a little bit of what our homeschool day looks like

In case you wondered, I thought I would share how our days are supposed to go.  Notice I said "supposed to", not how they always go.  Homeschooling four kids is a dance~sometimes it is smooth and sometimes it's full of toe-stomping moments.  We have learned to go with the flow.

I plan out what their week will look like in advance.  I have two very type A kids, who love to have a schedule and a calendar.  They are really good stewards of their time and are the two that will work ahead to have a day off.  I don't mind that they do that, I just have to keep up with it.

I will give them what is due for the week, and they work toward that goal in various ways.  Sometimes one boy will do all of his math for the week in one day.  Another boy loves to do everything on his computer and save his work to a flash drive.  One boy likes to start with math everyday and another boy likes to do his math last.

They're all very different.

They work for a couple hours, then they take a break.  Today we started with a family meeting around the table as we ate breakfast.  I told them my expectations for this year and they gave me their word that they would meet them.  We had a devotion together, then we prayed.

Tomorrow when they start their day, they will begin on their own with quiet time.  That might include reading from a devotion book or it might just be reading the Bible...but they are expected to read their Bibles everyday.  From there we will all eat breakfast together, then we'll start on work for the day.

When they stop for a break, that's when we'll fold laundry, they'll go put all theirs away, we'll make beds and get dressed.  All this takes about thirty minutes, then they'll start working again, until twelve thirty.  We save the fun stuff for the afternoon, like science and history.  Anything that has to do with experiments and maps is always fun for boys of all ages.

We work until it's done or until frustration kicks in, and when that happens, we step away for a while.  Our way of homeschool isn't perfect by any means, and most days I feel like I'm not doing it right, but it's what works for our family.  They like the feeling of being in control of their day, and this way gives them that.  They also like to plan ahead, and again, this way is great for that too.

I feel so fortunate to be able to do this with my kids, and I love mostly every minute.  There are days when I want to scream and pull their hair out (Ha!) and when I just want a few minutes of not being asked a question, but truthfully, the positives far outweigh the negatives of homeschooling four boys.  We love our routine and they love it as well.

I thought I would share some pictures of what our first day for this year looked like.

Actually it's just this one picture.  The rest of the boys worked upstairs today, but at this point, Noah had gone through a couple of subjects and was reading his library book.  Jonah did this, too, but Crash didn't snuggle with him like he did with Noah.  Did you know that Noah is the animal whisperer?  This boy is so good with animals of all kinds, and I am convinced that all of our pets love him the most.

And then, because they had such a great morning of hard work, we all decided that we needed a mental health break.  They headed to the park on their bikes and I sat down to read.

Crash finally stopped his crying long enough for me to get started on this David Platt book.  Yes, the dog cries when they leave him here.  He loves them and does not love me.  ;)

Our first day has been great!  I couldn't be happier with how today turned out.  I pray you've had a great day, as well.  Love to all.