School Schedule

    Today I'll share our school day with you.  I'll give a little detail on what we use (maybe another day I'll do more) but this will give you the "insiders" look on our school day!

9:30 Table Time
School starts at the table together.  We do spelling words, mapping, copy work or journaling, handwriting books, and some kind of small writing work like learning how to put thoughts together, adding details etc. This is where we also work on our Memory Box which I talked about here. We have Scripture and lots of other things mixed in like personal info and even grammar rules and science facts.  My kids love to memorize and this helps me keep it all organized. The kids work in their handwriting books (learning cursive etc.) while waiting.  Elijah takes a bit longer on writing. Caleb is a little longer on spelling.  If you're done and waiting you can work on something quietly but you may not distract everyone at the table!
Next! Independent Work
Table Time ends at a different time everyday, but when it's done they move on to their own quiet work.  The older boys have typing, math and memory work(something for public speaking- right now it's a poem). Elijah has all the same minus the typing for now and Carter is working through a Grammar program that I tried doing with several kids at once and decided I might lose my mind- so he's the lucky one this year!
11:30 Core
This year we are using Sonlight Core 1+2 all together along with their science(this is waaayyy below Carter but he digs deeper in his reading and I like us learning together as much as possible).  Sonlight Core includes a Bible reading, memory work, history readings, prayer for different countries we are learning about, Geography Songs (whatever song we are working on is what we map at Table Time), a fun read-aloud, poetry and right now Aesop's Fables. Science right now is weather so yesterday we read and learned how to make a cloud in a bottle (pretty cool actually). This is done mostly as read alouds and we are all together with little ones running here and there and occasionally interrupting.  While I read they can draw or I have a few drawers of quiet play things they may get out to do including pattern blocks like these and butterflies like these.  They are allowed to do these things quietly while I read EXCEPT when reading the Bible which deserves proper respect- mouth closed and eyes on the reader.
After
After Core it's usually lunch time. If it's not and they have time they can finish any other assignments they have not finished.
Quiet Reading Time
After lunch they have a bit of a break until 2:00.  At 2 they read quietly all spread out throughout the house.  Today I have two in the front room and two downstairs.  My beginning readers are usually close with lots of questions in the beginning.  This year Caleb and Elijah are doing Sonlight readers.  Elijah is in Readers 1 (1st-3rd grade books) and Caleb is working on enjoying reading after quite a big of struggling. He is doing Intermediate 2 which is 2nd-6th grade reading.  Hannah is working on Reading Made Easy which is a lot like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons type book. Carter always has his nose in a book so he's not really an issue.  Right now he's reading the first book in The Lord of the Rings series and has 3 or 4 books on hold at the library on military history.  He loves to read which I hold tightly to because that was not the case AT ALL until mid to late 4th grade for him.  He, like Caleb really struggled.  One day something just clicked all on it's own.  Caleb's didn't click on his own, but backing him up and making reading easy (even though he "could" do more) has helped a ton.  Carter and Caleb also read a daily Bible reading.  The two boys and Paul and I are doing a read through your Bible in a year program. This year we are doing a chronological reading and next year we will choose something different.  We just started this in the fall and I really like it.  We can all discuss what we are reading and be on the same page.

    That's it!  That is our day.  I can't think of anything else major we do on a regular basis.  We have lots of ideas and goals for next year but right now we are just faithfully plugging away. What does your school day look like?

Our Daily Schedule