Our Heartspun Homeschool: First Day of School 2015-2016

The kids headed back to school this past week. Once a week they attend a homeschool enrichment program through our local school district. They get to learn about history and science there and do fun things like projects, experiments, and field trips. They also get to have some social time without mom around and make new friends and have all sorts of fun. My kids completely love going and couldn't wait to go back this week. The following day we started our homeschool at home and they weren't quite as excited about that since its not all fun and games like their enrichment program. It was a great day though. We had zero tears and just a tiny bit of attitude!! My 7 year old was even excited to do her school work the following day. The kids were great at taking short breaks to play with little brother when he was missing attention from them since they were busy with school work. (they don't mind the breaks). A typical morning/afternoon on a school day for us might go something like this.

7:30 - Wake up/eat breakfast
8:00-9:00 Morning chores: get dressed, make bed, brush teeth, feed pets and do one chore for mom.
9:00-10:00 School Work (they get to choose what they do when they do it, as long as all of their work is done each day I don't care what order they do it in.)
10-10:30 Breaks/Play time with little brother while mom hops in the shower.
10:30-11:30 More school work time
11:30-12:30 Lunch time/Break - more little brother play time. And a quick house pick up.
12:30-1:30 This time is for doing any school work that was not completed earlier or school work that needs more attention from mom while little brother takes a nap.
1:30-3:30 Rest time (TV or video game time if they have earned it earlier in the day by doing other chores).
By about 4 we are working on picking up the house again (I know, a lot of house picking up but with 4 kids it needs to be done) Then I typically start working on dinner and the big kids help entertain little brother till daddy gets home. Since daddy goes to work VERY early in the morning he is usually home by 4:30.

So that is a typical day for us. We don't follow a super rigid schedule but I like to keep it as scheduled as possible with some wiggle room for extra things if needed.