Our Routine

Pin It

When it comes to our daily routine I have learned that, for our family, we thrive more on the routine aspect rather than specific times of day.  Life happens when you homeschool.  Math cannot always start at 9:30 like you’d like it to. Flexibility is important because you just never know when a play date or field trip will present itself!  

My alarm is set for 7 AM during the school week. I, however, am a snooze button hitter. C.J. is not.  My snooze button hitting annoys him. His alarm is set for 7:20, which is when we both decide to crawl out of bed to get Samuel ready for school. The girls usually hear the commotion and wake up shortly after.  Guess how many morning people we have in our household? ZERO. So, even though we get off to a slow start, we (usually) are ready to pick up the pace after breakfast.

C.J. takes Samuel to school while the girls finish getting ready and doing their chores. 

At 9AM school starts at home. We use and love the workbox system!

Our school day starts with the Pledge of Allegiance, calendar time, Bible, and History/Geography.  I am noticing that this seems to be Sarah’s favorite time for learning. She retells everything she learns during History to Samuel, so at least I know the information is being retained! After we’re done with these subjects, the girls take a snack break.

Next we have a big block of Language Arts and read alouds, followed by lunch sometime between 12:30 and 1PM. If we get done with LA early, and we almost always do, they’ll play outside until we’re ready to eat.

Starting in September, we’ll have co-op on Tuesdays and Fridays, so the morning routine will be rearranged a little on those days. 

C.J. makes lunch unless he has to go into work early. I use this time to do laundry. 

After lunch, we finish up the school day with Math and our special subject (Science, Heath, Art/Craft, or Computer). Sarah and Madelyn are then free to play until we have to pick up Samuel from school.  Sometimes I’ll have them sit and read together. It all depends on whether or not we have time to pick up a toy mess before getting Samuel. 

Once Samuel is home we have our afternoon snack. At 4PM he is supposed to start his homework. This is usually a huge battle that I don’t look forward to. When homework is FINALLY done and checked, I race to get dinner on the table, everyone fed, and the kitchen cleaned up before heading to soccer practice 3 evenings a week. When Samuel IS cooperative about doing homework, he has time to go outside with Sarah and Madelyn and play with neighborhood friends for a little while. The days we don’t have soccer are much less stressful. AWANA starts in September, so that will only leave our Friday evenings free for a little while.  I would much rather raise active children than couch potatoes any day!

Soccer is the last activity of the day before our bedtime routine. We have one final clean up time, snack, bath, teeth brushed, reading, and prayer time. I like to start these things at 7:30, with the intention of having everyone fast asleep by 8:30-9PM. After 9, I do my evening chores and plan for the next day. 

While this routine works wonderfully for us, I do wish I was a morning person instead of a night owl. It's 2AM and I'm wide awake! That 7AM snooze button will be here way too soon! :)