A Day in the Life

Sharing is caring!

We are one month into our new school year, with all new curriculum. I posted right before we started what the “plan” was for the year, and you can check it out here if you are interested. For the “Not Back to School Blog Hop” I’m going to give you a glimpse into our daily schedule so you can see HOW I am using these programs.

A day in the life with a 6.5 year old, a 4.5 year old, and a 1 year old (Monday’s Schedule)

0630- Bug is up banging around in the kitchen. He knows to pour himself and his brother cereal, and get dressed….. and NOT wake me up unless he has to.

0700- Bug is “whispering” that the baby is awake. Mr. Man runs into my bedroom, naked. He then runs into the dining room, spilling his bowl of milky cereal.

0710- Baby is up and in her highchair. Bug grumps at Mr. Man as he cleans up the Spill. I grab a diet soda and check email. Mr. Man is still naked.

0720- I supervise Bug’s chores*. Mr. Man is still naked, but is at least carrying around his underwear. Little Miss is on her third banana.

0725- I set up the kids schedule cards in their binders, and check my lesson plans. I give the kids a warning that we will start school soon. I mark attendance for the day…. Then I check Facebook. Bug eagerly grabs his binder to look at the schedule, and then starts assembling pillows on the floor for circle time. Mr. Man is still naked.

0745- I wrestle Mr. Man into underwear using any means necessary. Little Miss is set free to eat the cheerios she dropped on the floor. I tell the kids to get to circle time.

Ready to go for circle time

0800- Circle time! We start by reviewing the First Language Lessons (FLL) poem we have been memorizing. This week, it’s “Work”. We go over the contents of Saxon’s Math Meeting, labeling our days in school (21!), graphing the weather, singing the days of the week and months of the year songs, noting yesterday, today and tomorrow, building a pattern with pattern blocks, and skip counting. We do the next FLL lesson (which covers grammar, some poetry, some art, and some narration exercises). We review the timeline cards we’ve learned so far- for now, they look at the picture and recite the title and date. I read them the backs of the timeline cards. Then, we go over our Logic of English (LOE) phonogram flashcards- all the ones we have covered so far, as well as the spelling rule cards that have been introduced.

0850- Bug sits down to do his Saxon timed math drill for the day, and then uses Math U See blocks to “build” all the questions he could not automatically recall in a minute. I require him to build every.last.problem on the sheet, even when he knows them. He doesn’t mind, because he calls it “Lego Math”

0900- Bug works on 2 sheets from First Grade Daily 6 Trait Writing, One sheet of Explode the Code 4, and the daily worksheet from Math Made Easy Addition*. While he works on this, I sit down with Five in a Row for Mr. Man’s “Special Mommy school time”. This week is our first week doing this, we’re doing Madeline, because the Eiffel Tour is his favorite place to go. We look up France on the globe, color a picture, and glue them in our lapbook. We read a little Life of Fred for his math. Little Miss does laps around the living room, pulls books off the bookcase, and tries to eat Bug’s workbooks.

0930- Snack time! Cheese sticks and grapes all around. The kids go and play. I check email/facebook/the Well Trained Mind forum. Little Miss makes a big mess under her highchair, no doubt trying to save snacks for later.

But I really can’t be annoyed with this making all the messes

1000- Baby starts to fuss, so I tuck her into bed for her morning nap. I tell Mr. Man he can hang out in the living room as long as he is quiet and I sit bug down at the table for lessons.

1005- Mr. Man throws something across the room. Bug checks his schedule chart and asks if he can have his stickers yet. We start LOE. I only schedule 10-15 minutes of work a day for spelling, so we are done quickly.

1015- Mr. Man hits Bug. Bug cries. Mr. Man gets sent to play in his room. We sit down on the couch to read some of Grammar Island. We get bored of that book, so we pull out Sentence Island instead. Mud makes us giggle, and we decide we really like Michael Clay Thompson, just not Grammar Island.

1030- I pop in the Essentials in Writing DVD, pausing the lesson for Bug to answer the teacher when he talks to the classroom. We pull out the daily worksheet, and I explain it, and review the video. Bug gets to work on it. I check on Mr. Man to make sure he isn’t destroying anything (he is…. He colored his legs purple with the markers I thought I hid), and I send him to take a bath. I grab another diet soda, start a load of laundry and check Facebook (yes, again).

1045- We go over Bug’s worksheet, and review parts of speech by making our spelling words into sentences, and then marking the sentence. Mr. Man gets water all over the bathroom floor. Little miss still sleeps.

Setting it up as a “puzzle” on the whiteboard makes grammar more fun

1100- Bug eats another snack. I drink another soda. Mr. Man drinks the bathwater. Little Miss sleeps.  I consider checking the well trained mind again, feel guilty and realize since the majority of the US is ASLEEP, nothing interesting is happening online anyways, and clean the kitchen.

1120- I call Bug back to the table and tell Mr. Man to get out and get dressed. He runs around the house, naked, and dripping water. We pull out Saxon. A new set of math facts is being introduced (or reviewed depending on which way you look at it) so I pull out MUS and find the corresponding video lesson. I let Math U See work its magic and teach Bug the “trick” for that set as he works the problems with the blocks along with the video. I’ve taught him to pause the DVD accordingly so he can keep up and solve the problems with the rest of the class. I give in and check Facebook, realize I was correct and NOTHING is happening online, and decide to start another load of laundry.

1140- Bug is done with MUS, so we get out the Saxon work page and do the front together. Mr. Man is still naked, but has drip dried.

I promise he’s wearing pants. It’s a rule for pictures. We have standards you know.

1150- Little Miss starts fussing, so I send Bug to make him and his brother a peanut butter sandwich. I put Baby in her high chair and feed her something mushy. I tell Mr. Man he can’t eat unless his buns are covered, so he puts his shorts back on. We all eat lunch.

1200- The boys go play, and Little Miss is a mess, so I stick us both in the shower, thinking I can get a break.

1202- One of the boys is in the bathroom crying because the other did something to injure him. I tell Bug to get on the computer (He’ll do xtramath, dreambox, reading kingdom or math blaster…. I’ll have an email waiting for me later letting me know which one he chose and how he did) and tell Mr. Man to go play anywhere Bug is NOT.

1220-Little Miss does her rounds in the living room while I attempt to straighten up the bookshelves. She pulls books off as fast as I put them up, so I give up and let her chew on the pattern blocks from the math drawer. I check Facebook as the boys put on their shoes. I make Mr. Man put on a shirt.

Doing her part to clean the living room

1245- We all get into the car to go check the mail and get new books from the library.

1400- We get home, and see the neighborhood kids outside the house, no doubt doing something dangerous. Today, they are catching bees in bug traps. I don’t think Bug is allergic to bee stings, so I let him join them. Mr. Man sits down to watch Dinosaur Train. Little Miss has a cup of milk and goes back to bed. I think about laying down, decide it’s not worth it, check facebook, and then sweep under Little Miss’ high chair and vacuum the living room.

1430- I make Bug come back inside so we can get to work on Story of the World. I play the second half of chapter 4 for him again, while he works on the coloring page. We do the map work for the section, and then snuggle up on the couch to read “The Great Pyramid”. Mr. Man takes of his shirt and runs around the house.

1500- I pull out the cardboard pyramid I made last night, and let the kids paint it. While they work on that, I open up our playmobil toys I’ve had hidden for a month, and put together the million parts. I get frustrated and drink another soda, and chase it with cookies.

1530- The kids sit down to play with their toys, I put up my feet and pull out the computer. I upload the pictures from this weekend, and post them all on Facebook. I work on my blog posts for the week and check the status of my review projects and notes.

1630- The kids start getting cranky with each other so I send them each to their rooms. Little Miss is fussing so I wake her up and put her in the high chair with a snack. I decide I am too tired to clean anything, so I pull out my Kindle and read.

1700- Hubby calls to say he’ll be home late again. I supervise Bug and Mr. Man clean up their bathroom. Little Miss and I play on the floor until he gets back.

1830- Hubby is home, he cooks dinner while I sit down to write lesson plans for art class in the morning. Little Miss eats, again. The boys clean up the table and do the dishes. They call their Dad on the phone while Hubby and I play with Little Miss.

1900- Baby is in bed, Bug does a piano lesson with Daddy. Mr. Man is naked, again, and I send him to bed instead of fighting with him.

Practicing the names of the keys

The TOS review crew also blogged about curriculum, check it out by clicking the link below!

*The chore system and Math Made Easy are both products we are using and reviewing as a part of the TOS review crew. They aren’t a normal part of our school day, but we’re enjoying them! Stay tuned for the review.

Sharing is caring!