School routine - how the schedule works

Yesterday I told you about the new schedules I created for the kids and myself and today I’m going to explain how our school day actually works.

The printed schedule is pretty basic, but there’s actually a lot that happens in those “school” periods.

A typical day goes something like this:

5:45 – I try to get up this early each day so I can get myself showered, dressed and ready to face the day (any extra time I have is used for computer time)
7:00 – The kids are usually all up and dressed by about 7:30, so I start preparing breakfast and then we eat and cleanup the breakfast dishes.
8:00 – Chores* for the boys and me and any last minute school prep
9:00 – Our school day starts with Bible, memory verses and Catechism practice, then Jacob works on his math mostly independently, while I work on preschool skills/curriculum with Eli
10/10:30 – Break for snack
10:30 – Jacob moves into phonics/reading/writing, etc. I can usually accomplish other small tasks while he is doing this. If Eli’s lesson for the day is complete, he then has a bit of free time to do puzzles, games, read books, use an activity bin or play with Lego’s. Rachael plays or colors nearby or “helps” me with whatever I might be doing. Sometimes we get science in before lunch, most days we don’t.
12:00 – The boys help Rachael do a quick cleanup of any toys/books/puzzles she’s strewn out while I prepare lunch.  Then we eat.
12:30 to 2:00 – After lunch is cleanup time and Rachael goes down for her nap. We finish up any remaining school that wasn’t completed before lunch (typically science and history).
2:00 - The boys have an hour of bedroom/quiet-play time.
3/3:30 – Rachael usually wakes around this time and we head outside for playtime.
4/4:30 – We head back inside and the kids watch tv or a movie while I finish up dinner prep and any last minute tasks before Michael gets home.
5:30 – Dinner and cleanup

Obviously, this is a typical day where we are home all day. If we have appointments or other outside activities, I try to schedule them in the afternoon since Jacob focuses better on school work in the morning. There are also other days in which we will be gone all day doing fun things and we scratch formal schooling on those days.

We are also not always this rigid in our schedule.  Some days we decide to bake cookies (doesn’t that count as HomeEc and math??) in lieu of a subject or we might seize a beautiful day to have a field trip to the zoo or any number of other fun learning experiences.

* Chore ideas and how we handle them coming another day!

This post is linked to:
Not Back to School Blog Hop
Works for Me Wednesday