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What Does a Typical Homeschool Day Look Like for Us?

11/7/2018

Sometimes we want to peek inside other homeschool homes to see what a typical school day looks like. Well, you don't need to go sneaking around my house to peek inside because I will lay it all out for you here.

First, let me just say that the best schedule is the one that God gives you each day. I don't want to frazzle you by leading you to think that my schedule will work for your family nor do I want to give the impression that we hold to our schedule with perfection, because we don't. Each day is unique and holds its own challenges and tasks. Although we strive to be consistent we often fall short, and I've learned to just be okay with the schedule that God has laid out for us for that day.

The other thing I would like to share is that sometimes we don't get to everything on our school check-off chart, and that's okay too. Sometimes our goal is to just "keep moving forward", even if its a baby step. This means that some days we only read one page instead of 4 or we complete only one small task of a project rather than finishing the entire project. I remind myself that we are still learning and making progress -as we are running out the door to a doctor appointment or field trip, so I am okay with not finishing an entire lesson on occasion. A homeschooling day is like eating an elephant one bite at a time, some days we take a big bite and others it's a small one but by the end of the year we have finished the whole elephant.

I DO NOT write a daily, hourly or weekly schedule of what I want to complete. We simply plan what curriculum, topics and unit studies we want to focus on for that year and purpose to complete them each day. When I first began homeschooling I did this and it only set me up for disappointment and failure because life happens. Homeschooling is a different atmosphere from public school so why do we try to fit a public school schedule into our home? I realize that some people are new to the whole homeschooling and teaching thing so, if a daily, hourly or weekly schedule is helpful for you then, by all means, use one but you don't have to. Your daily goal should be to keep moving forward.

Not only will I share what our schedule is, what curriculum and subjects we are doing, but I will also give you a glimpse on how we incorporate unit studies as our core curriculum.

I have been using unit studies for about 13 years and I use them as our core (language arts, science and history) then fill in with other things. The great part about unit studies is that you are teaching multiple subjects under one theme rather than teaching each subject separately. Currently, we are doing two unit studies simultaneously, USA: The 50 States and Apologia Astronomy. I teach these to my kids and then they also have their independent work.

Independent work for my 13 year old is doing Teaching Textbooks for math, sequential spelling, bible and Apologia Nutrition on his own. I also assign a literature book to read. In addition, he is taking 3 classes at our homeschool co-op: PE, The History Of Chocolate and he is taking my class called S.T.E.A.M. which is Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math- we are currently learning 3D design and soldering.

My 11 year old is also doing Teaching Textbooks for math and Sequential Spelling along with bible studies, piano, and I assign him literature books to read too. He is taking 4 classes at our homeschool co-op: my Japan Unit Study class, Greek and Latin, PE, and History Through the Decades.

My youngest who is in Kindergarten is doing both unit studies with the older boys at home and I am going through Horizons math and Horizons Phonics and Reading with him a 2-3 times a week. He is also taking kindergarten classes at our co-op.

I only teach grammar as needed or as a supplementary lesson in elementary and middle school. I strongly feel that an in-depth study of grammar is better understood when taught in high school rather than in the younger grades. Reading books or the occasional grammar worksheet is enough for younger kids. They will naturally pick up proper grammar through reading good literature and I find that sentence diagraming or breaking apart writing is a wasteful way to expend brain power in young children -unless it is their gifting. Some may disagree with my method and that's okay, there are hundreds of teaching methods but all have the same end result which is to give children and education, find their strengths, and lead them on a path were they can use them and contribute to society.

We are year-round homeschoolers. I let our breaks happened naturally. My kids can't live in our home without learning, even when we are taking breaks from school work. I am certain we school more than the required amount each year which is the way it should be. Just because school is not in session doesn't mean my kids can be lazy bums who sit around watching television and playing video games. They are always finding a new hobby, socializing with friends and going on outdoor adventures- learning happens naturally for our family. Years ago I quit counting the school days because it was redundant. If my husband is at work then we are most likely doing school so I guess that's the schedule we follow. Plus we like hands-on learning and are always off on a field trip which is school, its a day of "real" learning. Visiting a museum or cultural event is equivalent to doing a lesson in your curriculum. I have met some people over the years who are puzzled at this and they must think that school is only when your in a classroom with a textbook open...reality is that school goes beyond the classroom and textbook. You can learn about agriculture, botany and science by reading a book about it while sitting in a classroom or you can start a farm on your property and have that be part of your homeschoolin' kids' curriculum as they help you care for the animals and plant the garden......oh the millions of lessons and unit studies that could stem from this experience! We have turned doctor visits for broken bones into social studies and anatomy lessons. Christmas break becomes our art and culinary art lessons as we make treats and homemade gifts for friends and family. Free time becomes computer science when my kids are learning how to code using Scratch. Do you catch the vision here yet? Is your home naturally an educational experience? For us, it is and I have found no reason to schedule our homeschool days. We prefer a free schedule so that learning can take place!

This is a picture of my kids' current School Check-Off Charts. This is their independent work that they do each day on their own then they have "school with mom" which is our unit studies. For our unit studies we are currently doing USA: The 50 States and Apologia Astronomy. We do 4 days of school at home plus 1 day out at our homeschool co-op. I do not do school at home on our co-op day or on any day that we go out on a field trip because that is their school for the day.

I have been using this school chart for almost a decade and I have made it available to you as a free download, enjoy!

Here are some pictures from our homeschool from this past week. For the record, this was not a normal week for us. There were many events that happened to be crammed into this one week;)

Thursday at Co-op we had a Japanese Dress-up Party since it was close to Halloween. Some of the kids signed up to bring a Japanese dish. We had such an amazing feast, made paper lanterns, and did a marshmallow chopstick race.

Friday we took the day off from school to play catch up from a busy week- Garett's 11th birthday party, preparing for our Church's Trunk or Treat and the Japan dress-up party (above) that I organized for my co-op class.

Sunday we had a field trip to a Japanese Culture Day.

Monday we completed a lesson in our astronomy unit and worked on our Nebraska topography map for our USA: The 50 States unit study. After doing Horizons math and Horizons Phonics with Isaac he did a fall craft of painting leaves. My older boy completed all their independent work from their checkoff charts.

Tuesday we went on another field trip to learn about salmon spawning and their habitat. When we got home I had my kids work on their co-op homework. Later that evening we started a project, for our USA states unit, building a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge for our California study- This week is really an exception, we don't usually do this many field trips and hands-on projects all at once, lol.

And that brings us to Wednesday. At the moment my kids are getting their independent work done. As soon as I post this I am going to go start a full day of unit study lessons and check that they did in fact complete all their work. Then we will be sure we are ready for our homeschool co-op on Thursday morning.

Happy Homeschooling!

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Here are some pictures from our homeschool from this past week. For the record, this was not a normal week for us. There were many events that happened to be crammed into this one week;)

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Archives

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Contact Us info at discoverunitstudies dot com

Contact Us
info at discoverunitstudies dot com