Monday, January 29, 2007

A day in the life

There are other much more experienced homeschool moms out there who have been blogging the daily details of their homeschooling life. I enjoy their posts for the insight they provide as to how the homeschooling family functions. It is inspiring and encouraging. Namely, I have enjoyed Faithful Over Little Things, Bonny Glen Up Close, and sometimes Cay Gibson will post her days at her site.

Even though I am only doing Kindergarten and my experience is limited at best I thought I would occasionally (VERY occasionally) post about our day in a similar way.

So here is today - the beginning of week 20 of homeschooling in this home.

* I got up at 6:30 (notice how my time has slipped later) and had prayer and coffee for 30 minutes or so.
* everyone got ready upstairs - change clothes, make beds, brush teeth
* had breakfast at 8am. Read our daily Bible and a page from our saint book and practiced our new memory verse for the week.
* started a load of towels while the kids finished eating
* cleaned up from breakfast
* While I tidied up, Jacob did 3 pages in Explode the Code (phonics) and Nicole practiced her ABCs in a write-on/wipe-off book.
*Nicole alternates between playing, "reading," and ABCs while Andrew plays
* On his own Jacob completes a handwriting page, copies 2 verses of the Litany we have been working on, and practices his poetry memorization.
* With me, Jacob reviews letter sounds, especially those phonograms that make the long a sound. We also complete a math page with some explanations, a map skills page, and some addition drills. Then we do a really neat little Mass worksheet (we have been doing these weekly together and it has been fun to see how well WE listen and remember).
* Jacob reads and colors while I work with Nicole on a computer learning game
* 30 minutes read aloud time: Bible story for Jacob to narrate, history story book, The Mitten, and Curious George Goes to the Hospital.
* Nicole continues "reading" while Jacob and I do science discussion about measuring temperature. Recorded inside and outside temperatures. Then we made a pretend thermometer with tag board and ribbon.
* I vacuumed downstairs and mopped the kitchen.
* then we made and ate lunch.
* played outside for 45 minutes and I snuck in a phone call to a friend
* went inside to watch a Signing Time DVD and I finished my grocery list
* switched a load of laundry to dryer
* put Andrew down for nap
* played one round of BINGO with Jacob and Nicole
* quick clean-up in den
* Jacob, Nicole and Mom down for reading and rest time (I actually slept a little - yeah!)
* Brian came home to take Jacob to horseback riding (Nicole and Andrew went along) and I went to the store for my weekly grocery trip.
* pulled back in driveway at the exact same moment as the others
* everyone helped unload groceries and get things ready for left over spaghetti dinner.
* I rested on the sofa while Brian cleaned the kitchen and the kids played. Wrote a few thank you notes
* blogged a few minutes
* supervised cleanup
* got everyone ready for bed and read a chapter of My Father's Dragon
* before I turn in: prepare supplies for science lesson (done), blog (almost done), type an email (done), and fold towels (I hope).

Good night!!!!!

4 comments:

Michelle said...

Wow. You have lots more energy than I do.

Melissa said...

Celeste, I am always SO HAPPY when you post these updates! I hope you'll continue to do so...even with your "limited" experience, you have WAY more experience than I do and it is SO encouraging to see how a family so similar in circumstance to my own actually "does" homeschooling.

As fall looms large in the not-so-distant future, I worry much more often now about the little things. How do I start? What do I DO? And I really need to start figuring out ways to include Caitlyn more, I think. I love that you are working with Nicole, too. The thing I need to remember is that if and when we DO decide to homeschool, it will be an ENTIRE family lifestyle for us. I think I've been getting too (unintentionally) narrowly focused on teaching Dylan. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed, and we aren't even "official" yet!

Posts like these really help me see the big picture. I know that this really is something we can do, and your day is a PERFECT example of the "how-to", so to speak. So again, I thank you!

Hope you have a wonderful day today! :)

Mom of boys said...

Thank you Celeste! I am always wondering how you fit so much into your day! I notice how you alternate your chores with playing with the kids, and I appreciate seeing how you work that - you are such a great organizer! You could defintely turn it into a career someday if you ever wanted to (or you could write a book about it!).

Kristen Laurence said...

Amazing. I might accomplish a quarter of your list on a good day!