Day with 6 under 11

Describe your average homeschool day and give new homeschoolers an idea of what to expect!

Moderators: Theodore, elliemaejune

MamaLibby
User
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 5:33 pm
Location: United States

Day with 6 under 11

Postby MamaLibby » Tue May 22, 2012 7:10 pm

Sooo...Everyday is different, but I have 6 kids under 11 (but not for long!). My oldest has a variety of health needs, and my 6 year old son has bipolar disorder, sensory processing disorder and ADHD and needs careful watching.

My oldest is an early bird, so she my husband and I meet in the kitchen between 6 and 7 for coffee/tea and watch the sunrise through our big window. My husband leaves for work around 7:30. While we're waiting for everyone else to wake up, my oldest and will chat, usually in English, but sometimes in ASL (which we've been learning for about 4 years now), or Italian, which we've both recently taken an interest in learning.

Usually by 8 everyone else is up except my 6 y/o, who will sleep in until 9 or 9:30. I make breakfast, get the kids to help me clean up, and send them to play, preferably outside. (we live on almost an acre and a half of gorgeous land).

We might have doctor's appointments during the day. Lydia and Ella both have dance or gymnastics one day a week, Nick has OT once a week and Wednesday 10-2 we have co-op.

If we're not busy, I encourage lots and lots of active, imaginative play. We live near a nice playground and often have play dates there. My older two girls (10 and 5) are especially creative and spend a lot of time crafting, drawing, writing, reading and making art. They all love to ride their bikes in the driveway, climb trees and explore whatever they can. We never get bored here!

My day is mostly spend monitoring blood sugars (my DD is a diabetic), breaking up arguments, making food, chasing little ones, reading Narnia or Cat in The Hat for the millionth time and being amazed at the wonder of these kids.

As far as "School work", I feel like they pick a lot of it up naturally. Math, for example, is highly involved in what we do, especially cooking, which the kids love to be a part of. I'll ask my 8 year old to measure a cup of flour and hand him the 1/3 cup. I'll ask my 5 year old to get my three oranges. The carb counting and insulin dosing calculations required to feed Ella involves fairly complicated algebra that my almost-11 year old is awesome at.

We have 2 computers, a piano, two guitars, art supplies and hundreds upon hundreds of books lying around. The kids spend a lot of time listening to me or daddy play music, listening to their own music, experimenting by themselves and playing. We read like crazy. My 6 year old is learning phonics, the little ones like to be read to and my 5, 8 and 10 year olds are veracious readers. We also have subscriptions to National Geographic Kids, Cricket and Cobblestone and frequent the local library.

The only things I do require out of my kids school-wise is Nick's sensory work. I spend about 30-45 minutes a day, often broken up into 5-10 minute stretches of fine motor and sensory exercises.

WOW. that seems like a lot all written out but most of it is playing, doing and being.

My husband gets home around 6 every night, we have dinner about 6:30, and the kids go to bed between 8:30 and 9:30. :)
LIBBY unschooling mama to:
Ella, age 10
Caleb, age 8
Nick, age 6
Lydia, age 5
Adam, age 3
Linnea-Claire, age 20 months

mindy8
User
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 3:22 pm
Contact:

Postby mindy8 » Fri Aug 10, 2012 6:57 am



Return to “A Day at Our House”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests