I often get asked what a typical school day looks like for our family as relaxed homeschoolers, but since our days are so varied, no single day would give an accurate picture of what learning really looks like in our household. Instead I decided sharing about an entire week would be better.
Before I get started sharing about our week, here's a little background information about my family:
I have 3 girls. My oldest is 11 and on social media I call her L. My middle kiddo is 5 and we call her Red. My youngest is 3 and we call her Birdy. We don't have a strict wake up or bedtime schedule. We all go to sleep when we feel tired and wake up when we are ready. Typically, though, all three of my kids are usually in bed asleep by about 9pm. L and Birdy usually wake up around the same time as I do, about 7am. Red is my little sleeping beauty, and doesn't usually get up until at least 8, sometimes 9.
Most of our learning tends to be student and interest led. Some days my kids wake up bubbling with questions to explore and ideas to try, on those days we just jump in and see where the day takes us. Other days we do more formal type lessons that I put together based on topics the kids have recently been interested in or skills that they need to master.
Monday
After the usual morning stuff like breakfast and getting dressed for the day, I read a chapter from our current family read aloud- The Last Battle from the Narnia series. Then L did some free choice reading while I read a couple story books to the younger girls. That day's picks were The Very Busy Spider and a couple Fancy Nancy books.
Next L worked on a multiplication worksheet. She had been learning long division recently and decided that she wanted to go back a nail down her multiplication facts better, so we're working on that for a bit. Then we all watched a short geography video about Mexico (the country we're currently studying) and colored Mexico in our world geography coloring books.
We spent the afternoon in the backyard prepping our garden for spring and playing.
Tuesday
After breakfast and getting ready for the day I read a chapter from The Last Battle. Then L did some free choice reading and a quick multiplication worksheet, while my preschoolers made soup in their play kitchen.
After an early lunch we went outside to work on our phenology wheels and play with the watercolor paints. Then the younger girls played in the sandbox and L did some bird watching from the tree house.
Wednesday
Wednesday was March 2nd- Dr. Seuss's birthday so the girls each picked their favorite Dr. Seuss book to read. I read the two that Red and Birdy picked, The Eye Book and Fox in Sox. L read hers, The Lorax, aloud to her sisters.
Then L used my laptop to write a story Called If I Owned the Mall, inspired by Dr. Seuss's If I Ran the Zoo. She typed up 10 pages then printed and illustrated each one!
After lunch L practiced the piano and then watched a little TV. My younger girls played with playdough and then outside in the sandbox.
Thursday
Shortly after I woke up on Thursday, I got word that our favorite bald eagle pair had an egg that had started hatching so we spent most of the morning watching their live nest cam. I pulled out our digital microscope and helped L and Red look at an eggshell up close. L and I read about the bald eagle hatching process. Red and I talked about the lifecycle of a bird.
After lunch Red and I worked on a bird craft. We made hummingbird suncatchers out of parchment paper and little pieces of colored tissue paper to hang in our living room window. While we worked on our craft L watched some YouTube videos about bird development and the egg hatching process.
L spent the afternoon baking and frosting cupcakes. Red and Birdy split their time between playing in the backyard and watching cartoons in the living room.
Friday
Friday morning we got up and got ready for the day and then headed across town for a meetup with our forest school group. We spent 9:30- 11:30am exploring in the woods in our favorite park with our group. We found some cool rocks and spotted some raccoon prints by the creek.
After forest school my kids and a couple friends hung out on the playground for another hour, then we headed home for lunch.
The afternoon was mostly spent coloring and drawing and checking in on the bald eagle hatchling. L spent a few minutes practicing the piano and did a little reading.
Saturday
Saturday morning was mostly spent cleaning the house and checking in on the bald eagle chick. After lunch we headed out to our favorite beach on the river to do some nature exploration and let the dogs burn some energy. The kids poked around the beach, built sand castles, and splashed in the water a bit. We found a couple crawdads and a tiny frog, and spotted a hawk and a mallard. We got home in time to make dinner, watch a little TV, and head to bed.
Sunday
Sunday morning we got ready and headed to the grocery store to pick up food for the week. We came home, put everything away, and had lunch.
We checked in on the bald eagle cam and got to watch a feed! Then we watched an episode of a wildlife docuseries on Netflix called Tiny Creatures. After that the girls hung out in the backyard for a little while. L looked through her new fossil book in a lawn chair while Red and Birdy played with some water and sand in their water table.
After dinner that evening I played ABC Memory and ABC Go Fish with the little girls (Memory and Go Fish with alphabet matching cards instead of playing cards). L practiced the piano for a little bit. Then we watched a little TV and got ready for bed.
If you enjoyed this post check out:
-Don't Overthink Homeschool Philosophies
Follow me on:
Comments
Post a Comment