Day in the Life..

We aren't a very traditional homeschooling family.  My husband works 2nd shift and our days revolve around his schedule.

I stumble out of bed whenever the baby wakes up...usually around 8.  The other kids would sleep in if the baby did, til about 9 or so.  If they wake up before the baby, they know where the poptarts are and my oldest knows how to work the DVR.  They are allowed 2 shows...usually they pick Magic School Bus or Word World.

I'm not going to win any mother of the year awards for my breakfast skills, and I'm ok with that =)  We're not morning people.

Our mornings are best characterized as tag team parenting right now.  Nicholas is an explorer and he is into everything right now.  I try to get as much housework done as I can while my husband is home to look after the baby.  I also have to make our big meal of the day and have it done before 12:30.  During dinner, I read from our Bible lesson (nice to have a captive audience).

After dinner, my husband goes to work, and the big kids go to quiet time.  This has evolved from when they were little from naps to playing independently to now playing together and giving ME quiet time.   On Wednesdays, Becca gets to have 30 minutes of "Quiet Time with mom" and on Thursdays, Nathan gets to have time with me.  They get to pick activities to do with me that are non-TV or computer related.  We've played games, done puzzles, read books....whatever.  The other big kid can't interrupt (though the baby doesn't always cooperate).  They think this is the best thing in the world, and it has changed their behaviors drastically.  

When/if the baby goes down for a nap, we start school.

We do workboxes...I was so proud of myself...I spent an incredible amount of time making cute little numbers for the workboxes and the baby has taken them all off and destroyed them.  Oh well.  One child does a book on cassette or CD while the other works with me and then they switch.  They do math, phonics, and reading every day.  We do science, grammar, computer, creative writing, etc. each once a week.

People always ask me how long it takes to do school...and at first, I didn't really know how to answer that, since we spread our learning throughout the day.  So now I answer....it takes us about an hour to do the workbook stuff depending on our day and the cooperation level.  Sometimes it takes an hour (and lots of bribes) for my oldest to write the 7 words that are in Explode the Code.  Drives.me.insane.

Then, we play...lately outside or swimming.  Last year, getting done with school = playing wii, so it will probably be like that again once it gets cold outside.  I did make some cute little cards on the cricut that say BIKES and SWIMMING so I can add that to the box.

We do a devotional before bedtime and our read aloud sometime during the day, depending on what else is going on.  The kids go to bed somewhere between 9 and 10, and I usually stay up til 12 or 1 just to have some time to myself.

On Mondays, I have Mommy Moments, and the kids go to their classes.
On Wednesdays, they will have AWANAs in the fall.
On Fridays, Daddy doesn't work, so sometimes we don't have school.
And sometimes we have school on Saturdays or Sundays because we're bored.

So that's our day...I wonder if there are any other 2nd shift families out there!  I love the flexibility of homeschooling!