You may be wondering what day looks like in my house with my 4 kids home all day. A quick review: I have a 7 year old (2nd grade), a 4.5 year old (pre-k, some k work), a 2 year old and a 4 month old. My kids are (mostly) in charge of checking and scheduling their assignments on their Kid’s weekly planner and completing chores. Here is my homeschooling 2011-2012 post. We do adjust as we have activities throughout the week, with monthly meetings of clubs (gymnastics class and/or open gym, field trips, chesed club, countries club, etc.).
Between 6:30 and 9 AM: Everyone gets up, dressed, and ready to go. The older boys sometimes play for a while when the younger kids have my attention for breakfast and dressing. Time for ds4.5 and ds7 for davening (praying), often together, and then breakfast. My 4 month old wakes up toward the end of this “free” period.
9AM: (Sometimes we don’t really get going until 10AM, sometimes earlier–depends on activities for the day) They get out their workbooks and get to work on what they can independently. I help each child with the lessons they need, and they continue working as we sit around the table together. Ds7 is doing grammar, math, and finishing his handwriting workbook for secular work. DS4.5 is working through math and phonics. (These are Amazon links–I LOVE Amazon!) They do a couple of lessons in a geography map workbook together each week, too). If we’re doing a group parsha lesson, this is the time.
9:30 AM: Ds4.5 goes off to play outside or in the playroom, usually with ds2. They almost always “read” a few books together now so ds4.5 can fulfill his reading-to-someone-else time. DS7 continues with his schoolwork while I do some work at the table with the help of a very cute 4 month old. This is some of my time for menu planning, grocery ad scanning and shopping planning, coupon organizing, etc. When he gets to his Hebrew reading, he reads while I “spot.” We do some more advanced parsha work. Depending on how much work ds7 has scheduled for himself that day, he might be done at 10 or 12.
12:30: Lunch and checking of kids’ planner. We go over what they have scheduled and done for the day and rearrange/plan as needed. I try to stay in the background on this, but they still seem to think I’m a major player. So far, at least. I also sometimes read to them here.
1:30: ds2 goes down for nap. 2 older kids have a messier or more involved project time with Mommy some days (painting, made melted crayon art, work on circuits, silver polishing.) Sometimes it’s just playtime. Sometimes they do the work they didn’t do in the morning. Sometimes they help me in the kitchen. And so goes the rest of the day!
Family dinner about 6PM, including dh most days, bed for ds2 at 7:15, bed for ds 4.5 and ds 7 at 7:30, although they are allowed to stay up quietly and talk or read with their Shabbat lamp until 8:30. Something like quiet settles through the house while we get ready to do it all again tomorrow…
