What a typical homeschool day looks like for us
I'll be honest, this varies from day to day. A few things are pretty "typical", but since I don't try to replicate school at home, we have a very lose schedule. This is what a few days days this week looked like for us... (This post includes affiliate links which means I make a small commission if you buy the products)
Monday - On Monday, I decided I wanted my boys to start learning smart money management. They have had an allowance in the past, but it never went well & I felt like they completely missed the point. We started reading Kidpreneurs : Young Entrepreneurs with Big Ideas. I really want them to start thinking like entrepreneurs now, since their dad & I are both entrepreneurs. After that, we watched several short videos on YouTube explaining the importance of saving money while you're young & the power of compound interest. Casey latched onto it right away. I could see the wheels in his head turning. He always wants to make money.
We took a break from that to do some math. I was having trouble getting the online math program we've been using to work, so I pulled out a math book & worked on a page with Connor. He still struggles with math, so I had to walk him thru the problems.
After that, I met my sister in town for lunch followed by the library. The boys got piles of library books to bring home for the week. Connor mostly picked out books on different countries. He pretty much cleaned the shelf. Casey picked out books on money as well as some animal books. We were supposed to go hiking after that, but it decided to rain, so we came home. I brought my nephews home with me, so they just played the rest of the afternoon.
Tuesday - Tuesday was September 11, so I wanted to make sure my boys knew the significance of that day. We hadn't really talked about it before as they were typically in school (or too little) so this was the first year I really wanted to explain it. We pulled up a bunch of YouTube videos & watched news clips & documentaries on it. It feels like it happened just a year or two ago. I can't believe it's been 17 years...
The other thing in the news was Hurricane Florence, so we watched news clips & short documentaries on hurricanes. The kids were fascinated with it. We'll have to watch live coverage when it actually hits. Part of what I LOVE about what we do is that it makes it very relevant to the kids. Instead of just learning about hurricanes, we watch one as it forms & hits land. There's something about seeing one in real-time that makes a bigger impression.
Connor is really into Micronations right now, so when I let him "free research", that's the topic he currently defaults to. He watched several of the Micronations videos while working on his Micronations website. Casey, on the other hand, has the mind of an engineer. He loves to free build awesome creations using Legos. He was also working on a pulley system using boxes & duct tape...
Tuesday & Thursday afternoons the boys have Forest School for 3 hours. They learn to build campfires & shelters, do lasagna composting, observe & record cloud formations for NASA, work with the Caribbean Sea program to observe & document local water sources, use the iNaturalist app to document wildlife, and more.
They typically finish the day by reading for an hour or so in their rooms before they fall asleep.
Wednesday - On Wednesday, I decided I wanted to start talking about health, so we watched Overfed & Undernourished. It's a documentary about a boy on his journey to a healthier lifestyle. After that, we loaded up & went hiking & swimming. It didn't last as long as I'd hoped, but we came back & had lunch. Casey researched September 11 some more while Connor went back to his Micronations studies.
We've tried several different programs for math. The one we did on Wednesday was
Adapted Mind. My boys love the online math games, but it's sometimes glitchy so they get frustrated with it. They both listened to Brains On (one of my favorite kids' podcasts) for science. I love podcasts because we can listen to them in the car. Thankfully, they have lots of really engaging ones that my kids love, and I'm surprised at the amount of learning that goes on with them.
Wednesday was more laid back. Lots of reading. Lots of Lego free play. Lots of podcasts & Adventures in Odyssey. I love that we can have chill days & busy days. Really, they learn something new every single day, so I'm not worried about a set curriculum. I am trying to be more intentional with certain things (like this week we started watching short video clips on health & nutrition), but I love not having a set schedule. It works well for us & learning has been coming naturally.
So really, every day is different. There are certain things that they do virtually every day (like tons of reading), but the specifics vary a lot. Find what works for you and embrace it!
Monday - On Monday, I decided I wanted my boys to start learning smart money management. They have had an allowance in the past, but it never went well & I felt like they completely missed the point. We started reading Kidpreneurs : Young Entrepreneurs with Big Ideas. I really want them to start thinking like entrepreneurs now, since their dad & I are both entrepreneurs. After that, we watched several short videos on YouTube explaining the importance of saving money while you're young & the power of compound interest. Casey latched onto it right away. I could see the wheels in his head turning. He always wants to make money.
We took a break from that to do some math. I was having trouble getting the online math program we've been using to work, so I pulled out a math book & worked on a page with Connor. He still struggles with math, so I had to walk him thru the problems.
After that, I met my sister in town for lunch followed by the library. The boys got piles of library books to bring home for the week. Connor mostly picked out books on different countries. He pretty much cleaned the shelf. Casey picked out books on money as well as some animal books. We were supposed to go hiking after that, but it decided to rain, so we came home. I brought my nephews home with me, so they just played the rest of the afternoon.Tuesday - Tuesday was September 11, so I wanted to make sure my boys knew the significance of that day. We hadn't really talked about it before as they were typically in school (or too little) so this was the first year I really wanted to explain it. We pulled up a bunch of YouTube videos & watched news clips & documentaries on it. It feels like it happened just a year or two ago. I can't believe it's been 17 years...
The other thing in the news was Hurricane Florence, so we watched news clips & short documentaries on hurricanes. The kids were fascinated with it. We'll have to watch live coverage when it actually hits. Part of what I LOVE about what we do is that it makes it very relevant to the kids. Instead of just learning about hurricanes, we watch one as it forms & hits land. There's something about seeing one in real-time that makes a bigger impression.
Connor is really into Micronations right now, so when I let him "free research", that's the topic he currently defaults to. He watched several of the Micronations videos while working on his Micronations website. Casey, on the other hand, has the mind of an engineer. He loves to free build awesome creations using Legos. He was also working on a pulley system using boxes & duct tape...Tuesday & Thursday afternoons the boys have Forest School for 3 hours. They learn to build campfires & shelters, do lasagna composting, observe & record cloud formations for NASA, work with the Caribbean Sea program to observe & document local water sources, use the iNaturalist app to document wildlife, and more.
They typically finish the day by reading for an hour or so in their rooms before they fall asleep.
Wednesday - On Wednesday, I decided I wanted to start talking about health, so we watched Overfed & Undernourished. It's a documentary about a boy on his journey to a healthier lifestyle. After that, we loaded up & went hiking & swimming. It didn't last as long as I'd hoped, but we came back & had lunch. Casey researched September 11 some more while Connor went back to his Micronations studies.
We've tried several different programs for math. The one we did on Wednesday was
Adapted Mind. My boys love the online math games, but it's sometimes glitchy so they get frustrated with it. They both listened to Brains On (one of my favorite kids' podcasts) for science. I love podcasts because we can listen to them in the car. Thankfully, they have lots of really engaging ones that my kids love, and I'm surprised at the amount of learning that goes on with them. Wednesday was more laid back. Lots of reading. Lots of Lego free play. Lots of podcasts & Adventures in Odyssey. I love that we can have chill days & busy days. Really, they learn something new every single day, so I'm not worried about a set curriculum. I am trying to be more intentional with certain things (like this week we started watching short video clips on health & nutrition), but I love not having a set schedule. It works well for us & learning has been coming naturally.
So really, every day is different. There are certain things that they do virtually every day (like tons of reading), but the specifics vary a lot. Find what works for you and embrace it!
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