While there really is no such thing as typical, I recently kept a record of one of my 6th grader’s school days. This day is a good representation of a day where we were home for the day and had nothing else planned.
Personalizing my children’s education is one of my top reasons for homeschooling. My 6th grader’s curriculum choices and the way we use them fit my son. When my other children hit 6th grade, their year will be personalized to them so it will look different. My current 6th grader is an auditory/sequential learner who has language arts strengths and a high interest in science.
We use a mini-loop schedule right now. This makes every day a little different, but most major subjects are covered in the course of a typical day.
Here is one January day during this school year:
8:30 Breakfast while watching an Arabian Sinbad video.
9:00 Getting comfortable in the living room. I played four Youtube praise and worship songs while each child had a private meditation time. After this we had a group prayer.
9:45 Went to the schoolroom. After I printed off The Dangerous Game story and reviewed the suspense elements in a Windows to the World: An Introduction to Literary Analysis chapter with my son, he started annotating the suspense elements in the story. He continued this until about 11:15.
11:15 He practiced typing using Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
11:30 Running a mile, attempting to beat a time of 7 minutes and 45 seconds.
11:50 He did one page in Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek Book I
12:10 Time for French. He did one page in Contacts by Valette. This was also pretty quick.
12:20 He put on a CD to do Mandarin pronunciation drills using the New Practical Chinese Reader Vol. 1
12:45. He read a section in CPO Physical, Earth, and Space Science: An Integrated Approach
1:15 Lunch while watching Lazy Lucy in Mandarin. After lunch he had a break until 2:00.
2:00 Exercise time. During this time he plays with his siblings. They can play whatever they want as long as they are sweaty after 30 minutes.
2:30 Time to regroup. He sat down to answer CPO Physical, Earth, and Space Science: An Integrated Approach
2:50. We sat down to work the problems in Art of Problem Solving Prealgebra
4:00 Everyone sat down for a little art time using A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels. He made two different drawings using chalk pastels.
4:30-5:30 is an hour that we have built into our school day where he chooses whatever he wants to learn. That day he decided to get a head start on his chores. He then decided to play a World Conquest game like Risk on the iPad and use some time to draw pictures for a game he wants to make.
Normally, my son reads in bed at night from about 9:30-10:00, but he recently finished a book (Kidnapped) and he had to wait a couple days before I picked up his new book (Count of Monte Cristo) from the library. So he opted to head to bed earlier.
I’d love to hear about a typical day in your homeschool. Please share in the comment section.
Where do you find ur foreign language videos? I would like to expose my children to mandarin, Spanish, Korean, and a little French since my husband is fluent. I think this is the best way to teach languages and they are watching actively, looking for meaning. Thank you.
My library is a good resource for several languages especially Mandarin and French. I’ve purchased some DVDS as well. Try Youtube. Just type in the name of a show your child likes and the name of the language. I typically can find popular shows for kids in a foreign language that way. Be sure to check out the Chinese with Mike series. It isn’t immersion, but it is funny and free online.