Saturday, April 25, 2015

A Day in the Life.... Sonlight Blog Party, April

Sonlight Blog Party
The Sonlight Blog Party continues this month with the topic, "A Day in the Life, What does your Homeschool schedule look like?"

A few years ago, I would have had lots of schedules and plans to share but our family season has changed, the children have grown and they are working more independently.  My oldest (17) works at the local grocery store, takes dual enrollment classes at the state college and drives to all of his own activities. That takes some of the chauffeuring off my plate, but makes it challenging to have family time that includes all five of us. Also, I've been working part-time for our church in the Elementary Ministry, so that changes things up from week-to-week.  
So, we are F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E!

Typically, I rise early and have several hours of quiet time to myself before the children rise.  I cherish this time.  When the children were younger, they rose early with me but went to bed earlier and I had time to myself or with my husband in the evening.  Now, they are staying up later and sleeping later.  Since I am a morning person and an introvert, I love having that quiet time in the morning and my children are thrilled to sleep-in.

Each child has a schedule that works for them.  My oldest really keeps his own schedule now, so I don't have to worry much with that unless it affects the family.  My middle child (12) likes a monthly schedule without much detail, and she likes to check the boxes in order.  My youngest (11) works best with a weekly schedule that includes daily details of exactly what to do, but he doesn't really care if the box is checked or not.

Our week consists of  four 'school' days, with co-op classes on Fridays.  If they are behind schedule, I like them to make it up on weekends or sometimes we double up on a day when we are home, in anticipation of upcoming days off.   The 11 and 12 year old both have group tennis lessons at 11:00am on Wednesdays, that I organized with a group of other homeschooled students.  It works great to get a little school done in the morning, head to tennis, grab lunch, then pick up other subjects in the afternoon.  So nice to not be running to extra curricular activities in the late afternoon and evenings.  While each of our days is slightly different, each day of the week is pretty consistent from week-to-week.
For instance,
Monday I try to protect as a stay home day.  We catch up on housework and really get a strong start on school.  Sometimes this is a grocery day, if I wasn't able to get it done on Sunday.
Tuesday-Thursday are school days but also include work for me, tennis and any appointments or errands we need to squeeze in.
Wednesday includes youth group at church.
Friday is co-op day.
Saturday is family fun day and/or home projects day.
Sunday is church, rest, and grocery shop in the evening.

We ALWAYS have Sunday Dinner together after church.  We are blessed to have Grandma (my husband's mom) living in the house with us and she always cooks a big meal.  Besides that we try to have at least two more meals per week together as a family.  Usually, the 17-year old is missing due to his evening work schedule.

I realize as I write this that it is hard to talk of "A Day in the Life" because our days are so different, but that is just the season we are in and I know it will change again. In fact, by the time you read this, my son's college classes will end and our co-op classes will be over.  It will be time to tweak the schedule again and gear up for summer.  

Speaking of summer, I love to make a large poster-board calendar for the summer months. This has become a tradition that I learned from Sheila at Making the Most of Everyday.  I'll be blogging about that soon.




3 comments:

  1. It seems like just as soon as I have our schedule down pat, it changes! I'm an early rising introvert as well, but my daughter still gets up early with me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear you. One constant in our house, the schedule change. Thank you for reading and commenting.

      Delete
  2. Flexibility seems to be the theme of this month's blog party... and it's one of the things I love about Sonlight. I also love how the kids can work more independently as they get older. Like you, I cherish my quiet time, whether it's first thing in the morning or late in the evening. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I read and appreciate each comment.

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