Welcome to the new "A Day in the Life" series! This weekly string of blog posts will feature individuals or families here on the Big Island, describing what "a day in the life" (or a week!) of a homeschooler is like. This weeks post is by Tamara, mother to 5 year old Rogelito and 2 year old Katalina.
Here is a little peak into
our home school..."The Fun School Factory" as my son has officially
named it (he made a sign for the school room door one day). My son,
Rogelito, is 5 and in kindergarten. My daughter is 2 and is our official
master of distraction. Our days are never the same, so this is a typical
Wednesday.
5:45am I hear my husband leave
for work, then drift back to sleep.
6:15am Rogelito comes sneaking
into my bedroom to snuggle and spend some time convincing me to wake up and eat
breakfast with him (he is one of those people who wakes up immediately thinking
of food).
6:45am Katalina wakes up and
yells for me from her bed so now I have to get up and get her. I bring
her back to my bed and try to keep the two kids still so I can "sleep"
a little longer, but eventually I give in and get up.
7:00am Breakfast time. Oatmeal
for Rogelito. Waffles for Katalina. Cereal for me, and COFFEE.
7:30am Kids are playing while I
do the dishes and throw a load of laundry in the washer. During this time
Rogelito comes running to tell me that Katalina hit him with the toy sword.
Katalina says Rogelito hit her with the sword. I didn't see so who knows.
They both apologize and we are off to get dressed.
7:50am I have gotten myself
dressed in my "day sweats", helped Katalina pick out the perfect
princess dress, and convinced her to let me comb her hair. I asked Rogelito to
dress himself before I started all that. I go to check and he has on underwear
and socks. I convince him that he needs to at least put on shorts for it to
qualify as being dressed. He eventually gives in and puts on shorts.
8:10am We head to the couch to
read a couple chapters of James and the Giant Peach, our current read aloud
chapter book.
8:30am We head to the school room
for calendar time. Rogelito fills in the date, and sets the hands on the
paper clock. Katalina looks out the window and reports the weather. Rogelito
fills in his monthly weather bar chart. We do some memory work, reviewing
the names and places of the continents, mom's phone number and the kids'
birthdates.
8:45am We race out the door for
Katalina's mommy and me gymnastics class. Rogelito plays IPAD games while I
chase Katalina around the various apparatuses.
9:40am We are back home and head
back to the school room. We all sing a song from Rogelito's phonics program.
Then I get Katalina going with a stamp pad and a letter D stamp. She stamps
away while Rogelito and I complete a page from his Phonics book. We all sit on
the couch to listen to Rogelito read a few pages from his reader. He asks is we
can do "mommy reads a page, I read a page" and I say yes. Katalina
starts singing and skipping around the room about a page into the book and
Rogelito is totally distracted and frustrated. I try to get her to play in her
room but she doesn't want to. I ask her to play quietly in the room we are in
and she tells me she "NEEDS to sing." I turn on a 15 minute hooked on
phonics video for her in another room while Rogelito finishes his story.
10:10am We all play a game of
Sound O. Rogelito gets upset that Katalina is not following all the
rules. I explain that she is two and doesn't know enough to really play
right yet. He is still upset, so Katalina and I become a team and
everyone is happy.
10:00am We head back to the school
room for Brave Writer. I read this month's book, A Kiss for Little Bear, to the
kids. Katalina stops at least once every page to ask me about the pictures.
Rogelito stops me at least once every page to ask about the meaning of a word,
or what I think will happen next, or why someone did something. We make it
through the book and Rogelito copies a short sentence from the book. He
comes close to a meltdown at one point because he is having a hard time making
a "perfect" letter 's'...I tell him it looks great to me, but he
disagrees. So, I explain to him that it is ok and that is why we write in
pencil and have erasers. He gets his 's' written to his satisfaction and
finishes off the passage.
10:20am We head to the kitchen for
a snack. Katalina tries to talk me into cookies for snack. I want her to have
an apple and cheese. We compromise and decide on peanut butter crackers.
Rogelito is easier. He is happy with anything. Then the kids play a bit while I
switch the laundry and sweep the kitchen because half of the peanut butter
crackers somehow ended up on the floor.
11:00am We head back to the
school room for math. Katalina builds castles with the Cuisenaire rods while
Rogelito uses them to complete addition and subtraction problems. Then Rogelito
gets out his math journal. He examines a plastic cone and describes it while I
write down what he is saying. Then he hunts around the house for cone shaped things
and draws them in his journal.
11:25am We play a game of Sum
Swamp which surprisingly finishes without a single argument.
11:45am We watch a Brain Pop
video on magnets. Then we tape magnets to the top of toy cars and push them
down the hall using other magnets to learn about what happens when you put
north next to north or north next to south. We have a few races down the hall
this way, which leads to an argument about who won the most races, which leads
to a discussion about how winning isn't everything and as long as we are having
fun we all win. Rogelito agrees with this idea, Katalina still disagrees, but
we all agree to move on for now.
12:15pm We have lunch. Bean
burrito for Rogelito, grilled cheese for Katalina, and tomato soup for me.
1:00pm We head to the library. I
remind the kids in the car to use inside voices, walking feet, and not to
bother each other. We get there and they immediately start running through the
doors yelling "Yeah! New books!" and pushing each other out of the
way to get in first. I let them pick a couple books each, then I pick up my
holds at the front and we get out of there before the librarian can give me
anymore stink eye.
2:00pm We are back home and
reading our new library books.
2:30pm It is mommy's time to
work out. Rogelito works on a sticker mosaic, Katalina plays with her doll
house, and I get to do 40 minutes of Pilates.
3:20pm The kids play together
while I shower. I have one of them poking their head in the bathroom at least
once a minute to tell on the other one for something. I do my best to mediate
from inside the shower and end up having to get out quickly to settle a dispute
about who has the most super powers. Then I head back to the bathroom to rinse
the rest of my conditioner out in the sink since my shower was cut short.
4:00pm We bake oatmeal
cookies...our house favorite. The kids actually do pretty good taking turns
stirring and measuring ingredients, YEAH!
4:45pm The cookies come out of
the oven and the kids both want one NOW! I say they have to wait until
after dinner. That is followed by a lot of complaints and attempts to persuade
me otherwise. Eventually they give up and go to play super heroes while I cook
dinner.
5:30pm Papi is home!
Everyone is always thrilled by this. The kids hide behind the door to
"surprise him" as they do every day.
5:45pm We eat dinner. Lentil
soup, which Rogelito loves and Katalina despises...you can never please them
both at the same time. So, Rogelito gobbles down a big bowl and Katalina whines
her way through half of hers.
6:30pm Bath time. Papi is in
charge of this while I clean up dinner.
7:30pm Brush teeth, put on PJs
and read bed time stories. The kids are very excited to have Papi read
their new library books.
8:00pm Bed time.
I absolutely love homeschooling and being home with my kids and wouldn't have it any other way. I love watching all the discoveries and insights that they have each day. I love watching them develop such a close sibling bond that I know they wouldn't have if they were separated from each other in school all day. I love being able to make learning more relevant for my kids by making connections to the things we do in school all day because I know exactly what we my kids are learning about. I have the best, most rewarding job in the world (though I do definitely have the occasional moment when I question my own sanity ). Our days are busy, but we are always having fun laughing, learning, and enjoying life together. I feel very lucky to be in a position where we are able to home school. I also feel very fortunate to have a husband and extended family that are so supportive of our decision to do so.
Thank you Tamara for not only a fun and detailed description of your day, but a real and honest look into the day of a homeschool Mama!
