What is a day in the life of a homeschooling parent?

do you run it like a school? or differently?


I'm curious when i have kids i want to homeschool themWhat is a day in the life of a homeschooling parent?
I think that a day in the life of a homeschooling parent is almost as varied as their are homeschooling parents. Some prefer to re-create a classroom setting. Most learn toward a less formal setting.


Like another poster, Our home does not have a schedule, but we do have a routine. I usually get up at 6:30 and have a quiet time and my first cup of coffee alone before waking the kids. I wake them up between 7:00 and 7:30 am. They come down and I get their breakfast. As they eat, we do Literature together. I read orally to them as they eat.


After literature, which lasts anywhere from 1 hour until.... (it can depend upon how interested they are in the book we are reading and how long my voice holds out). After literature, my oldest goes to his room to begin his schoolwork. He's using Switched on Schoolhouse and Teaching Textbooks and is 100% independent. He will come down to tell something interesting he is learning or ask the occasional question. He also comes down if he hears me instructing a younger siblings and want's to join the conversation or add to the lesson from his own experience or recollection of that younger grade.





While I dictate spelling lesson (using Spelling Power) to 6th or 7th grader, the other logs onto their Switched on Schoolhouse and begins their work. They can choose any of their subjects to begins their core work. When I am finished Spelling with the first, I do spelling with the second, and the first begins their SOS work.


We do the same procedure with Math. My younger children are using Math U See. I work with each 1:1 to se sure they understand their lesson of the day.





After Spelling and Math, I make myself available for the younger children as they work on their SOS. I use this time to do any chores I have for the day. Or I can catch up with my reading. Most days unless we read beyond 9:30 we are done by lunchtime. We will have lunch together, often outside. In the afternoon the boys are free to pursue their own interests until chore time, at 4:00pm.





Fridays in our house is ';Fun Friday';


We still begin the day with Literature. We have no academics assigned on Fridays. Instead, after literature, we work together on Science Experiments for the week. Everyone works together. The younger ones work with their older brother's Chemistry experiments, and my Junior helps his younger siblings. After science we do a variety of things. Sometimes we watch educational videos. We especially like Drive Through History and the Williamsburg Virtual Field Trips that we subscribed to this year. Other times we watch videos of the books we have read. After reading the Illiad and the Odyssey this year we watched Troy. After studying the American Revolution and Civil War we watched the Patriot and Gone with the Wind.


Other Friday activities include Field Trips, get together with other homeschoolers for swimming, bowling, roller skating, sports, hiking, and sometimes they just hang and play video games or board games.





You can make your homeschool schedule as flexible as you wish to meet the needs of your family.What is a day in the life of a homeschooling parent?
Very flexible and changing over time because we don't do school at home. The last few days for example it's been lovely and sunny so we've spent most of the time out in the garden. Dd has played with the kids next door and by herself, has helped with the gardening, done some pond dipping, bug spotting and played with her pet chicks. The only formal study has been a few minutes piano practice per day and watching an episode of ';The Life of Birds'; every evening to tie in with the birds/chickens 'project'. Today it's raining so I'll be suggesting things to do, there's some activities for the chicken project, Medieval history, French or Musical theory. If she turns her nose up at all of those there are arts and crafts we can do or she can just entertain herself. Or it might stop raining and she'll be back out in the garden again. We'll just see what happens.
I've heard of homeschool parents who ring a bell to begin their day and have the kids stand and recite the pledge. Even heard of a family locally who had their six children wear ';school'; uniforms--which other moms were laughing about but then we started thinking that with six kids it would make it easier to keep track of them all when they are out and about.





We don't do that sort of thing; don't run things like a school in that sense.





We do have a family room with a small table in it that we use for some of the kids' lessons. But we also sit on the floor for some things, do lessons in the living room, or while eating meals or snacks at the kitchen table, or in the car while heading somewhere fun.





We usually do some lessons in the morning for maybe an hour before going out to martial arts, piano lessons, library, the store, field trips or whatever we have planned for the day. Then we do another half hour or hour of lessons in the afternoon. We don't follow a time schedule (as in do this subject at this time), but I have in mind our priorities; I try to see that math and piano practice are done daily. Religious studies are done almost daily. Social studies, science, grammar and such are done maybe 3 times a week--but we still do more with them than the public schools around here do.





Often I'll read aloud for our lessons, while the kids eat snacks or lunch. They are a captive audience then, since they have to sit still to eat. And they enjoy listening and discussing things at the table.





I play a lot of things by ear. If they're clearly antsy and tired of sitting still, we find other ways to do our lessons. Artwork, doing projects, running and jumping during lessons (such as me calling out multiplication problems, while there are papers spread on the floor with various numbers on them and they have to run and stand on the appropriate answer), or we get up and go to a park or museum (and recite math facts in the car on the way or talk about something we've been reading about).





We go to the library a lot. While the kids check out things that they want to, I check out things that I'd like to read aloud to them (especially children's classics or biographies or books on a topic we're studying), as well as books that I'd like to leave just lying around to tempt them with (they'll often pick them up and read them on their own) and educational videos or DVDs.





I'll sometimes pull out educational videos and start them up as though I'd like to watch them while washing dishes or making supper. The kids usually clamor to watch, too, and learn science or about a composer or a period in history. Education while they think they're just veging in front of the television.





Anyway, it isn't really like school here as far as sitting at a desk all day or having a set schedule. We're out in the community far more than school kids are. The kids do know that they have to get a reasonable amount of lessons done before they can do some things, like watch afternoon cartoons. And if they start to get too wild, I'll have them sit down while I read to them from something educational to calm them down physically and get their mental energy engaged in something more productive.





Some people are more scheduled than others. You'll have to learn to play it by ear or see what works for you and your family. Some people are worried that they won't do enough ';school stuff'; if they don't have a set schedule, but if you set priorities and work toward them, you'll find that you get plenty done. In fact, you have to be careful not to work the kids too hard since a couple of hours of homeschool lessons is as intense as six hours of public school (think about all the wasted time there) and you don't want them burning out and hating learning...





Good luck
When my oldest was starting Kindergarten, we had a ';school room';. It was a building adjacent to our home, complete with a chalk board and desks. That did not last long-I quickly realized that it was not conducive to a good educational environment. I also feel like learning/education should be a natural part of life, not something that is limited to a certain place or time.





My oldest just completed fifth grade now, and we have a ';school room'; in our home. It is actually the formal dining room, but it is more like a library because we store things in there-there are a lot of book cases and other supplies. Sometimes we do lessons at the dining room table, sometimes we do them at the kitchen peninsula counter, sometimes we do them outside. Schooling is integrated with our life now.





We do not have a schedule-we have a routine. Sometimes that routine gets thrown off track-frequently, in fact, since there are co-op classes, field trips, and various other academic and social activities to attend. The routine helps us, though, without limiting us, and we can quickly adjust to whatever situation arises.
Well we get up and have beeakfast as we all take turns getting ready. We do our schoolwork until lunchish (it takes less time cause there are not 20 kids) We sit together on the couch (it's not a big house) and I help and explain for who needs it. Then we have lunch, play outside, go for a walk, a bike ride or attend a homeschool activity with other homeschool kids. next is chores. All working together it doesn't take long. By this point other kids are comming home from school. The kids either attend an after school activity / sport or play with kids in the neighbourhood. Then supper around 7, tv or play in the backyard and they are in bed by 8:30. Then I prepare the next days lessons, watch tv and sew or bead. Wednesdays I go to coffee club with other Native Moms in the morning. Then the kids and I have a special day. We may go out or I teach them traditional skills of our culture. My relationship with my children has benifited from the expierence.
I'm an English home-educating parent and we don't call it home schooling as such cos we don't have the same regulations about it as in the U.S. Our law simply states that we have an obligation to ensure our child receives an appropriate education at school or otherwise. So we call ourselves Education Otherwise !





Therefore a parent's typical day could vary from very structured -following the school curriculum - to 'autonomous' - doing absolutely nothing (in the belief that the child himself will want to learn and will direct himself) except be there as an enabler e.g. provide resources, chauffeur child to a site of interest





In our house, we get up at 7 am and are ready to start the day at 8.30 cos that's how I think it'll be when my daughter starts work in the Real World! She does math (often with my help) English French Spanish Latin Geography History and Sciences both on the internet and from various course study guides and workbooks. She reads a lot. We often read together. At the end of our short road is a commmunity computer learning centre so she does all her IT there, but also pops in quite a lot to do her studying on her own (change of scene, away from Mum, bit of peace for me!!). They asked her a while back if she'd like to do work experience, so, at 12, she also works there half a day a week, answering the phone, typing,, filing, making the tea; and has thereby become involved in other things like helping prepare leaflets for the local fossil festival. She also spends a lot of time, because where we live is very safe, out with her dogs at the beach, rockpooling, or upriver. Two days a week we go to a home ed. group in a nearby town, where she gets team sports, and lots of friends as well as whatever activities the various parents, many of whom are ex-teachers, can supply, e.g. drama, music. She has piano, ballet, singing lessons. This year is doing golf academy (very cheap!) and sailing school. We go to church. She used to go to school and has kept some of her old school friends, as well as making new amongst neighbours, activities (ballet, church, youth club), and other home ed. children.
We started running it like a school but learned very quickly that that didn't work for us. We do some work together and they do some on their own. We use Sonlight and just work on the lesson plans they set up. One day at a time. We sit where we are most comfortable (outside in the grass if we can). I'll admit that it was difficult to break away from the ';school environment'; but once we did things just kind of worked themselves out.
If planned well, it can be very conducive to learning. Never do unschooling; the kid should be in school if you choose that path. I think it's good but you need to teach your kids to be responsible individual thinkers rather than pushing your values on them; it can be easy to do that since your one-on-one but you will get a healthier, happier adult if you teach them to develop their own toolkit. It is also important to be someone you can talk to.
They help their children with packets