Our Daily Schedule Fall 2020

 I feel like we're in a pretty good daily rhythm right now; not every day goes perfectly of course, but overall our systems and routines are working well for us.  

I started our school schedule out a little differently, but it sort of naturally evolved into what it is, and it's working, so we're going with it!

Since Seth got a new job this summer and now works from home, we can sleep in a bit and my alarm goes off at 5:30.  I prefer to get up before the kids and have a few minutes of quiet.  The kids can get up at 6, although some sleep in a bit.  They get to play for a while, and I use this time to read, get started on chores, and shower/dress.  

At 7:30 our job alarm goes off, and the kids clean up and do their daily jobs, which include getting themselves ready, cleaning around the house, folding laundry, and putting dishes away.  Breakfast is next, and afterwards they help get the kitchen cleaned up to start school.

Our "normal" school days are Tuesdays through Thursdays, and we have Mondays set aside for "extra" things that we don't have time for on the other days.  The kids still do their quiet reading, but then we do some baking, and the kids help me make bread and snacks for the week.  Benjamin and Joanna now have several things they can make on their own, while Ezra and Toby usually help someone else.  By doing this on Mondays, I often don't have to do a lot of other baking during the week, which is very helpful.  We often write letters to people on Mondays, as well, and this is also our day to do our science lesson and experiment.  

 

Then, we have Tuesday to Thursday to focus on our daily lessons and tasks:

Their first task is quiet reading from the Bible and an assigned book.  If they have extra time they can read something of their own choice.  Then they start their independent book work, or "table work", including math, grammar, spelling, and writing.  Sometime in here I sit down with the younger boys and do a short morning time, reading a book, a Bible story, and practicing the letter we are currently learning.  Their table work is practicing writing the letter or a craft.

Benjamin and Joanna are both doing Saxon Math, and Ezra and Toby are doing Abeka arithmetic.  The three older kids all use G.U.M. Drops for grammar.  We keep it short and sweet, and they just do one page a day.  We all really like this curriculum.  For spelling, we use the Natural Speller, and on Tuesdays I give them all a list of words for the week.  Wednesdays they write a few sentences using some of the words, Thursdays they look up and write out two definitions, and Fridays they practice any words they misspelled the first time.  For writing this year, we are using The Write Stuff Adventure, which gives a different writing assignment for each day.  It has been working well for us so far! Benjamin is also working through a geography workbook, partly to learn more about maps, and partly just to fill time since he usually gets through his work quickly!

Since Toby is only in second grade and still learning to read, his only table work is math and Explode the Code, which we have found helpful in reinforcing phonics.  He practices reading with me, and then writes a few of the words he read.  He still needs a lot of help with his work, since he's not reading independently, but the three older kids need very little assistance.  I try to correct their work each day before we move on.

After table time, we do "morning time".  This has had different iterations over the years, but this year this time includes reading a devotional, a poem, learning about a character trait, and prayer.  We are using charcter lessons from "Kids of Integrity", which is put together by Focus on the Family Canada.  We've been enjoying them more than our previous character study.  Simon and Linus aren't required to be a part of this, but they often choose to.  

After this we do history, and this year we are on Story of the World book 3.  I've chosen to go at a slower pace this year so we have time for some of the projects as well.  One day we listen to a chapter and color the picture, and the next day we do a project for that chapter.  Last year with a smaller baby, we just listened to a chapter every day, but this year I have a little more energy to devote to it!  :)

The last thing on our school schedule is an activity from our "extra" list, which this year includes drawing, nature study, Life of Fred, and occasionally a game or movie.  I just choose one of those things to do, depending on time.  This year we have nature journals that I printed off the internet, and they're working great.  I've always wanted to do nature journals, so I'm glad we've found a way to fit them in this year!

We recently took a little field trip
for a "nature scavenger hunt".

We usually start school around 9 and finish between 11:30 and 12.  When we finish our work, the kids go outside to play while I relish the quiet and make lunch! ;)  While the kids eat lunch, I read aloud from a book (right now, Baby Island).  This fall I started having the three older kids do the kitchen clean up after lunch, and everyone else heads to rest time (the big kids join in when they're done).  They get to read or draw during rest time.  When that's over we have a snack, followed by play time.  They usually get 2-3 hours to play in the afternoon.  We clean up for the day around 5 or 5:30, eat dinner at 6 or so, then get ready for bed.  We try to read some stories before prayers and bedtime.  The younger kids go to bed between 7 and 7:30, and the older kids usually get a few extra minutes to read before going to bed around 8.  Seth and I clean up the kitchen, start laundry for the next day, then watch a movie or read before we go bed.  

And that's our day! :) 

San Francisco

 I said I wasn't planning on doing catch up posts, but I think I need to, just for my whole idea of having somewhere to record this stuff! :)

Last spring, in the beginning of May 2019, Seth and I took a little trip to San Francisco.  It was our first-ever overnight trip without kids since we became parents, so it was kind of a big deal! :)  

We flew down, stayed two nights in a cute old hotel, and got to do all the fun touristy stuff!  It was so fun and memorable! 

Growing

 This spot has not been on my priority list the last few years, and that was okay with me.  But we've had some difficulties with uploading and saving our pictures recently, and we lost almost a whole year of pictures when a phone died.  And I remembered what a great record this was of our family and our daily life, and I decided I wanted to try to do it again.

I'm not really going to go back and catch up on the last couple years because I don't have time for that, but I did want to at least show how our family has grown.  

Last summer, on July 21, 2019, we welcomed our second girl into the family: Moriah Jane

She has brought so much joy and laughter into our house and she has everyone wrapped around her little finger!

She is now 14 months old and just a sweet, happy girl who wants to do everything her big siblings are doing!

And speaking of her big siblings, they've been doing their own growing, and five are now being homeschooled; in 6th, 5th, 4th, and 2nd grades, plus a kindergartener (and a preschooler who often tags along!).

Then there's baby #8, who we are excitedly awaiting to arrive in the spring!  :)

Lots happening here, and I'm hopeful that I can occasionally share it!

Recent Reads

Since I love to read, and usually get through a large amount of books each year, I thought it would be fun to make a list of some of my favorites from the past few months.  I read a variety of self-help, memoir, fiction, and YA.  Most of these are books I read myself, but a few are new-to-me books I enjoyed with the kids.

The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher

The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin (Her Podcast is awesome, too!)

 This is Where You Belong by Melody Warnick

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Burbaker Bradley

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen (Linus LOVED this one!)

Where The Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (Read-aloud with the kids!  Every day they'd beg me to read just a little bit more!)

Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki

Right now...

We've had some wonderful sunshine in the last few weeks, so we've been spending lots of time outside!
I've been doing lots of yard work, fixing up our garden beds, preparing to turn part of our driveway into sort of a patio area, and planting lots more raspberry plants.  The kids love to eat raspberries right off the plant, and they've done well in our yard, so I'm planting lots more!  I dug up the grass along the fence to make beds for them.

One if my favorite things about little boys, is that they've all gone through the "bug phase".  Simon and Linus are there now, and they have been glued to my side as I've been working in the yard.  Every move of my shovel seems to reveal a worm or bug, and the little boys have been in heaven!  It's so cute and fun!

Just for fun, a couple of weeks ago, we went yurt camping for a night.  It was by the beach, and we were blessed with beautiful weather.  Though short, it was a lovely little mini-vacation!

I revamped my meal planning at the beginning of the year, and my plan is still going strong, which means it's working!  I'm not sure why it's working, since I've tried coming up with plans before and failed, but I'm just going with it!  :)  Sunday is soup night, Monday is pasta, then there's Taco Tuesday. Since the kids eat dinner at AWANA on Wednesday, Seth, the little boys, and I usually make something fun like pizza.  We usually make Asian or Mexican on Thursday, Friday we have Tortilla soup, then Saturday is open for other family favorites, casseroles, etc.  This schedule has made planning meals easy, grocery shopping easy, and has even helped me reign in my grocery budget, which has been amazing!

Our school year is still going well.  I'm still happy with our curriculum choices, though I feel like some of our "fun" things have gone a bit by the wayside, so I want to get back to some of those things.  Right now my plan for summer is to have the kids do just a bit of schoolwork each day, maybe math and grammar, or some history or world studies like we did last summer.  I think that doing this will help us keep up a bit of the schedule that helps our day go so much more smoothly.  We'll see if this sticks, or if we get lazy! ;)

Simon is Three!

This boy.....

He is loud, crazy, imaginative, sweet, fiesty, busy, independent, loving, and helpful.  He is someone people notice and remember. And now he's three!

He LOVES Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, so we used that as the theme for his family party.  The big kids helped me put everything together, and it turned out great!

Happy birthday, Simon!  We love you!

Our Current Homeschool Routine

This is our fourth year homeschooling, and I think we're finally figuring out what works for our family, because it's been our best year yet.

With Benjamin in 3rd grade, Joanna in 2nd, Ezra in 1st, and 3 preschoolers/toddlers, here's what our days look like right now:

Early morning:
The kids are up at 6:00, and they have a little over an hour to play before our clean up/chore alarm goes off between 7:15 and 7:30.  They clean up their toys, get dressed, and do their dishes or laundry jobs.  The older kids have taken over about 2/3 of the laundry jobs, which has been amazing!!
We have breakfast, then all the kids have "book time" (reading or looking at books of their choice), while I finish cleaning up the kitchen and getting ready for the day.
On a good day, I like to read a few picture books to the younger boys, then do "morning time" with the older kids.  Morning time includes "Bedtime Math", working through "Our 24 Family Ways" devotional book, and reading a poem.  If we're running behind, we'll skip this and go straight to the next part of our morning.

Next up is our table work.  The three older kids all have a few activities that they complete at the table, while I rotate working individually with them for 10-15 minutes.  I'm currently teaching Ezra to read, by working through Alphaphonics.  He practices writing letters, then is free to draw or look at a book for the rest of table time.  In our one on one time, both Benjamin and Joanna read aloud to me, just to work on comprehension, pronunciation, and reading slowly (paying attention and not skipping words!).

For the rest of his table work, Benjamin does a couple of pages in Abeka's Arithmetic 2, does a page of handwriting practice, either from a workbook, or by writing out a Bible verse.  He also completes a couple of pages of grammar from "Daily Guided Teaching and Review for 2nd & 3rd Grades", from the Easy Grammar curriculum.  This has been a great basic grammar book to start with, but I'm soon going to be switching him to "Learning Language Arts Through Literature", which is a bit more comprehensive and includes spelling, grammar, reading comprehension, penmanship and cursive writing, and thinking skills.  I'm planning on doing this with him during our one on one time instead of having him read to me.
Joanna's table work includes doing two pages of Arithmetic 1, a handwriting page (she just finished a cursive writing practice book, per her request), and a page from a basic grammar book.  Once she's finished with that book, she'll be moving on to the Easy Grammar book Ben has been doing.
It usually takes about an hour for us to complete these tasks.

I finish up our school time by reading aloud a chapter from a Life of Fred book, and a section from our history book.  We're doing American History this year, using "A Living History of Our World: America's Story", a Charlotte Mason style history book. I simply read a section, and if applicable, the kids will add an illustration to the timeline we're making.

Then, the kids clean up the table and spend a few minutes outside while I make lunch.  I usually read a chapter from our current read-aloud (Farmer Boy, right now) while the kids eat. Then, we spend about two hours at "rest time", which means everyone goes to a separate space and does quiet activities (usually reading, drawing, or Legos).  The rest of our afternoon is free time before the craziness of clean up/dinner/bedtime routines begin!

This is our "typical" school schedule, but it only actually happens 3-4 days per week.  We take most of Wednesdays off, since Seth is home, every other Friday we have a co-op with friends, and I have put Tuesdays aside as "fun" days.  Tuesday is our day to do extra things I can't get to on normal days; art, games, sometimes oral spelling or creative writing.  We do our normal school day on Saturday, since Seth is at work anyway.

Also, this is what happens on good days! ;) We have plenty of bad days too!  The younger boys typically play together or watch a movie during school, but if one of them is especially cranky, I might need to do more with them and skip some of our school stuff.  We also deal with our share of complaining and bad attitudes!  Just today, one kid got in trouble for having a bad attitude, and one of the kids write this note:

Everything is a work in progress!  But finding curriculum that I like and works for us, and having a dedicated school time where that is my sole focus has completely changed our days and what we are able to accomplish!