A Day In the Life

Each year our school routines change, and so I like to document what a typical day looks like every so often.  Here's a look at how things are going this year (including some repeat pictures because they demonstrate well).

Mornings: The kids take every chance they get to read between morning tasks.  It's our family's form of distraction.  Ha ha!  Any number of times each day I start a sentence with, "You may not read until..."

Right now our morning routine includes (besides snatches of reading moments): Dressing/ grooming, breakfast, making beds, morning chores (dishes for Logan and Annie, and usually laundry for me), personal scripture study (me, Logan, Annie), and I try to squeeze in a workout for myself.

We often cuddle in the mornings (still) and I don't like to rush, so we generally aim to start kidschool around 10 or 10:30am.  This gives us plenty of time for our morning tasks, plus extra (for reading, right?).

This year, I've taken to writing our kidschool schedule out on a whiteboard each day.  It doesn't actually change anything we do, but it's made a surprising difference with the kids.  I can tell them what is planned, but SEEING it seems to make them believe me or something. They pretty much always want to do what is planned, but before I was writing things out they'd misbehave and we'd waste a lot of time working on being nice to each other.  Then we often didn't have time for the final activity (I generally save the best one for last).  Now they stay focused on wanting to do everything on the list, so they cooperate with each other better.

Here's our general kidschool schedule:
-Family devotional (prayer, scriptures, songs, articles of faith, pledge of allegiance)
-3-5 Learning activities (one of which is almost always read aloud time)
     *Recent Example: Math Riddles, Doctor Doolittle Read Aloud, Human Body Book, Personal Goal Time
     *Another Recent Example: Story Game (write a sentence, pass, write a sentence, pass, etc...FUN writing practice), Alex Choose a Read Aloud Story, Logan Choose a Non Fiction Read Aloud (he chose a long book about Ellis Island this last time), Annie Choose a Math Activity

Some of the regular personal goals the kids are working on are: Book It! (below Logan is showing how he read the unabridged '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' for that goal), Cub Scouts, Faith In God, and dance.  They also set shorter term goals as they determine other things they want to work on.

 I don't tend to take pictures during kidschool much, but here's an example of what Alex might choose when it's his turn to select read alouds.  He almost always has a stack of books next to him (he even sleeps with a large stack of books).

For math activities, we continue with our 5 A day reviews as needed, use manipulatives to learn new concepts (i.e. Legos for division recently), use math riddle books that take us through a variety of concepts in a fun way (and give word problem practice), play math games, and hash out concepts as needed (rare because we can usually learn each concept by manipulation or through a game).  Annie and Logan are working at about the same level this year, but they both have their strengths in this area.  Alex is gaining confidence with counting and continues to show us that he understands numbers (even if he forgets their names and orders...ha ha!).  He joins us for activities that include concepts such as multiplication and division, and continually shows that he understands HOW it works.  In this picture, he is playing with a 'Perplexus' that Logan received for Christmas; he LOVES this toy and we've discovered that it is a fantastic way to practice counting.  Each obstacle has a number all the way through 125, so we count as he goes through.

This picture is hilarious, so I've included it.  Annie sometimes practices her tap and ballet dances during 'Personal Goal Time'.  This day she tied toilet paper on her ankles in order to practice with 'tap bows'.  Ha ha!

We study science, history, and social sciences largely through our read alouds and discussions, but we sometimes find ways of making these areas more hands on.  We gave the kids a 'Human Body Book' for Christmas that included the pieces to create a human model.  The kids couldn't agree if our model should be male or female so they chose a name that could be either.  Behold Aaron/ Erin!

We also include fine motor/ exploration activities such as painting, drawing, other art, puzzles, cooking, and logic games during our week. 

 After kidschool we generally clean up and then have free time (during which Abby naps and the others read, play, or pursue other interests) until dinner.  After dinner, we have family time as many evenings as possible.

I asked the kids to pose for this picture to show that they'd done a fine job with their cleaning (after the house had been DESTROYED), and much to my surprise Abby joined in.

This is the BEST picture I have of my four kids; Abby always resists!

Family Reading Culture

One of my FAVORITE things about homeschooling is our family's reading culture.  It's something we've nurtured intentionally, and it never gets old.  These kids read ALL THE TIME, and I can't get enough.  Every morning I come downstairs to see them reading while they wait for breakfast, and it just makes my heart happy.  As they read throughout the day, I continue to rejoice.  It is wonderful on so many levels.

They learn so much from everything they read.  I'm a firm believer in letting them read at all levels from quality books.  We seek to have quality books of all levels in our home.  There is something to be gained from a great book no matter what age it's aimed at.  There are story books that speak strongly to me, as well as heavy adult literature (War and Peace for example), and everything in between.  I think it's about what is gained.  A quote attributed to Mortimer Adler says, "In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you."  That's exactly how I feel.

Recently, I decided to take pictures of their many reading positions in just one morning.  I love how this (unintentionally) shows the many levels of reading they experience on a regular basis.  It's also a VERY typical morning around here.

Story books.

Logan moved onto a history book maybe?

Next I found him getting warm (the vent blows from under that cabinet) while reading '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'.

Annie moved onto something longer (Mrs. Piggle Wiggle maybe?).

After breakfast, Abby joined her sister.

Alex grabbed his own stack of books while waiting for Annie and Logan to finally eat breakfast and complete their morning work.

Logan decided to get dressed and then eat while continuing his book from before.  (I often have to tell the kids to take their books off of the table so we can finish meals.)

After he finished his morning work, he moved onto a science book while waiting for kidschool to start.

Abby also continued to look at books while waiting for everyone.

This is from another day, but I include it because it shows another aspect of our reading culture.  They see reading as a fun activity to do together.  Although they have very individual personalities and enjoy very different types of books, they still love to read together.  Annie especially loves to read story books out loud to Alex; they sit together with a stack of books almost every afternoon.

School Fun

January was WONDERFUL!  After a month of viruses, pregnancy issues (normal ones), car craziness (see our family blog), and holidays it felt SO good to have school as normal.  I was an especially wonderful momma because I included several messy activities during the month, including at least FOUR paint days (we're usually doing pretty good if we have TWO for the WHOLE year) one of which used permanent ACRYLIC paint.  Oh yeah!  Here are some of our more fun/ artsy activities from last month.

Abby has loved being included with her own activities.

Annie painted some sun catchers.

Alex made a birdhouse.

Everyone moved onto watercolor at some point the same day.

Abby loves to color.

 Logan made a goal to read the unabridged version of '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' this month.  It was a good challenge for him, but he did it!

 Abby posed for a picture because she always wants to be included.

 Alex painted his birdhouse on another day, and apparently I failed to take a finished picture.

More suncatcher art.

Logan did some experiments with a rock kit.

Aquadoodle on another day.

Mid-January I found a gingerbread man kit at the store for $1.  Gingerbread decorating/ building is one of my favorite Christmas activities, and one that we missed out on this year.  So I bought the kit and we decorated gingerbread men during school one day.

Abby just wanted to eat the one she and I made.

Another fun activity was building a human body model while learning about our bodies.  Meet Aaron/Erin whose gender changes based on which child you talk to.