I am seriously a type A person, I crave organization and planning. There is a huge issue with being a Type A person and homeschooling you have to be able to create balance for yourself and a relaxed learning environment for your student.
My day typically day starts at 5/5:30 am…with prayers and trying to collect my thoughts before the day jump starts. My son is up every morning by 6:30 am, I know yikes!! We spend some time talking and cuddling and then he gets up and gets dressed and makes his bed and plays. Breakfast is at 7/7:30 am while he eats and watches Arthur I clean the kitchen and check in with the hubby and take out dinner and prep his snacks for the day for him.
We keep it pretty simple for breakfast…I always make enough pancakes on Sunday for 3 days. After breakfast he brushes his teeth and does his chores and then starts his independent board work. I write his board work on the board after he goes to bed at night so it’s ready in the morning. While he does board work I check emails and do some work at the computer, chores and then I join him at the table.
Home School Time
This is how our day runs for home school we typically start at 9am!
We kick the day off with Math! Why you may ask? Math is the area of study we are really concentrating on this year. I needed this subject to be first because his mind is ready and sharp! Math is divided into 3 areas:
- Hands On Activity
- Review and Teach
- Lessons
- Math Fact Fluency
After math we have brain breaks!! Brain breaks can be listening to music dancing and acting silly or letting him hang out with GoNoodle Plus!!
Once we are done with brain breaks we move on to handwriting! Handwriting I rotate what he is working on throughout the week:
- M-F Learning Without Tears
- 1 day a week Journal
- 2 days a week Spectrum Handwriting
- Chalkboard review (this targets any letter that needs some support)
- 1 day a week copy work
Reading and Language Arts are the areas that he breezes through super fast these days so I tend to leave this to the end of our morning! At some point between these subjects he grabs a snack! I like to break these areas down also:
Reading
- Phonics cards (5 mins)
- Sight Words (5 mins)
- Spelling box (10-15 mins)
- Daily lesson (30-40 mins some time less)
Language Arts
- Grammar work (10 mins)
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- Hands on activity (10- 30 mins)
Time for Lunch
During lunch we eat together and that’s when I do our read aloud. Sometimes I let him watch a show on PBS Kids or Netflix. During lunch we typically talk about what he wants to do in the afternoon. We clean up lunch and then we head outside for some fresh air or we go out and run errands.
Afternoon
Normally the afternoon is when we do our electives we rotate them, but as of lately he has been requesting to do them all especially science. He also has taken a liking to social studies. Geography and History are defiantly rotated throughout the week. He grabs a snack while doing these electives. Our electives take about 45 mins – 1hour to run through! By 2:30/3 pm we are done for the day!
The afternoons are also reserved for special interest activities and extra curricular activities and knowledge box, but typically he just does whatever he wants. He is a HUGE Osmo fan and loves to code!
His Time
The one thing I make sure I do every day is make sure I set aside at least 30-60 mins where him and I just play. Some days he doesn’t want to play together but he just wants me in the room with him just so we can talk and he can show me what he is working on or whatever he wants. I think this is an important aspect for our day because he gets to have me in his space on his own terms! Don’t get me wrong we play all day while doing school and talk but this time of the day is special for him because he is in charge.
Late Afternoon
Daddy is usually home and they hang out for a little or he plays and helps me with dinner. Once again Arthur is watched or Odd Squad these are his two favorite shows. He can’t watch them until he has done his 20 mins of required reading.
Early Evening
We always eat dinner as a family and talk about our day and do our High’s and Low’s. My son usually finishes up dinner before we do and he clears his plate and and puts his pajamas on unless it’s bath night. He heads back downstairs and helps me clean the kitchen while we groove out to 90’s R& B on Alexa Amazon Music!
Bedtime
Our bedtime routine has been pretty much the same since he was a baby! My son is usually in bed no later than 8pm and sleep by 8:15 pm. There are some rare occasion when Daddy is working late but on those days he Face-time us so he is still apart of this special time.
The one thing I have learned is to follow his lead. No day is perfect, I just pause and rewind, reevaluate and let go. If he is showing an interest in something I just let that interest direct our day. Are there areas we could improve in? Probably so, but the wonderful thing about choosing this path to be a homeschooler is we are not on a clock. I want to enjoy our time together and for him to continue to develop a healthy love for learning.
So I am keeping my type A personality in line and balancing what he needs as well. If that means I do laundry at night after he goes down that’s fine. If only 50% of the things in my planner gets done I have made my peace with it. My planner is only a blueprint and not the final design of our week.
There is no such thing as a perfect homeschool, I try to let my followers and friends know that we are far from perfect in this house. There are days the house could use a little more TLC and I could make that uploaded picture on my Instagram look blemish free, staged and photoshopped, but why? That’s not real it’s fake and it applies way too much pressure on new families who want to take on this journey. I have decided to keep it real I am doing the best I can to make it through this crazy life and doing what matters.
So, if you happen to catch us on Instgram or swing by our way on Facebook, feel free to reach out to me because I am never too busy to lend a helping hand or just need a coffee chat with a fellow mama. Enjoy your children and let go of perfect and make everyday count!
Until Next Time,
Little Learner and Mom
Little Learner and Mom 