I just read a typical day in the life of Susan Wise Bauer from fall of 2000. At the time she had 4 children, ages 9,7,4, and newborn. I got a headache just reading it. I do not know how this woman has time to author so many books! For any non-homeschooling parents reading this, SWB was homeschooled, and now homeschools her children. She also teaches college part-time, and has written/co-written with her mother several books about the "Classical" method of teaching, and various textbooks. We use her "Story of the World" series as a history spine, and once E is old enough (next year) I plan to use her "First Language Lessons" and "Writing with Ease" books. C is, sadly, too old for the levels of grammar/writing that SWB has published thus far. I also just ordered the infamous, "Well Trained Mind" book for myself. I have been wanting this book for a year, and finally decided to splurge for myself for once, and buy it. My teaching doesn't fall into one, specific category, but I'm somewhere in the middle of "classical" and "Charlotte Mason". Much more classical, than CM. If you'd like more information on schooling methods, you'll have to google these terms. There are oodles of sites to find who can explain it much better than I, and I want to get on to my typical day. : )
After reading Ms. Bauer's day with her 4 young children I first want to remind myself to NEVER complain, or think I have it hard, again. She didn't complain, but, her day was just so hectic, and I could commisserate with her on the issue of her constatnly hungry, crying baby. My little E was like that, for what seemed like forever. She is still constantly hungry, but, thankfully, somewhere in the past 5 years or so she has outgrown the crying, and whining she did the first year, and turned into a sweet, gentle, intelligent, yet intense, little lady.
Our day is something like this:
I wake up anywhere from 5:00-6:30. This is my favorite time of day. I drink my coffee, as I read and reply to any e-mails, check out a couple of forums, blogs, and news sites. When it is light enough to see I pay bills, read the Bible, and begin laundry. I clean cat-boxes, start dishwater, make our bed if D's working, (otherwise he sleeps in), and deal with letting dogs in and out, giving all dogs water, feeding the inside cats and sometimes the outside cats. Most days C(10) takes care of the outside cats' food and water, and the dishes. If D works, I also try to practice my guitar for 20-30 minutes before the girls wake up.
I wake the girls up between 8-8:30. E eats breakfast, cereal, and C almost never does. We try to begin school around 9 every day, but this isn't set in stone. The glory of homeschooling is doing what works for *us*, and I can't understand people who act like their home should be run like a miltary schedule, with mom and kids fully dressed, mandatory breakfast, and sitting at a desk like a bell is going to ring and make them tardy. We are at home, and we like to be comfortable. I never shower until our basic school day is over, and chores are done. I certainly don't waste time putting on clean clothes, when I haven't showered yet, so I'm in my p.j.'s. The girls usually dress, but not first thing, and usually only when the weather is nice enough they will be going outside.
C's school takes much longer than E's. Even a full day with E takes only 60-90 minutes, and rarely do I do a full, complete day with her. C starts off doing her spelling, grammar, and Bible. She can do all these herself, except Monday's, when we do a spelling "pretest". She also does her English alone most days, but that's only because the book we're using to finish this year is really, really simple, and alll review for her. When she runs out of work she can do on her own we do math. (When she isn't done with it for the year.) Most days I run over the lesson with her, ask her the mental math problems, and sit with her while she does the practice problems to make sure she understands the new concept. Sometimes the concept requires her to write the problems, and most days she just does it orally, and I wonder why they think someone needs to practice something so simple. I do not make her write out every problem of every lesson. Saxon has 30 problems/day, and most can be done mentally. I have never skipped a single problem, but I just don't make her write them all. That's just busy-work, and a waste of time. If she *can* do them in her head, why write every, single one? I couldn't stand that when I was in school, and until she reaches Algebra I see no point in it. We can do half the problems orally in under 5 minutes, or add another 20 minutes to our day to write them all down. One day a week I make her write all the problem. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I want to make it look like she actually did something. LOL *I* know she does them all, but if the homeschool secret police show up they'd want proof. For C we only do math 4 days/week, Wednesday's being our light day, with no math or English. As long as she continues excelling in math, and being ahead, she can keep doing it that way. If she ever slips down to a "B" , or gets behind, she will have to do it 5 days a week because I'm just mean like that.
While C does her written work, I do school with E. You must understand, though, that E is a free-spirit, and learns things the first time we discuss them, so we do NOT do school every day, and we do NOT do it on a set schedule. I try to at least have her do phonics, reading, and math 3 days a week, but those days might be on the weekend, they might be in the evening, or they might actually be in the morning when most people do school. She may also go a month between any written schoolwork. If E is happily playing or doing puzzles, or (gasp) watching TV, I'm not going to bother her. If she is bored, and wanting some school we do 2 pages of phonics, and at least 2 pages of math. If she still wants more we do Bible, more phonics, flashcards, Language Lessons, map work, or read some science or health. E is SO easily bored that I vary her schoolwork quite a bit. This is why she has so many different books. Many times I just let her pick which phonics or math book she wants to do, or we do them both. I let her pick what she wants to read aloud to me. I let her pick if she wants to write in pencil or varying shades of green colored pencils. : ) She just turned 6, and technically would still be in Kindergarten. She's been doing 1st grade work with no problems, and if we did it daily, and with only one book per subject, she'd be done with that now too. I don't WANT her to get too far ahead, and I don't WANT her to dread sitting in a chair doing busy work. So, as long as she remains 6 months to a year ahead, she can take it easy in these early years.
Another thing with E, is that she is extremely kinsthetic. That means she is a "hands-on" learner. She cannot stand being read to, but if I give her something to DO while I'm reading she is happy. She cannot stand writing, but if we break it up into short increments she does well. One day she might complete 2 pages of math and 2 pages of phonics in under 5 minutes, with perfect handwriting, and the next she might take half an hour because she is busy making up stories about the pictures, or drawing pictures because there aren't any, or somehow falling out of her chair or poking holes in her clothes with her pencil that is supposed to be on her paper. She may go along just fine, and then jump up to go run and play a self-composed song on the piano. She likes "sad" songs, and will play the most beautiful things. Then she will turn to me, and ask, "Did you like my sad song, Mommy?" and tell me an entire story to go along with the song she just played. Then, like nothing happened, she will return to her little chair and finish whatever worksheet she was doing.
I really can't tell about a typical day with E, because every day is different, but I assure you, she learns and progresses no matter how it gets done.
By this time, C will be finished with math, and most likely she has done the dishes for me, and fed the outside cats. If I'm still busy with other things, C will read a book or occassionally watch TV, although most of the time I discourage TV until school work is done. Lately, C likes to get on the computer and write e-mails to her e-pal. Our longest subjects are science and history, and I learned early on to leave these till the end of our school day. We get carried away talking or looking things up, and if I began our day with science or history we'd probably never do the 3 R's. Whenever we get to them, we sit on my bed and read together science and history. We read the textbooks, and about half the time I have her do the review questions, or make a list of vocab terms for science for her to look up. If she has any experiments we do them. For history we either take turns reading aloud, or I assign her a section to go to her room and read, and then have her narrate back to me what she studied. Once a week or so I have her do mapwork, which she loves. If History seems to be in one of the chapters the publisher just skims, and leaves most of the interesting, or important stuff out, she just gets to listen to me ramble on and on until I notice her stomach is growling, and it's almost noon, which is lunchtime. : )We add many read-alouds to history. I choose appropriate books to coincide with the time period we're learning in her textbook. If the book seems a little "difficult", or has things in the story I want to discuss with her we read it aloud. If it's just a fictional story or biography she reads them on her own. C loves biographies, and they are excellent learning aids.
I always try to finish C's schoolwork by lunchtime. In 3 hours we have no problems completing grammar, spelling, english, Bible, math, and at least one of science or history, and usually both. The girls eat at noon, and when they finsish I take a shower or bath. (I'm paranoid about one of them choking on food while I'm in the shower, so I won't go in the bathroom until they finish lunch.) While they eat I check my e-mails, and talk to D on the phone if he's working. After lunch and shower time we either have "quiet time" or the girls can go out to play in nice weather, or sometimes visit the neighbors across the street. If it was up to them they would go visiting everyday, but I don't want them to be pests. : ) C enjoys talking to her friends on the phone, but only one of them is homeschooled too, so usually C has to wait till after 3 to get her phone time. Now that E has a girl her age on the block she usually runs down to this girls house to get her to come over here to play for the afternoon. When we have quiet time one of the girls goes to their room for an hour, and the other one can play at the kitchen table or watch TV. After an hour they switch area's. C likes to play "Guitar Hero", which I allow because it REALLY helps her learn to read notes and learn basic music topics such as rythym, melody, and timing. C is awesome at this game, and the only one in our house that can beat her is me...because I'm even more awesome at it. LOL D and I have even discussed letting her compete, but most people that play it are teenage boys, not little girls or middle aged housewives.
One of the reasons I bought my own guitar is because I intend to teach C how to play after I get better. Real guitars are far different than plastic video game ones. I also have recorders for both girls, but I don't want to start them on those until I teach E such basics as time, counting, and reading notes on a staff. She knows a little from piano, but I'm sort of lazy on giving piano lessons. E makes such pretty songs without me interferring, and C has no interest in the piano at all.
I'm sure many people reading this (if many people actually do read this, which I doubt.) are by now probably thinking what a horrid mother I am letting my children watch TV or play video games. D and I both think all the people who carry on about how dangerous video games are ridiculous. If someone thinks a video game corrupts the mind of a child into a serial killer then they probably should spend more time with their children, playing WITH them, and teaching them the difference between cartoony images for entertainment, and real life. I don't let my girls play any games with killing, or violence, or sex. (And yes, there are tons of those, but seriously parents...pay attention to each game, and if you think it's bad don't let them play those. ) They play the Wii games, and C will play GH. Wii is about as tame and innocent as they come, and gives great physical exercise, in addition to one of our favorite games, "Big Brain Academy". BBA is basically critical thinking skills, and problem solving skills on a TV that the whole family can compete in for better scores. As for TV...the girls are limited in WHAT they watch, but I don't limit amounts of time they spend watching. If it's raining, or cold, and school is done, chores are done...they can watch. C adores the "Animal Planet" channel, and learns tons from watching real life surgeries, animal rescues by the A.S.P.C.A, and specials on different breeds of animals. Why in the world would I NOT want her to watch that? I could never in a million years teach her all that. C also likes game shows, in particular, "The Price is Right". I don't see any harm in that. They also watch plenty of junk, but I hope I've raised them to see how stupid most of the junk is, and even to argue the discrepencies on certain shows. C enjoys watching the "History Channel" with D and I too, and seeing the places is much better than reading about them in a book with maybe one or two photos. We've actually gotten her up out of bed before to see a show on the Roman aqueducts, Great Wall of China, or the Pyramids of Egypt. Our family has had great discussion and Bible study over a certain show that airs disputing Biblical prophecy. There's nothing like pulling out the Bible, and laughing at how the government sponsored show only tells 1/3 of the story.
So...there you have it. My long-winded account of a typical day in our home. Summer is far different, because we spend so much time outside. We swim daily, C does softball for 3 months 4-5 evenings a week, and we only work on school very lightly...2 or 3 subjects, 2 or 3 days a week. E's schedule doesn't change...in summer we still do school when she asks, or when I feel it's been a while, and we should do some. They watch far less TV in the summer than during the cold months, and in fact, we sometimes go days only watching the news or weather channel.
If anyone read all this you deserve an award. : ) I began this blog as a journal and a place to write my own personal opinions, mainly on homeschooling,. although sometimes I digress. It remains that way, but I imagine it is only interesting to myself, and even then, it will only be interesting years down the road. *I* don't even want to go back and read what I just spent an hour writing, so as usual, please excuse the typonese, and have a great day!!
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