Time to prep dinner…we’re having chili tonight and it needs to simmer for a while so I’d better get started :)…once I get the ground beef in the pan I notice that the sky is getting a bit dark so I run outside to get the laundry off of the line before my dry clothes get all wet :0
4:30pm ~ Kiddos computer time is over…I put an audio book in the cd player for us to listen to while we all do afternoon chores {I peel apples for dinner, the older kiddos sort and fold laundry, ds3 plays happily}.
5:30pm ~ Dinner is cooking, chores are finished…so I read aloud to the kiddos from our science book {Exploring Creation with Astronomy}.
6:00pm ~ Daddy’s home! We sit down to eat dinner…our very fall-like dinner {chili and baked apples} matches the weather outside {drizzly and cool} :)
6:45 ~ Daddy reads to the kiddos from one of our devotional books while I begin dinner clean-up…after the reading, the older kiddos do their clean-up jobs.
7:00pm ~ We play a family game of charades {Daddy is full of fun family things for us to do :)}
7:30pm ~ Daddy gives the kiddos baths while I vacuum the downstairs and deliver the folded laundry to the proper rooms.
8:00pm ~ Both dh and I say prayers with the kiddos.
8:30pm ~ Kiddos are in bed…I settle down with my laptop to finish this post.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this is not a normal school day for us…actually no day is the same around here, and very few days end up the way I planned, but I digress :)…anyway, ds8’s late night belly pain made for a later morning start than usual. I am so thankful that we are able to change up our plans when we need to…we did science at 5:30pm, and that’s ok…we skipped reading and spelling today, and that’s ok too :)
There’s lots more “A Day in the Life” posts over at the Not Back to School Blog Hop this week…be sure to check them out!
