This is where I am now… we’ve started earlier or later when we've needed to for big kids or Eric’s work schedule. (Be sure to tell everyone that you won’t be answering the phone until after a specified time. This will be your job… a phone call can throw the whole day off.)
6:30 am – Mom up to work-out… get the day started
7:00 – Kids up; do their morning chores (beds, clothes, hair,teeth, etc.); breakfast
8:00 – Devotional; Whatever you like… we’ve done a poem of the week or quote or scripture, &/or foreign language phrase to post and recite each morning; Pledge of Allegiance; Scripture study; Review Schedule for the day; Family Prayer; Group Hug :)
8:30 - Course Study: (We do these classes as a group with the younger kids, not with the High Schoolers). Mon. – History; Tue. – Geography; Wed. – Science; Thur. – Foreign Language; Fri. – Art
9:30 - Workbooks/ Freestyle: Spend time one on one with the workbook child while the other child goes through a rotation of free reading (library books that they love), computer time, creative writing assignment, math fact toys like Turbo Twist or use a stop-watch to track how fast they can finish a row of math facts, educational toy (like all those cool Leap Frog toys or DS educational games); basically freestyle activities are educational projects that the child can do on his own without help from mom.
11:30 - Lunch: Everyone helps make it & clean-up together; also a good time to get their chores done.
12:30 - Rotate: Finish working through each child's workbooks with them. It may take less time than this... you’ll figure out how much time they need after a day or two. Eventually, the kids can work through their books with very little help from you, but you'll want this time to correct their work and watch for concepts that they didn't quite understand.
2:30 - P.E./ Music Lessons or Practice: We have Wii Fit, work-out DVDs like Zumba, dance videos, a treadmill (they can jog while they watch a tv show), mini tramp, or we’ve gone to the community pool or bike riding trail. You may decide to sign them up for a team sport/dance/karate and count that, instead.
This schedule changes from year to year, but the items listed in it remain the same... they just get shuffled around according to our needs. For details of what goes on with each item, check out the "Homeschool Ideas" page.
