DITL: Tuesday Edition
Last week on my IG Q&A someone asked about how long each of my kids take on their school work and I am always getting asked about what our rhythm looks like so I am going to try to share more DITLs. In my October Homeschool Update I shared that our schedule is a little all over the place right now. This is really our first homeschool year where we don’t have a pretty similar routine every single day and it’s been a bit of an adjustment, but I hope by talking more about it, maybe it’ll help some of you. Anyway, I thought it’d be fun to walk you guys through a random low-key day and Tuesday happened to be that day!
If you haven’t seen our curriculum picks these posts may be helpful. We’ve switched a few things around which I talked about in my October update.
I hardly ever watch the clock when we’re homeschooling. Typically I just know from when we wake up until about 2:00 pm I am in homeschool mode. I try really hard not to schedule things like doctor appointments during this time so it doesn’t interrupt our rhythm. Since every day is a little different though I’ll put in parenthesis about how long we usually take doing some of these things.
First Grade
7:00 Wake Up
7:15-7:25 Read to Mom (~10 mins)
7:25-7:45 Journal writing, Explore the Code, Handwriting, Spelling - all with Mom (~20 mins)
7:45-8:00 Math with Mom (~20 mins)
8:00-8:30 Eat, get ready, and a few chores
8:30-9:00 Online Reading Class (~30 mins)
9:00-11:00 Play
11:00-12:15 Family Study: see below (~60-120 mins depending on day)
12:15-5:30 Lunch and play
5:30-6:30 Dinner, chores and tidy up
6:30-8:00 Run errands with Dad
8:00-9:00 Family read aloud (The Ickabog) (~30-60 mins)
9:00-9:30 Get ready for bed & tuck ins
Third Grade
7:50 Wake Up
8:00-8:30 Online Reading Class (~30 mins)
8:30-8:40 Got ready and ate
8:40-9:10 Independent Work: Handwriting, Explode the Code, Spelling (with Mom), Journal writing, math review, and study multiplication (~30 mins)
9:10-9:40 Multiplication drills & math lesson with mom (~30 mins)
9:40-9:45 Fix It Grammar with Mom (~5 mins)
9:45-9:50 Took a break
9:50-10:00 Independent Reading (~10 mins)
10:00-10:15 Read with Mom (~10-20 mins)
10:15-11:00 Play
11:00-12:15 Family Study: see below (~60-120 mins depending on day)
12:15-5:15 Lunch and play
5:30-6:30 Dinner, chores and tidy up
6:30-8:00 Run errands with Dad
8:00-9:00 Family read aloud: The Ickabog (~30-60 mins)
9:00-9:30 Get ready for bed & tuck ins
Seventh Grade
8:00 Wake Up, got ready & ate
8:30-10:30 Online English Class (~2 hrs just on Tuesdays)
10:30-11:00 Break
11:00-12:15 Family Study: see below (~60-120 mins depending on day)
12:15-1:30 Lunch, independent math and worked with Mom to review math (~60 mins for math and ~15 mins review)
1:30-2:00 Piano and showers
2:00-5:30 Hang out with friends
5:30-6:30 Dinner, chores, and tidy up
6:30-8:00 Went to a friend’s house & then came home and relaxed
8:00-9:00 Family read aloud: The Ickabog (~30-60 mins)
9:00-9:30 Get ready for bed, tuck ins, and independent reading (~60 mins)
Family Study
We are all over the place with our family studies this year! We have multiple classes outside the home on random days and sometimes those times even change a little depending on the week so we just have to be really flexible and fit a family study in when we can. Ideally I love to gather the kids for a devotional/scripture study in the morning, but sometimes that ends up being right before or after our lunch and I just combine it with our more formal family study.
For our family studies we usually study either art, science, or history. This particular Tuesday we spent about 15 minutes in scripture study and then we worked on our engineering unit. I led a lesson for about 30 minutes (which included watching a few video clips) and then the kids did some science experiments our of this Simple Machines kit.
In short, since we’re in a busier season of life I just try to be consistent where we can and that has always served us well so that’s what we’ll keep on doing. I shared more about our family study plans for this month over on my post: November Plans.
A few other things to note:
Daylight Savings Time was just two days before this so my 1st grader was up earlier than usual. I’d say most days we do his lessons after his reading class. I usually work with him while my 3rd grader is doing his independent work.
As you can see, there were lots of breaks (and time) for my younger boys to play. This day I let them just play and they played really well together, but there are definitely some days where I have more structured or rotational activities for them to do (educational computer games, sensory bins, games for them to play together, arts & crafts, ect.) I think there is a healthy balance of being bored to offer opportunities to be creative. But, also, sometimes, too much downtime leads to arguing and just chaos so I find there are times for both and we have to be flexible just depending on the day. There are a lot of days, especially in the winter when the kids aren’t outside as often, we’ll have bigger family-style projects or things going on in the afternoons - even past 2:00.
We have 4 families in our neighborhood who homeschool so when my kids are playing in the early afternoon - they’re often with their homeschool friends. On this day, my nephew (who lives right behind us) came over at about 12:45 to play with my boys. Around 2:00 my girl’s best friend came over and they watched the 4th Harry Potter movie together (it was their friends first time seeing it which was super fun for them to share that with her!) It isn’t uncommon for my kids to play with their other public schooled friends anytime after about 4:00 too.
In different seasons we have extra curricular activities that usually start anytime after 4:00, but we have nothing scheduled for the month of November which is really nice because I definitely need the extra time to work and prep for Christmas.
Depending on extra curriculars we usually eat dinner around 5:30 or 6. I try to capture everyone right after dinner to reset the house for the next day and then sometimes (especially when it’s still light outside) the kids are off to play with friends again, but typically in winter time when it’s darker, it’s more common for them to stay in and decompress a little sooner. Either way, right now in this season of life, I try to have everyone home and gathered around 8:00 to start winding down for the evening. This is usually the time we do baths/showers and our family read aloud. (This particular day, my girls had missed their shower the night before so they needed to do that before they could hang out with their friend.) And, last of all, the kids are usually in bed around 9:30 and asleep my 10ish (my girls often stay up a bit later reading).
When there is downtime for me, for example, say I am done working with my boys and my girls aren’t done with their independent work, I am either prepping or planning for homeschool related things or working on house chores. Somedays I don’t get any prep done and others I get tons - just depends. This particular day I had some downtime right before our family study, so I took that time to prep some things I wanted to work on for our engineering unit.
Then after 2:00 is usually when I work on my blog, collabs, and IG stuff. Sometimes I clean. All of that will often take a back burner if we are heavy on extra curriculars. It just ebbs and flows. My husband is often home around 3:00 so he’s also really good to help and spend time with the kids during that time too.
I hope this helps and if you’re struggling with something in your rhythm, maybe it’ll spark some new ideas.