Today's Wisdom

Thursday, October 29, 2009

A Typical Day At Our School


8:00 - oops, overslept again. We might as well change this to the start of our day instead of oversleeping because we're pretty routine about it =) I have my morning quiet time, get myself ready, wake the kids, enjoy my first cup of coffee, get breakfast on the table and cleaned up. It's Thursday so today's breakfast menu is cereal and fruit. Today's fruit of choice is bananas. After breakfast, the kids start their morning chores which include getting dressed, personal hygiene, fixing beds and being in school room before the timer goes off at 9:00. But for today they have one less chore because it's PJ day (decided on that last night =)! I start a load of laundry, make another cup of coffee for myself, and enter the school room ahead of the kids to welcome them. And sure to catch a quick glimpse of facebook and email =) Hubby leaves at 4:00am every morning so he's already got a good dent into his day.

9:00 - really, it's before 9:00 but we've also decided to have show~n~tell today so that begins right away =) kids then start their school jobs which are found posted on Monday's on the job chart. They have the same jobs for the whole week. This week, Jonathan is in charge of passing out everyone's folders, holds the Bible during pledge time & makes sure all lights are turned off in the house except of course for the school room. You have to be VERY specific with this crowd, I've learned. Stephen is the calendar man & holds the Christian flag for pledge time. Sarah does the weather report and holds the American flag during pledge time. After all chores & pledges are done we move to our school table and it is now 9:30.
9:30 - Bible Time. We are using the 3rd grade curriculum for all called "Growing With God". Today's lesson is on character. We end by singing our October hymn (The Lily Of The Valley )and song (Little Sunbeams). Next, we move to either science (Apologia's Exploring Creation) or history (Mystery of History, Vol 1) and we do that together as well. Today, it's science.

10:00-12:15 or so - The kids use their folders to direct them to do what is next. Each one is filled with the day's work. For example my 11 yo, 6th grader's (Jonathan) folders today are...

Folder 1 - Spelling which he does with his brother using Sequential Spelling.
Folder 2 - Piano practice for 20 minutes, timer
Folder 3 - Abeka Math Speed Drill, timer
Folder 4 - Abeka Language Arts, work with mom
Folder 5 - Abeka Reading
Folder 6 - Abeka Math Worksheet, work with mom
Folder 7 - Writing With Ease (Jungle Book excerpt today), work with mom
Folder 8 - Usually has a fun item..since it's almost Halloween everyone's fun item today is "cooking with Mom"..we're making cupcakes

My 8yo, 3rd grader's (Stephen) folders are...

Folder 1 - Spelling which he does with his brother using Sequential Spelling.
Folder 2 - Writing With Grace
Folder 3 - Abeka Math Worksheet
Folder 4 - Abeka Language Arts, work with mom
Folder 5 - Piano practice for 20 minutes, timer
Folder 6 - Abeka Reading, work with mom
Folder 7 - Abeka Math Speed Drill, timer
Folder 8 - "cooking with Mom"..we're making cupcakes

My 6yo, 1st grader's (Sarah) folders are...

Folder 1 - Abeka Math Worksheet
Folder 2 - Abeka Letters and Sounds Worksheet
Folder 3 - Abeka Language Worksheet, work with mom
Folder 4 - Abeka Reading, work with mom
Folder 5 - Piano practice for 10 minutes, timer
Folder 6 - Spelling
Folder 7 - Abeka Math Speed Drill..not timed yet though
Folder 8 - "cooking with Mom"..we're making cupcakes

Sarah gets to the work with mom first so she is the winner =) I work with her on all her sheets and reading and we go over any mistakes made on independent work. Stephen, now reaches his work with mom and we do the same thing. During my time working with Stephen, Jonathan reaches a work with mom but knows not to interrupt me and skips it to go to the next thing. Yeah, it worked today =)

12:30 - We're running a little behind but not too bad. I fix lunch while working with Jonathan on writing.

12:45-1:30 lunch and clean up

2:00 - music with Grandma..normally this is on Wednesday's but had to be rearranged for the week. She takes all 3 kids so I do a mad cleaning dash! Switch over a load of laundry, wash up some stray dishes, get some ham and pineapple in the crock pot for supper, fold and put away a load of clothes, sweep and mop the dining room and kitchen, grade papers from today and restock folders for tomorrow, check email

3:15 - kids are back, they spent some extra time there today playing and enjoying their Grandparents. Now, we bake our cupcakes and I write about our day =)