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When you’re new to homeschooling you wonder if you’re “doing it right.” Even though there’s no such thing, you may be curious how other people schedule their days. What does their homeschool day routine look like?
This post is a sneak peek into a day in the life of homeschool for our family. It’s what’s working for us this year. I hope it encourages you in your homeschooling endeavors.
A Unique Family
I have a unique family. I homeschool two children, but they’re eight years apart. My daughter is a freshman in high school, and my son is a first grader. It’s never been easy, but every year gets better.
This year we’ve had a major switch. It’s the first time I’m not teaching my daughter any core subjects. She takes a combination of virtual classes and co-op classes. It’s the only way I could keep my sanity and be sure she’s getting a quality education. Now I can help her study for tests instead of instructing.
Our Homeschool Day Routine
Early Morning
7:00 Wake Up
Like most days, we start with family time. My son climbs into our bed. Then his sister joins us. And we can’t leave out our dog, Rosco. All four of us pile into bed for snuggle time while our dog takes turns licking us like crazy.
My daughter and I take Rosco for a short walk. It’s a beautiful morning. Snow is blanketing the ground and lightly falling from the sky. Everything is so still. While we’re out, my son has breakfast with his dad.
8:00 Exercise
My daughter and I do a thirty-minute Beach Body workout while my husband takes the dog on a woods walk. We’re joined by my son today. Sometimes he walks with his dad, but today he gets some energy out with us.
8:45 Shower
While I take a shower and get ready, my daughter eats breakfast, and my son plays in his room. Some mornings he does Reading Eggs, but today he’s content to play, so I don’t disturb him.
9:30 My Breakfast
Most days I eat at 9:00, but today I’m running a bit behind. After eating I wash the dishes and put a load of laundry in the washer. My in-laws stop by for a quick visit to drop off some things, and we chat outside while socially distanced.
Late Morning
Our homeschool day routine starts with me working downstairs with my son, while my daughter works independently in her room. Here’s the curriculum for ninth grade that she’s using.
10:00 Math
I love the math curriculum we’re using, but it can be tricky. Dimensions Math pushes kids to think. That’s what makes it difficult, but that’s why I love it.
First I use manipulatives to teach concepts. Then, I add pictorial representations, like number bonds. Finally, we get to the abstract.
For example, in today’s lesson of making ten, we use linking cubes to add numbers. Then we connect this idea to the number bonds we learned earlier in the year. Finally, we look at problems like 25 + ___ = 30. My son can use the cubes if needed, or do it in his head. I wish I learned math like this when I was a kid!
10:45 Reading
We do various kinds of reading together. Sometimes we do independent reading for ten minutes where we each read our own books quietly to ourselves. But today we do read aloud and guided reading.
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown is one of those books I’ve heard so many people rave about that I had to pick up a copy. Now I see why. It’s full of action and suspense. Roz is a robot that gets washed ashore an island when her cargo ship sinks. At first she’s alone, struggling to survive, but when an accident brings a baby goose into her life, she finds friendship and help within the forest.
My son is a very good reader. Our librarian introduced him to Home on the Range by Lucy Nolan, and it’s the first chapter book he’s really been interested in reading by himself. Too much text can overwhelm him, so sometimes we take turns reading a page. Today I ask him to read for the video camera, and surprisingly, he agrees. I guess he was eager to find out about the “ugly dogs” in chapter five.
My son needs to work on fluency, like all early readers. He’s not a choppy reader, but he sometimes reads too fast, too quietly, and he mumbles. He has a lisp too, so he can be hard to understand. My next goal is to make him a whisper phone, so he can hear himself read.
If your child also needs help with reading fluency, check out this post.
11:30 Writing
For writing, we start working on new animal reports. We gather up all the animal books we can find in our home library, scatter them on the floor, and peruse them. Once we each decide on an animal to study, we start reading our books and taking notes on our clipboards.
Writing animal reports is a fun project for kids in the primary grades. Here’s a guide for easy animal report writing. You can purchase writing templates here in my shop.
Mid-Day
12:00 Chores
I try to do chores throughout the day whenever I get a chance. At this point, my daughter is still working, my husband is plowing the driveway, and my son is interested in his toys upstairs, so I take a few minutes to fold laundry, put the dishes away, and prepare lunch.
12:30 Lunch
My husband worked a lot from home before the pandemic, but now he’s home all the time. We regularly eat lunch together as part of our homeschool day routine. After lunch my daughter washes the dishes, one of her daily responsibilities.
Early Afternoon
1:00 Outside Time
The month of January has been disappointing for us Mainers. It’s been warmer than usual and the ground has been bare all month. Snow makes winter more enjoyable, because it’s pretty, and it gives you more things to do outside.
Our neighbor has a wonderful sledding hill that abuts the river, and she graciously shares it with us. We can use it any time. The snow isn’t quite deep enough today, so it’s a bumpy ride. After a few trips down we decide the snow is better suited for building a snowman.
2:00 Snack & Geography
Miles is chilled and wants hot chocolate. I grab some coffee. Then we get back to work.
Today we learn about Kenya through our Let’s Go Geography curriculum. We listen to the national anthem, make a flag, and watch videos of the wildebeest migration and a day in the life of a young Maasai girl.
Let’s Go Geography is an easy-to-use program that makes learning about the world fun. It’s video-based with some mapping, writing, and arts and crafts projects. You can read more about Let’s Go Geography in this post.
Late Afternoon
3:00 Dinner Prep
I get the chicken in the oven and let the bread cool.
3:30 Free Time
I need time to myself, or I run out of fuel fast. So every day I let my son watch a show on PBS Kids or Netflix. Sometimes he’ll watch for two hours, but today he’s satisfied with half an hour. I was counting on a peaceful afternoon, up in my room to catch up on emails, write, and possibly do some vlogging (new territory here), but he finds me.
He sees that I’m working, but he starts playing in my room anyway. I don’t pay him much attention, until I see hangers being whipped around! He collected all the empty hangers he could find in our closets and piled them on the bed. Pillows were thrown off the bed and pillowcases torn off. It’s imaginative play, so I make a conscious effort to ignore him in order to get something done.
4:15 Play & Walk
My husband decides to go to the library, so Miles goes with him. Yay! My quiet surroundings are restored, and I feel at peace again. But now our dog wants to play, so I toss the ball for him for a while and chat with my daughter. My concentration is long gone by now, so I decide to go on an afternoon walk with her and the dog.
5:00 Dinner Prep
The chicken comes out of the oven, and I get the carrots ready to roast while it sits. Then, I cut the bread and toast it. Yesterday I roasted beets, so I warm some of those up too. For busy days, I love easy meals that don’t take too much thought.
5:30 Dinner
We eat dinner and review some vocabulary words during dessert. Marie’s Words help kids prepare for the SAT, but my son loves using them too. Each card has an illustration to help you remember the word meaning.
Early Evening
6:15 Clean Up & Play
I tidy up the house and fold another load of laundry. Miles wants to play with the Gravity Maze he borrowed from the library. I entertain the dog while playing with my son.
7:15 My Time
As part of our homeschool day routine, my husband gets my son in the shower and ready for bed. Then he reads to him. I work on typing up this day in the life post.
Late Evening
8:45 Time with My Husband
During the school week, my daughter goes to her room to read, so we adults can get some time together. Tonight we watch a show and catch up with each other.
10:00 Read in Bed
Some nights I can only keep my eyes open long enough to read a few pages in my book. Tonight I’m asleep by eleven.
My daughter created a video version of our day. (She’s the talented YouTuber behind Delightful Paws). In it you’ll see more of the day from her perspective.
I’m so glad I decided to go back to my day in the life series. When I stop to think about all that goes on in a typical day, it makes me realize how fortunate I am to live my life. I love spending my days with my kids and seeing them learn and grow. I hope that you’re finding joy in your journey too. It will be worth it, so hang in there!
How Our Homeschool Day Routine Has Changed
Unfortunately we didn’t do a “day in the life” post last year. One thing that was different in our homeschool routine is that I spent a big chunk of the afternoon doing math and science with my daughter, while my son watched his show. And, we didn’t have our puppy, so we weren’t taking walks like do now.
Here are links to past years where you can see how our homeschool day routine has changed over time, as my kids have aged.
- 2019: Day in the Life (with a 12- and 4-yr old)
- 2018: Day in the Life (with an 11- and 3-yr old)
- 2017: Day in the Life (with a 10- and 2-yr old)
- 2016: Day in the Life (with a 9- and 1-yr old)
