Our Daily Routine

I have to admit that I'm a bit of a schedule/list-making addict. The problem is that I so meticulously plan an "ideal" schedule that is not very doable in real life and I end up getting frustrated and tossing it. Well, I decided to flip things around and instead of planning what I'd like to do, I decided to simply record what most often actually does happen around here...(relieved sigh). No more impossible schedules to try and follow!  This is our natural routine right now, liable and likely to change at a moment's notice ;) Flexibility is necessary in this line of work!  With a newborn, he is basically still attached to me (nursing, in the Moby wrap, or lounging in the bassinet nearby); so I can still go about our day and do what needs to be done. 

The gist of our school day is: 
-Morning routine
-Short storytime with little ones while Davin does his basic subjects.
-Play outside or downstairs.
-Lunchtime
-Naptime/Rest time
-Read aloud time + 1 more subject if we have time.

Morning:

~7:30 or 8 a.m.
Wake up (I know I am not an early bird!)
Make bed.
Get dressed and ready for the day.
Make coffee!! 
Switch a load of laundry and fold a load. (I always put one in to wash at night before bed).
Do devotional while enjoying a cup of coffee, then check email and facebook.

~8:30 a.m.- Kids do their "High 5" (Get dressed, make bed, brush teeth, tidy room, eat breakfast). They wake up from 7:30-8:30.  I change Jonny, get him dressed, help little ones make their beds, get breakfast for anyone who needs help, and clean up the kitchen.

~9:30 am- Davin starts his basic subjects (Bible study, Math, Latin, Cursive, and Piano practice).  Computer programming is another basic subject he does either in the morning or evening.

Meanwhile, I have Storytime with the rest of the kids in our "library."

I read some poetry, we say nursery rhymes, and then I read a story.

They can play with Legos, do puzzles, color, draw, paint, read, play with trains, Hot Wheels, play with babies or blocks until it's time to play outside or downstairs.  They often watch a show too (but I'm trying to work on limiting our tv time more).  Jonny loves to play with water in the kitchen sink during this time too.

~10:30 am- If it's nice, the kids can play outside.  Otherwise it's down to the basement to burn off some energy.

Quinny upset about falling in a puddle as soon as she went outside :(

Sword fighting:

Digging for "gold"

Jumping on the trampoline. 

While the kids are playing I try to switch a load of laundry and then get lunch ready.
~11:30am- Before they can come to eat lunch it's time for a quick tidy of the main floor because it's probably a huge mess :)

Afternoon:

~12 pm- Eat lunch.  After lunch cleanup I take Jonny upstairs for his nap.  

~12:30-1:30 pm- The other kids and I have a rest time.

~1:30- Now it's Read Aloud time with the 3 oldest in the library. I have a basket that stores all of the things we do every day (our Bible, Poetry, and main literature read aloud).  All of this takes about 30 minutes.  

The kids are allowed to play with Legos, draw, or color during this time as long as they are still listening :)

Keaton is with us too, of course, usually on my lap :)

Here is a breakdown of what we do during this time: 

----Bible: read a Bible story, sing a hymn, Bible verse, and character story.

----Poetry: work on memorizing a poem from IEW Poetry book, currently "Sea Fever" by John Masefield. Then read aloud some other poetry for fun.

---Literature: currently Robin Hood, which I've found to be difficult to read aloud! I'm constantly tripping over the words, but the kids still seem to be interested :)

---2:00- The kids are hungry for a snack and can run around for a while if they want.

---Next we do ONE more subject for a bit (either astronomy/nature study, history/geography, literature, or fine arts study). I don't have specific days of when we do these, just whatever we feel like. These are mostly meant for Davin, but the little ones can tag along if they like or are interested, which they often do for astronomy and fine arts.  They can go do other activities instead, if they want.  :

-----Science (astronomy or nature study),

Experiment

Once in a while we go for a nature walk or try to identify a tree in our yard, an insect, bird, etc. 

-----History/Geography (A Child's History of the World, Our Island Story, Story of the World 2, or Seabird)

Davin does a drawing narration for each chapter of "Our Island Story." Here's an example of his reference drawing and his own drawing.

-----Literature (Pilgrim's Progress, Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, Parables from Nature)

Davin often does a written narration after reading a chapter in "Pilgrim's Progress." He types it up on his laptop and prints it out for me to read. 

-----Fine Art study:

-------We look at paintings by a particular artist (this term is Edouard Manet).  I just tell them the name of the painting, let them look at it, then turn it over and each child tells me a detail from the painting or something interesting.  It's very simple, but before long the paintings are like old friends!

-------Listen to music by the composer we're studying (Currently Tchaikovsky) and read a little biography. I also have it playing during the day when I remember, or on Pandora.

-------Listen to and sing along or dance to this month's folk song on YouTube. 

~2:30- By this time, Quinny is getting grumpy and needs a rest.  I let her watch a show while I finish up school with Davin.  I check in with him to see how he's doing with math and Latin, and I listen to him narrate any readings he's done in other subjects. Then, I do dictation with him. I simply read a few sentences from one of our readings and he writes it in cursive. I check the spelling and punctuation when he's done. 

Dori also practices writing a few words. 

The kids have time to play until about 4 when they do one more quick tidy before they have free time and I start making dinner. They can have an hour of game time during this (either computer, iPad, or video game).  Otherwise they play outside, play a card or board game, or whatever else they feel like.

So there is a look into a school day at our home!  Let me know if there is something you want more details about or if there is something else you'd like me to write about! 

Blessings,
Kristen

Pilgrim's Progress Narration

Chapter 17 narration of Pilgrim's Progress, written and typed by Dav (age 9). 

I really think he has a gift with writing! I like how he even used "thee" and "thou". Hehe. He is also getting pretty fast at typing, too. 

Read Alouds and other news

We finished another great read aloud today called "The Little Duke" by Charlotte Yonge. It had Davin and I in tears at the second to last chapter but ended well! Reading to the kids is my favorite part of our home school, and I'll always cherish this time with them. :)

In December we read "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, and they loved having a candy cane during this time! 

What else have we been up to? Christmas was a special time spent with almost all of my siblings and our growing families. My sister and I are pregnant together and it was so much fun to be with her and her expanding belly :)

Here is the best photo I have of our family, though we are all looking at different cameras and this is more of an "awkward family photo" than a lovely portrait :)

Nature Study: Buckeye Tree

I sent the kids outside with their nature journals and a tree identification book and they made a great discovery! They correctly identified a buckeye tree in our backyard and they had so much fun collecting the fruit and opening them up to uncover the beautiful, shiny buckeyes. They collected 17 in all and even shared one with someone who was going for a walk in our neighborhood :)  Here are some pictures from our fun day.

Davin looking to identify the tree:

The kids opening the buckeye fruit:

Standing by the buckeye tree:

Dori's nature journal entry:

Quinny's journal:

Davin's journal entry:

Davin's crazy tree creature:

The Height of the Ridiculous

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Dav finished memorizing another poem from level 2 of "Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization." It is called "The Height of the Ridiculous" by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Weekly Highlights: Tea Parties, Settlers, and more!

It's been a long time since I've done weekly updates, but I thought I'd just post some of our  highlights of the past week! 

The boys are playing with their knights and homemade castle.  Empty cardboard boxes are sure to be made into something around here!

My little helper, Dodo, always willing to help in the kitchen!

My tough little ninjas!

Grandma surprised us with a new car seat and stroller for the baby (how awesome!) and Quinny has been testing them out :)  I told her that these are for when her baby brother arrives and she said, "No, Quinny baby!" while pointing to herself.

She loves the new stroller!

We played our first game of Settlers of Catan with Davin and it was so much fun!  Not surprisingly, he caught on right away and he is a little obsessed with the game now.  I unwittingly won the game that night, but I don't feel too bad about it since it'll be one of the few times I win against this kid!  Our second game was tonight and he annihilated Mommy and Daddy..haha.  

Such a fun, addicting game!

Davin working on his Bible Study book: God's Great Covenant, Old Testament 1.  He was learning about the patriarchs and said, "Mama, do you think they got the word 'patriarch' from the Latin word 'patria'?"  I am constantly amazed at how Latin relates to everything else we are studying!  By the way, 'patria' means 'fatherland' in Latin and we also get 'paternal' and 'patriot' from it.  I am so happy that Latin is his favorite subject, as I am thrilled to be learning it along with him :)

Davin's Bible study book.

Here's Quinny painting for the first time with the do-a-dot sponge paint markers.  She loved it!

The do-a-dot markers.

I had a nice little afternoon tea time with the boys on Friday, and they just loved drinking out of the fancy china!  Davin and I had Russian Tea, while Dorian opted for grape juice.  We listened to Felix Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, looked at a painting by Edouard Manet called The Railway, and talked about manners a little bit.  

Our picture study book.

This is a picture that Dorian colored from Little Annie's Art Book of Etiquette & Good Manners.  It's a sweet little book :)

After our tea time, Davin did an art project to go along with learning about Manet.  It was a still-life painting using melted crayons as the paint.  It was supposed to resemble the Impressionist style.  I did the project as well and let me just say that his turned out much better! 

Davin's finished painting.

The leftover melted crayon hardened into these cute little crayon discs.

Fun art projects to go along with learning about great artists.

And here is our sweet girl, having a little tea party by herself (don't worry, we also have tea parties all together!)  She just loves pouring the water from the teapot to various cups and back again.  When she spills she says, "Uh oh, made a mess!" and fetches a towel to wipe it up.  It's pretty cute :)