The first six weeks of school have passed. How have those weeks looked for us?
It felt good to get into a bit more of a structured routine after summer fun and exploring. Our mornings are a tad earlier. Monday through Friday (I get up early for my alone time and time with the Father and planning, daddy's schedule changes a bit so we see him when we do) kids get up, do upstairs chores, eat breakfast, clear the table and have my favorite time... Family devotions. We worship with the piano. Read a portion of scripture - often the proverb of the day, so far this year. We talk about what stood out to us, spend silent time praying and listening (with journals or drawing notebooks) and share what God puts on our hearts. We work on our memory verse. I love hearing what God speaks through my children. Even if at times these devotionals get a little crazy with toddler and 4 year old playing under the table or an attitude of an older child who woke up on the wrong side of the bed, these times together set the tone for our day and are beautiful.
We put away our bibles and notebooks and set the timer for 15-20 minutes to get our downstairs chores done. Each of us has an area of responsibility in keeping the house up.
Depending on how organized in am for the week, I will hand out individual work and circulate through helping each child on their level of math /reading /writing. Sometimes older children will help younger children. Some days we switch it up and do geography /science first. We are getting an in depth look at the world this year. Studying the Atlas as a whole and breaking it down to get a closer look at different regions of the world. Reading books from different places. Studying animals, climates, life in different places. Each child learns and is included according to ability and attention span. At some point I send the younger ones out to watch the toddler outside or to play with legos or play dough. I help older ones with thing they may need help on. We take a mid morning break for snack and lunch about noon. We try to listen to Spanish learning tapes while making lunch. After lunch and clean up I put on an exercise Dvd for the kids and put the toddler down for a nap. We read aloud, 4 and 5 year old lay down and read or sleep. Older kids read or work on 'homework' or piano lessons.
After nap time snack and outdoor time is a great break mid afternoon. I jump in to keep laundry moving whenever I have a chance.
This year we began a few extra curricular activities so our evenings have been filled with football, ballet and wood working. I teach the kids and my niece piano. That takes a full afternoon and practice time throughout the week.
The kids love screen time which I am not so fond of. But I have found a rotation between wii, educational computer games, piano, watching the toddler... frees me up to get some one on one time with each of the children from time to time while they happily rotate through the stations.
Throw in a bunch of baking, home projects, meal preparations, friends, family, church, church activities, work... And the calendar is quickly full.
Baths, read aloud, prayers, bedtime.
There's the run down. :)
It felt good to get into a bit more of a structured routine after summer fun and exploring. Our mornings are a tad earlier. Monday through Friday (I get up early for my alone time and time with the Father and planning, daddy's schedule changes a bit so we see him when we do) kids get up, do upstairs chores, eat breakfast, clear the table and have my favorite time... Family devotions. We worship with the piano. Read a portion of scripture - often the proverb of the day, so far this year. We talk about what stood out to us, spend silent time praying and listening (with journals or drawing notebooks) and share what God puts on our hearts. We work on our memory verse. I love hearing what God speaks through my children. Even if at times these devotionals get a little crazy with toddler and 4 year old playing under the table or an attitude of an older child who woke up on the wrong side of the bed, these times together set the tone for our day and are beautiful.
We put away our bibles and notebooks and set the timer for 15-20 minutes to get our downstairs chores done. Each of us has an area of responsibility in keeping the house up.
Depending on how organized in am for the week, I will hand out individual work and circulate through helping each child on their level of math /reading /writing. Sometimes older children will help younger children. Some days we switch it up and do geography /science first. We are getting an in depth look at the world this year. Studying the Atlas as a whole and breaking it down to get a closer look at different regions of the world. Reading books from different places. Studying animals, climates, life in different places. Each child learns and is included according to ability and attention span. At some point I send the younger ones out to watch the toddler outside or to play with legos or play dough. I help older ones with thing they may need help on. We take a mid morning break for snack and lunch about noon. We try to listen to Spanish learning tapes while making lunch. After lunch and clean up I put on an exercise Dvd for the kids and put the toddler down for a nap. We read aloud, 4 and 5 year old lay down and read or sleep. Older kids read or work on 'homework' or piano lessons.
After nap time snack and outdoor time is a great break mid afternoon. I jump in to keep laundry moving whenever I have a chance.
This year we began a few extra curricular activities so our evenings have been filled with football, ballet and wood working. I teach the kids and my niece piano. That takes a full afternoon and practice time throughout the week.
The kids love screen time which I am not so fond of. But I have found a rotation between wii, educational computer games, piano, watching the toddler... frees me up to get some one on one time with each of the children from time to time while they happily rotate through the stations.
Throw in a bunch of baking, home projects, meal preparations, friends, family, church, church activities, work... And the calendar is quickly full.
Baths, read aloud, prayers, bedtime.
There's the run down. :)