Thursday, January 31, 2013

A Day of Our Homeschooling Life!!


It's been a while since I've given a peek into our day and since Simple Homeschool put out an invitation I thought I'd join in! So welcome to our Wednesday!

Our mornings are slow, I am not one of those mamas who get up early and get things done. Too many years of sleep depravation is my reasoning but really Im just not a morning person if anyone is going to talk to me! ;)

This day is one where Dan is home, he travels frequently but when he is in town we often get days with him home all day. This was difficult for us the first few years of homeschooling, but thankfully we have found a rhythm that Dad fits into and can also slip out of.
Our morning starts with a warm breakfast, blankets, and heater vents. We also take care of animals, giving the cats attention and waking up the bunnies. Which is not so hard on this beautiful sunny morning!
Legos in the morning, Legos at night, LEGOS ALL DAY LONG in our house!! But I find it a gentle way for the kids to transition from morning time to schooling time so you'll often hear me suggest it! And yes there are legos all over my house!!!

Just before the call to come together my oldest comes to me with Cookie his rat who seems to have a mass, he also brings his rat book. So we take a timeout to check on her, read about rat ailments and call the vet to get an appointment. I love that his first go to was a book! 


Every morning I write out all that we would like to accomplish for the day, my kids like having all the information at once and I like that I don't get asked 20 times what else we are going to do! Its all right there! Our family schooling time is by far the largest chunk, but the kids do have some individual things that we do.

We have quite the mixture of homeschooling philosophies here in our home! A little Waldorf, a little Charlotte Mason, a little TJed, and a little crazy all mixed together!! Its great! I am a firm believer that your philosophy/curriculum should serve your family not that you should be a slave to your philosophy/curriculum. We start our day with a Waldorf-ish verse and a scripture we are memorizing. After everyone memorizes the scripture we go out for a fun family activity. Today our family study activities will be after our individual work because of their length. But usually it is done right after our scripture.

Jake learning how to read Fahrenheit and Celsius on a thermometer...

Fern writing numbers...

Leili acting out our story of the week with finger puppets (Little Red Ridding Hood)...
Brother and sister are drawn to the puppet theatre like magnets!!

Riley is reading Matilda and LOVING it! This is a picture that just makes my mama heart go pitter-pat. This guy, my first born threw me right into trusting in schooling. Reading just did not click for him when society says it should. But we took the leap of faith in just trusting that he would get it when he was ready as long as we did not squash his innate love of learning! Now I have to tell him to stop reading and go to bed!!


Our kitchen table turned into math central today and Dad was the central command! Whew! One day off for Mama in the math dept!!

Beautiful Fern LOVES writing notes and now she has found she LOVES writing numbers!!

Leili is being like Little Red Ridding Hood and baking muffins for the family, she chose Coconut Banana! 
Usually Fern prefers to wait for me to do her reading with her, but Little Bear just could not wait!

I have a couple volunteer responsibilities and since today dad is home I run out all by myself for a quick visit. Dad finishes up the school work for the morning while I am gone.


Leili's muffins came out great! Riley played the piano! And lunch was made! Wahoo!

After lunch we watch a great National Geographic video on volcanos, geology is our family study for science/nature study right now and we are enjoying learning about volcanos (and my family is realizing just what a geology nerd I am...)!
After our video some friends come by for a short visit then after that we head over to the nature center across the river. Today we not only enjoy the warmth of the sun and the beauty in our own back yard but we also had a winter nature scavenger hunt! We found everything except an icicle but we are NOT complaining!! 
Cub and Boy Scout meeting end our night and now it is good night!
Thanks for stoping by!!

5 comments:

Mindy said...

I've also had a struggle with my oldest and reading, and, like you, have just had to trust that he'll come to it in his own time. We're not quite there, but getting close! Seeing the picture of Riley soaking in a chapter book gave me hope. Thanks!

Mindy
http://ruminationsoneducation.com/day-in-the-life-2013/

Danna said...

Mindy, it is hard! But worth it! He's actually reading two chapter books right now where not even two years ago his Sunday school teacher kept coming to me concerned that he was not reading! I think not only waiting patiently but also reading fun books out loud helped a lot!
Good luck and lots of patience!!!
Danna

Lisa Eggs said...

A great big post! True about Riley. That is a testament to letting the child lead in learning. How could he not end up a reader with you as his mama??? Max was super jazzed about reading last year and this year he seems less so. I was stressing it but this reminds me to let it ride :) Mimi on the other hand is a reading machine! Max prefers to have me read to him, and how can I resist the cuddle factor? Keep up the great work over there in your cozy home, love it!

softearthart said...

One busy family, cool reading thanks

Cheers from New Zealand Marie

Unknown said...

Hi Danna, I found you from the comment you made after my guest post on Self Care for simpelhomeschool.net I love the pictures of you and your family here. My older daughter is taking longer to read than I thought she would too. She's also taken to blaming me for not teaching her and saying that now she looks stupid. Ouch. I'm being as gentle as I can (with both of us) but am often amazed at how my children know right where my sensitive buttons are and just how to push them.

If you're interested in looking at self-care and how to work it into your life, I'd love to hear from you :-)