Typical Day in Our Homeschool: 7th Grade, 5th Grade, and 1st Grade

While no day is typical, I kept track of one frigid day this winter when we were home all day.  We have a general flow to our day, but the subjects we do each day are different.  This school year I have a 7th grader, 5th grader, and 1st grader.

Our homeschool uses an eclectic mix and places a high priority on individualized learning.  I tend to prefer to use materials and methods that keep me highly involved with my children’s learning.  I do value independent learning and because I’m homeschooling three, this necessitates that independent learning take place.  But I place greater importance on the discussions and interactions that we have together.  That said, here was our day…

8:25

Kids are watching a children’s show in French while eating breakfast.  While they did that, I went downstairs to write down the day’s assignments for everyone.

8:50

Kids started 30 minutes of active play.  The object here is to build up a sweat.  I ate my breakfast in “quiet” while the kids were playing in another room.

9:20

My 5th grader and 7th grader are watching a history documentary.  I typically work during this time, but today I needed to prep for a project and an upcoming birthday.  I took time to get my 6 year old set up to respond to a few emails she received.  Every few minutes she would come to me with pencil and paper in hand to ask how to spell something.   Once the history documentary finished, each of my boys chose a short math or science video to watch.  They like Computerphile and Numberphile the best.

I finished in the kitchen and had a few minutes to sit down at the computer to work, but my computer wasn’t cooperating.  Once I restarted it and had it ready to work, my 6 year old called me to come check her letter so she could send it.

10:15

Private worship time for my 5th grader and 7th grader.  They went off to be alone and read the Bible or meditate while  I read a Bible story book to my 6 year old.  I finished the story a little early so my 6 year old and I slipped into a pretend world where she was a baby sister and I was a big brother.  I slipped some German words into our playacting here and there.

10:30

All my kids were working on building an edible scale model of the Ark of the Covenant for our Types and Shadows of the Old Covenant unit study.

 

11:00

I put on Journey to the Edge of the Universe for my 6 year old while she had an apple snack.  I sat down with my 7th grader to do Algebra.  He is using Art of Problem Solving Introduction to Algebra and we worked through the end of the chapter problems together.  My 5th grader was working independently on typing.  Then the typing program stopped working so my 5th grader started reading The Number Devil and my 7th grader worked independently while I reinstalled the typing program.

 

11:45

The 6 year old stopped her video to go play and my 5th grader went back to typing.  My 6 year old’s favorite thing to do is to write stories.  She loves to type up things on Word and print them off.  Today she was playing around with Word making numbers and words in different fonts.  I was still doing Algebra alongside my 7th grader.  We typically work the problems separately and then come together to see if we have the same answer.  If I see him headed in the wrong direction, I provide guidance.  If neither of us can figure something out, we try and figure it out together.  If that doesn’t work, I peek at the solution manual to help me figure out how to guide my son.  We usually do the end of the chapter sections together, but he does a chunk of the chapter independently.

 

12:10

6 year old was still playing on Word.  My 5th grader was working independently and starting Japanese Mango.  I was still working on Algebra with my 7th grader.

12:20

Ran to get the phone.  I don’t always answer during the school day and call waiting wasn’t working so I took a chance.  Good thing because it was an appointment that I needed to cancel.

12:35

Printed off a French test that I had made up for my 7th grader.  He is using Contacts to learn French.  My 5th grader started practicing piano and my 6 year old was still writing and playing around on Word.

12:40

Called 6 year old to come over to do All About Spelling words while the 7th grader was writing his test.  She finished in 5 minutes and went back to Word.

 

12:45

Started Megawords with my 5th grader.  My 7th grader was still working on his test.  Some good news for my 5th grader today.  We went over the previously missed words for the section.  He had originally spelled 53/75 of the words correct before we started the section on the spelling rule.  Today I gave him the 22 missed words and he only missed 3.

1:00

I went to make lunch.  My 5th grader was blogging while my 7th grader helped my 6 year old do something on Word.

1:30

Kids finished lunch and were off exercising/playing together while I had some lunch and quiet time.

2:00

Kids ran off to brush teeth before heading back to school.  Then my 7th grader used geography apps to learn locations of states, countries, capitals, landforms, and bodies of water around the world.  I went over science with my 5th grader and math with my 1st grader.

2:15

My attempt to work with my 5th grader and 1st grader at the same time wasn’t working so I gave my 1st grader some independent math work.

2:35

My 6 year old gave me her finished work while I continued to go over science with my 5th grader.  My 7th grader was working on his assignment list independently.

3:00

I finished a science discussion with my 5th grader.  My 7th grader finished geography and was studying Arabic.

3:10

My 5th grader was reading his grammar lesson while my 1st grader did her handwriting.  My 7th grader started his biology lab.  Because no one was in need of me at the moment, I took a minute to prepare my 5th grader’s new vocabulary list.

3:20

My 1st grader was reading to me while my 5th grader typed out answers to his grammar exercise.  He usually reads the lesson on his own before we go over the answers orally, but today the lesson involved punctuation so he typed out his answers.  My 7th grader was gathering supplies for his lab and occasionally came to me with questions.

 

3:30

I was listening to my 1st grader read aloud with one ear while showing my 7th grader his literature assignment.  My 5th grader came over to finish up some grammar exercises orally with me while my 1st grader continued to read aloud.

 

3:45

My 1st grader finished reading to me.   I then read aloud Stuart Little to her.  My 5th grader was doing his vocabulary for his reading book using a literature unit.  My 7th grader was using his literature book to explore internet links about a book he recently read – Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

3:55

My 5th grader was practicing reading and pronouncing French words correctly using an app.  I was singing Greek songs with my 6 year old using Song School Greek while my 7th grader continued to explore internet links for his literature.

4:10

My 7th grader and 5th grader started watching Cheaper By the Dozen movie from 1950.  My 5th grader recently finished reading the book.  My 6 year old was playing.  After watching a little of the movie, I started my work time.

5:40

The movie finished and my 5th grader started blogging while my 7th grader studied Java.  My 6 year old was drawing, making stories, and playing.  My work time continued.

6:15

My 5th grader was doing his chores while my 7th grader was practicing piano.  My 6 year old was still playing.  I continued to work while listening to a history documentary.  I was “previewing” it to see if it would be appropriate and interesting.

6:50

My 5th grader and 7th grader finished with all their chores and were playing.  I was finishing up work until after the kids went to bed.  My first grader was doing her chores at a very slow pace, taking breaks to play, but she is usually done by dinner.

9:30

Usually my boys read literature in bed for about 20-30 minutes each night, but tonight was the eve of my son’s birthday so we skipped that in favor of me retelling my son’s birth story.

 

That was our day!  Every homeschool is unique as every child is unique.  Take a peek into other homeschools.  Hop on over to Gifted Homeschoolers Forum to read about typical days in other homeschools.