A Day in the Life with a 9-&-11year old...

Inspired by Marbel's post on her day in the life!

A fairly typical day from last week...

I get up around 6 or 6:15, and everyone else is still deep in sleep. I stumble around the kitchen, trying to keep quiet, making coffee, setting out the kids' breakfast, which I try to make the night before. This time, I set out apple muffins, and then cut up a couple of bowls of fruit for them, put out their vitamins, and write them a good morning note. I pack up my own breakfast - today is oatmeal - get dressed, run a brush through my hair, and then head out to feed the pets... 2 dogs, 2 cats (one indoor, one out), and 6 chickens.

I rush back in, jot down a note for the husband to let him know when I'll be back, and slip out around 7:30. Off to work!

(Now, two days a week, I drag the kids out of bed at 7, have them bundle up in robes and slippers, and they go off to my mom's for the morning. Then I don't have to leave a breakfast for them!)

While I'm at work from 8-noon, the kids get up around 9 or 9:30 most days. They eat breakfast, check their personal pets (a water dragon and a guinea pig), and the last few days, make their beds. They play games on the Wii, or watch some TV. There's frequently art work while I'm gone, and at several points during the morning, M checks in with them, gets stuck reading a story, or showing them how something works, etc. Around 11, they get dressed and head out to the driveway for their latest game that involves a football, foam weaponry, and sometimes a Frisbee. That's usually where I find them when I get home about 12:30! I let them play a while longer, while I head in, check the mail, and start lunch.

Lately, I eat lunch - leftover lentil soup - while reading a book for pleasure, then I feed them: black bean & spinach quesdillas, and apple slices. That way, I can read to them from my Afternoon Basket while they eat! Other times we'll watch a documentary and all eat together, but today I read a few picture books from A Picture Perfect Childhood, and then it's more chore time. I wash the dishes, and when they're dry, The Girl puts them away. The Boy checks the trash and the recycling, and decides that only the recycling needs to go out right now. I have them pick up all their toys from their morning activities, and check the dogs and cats.

Homeschooling time at last, somewhere around 2:30. The Boy works on spelling and word roots by himself, while I read to The Girl from her Life of Fred book. Then we switch - The Boy works with me on his math (also Life of Fred, different book), while The Girl works in Explode the Code. This is the a recent development... I was helping her through it, but she's reading well enough now to do it on her own, and then have me check her work when she's done! The Boy then moves on to free writing (he loves the book Unjournaling for writing prompts!), and The Girl reads out loud to me from a leveled reader.

After we knock out the basics, I read some poetry (Robert Frost at the moment), and then we read from Pizza, Pigs & Poetry, and talk about writing poetry. I read from a book to supplement history - today it is You Wouldn't Want to be a Sumerian Slave, from a series the kids adore. Then we end up reading Gilgamesh the King. History complete for the day, we start up on science. This time, we work with bubbles from the book Bubble-Ology, learning about the Bernoulli effect, and how to predict when a bubble will pop. That takes about an hour because it is all so fun and interesting, so we're heading towards 5 pm. We wrap it up with a little reading from The Invention of Hugo Cabret. When we finish that, I send the kids off to watch a nature documentary, and I head to the kitchen to start dinner.

They finish the documentary (Mammals, from Life), and head back outside for a few more minutes of play, this time with their dad. I've got dinner well underway, and so I get a few more things done around the house, and check my email, facebook, etc. We eat around 7:30, then watch a re-run of Top Chef, before the kids head off to get ready for bed. They're in bed by 8:45, and I read to The Girl from Dancing Shoes, while The Boy reads to himself. Then I finish up reading a chapter from The Magician's Elephant to both of them, and finally, lights out around 9 or 9:15. I make myself some tea, and head to bed too, for a half hour or so "homework" reading, and then I watch a comedy show (stand-up) with M before falling asleep.

This was a fairly typical day overall. Sometimes we have a playdate, or fencing, or head to the library, and then lessons are later, but generally this is how it goes! Come on over to Simple Homeschool to see more typical homeschooling days, or to share your own!