Year 15 is well under way here at the Brouse House! It’s quite monumental and it seems to have a life of it’s own as far as HB’s senior year, but we are taking it in stride. Every year is different in a family and such is so with a home school.
As a peek into this year, I’d like to give you a day in the life of our homeschool. A few aspects of our fall haven”t started, but I think this post will provide a glimpse. Tomorrow, I provide a fully different glipse. Be sure to come back!
6:42 am Paul Louis pops unto my bed bearing his A for Adam flip board book and a huge grin. He practically bounces off the wall with excitement begging me to “do school”. I am slow to move and speak and so he literally knocks on my head saying, “Hello? Is anybody home?”
6:44 am I sit up to read and discuss Genesis with my precious five year old.
6:55 am Wonder why chai latte doesn’t simply appear by my bed.
6:56 am Check Facebook and email.
7:25 am The electric kettle finally makes my acquaintance this morning.
7:35 am Wake the kiddos with Pandora set on the classical music channel. This is my attempt at waking them with loveliness. It mostly works. I hug them and tell them good morning. The first activity of their day is to read their Bible.
Paul Louis listens to an audio version, while the rest read. I walk around and supervise. I tried reading while they did, but it never worked.
7:45 am Peaches are discovered in the fridge by The Littles. Peach wars commence between the younger children, but kindness prevails.
7:50 am “Holy, Holy, Holy” fills the house as we start our day with this hymn. I have decided that we will memorize a hymn a month. After asking the children to choose, it was unanimous for our first. It is my favorite minutes of the day now. Absolutely beautiful.
We pray together after singing. Requests are varied and heart felt.
8:00 am Breakfast I try a new a new recipe of mini quiches. It is a hit with 5/6 of the kiddos.
8:30 am Meal chores and memorization binders time. Several of the children are slow at finishing chores, so they get some verbal reminders. Firm verbal reminders.
8:50 am I run to the shower (racing HB, though she isn’t aware that I’m trying to beat her to the hot water 
). Ten minutes til academics start, so I am super quick.
9:00 am Check the status of the children and remember that I heated my chai water. I finally make my cup and decide to take a quick peek at Facebook.
9:20 am Paul Louis seeks me out to ask if he can do math “now”. I realize the fatal “quick peek at Facebook mistake” and jump into school. We sit at the table for RightStart Math lessons while Esther takes her RSMath test. After his math, we do his phonics work.
9:35 am Esther has a math meltdown (for those unaware: a math meltdown is an emotional moment where the participant believes math is unable to be conquered in any way… tears are usually involved).
9:45 am I realize we need to do double school since we have company coming this evening and will be hitting the zoo tomorrow with them. Tomorrow! AND I need to do my part of the one-on-one academics by 1:30pm since I have a meeting for choir AND the house has to be ready for the company.
9:46 am I have an inner meltdown.
10:00 Enjoy a phone call chat with a friend and we pray for one another.
10:15 am Esther has another math meltdown. I don’t handle it well. Sigh. My pride often flares when the children don’t seem to know something that I know they know. Brilliant, yes?
10:17 am Writing with Ease starts with Phoebe while Esther continues working on her test. HB is doing Latin. Chloe does math on the computer. Noah also does math, but in his room. Paul Louis plays (and tries to steal my chai).
10:26 am Writing with Esther, who conquered math. She is even smiling.
10:40 am Snacktime.
10:47 am First Language Lessons with Phoebe and Esther.
11:05 am Mystery of History reading (no Story of the World reading for today, though I get it out each time because it’s a habit).
11:20 am Read aloud with Paul Louis, Esther, Phoebe and Chloe. We are reading Little Threads (and love it!).
11:58 am Cleaning tasks assigned and we start hitting the house! It is in serious need of hitting. As in an atomic bomb maybe.
12:40 pm Prep work for choir meeting while Noah makes lunch and the girls finish cleaning.
1:00 pm Apologia science (Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day) with the youngest four. They love this stuff and I learn right along with them.
1:35 pm I head out to my choir parents’ meeting, threatening death to the children if the house is not clean when I return.
All that is left for academics is spelling, Latin, and geography. The last two are done without me. Spelling… well… I’ll double up on Monday. Oh, and writing for Chloe. Again, Monday.
HB and Noah work independently. Honestly, I often don’t know what they are doing when they are doing it. I pop in to check on them in between my one on one work with the other children. They have lesson plans and are given the freedom to plan their day.
So…. today was sorta a wonky day, with the early deadline and arriving company. That’s homeschooling though. We make up for it another. Today we did enough work for two days in just one day (minus spelling and writing for one child). If we work hard and focus, we often can do that. Not always. It depends on the literature and history assignments (aka: how much the kiddos like the books + how big they are).
For a better and more thorough look into homeschooling for a large family, specifically ours, check out my ten day series A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler. Yup, ten days. That’s two weeks of homeschooling. No holds barred. Seriously. Check them out and you’ll see that I was as honest as I could be (it involves puking).
Is this day vastly different from what you thought? from your day?
So glad to know chaos is common. If 20 minutes of actual productivity in schooling occur in an hour, I rejoice!
marlita, as you work through the periods of “non-productivity”, imagine your children watching you leading, focusing, entertaining, and teaching with a calm and patient heart, full of joy to be with your children in a family environment. THAT is productive, and it will lead them as they transition from the myriad tomfooleries that engaged us as children and become more responsible, so that they will have a model for how to handle things when they don’t quite go as planed in their lives.
Of course we’re not joyful about it all the time either, and we get stressed and snappish and snotty sometimes, and our kids see that too. THAT can’t be productive can it?? Well, when they see the grace of God is stronger and better than any sin you can come up with, that God is patient to work in your life, when they see you asking forgiveness they will also have a model.
Please try to remember that EVERY second you spend with your child says to them “I want to be here with you right now” and THAT can never help but be productive in every way that truly counts.
How totally cool! YAY!!!
I you, Mindy. 🙂
Love this!
Well done! I would love to be a fly on the wall…
Thank you for this helpful post! Make homeschooling seem do-able!