We are completing our 5th week this week and we’ve fallen into a good routine. This routine will change throughout our year because the needs of my children will change, but this is how our school days go for now!

Morning {8:00-12:00}

Morning Routine/Chores/Breakfast

My alarm goes off at 7:15am and I am out of bed by 7:30am so I can get dressed and ready for the day. I make Sarge a bottle and get him up at 7:45am. The girls are sharing a room now (sleeping in bunk beds) and their clock light turns on at 7:40am. The night before they have laid out their clothes. When their light turns on signaling to them that is time to get up, they get dressed and then play together in their bedroom until I come to get them around 8am.

While I fix breakfast for everyone, Little Bug empties the silverware and kid plates and cups from the dishwasher. Before they sit down to eat breakfast, hair is brushed and essential oils are applied. While we eat breakfast I turn on the Classical Conversations Timeline Song. After breakfast, the girls clear their plates/bowls from the table and brush their teeth.

Sibling Playtime

While I clean up breakfast and do a chore, the children all play together.

CC Memory Work & Bible ~ 30 minutes

Around 9am, we start our Morning School. Sarge goes to Independent Playtime in a pack n play that is set up in the master bedroom. I set the timer for 20 minutes and come back when the timer goes off. The girls and I begin our CC Memory Work review. We are only one week into CC but this one week of review has gone really well. I took a video of all the Memory work songs, chants and hand motions while in class with Sweet Pea and then Dave organized all the videos I took into a 6-minute play list. The girls begin their review by watching these videos several times! Then we review the Geography by looking at a map. After Memory Work review we read a Bible story from 101 Favorites Stories from the Bible.

Handwriting ~ 10 minutes

By this time it’s around 9:30am and time for Sarge to take his morning nap. The night before I lay out handwriting for both girls on the table so they can get started on that while I lay Sarge down for his nap. Little Bug is working through A Reason for Handwriting K. Sweet Pea is working on The Measured Mom Handwriting pages along with making letters with manipulatives that do not require paper and pencil so she can strengthen those fine motor skills.

AAR Pre-Level ~ 20 minutes

There is a picture to color with each lesson of A Reason for Handwriting K and Little Bug love to color them. While she works on that, Sweet Pea and I begin her All About Reading Pre-Level lesson. There is a short poem to read, a letter craft page and a learning activity with each lesson.

AAR Level 1 ~ 20 minutes

After Sweet Pea and I finish her preschool, Sweet Pea goes to her room (or the playroom) for Independent Playtime. The first couple of weeks, I was letting Sweet Pea stay in the homeschool room with me while I attempted to teach Little Bug. It was way to hectic having them both in there, so I decided this would be the perfect time for Sweet Pea to have IP time. When I began IP with my girls when they were just infants, I had no idea the benefits would extend to our homeschool days! While Sweet Pea is in IP, Little Bug and I do some AAR Level 1. We usually complete one lesson per week.

Read Aloud ~ 10 minutes

At this point in our morning, it is time for a little break with a Read Aloud! Sometimes Sweet Pea will join us and sometimes she stays in her room. I let her decide what she wants to do. This week we started reading A Little Princess. We usually read a chapter or two before we get back to school work.

Math ~ 30 minutes

The last half hour of our Morning School Time is spent doing Math with Little Bug. We are in the middle of Horizons Math K, but I am currently supplementing with Saxon Math 1 and math activities like this one so Little Bug can learn her basic math facts before finishing Horizons Math K.

Outside

Around 11am we are finished with school and it is time to go outside and play! Public school hadn’t started yet when I took this picture and the neighbor kids came out to play too!

Afternoon {12:00-4:00}

Lunch and TV Time

The children all play together while I fix lunch and then the girls sit on a blanket in the living room to eat lunch and watch a show.

Sibling Playtime

After lunch they all play together some more while I clean up lunch and do a chore.

Math activity/game ~ 10 minutes

After Sarge is in bed for his afternoon nap, 1-2 times a week we play a math game. I prepared about 10-15 games and activities for each girl’s level so we can play the games and do the activities throughout the year. They are all prepped and ready for use! Sweet Pea is working on building Towers to 10.

Sonlight ~ 20 minutes

To wind down and get ready for Rest/Nap time, we read Sonlight P4/5 books.

Rest/Naptime ~ 2:00-4:00pm

Come 2pm, it is time for ALL to rest. This includes ME! This is when I do most of my blogging, reading and relaxing! I need this time of the day to recharge for the evening hours. Little Bug is required to rest for 30 minutes on the bed in the playroom. She listens to stories. Her favorites are Jim Weiss and Adventures in Odyssey. After her 30 minutes are up, she is free to play in the playroom. If she cooperated during school and has had a good attitude, she is given 20ish minutes on the Surface after she cleans up the playroom. She loves to use this drawing program on there.

This outline doesn’t take into account all the lovely things that happen in a day when you have a 6-year old, 4-year old and baby! Things like a rotten attitude, sisters that can’t get along for more than 2 minutes, spit up and dirty diapers, food splattered on the floor, temper tantrums and mud tracked across the kitchen floor. This routine may sound like we’ve got it all together every day, but believe me, those things happen here just like they happen in every other home! Having a routine does minimize the craziness because the children know what to expect, but crazy is bound to happen in a house with three young children. My sanity is keeping my focus on the Big Picture. It’s not always easy when I am disciplining the same offense for the 47th time that day, but ultimately, I know these are the days. I know one day I will look back on these days when my children are little and I will miss these days. I know these are golden homeschool days and I want to take advantage of this time I have with my children but some days I do look forward to bedtime probably way more than I should!

- Elaine