The Heart of the Matter has started a weekly Meme, with different topics, each week.
This weeks topic is: “A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler.”
This is the first time homeschooling my youngest daughter – - I had homeschooled my oldest daughter. I am noticing how similar our days run, as it is currently Mom lead. I would like school to eventually become child-led – - which will have a whole different schedule, I am sure.
So, for now, this is what a ‘typical’ school day looks like (mind you, this does NOT include days that we are away from home for any reason.):
9:30 am – Boo gets up, gets dressed, goes through the bathroom and eats cereal.
10:00am – We begin school. Our schedule changes daily (as far as the order in which we approach subjects) – - but, we have been pretty good about having the following in every day: History, Literature, Poetry, Geography, Science and either Art or Music Appreciation. (I still need to order the Math Curriculum – - it is a little much for our budget, so I might wait until the taxes come in….)
12:00pm to 1:00pm – During the noon hour, we will break for lunch.
1:00pm – 3:00pm – We will work on whatever wasn’t finished from the morning. We are usually done with school by 3pm.
I have listed specifics about our weeks with the “AAR’s” – - check those out for a much better (and more complete) view of what we do!! 
Our day is pretty relaxed. We have MANY breaks throughout the day, as she is still acclimating to homeschool. We school four days per week – - with the fifth day as optional, IF all of the work for the week is complete. The ‘written’ plan is to have Friday’s off; however, this week, I had oral surgery on Monday, so we took that day off, instead.) The ability to be flexible is SO great!!! As a matter of fact, she was invited to spend a week with my sister – - with the wondrous flexibility afforded with homeschool, I can send her for a week and know we won’t be behind. 
Flexibility is definitely one of the fabulous perks of homeschooling! I hope she has a great time with your sister– it’s a blessing to be able to visit like that. All of my sisters live out-of-state and/or work full time.
I hope you have a speedy recovery from your surgery!
Marsha
I too love being flexable. I used to not be that way, but learned to let go and I am more at peace about things.
Thanks for sharing your day!
~Tina
Ya know with my kids, some are mom led and some are child led. All kids are different. And that’s okay. :O)
My oldest is self led. My 2nd is mom led, yet she is becoming more self led in the way of the Arts.
My 3rd is mom led, but with all my kids I allow them to choose which subject they want to tackle first. As long as their daily list is done, it doesn’t matter to me. Some morning are good for Math while other days nights are better.
Timmy is 5 so it’ very different with him. He loves to learn visually and hands on. But sitting down to practice writing is a chore for him. He knows how to but hates it. It’s like he’s bored. I’ll take suggestions that’s for sure.
The flexibility of homeschooling is great. When I was in grade school (I was homeschooled as well) there were weeks my mom would ask my sister and I if we wanted to do what we called “double school” on one day so that we could take the following off to do something special. We always loved those weekends, and were easily motivated to get twice the work done.
I have my 1st grader on a four-day school week too. It’s nice to have that fifth day to catch up (when needed) or to just go do something fun as a family–field trips to the park, zoo, or wherever.
Hope your daughter enjoys the week with her aunt! What a special treat.
Hey Heidi!
So glad you two are having such a great time of it! We’re doing the flexible thing right now, too. Bug was home 2 weeks at Christmas so we kept it mostly to reading during that last week. This week the girls are participating in a spelling bee (our first!) on Tuesday, pretty much all day. So we’ll likely double up tomorrow on some subjects, and then catch up on the rest later throughout the week to stay more or less on schedule.
Have you read about the MEP math program? You might want to consider it, at least until you get the curriculum you are planning on. Miquon is also pretty affordable. I have links for both in this blog entry. I haven’t tried much of MEP, but there are a whole bunch who use it. Miquon is pretty inexpensive as an eBook too. $13 would pay for a whole year’s worth! We really love it
Take care,
Ruby
Yes, it is interesting how some kids are self led and others not so much. My eldest son (14) is recognising that in areas of his weakness he needs more guidances – so though it looks mum led reality is he asked for it so that is a strength!