Today I decided to keep track of what everyone was doing in 15 minute increments throughout our school day. Crazy, right? Everyone includes my 4th grader, my 2nd grader, my 3 year old, and myself. You can see the standard schedule we use here. We varied from it slightly today because we had a time-hog art project at the end of the day. I reversed the order of subjects in the morning because my daughter had just started on the computer when it was time for my son to get on there. Our days are real and involve refereeing fights, many interruptions, occasional whining or a bad attitude and a need for redirection when a child becomes off task. Those types of things won’t show up in this list, but they did happen. This list will give a general flow to our day, but doesn’t account for everything done today. This day was about 30 minutes longer than usual. The 2nd and 4th grader have to complete guitar practice before breakfast. The 4th grader has to practice 15 minutes and the 2nd grader has to practice 5 minutes.
9:00 am All 3 kids are watching Canada: A People’s History Vol. 5 while I prepare breakfast.
9:15 am The 4th grader and 2nd grader are watching Canada: A People’s History Vol. 5. The 3 year old and I are looking for some of her toys.
9:30 am The 3 year old is playing. The 4th grader and 2nd grader are getting dressed. I am waiting for the 4th grader and 2nd grader to finish dressing.
9:45 am The 4th grader is on the couch with me answering questions with his Bible from the War is Over Study Guide. The 2nd grader is playing chess online. The 3 year old is playing with her mini-figure toys.
10:00 am The 4th grader is on the couch with me answering questions with his Bible from the War is Over Study Guide. The 2nd grader is playing chess online. The 3 year old is looking for tape for an art project.
10:15 am The 2nd grader listening to me read a chapter of Lights in Lisuland. The 4th grader is working on math facts on Xtramath.org. The 3 year old is showing me a book she made.
10:30 am The 2nd grader is working on math facts on Xtramath.org. I am reviewing logic worksheets with my 4th grader. The 3 year old is hanging around the 2nd grader.
10:45 am I am going over a Singapore geometry lesson with my 4th grader. My 2nd grader is playing on the floor with the 3 year old while waiting for me to finish the geometry lesson.
11:00 am The 4th grader is working on math. The 2nd grader is listening to me read aloud a living math book. The 3 year old is walking around with her mini-figures at the bottom of balloons for “hot air balloon” rides.
11:15 am The 4th grader is working on math. I am getting my 2nd grader started on phonics and spelling. The 3 year old is playing on NickJr on the computer.
11:30 am The 4th grader is finishing a logic puzzle. My 2nd grader is working on handwriting. The 3 year old is playing on the floor with mini-figures. I am looking at the answer key for Excavating English to check the 4th grader’s work.
11:45 am The 4th grader is on the couch with me completing an exercise in Excavating English. The 2nd grader is working on spelling. The 3 year old is using Scratch on the computer.
12:00 pm The 4th grader is reading Daily Diagrams (diagrammed sentences) to me. The 2nd grader is getting an apple for a snack for his upcoming read aloud. The 3 year old is still using Scratch on the computer.
12:15 pm The 4th grader is doing an activity in Excavating English. I am reading aloud a chapter from Gentle Ben to my 2nd grader. The 3 year old is playing with her toys on the floor.
12:30 pm The 4th grader is doing research for his paper on different types of pizza. The 2nd grader is playing on Arabian Sinbad (Arabic immersion program). I am playing with the 3 year old.
12:45 pm The 4th grader is memorizing Chinese characters with me. The 2nd grader is still using the Arabian Sinbad CD-ROM. The 3 year old is playing on the floor.
1:00 pm The 4th grader is practicing writing a shadda (Arabic). The 2nd grader is practicing pinyin by watching Chinese with Mike. I am getting Better Chinese materials ready for the 2nd grader. The 3 year old is playing with her mini-figures.
1:15 pm All of us are role-playing a Mandarin lesson.
1:30 pm All 3 kids are eating lunch and watching Canada: A People’s History Vol. 5. I am preparing my lunch.
1:45 pm. The 4th and 2nd graders are getting ready to exercise. The 3 year old is playing with my shoes. I am eating lunch.
2:00 pm The 4th and 2nd graders are running around and wrestling. The 3 year old is talking with me. I am finishing my lunch and having some computer time.
2:15 pm The 4th and 2nd graders are coming for a sweat-check and moving to exercising on the Wii. My 3 year old is playing with me.
2:30 pm The 4th and 2nd graders are exercising on Wii. The 3 year old is watching. I am working on one of my websites.
2:45 pm The 4th and 2nd graders are exercising on the Wii. I am working on one of my websites. The 3 year old wants to go color with me.
3:00 pm The 4th and 2nd graders are brushing their teeth. I am printing off a couple Mario pictures to color with the 3 year old. The 3 year old is waiting for the print outs.
3:15 pm The 3 year old is coloring. The 2nd grader is finishing grammar and handwriting so he can color with the 3 year old. The 4th grader is finishing a paragraph from his pizza paper. I am checking the 2nd and 4th grader’s work.
3:30 pm The 3 year old and the 2nd grader are coloring together. I am on the couch with the 4th grader reading aloud a chapter of Animal Farm.
3:45 pm All 3 kids are talking with each other while I start another load of laundry (laundry day today).
4:00 pm The 2nd and 4th graders are drawing a picture of a whale as part of their mammal classification study. The 3 year old is playing her guitar. I am getting the next part of the mammal study ready and getting library books to read to the 3 year old.
4:15 pm The 4th grader and 2nd grader are drawing another whale as part of their mammal study.
The 3 year old is on the couch with me listening to books read aloud.
4:30 pm The 2nd grader is running around with the 3 year old. The 4th grader is reading one of his sister’s library books. I am preparing for the art project.
4:45 pm The 2nd and 4th grader are reading and talking about the books I read to the 3 year old. They particularly liked the Interrupting Chicken book. I am still prepping for the art project. The 3 year old is watching me.
5:00 pm All 3 kids are knee-deep in painting. I am handing out colors of paint when requested.
5:15 pm The 2nd grader has finished and is waiting for his brother to finish so they can play together. The 3 year old and the 4th grader are still painting and I am handing out paint.
5:30 pm School is done. All 3 kids are playing and I am cleaning-up and preparing for supper.
There you have it. This day seemed a bit busier than usual. Maybe it was because it was laundry day or possibly because it was because I was writing down what we were doing every 15 minutes! The 3 year old makes our days somewhat unpredictable. Some days she is content to play on her own for long periods of time. Other days she craves much interaction.
Very detailed! You are a busy family! I think if I went through my days though back when my kids were your kids ages it would have been similar. My 3 yr old would have been attempting to run up to the other home schooling neighbors “play ground” a couple of times in there though. He lived to be 14.5 and is still home schooling though. Keep up the good work!
Did you try it? I’d love to read your day:)
Thanks for sharing Amy! That had to be alot of work. I think I am going to try it tomorrow, see if I can get our days more productive.