Our daily schedule

I have been beating myself up for a while now about the schedule we have in our home school.  I get up early.  It is my time alone to pray, bible study, use the computer or whatever.  I like it this way but I always feel quilty that everyone isn't up and ready for "school time" at 8 a.m.  My house is filled with a bunch of night owls-right down to the youngest one.  He can stay up with the best of them.  I am usually ready for sleep by 10 or so but they keep going like the energizer bunny.  So, needless to say, they sleep late in the mornings.  If they don't, well, we won't go there. 

I am usually done with my morning bible/prayer time and computer time by 8:30.  Then I start my next routine.  First I empty the dishwasher.  Then I check my menu and lay out anything I need from the freezer or possibly fill the crockpot. Next I check my calendar to see if there are phone calls I need to make, bills to pay, etc.  I get the kids school notebooks out and mark the attendance sheets and have their schedules ready.  Over the weekend, I have hopefully made the schedule out for the week listing what they need to do each day in each subject.  After they finish an assignment, they check it off with a highlighter. 

By this time B-man is usually up and ready to watch a video.  He plays in the floor while watching a video and eating his breakfast.  I head to the shower.  If I don't have to wash my hair (which takes for-e-va to dry and straighten), I am ready in about 30 minutes or less.  If it is hair washing day, give me an hour and 15 minutes at least.  Usually after I get out of the shower I go ahead and wake the big kids so they can get their showers and eat breakfast.  I let the little princess sleep until she wakes up. 

By the time the big kids have showered, dressed, eaten breakfast, and made their beds, the little princess has gotten up and had her breakfast.  The next item on the morning agenda is table time.  Benji usually plays, draws, or goes outside on the patio (which I can see from the table) and plays while we do table time.  During our table time, we do bible study.  The big kids are doing a fruit of the spirit study I found here.  The little princess studies her Awana book.  After bible study, we all do an activity that I print from Enchanted Learning's activity calendars.  These are mostly for the elementary ages but I use it for everyone since it is always good to review.  The activites are short and sweet and give a time to do something all together.  Table time takes about 30 minutes.  Then I prepare lunch while the big kids start on their other subjects.  After lunch, I work with the little princess and help the big kids as needed. 

Since little princess is in K5, I don't spend over an hour a day with her.  But we don't do all of her stuff at one sitting.  She needs frequent breaks.  It takes the big kids anywhere from 3 hours to 5 hours to complete their lessons.

After lessons are complete, I do chores, clean the kitchen, and finish supper.  That is a pretty typical day at our house.  We school mostly in the afternoon.  Sometimes my oldest will need to work on things after supper but not often.  He and big girl do their reading before they go to sleep at night.  So ends a typical non-typical day at our house.