Louise- Hmmm how interesting that you are asking and interesting the way you said it. I have thought of you as quite settled and, after many years of experience, that you would be regular and certain of your routines. It made me think about how this home education is a journey, a life.

Everything keeps changing and it is kinda reassuring to know that re-adjusting routines and finding a new rhythm is normal.

I would like for the routine to be the same for longer but somehow it keeps changing right out from under me. Dc change and family demands change and homes change and dc suddenly move into new ideas and skills and territory and their needs change--- my two have always caught me unawares and forced me to shift into different ways of thinking.

Rhythm....mmmm what a beautiful natural flowing way to see it.

  I think our schedule changes every week. At heart we are unschoolers but I have come to realise I need a certain amount of order in the form of schoolish book and my ds needs  that too.

What is happening here is rising and feeding ourselves (we each do that separately and that is part of my training of my children to be thoughtful about their diet and  be independent.

We try and do 20 min exercise and then breakfast.--sometimes we don't but if we get 4 times a week in I am happy.

chores are done (feeding animals washing up, putting a load of washing on  etc)

We start between 7:30 and 9 depending on how late ds was up the night before. ( He is very involved with church and out several nights with that plus scouts on Monday)

We are doing blocks of work because we seem to do better with immersion in fewer subjects. It also allows me to focus on less things each week.

eg this week we have mostly done art--lots of practical--making books and creative art stuff, drawing, making photos (mostly nature studies with some forensic style manipulations)  --thinking about design, making designs, composing music, playing music and playing with photoshop and the digital camera.

Last week we focused on English and that was primarily poetry that week. We also do math 30 min per day for 4 days a week---first task during table time.

Next week we will be focusing on Science and doing Apologia ,we actually do this most weeks after math, but enriching the study eg with a microscope and making a book and using camera skills learned this week---I am trying to  make learning as wholistic and integrated as possible so we often follow a rabbit trail and the schedule is blown
away.

Bible memory, Spanish, typing and copywriting are things we try and do after lunch. HOwever, copywriting has dominated the last couple of weeks because ds has taken to liking poetry and draws pictures, sometimes traces and does poetry copywriting. I go with the flow a lot---until I get really uncomfy and go back to structure and a more ordered schedule.

Bible studies and personal development have moved to weekends and evenings with Dad---having only sons it is important I think to get the guy view of things  and I notice my teens love to talk with Dad about *stuff*....it usually wanders into all sorts of interesting ideas eg recently we ended up talking for about 1.5 hour about different religions and the Pope etc --I had scheduled 30 min devotion.

We also do geography orally at night with dad a couple of times a week---just world exploration stuff like countries and political systems. and world events and current affairs. Getting Dad's ideas adn attitude is really important at this point.

I took the ideas Elizabeth mentioned about just working through the subject areas without actually scheduling each day because  I CANNOT keep to a schedule. nor can I stick to a curriculum *every* week. Also we seem to work best with focussing on one thing at a time---guys are like that and it means I don't have to think about too many things at once too.

We will do geography and History etc in weekly blocks.

After about 2 pm, my ds does other things which usually involve his loves ie music. He's building a bass Guitar for D and T ( I told him he had to do a project this year) and he is playing Bass in church so practices a lot. He also is getting into composing using the computer.

Later (3-5) I am getting him to learn how to cook a couple of times a week or he does chores and fold and puts away clothes, cleans  etc. and he plays guitar in any spare minute.

If I get in 3 solid days work I am lucky. On other days, read read read. And having math and apologia and Spanish  that can be done without me at all is great if I get called away (happens often). Also the music stuff.

Service is daily service in the family plus church and it takes priority over school.

Every second week dad is  home for a day and we do building and maintenance like using the chain saw and how to use tools by doing jobs at home and today was tiling. All practical stuff.

Sound messy? It is. ~Louise

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 My name is Basia and I just started homeschooling my daughter (8) about a month ago. So far we have had both really productive days and days when nothing gets done. I guess we are still trying to get into some sort of routine. Also I don't want to overwhelm her with too much work. Instead I think easing into the new life and approach to learning will allow her to adapt better.

As for my day .

9:00 I'm woken up by my daughter for breakfast (I was up till 3:30am the night before preparing materials for the work we are going to do). We have breakfast by ourselves (dad had already left for work).

9:30 Get dressed, shower, clean up and tidy the house a little.

10:15 We begin to do some work. We basically cover some handwriting,comprehension activities, phonics and maths. We are still using the standard workbooks that schools use but, Im planning to slowly integrate the CM approach. Still trying to work out what would be the best way to do this. During this time we have several breaks to eat, play card games, and have a sword fight (She won after striking me, accidentally, on the knuckles with the sword),

2:00pm Finish up work and pack away books. We both decide to do separate things and relax. I jump on the computer to do some more research and my daughter decides to watch 'Charlotte's Web'.

3:00pm Start preparing to go and get the bus (my daughter does pottery on Wed and Drawing and Painting on Fridays). Since I don't drive, we take a bus and then I catch a bus home. She starts at 4pm.

4:10pm I'm sitting at the bus stop thinking about how to approach teaching my daughter and motivate her to become interested in learning again. I end up confusing and stressing myself.

5:00pm I arrive home, make myself a cup of tea and sit in front of the computer to do some more reading.

5:30pm My partner picks me up (by car, hehehe) and we drive to pick our daughter up from pottery class.

6:00pm We head back home for dinner.

7:30pm Dinner done, we clean up. I get back on the computer, while they play games.

8:30pm My daughter has a bath (with way too many toys). She stays in there for more than 30 minutes and we have to tell her to get out before she catches a cold.

9:15pm We get comfortable on her bed and finish reading Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.

9:45pm My daughter is tucked in (but still browsing through a book and not quite ready for sleep). I jump back on the computer, with another cup of tea to do more reading.

Its now 2:30am and I'm trying to type very quietly so as not to disturb my partner who is sleeping. I wonder why time goes so fast when Im on the computer, and also how fast the days go by with my daughter at home now..

I guess my day isn't as exciting as some of the other peoples. With one child only so much can happen, though I cant wait to have more.
 

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Louise - 6 am... the cat let's me know it is time to get up, so I feed him then back to bed with a cuppa and "one hour with God" only it isn't one hour.

6:30  Shower and exercise bike.(are the ladies with babies jealous yet?)

7 wake the sleeper....then again 15 min later. If its a bad morning 15 min later again. Hmmm need more obedience habit.

DS feeds the animals, makes and eats his breakfast then 30 min music practice. I do email and wash dishes.

8 am  - if we are lucky it is the start of school work.... ummmm but usually it is 9 am or later. There always seems to be a heap of distractions and go slows in the morning.

Start with Math.... supposed to be 30 min but often more. DS gets involved and it can end up 1- 2 hours. He gets heaps done but there goes the schedule again. I am trying to organise myself and take care of business. The builder calls and drops by. Mum's hostel calls, need something done. etc

Try to do Apologia..... 15 min to read ???? Not likely. May be 1 hour and then we have to go through different ways of doing things. Spelling time to try and master all the mis-spelled words. 2 weeks per unit??? hmmm maybe some day... it is gradually getting faster but I have to take deep breaths and remember God's timing is not my timing.

French... should be 15 min but usually takes 30. Fun.

LAs should be 30 min but can end up 1 hour or more.  It takes time when a child needs help with *getting it*... then we end up having deep and meaningful discussions about life the universe and everything, how people learn, what our learning styles are, how to sort out new ways of understanding... you would think this would only happen a few times but somehow we end up doing this often.

Maybe we watch a show from ABC TV.... learning how to take notes from TV/lectures mostly  using mind maps.

Time to write???? Maybe. But it takes a long time!!!!!!! Another hour gone and ds takes a break... but then ends up doing art or design on the computer. Mum wanders off to just take care of..... and gets hung up ... there goes the schedule AGAIN

Check the notebooks and they still seem to be sparse. How do others make beautiful notebooks? Does not seem to be time.

Some days we study materials like glass and wood and read and take mind map notes.

Some days we might fit in art.... but not often.

The list of wonderful things to do remains long and it seems to take forever to do the basics....

What about art studies and composer studies and geography.... well maybe next week.

Then the bob-cat man arrives.... gotta go watch and ask questions.

Then we have to shift a pile of dirt....

The garden remains in chaos. But we have to move the garden bed so the gas can be moved.......So slow when you have to watch the exertion... and I hate to feel old.

Ohhhhh did we do any read aloud today?.... better pull out Augustus Caesars world... then we gotta find time to narrate it.... hmmmm writing not so good so better fit in more copywriting.... hmmm spelling needs a LOT of work.... maybe fit in more phonics review....darn where is that book?

Oops the papers have arrived and need processing and delivering.... I think I am drowning because it all happens in one room.

Oops, its Friday and ds needs to be at church to set up for youth at 3......

Oops it's Monday... ice skating (our one sporty thing) music lesson and scouts.

Oops it's Wednesday evening .... Creative at church for ds and life group for me

Oops it's Thursday. Ds has to be at his life group then off to train in video....

Hmmm what did Charlotte say about reading together at night... Is anyone home all at once?

Dinner is a juggle as people come and go at different times.... hmmmm what was that about sitting and talking and sharing time together over dinner?????  ummm I must work out a meal plan... yeah when  I do it doesn't work because people are swinging in and out at odd times. And then in the middle of that time when all is chaos I have to duck in and out delivering and picking people up.

Oops my Mum needs help or just a visit. Hmmm what did they say in church about doing more ministry work?????

Oops a paper has come in to edit.... the tax needs finishing (actually managed to do it this week ...Yeahhhh)

Not one day.... just a crazy life.

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Susan writes of her days on her website.