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!