Typical Tuesday

I see a lot of blogs on "a day with so many children and our routine" and I love seeing how other homeschool families incorporate various ages, and schedules!

Today was going so well I decided to do our "Typical Tuesday" day.  Every day of the week is a little different, but we keep a flexible routine going.  Some days we have lessons, sports, music, library, field trips, etc, so we are flexible for what is needed in our day!

This year we embarked on a new journey of homeschooling a group of children!  This has been great for me because it has forced me into a good routine, meal plan, and keeps me from getting lazy.  It's a full time job from home that I get to do with my family.

Today went along the lines of this:

7:00 am:  I woke up!  This is my wake up time no matter what so I can get up, dressed, and breakfast before everyone shows up at 7:30.  Today, however, my husband was up early and made us delicious breakfast burritos!!

I was awfully motivated because I finally got my chart ready for my NO SPEND challenge, I was able to get my devotions done first thing (Luke 12:6-7 was definitely what I needed today), Zealed up, and had a wonderful breakfast ready!  Days like this I'm so thankful that my husband had a good day, and we all got off to a great start!

7:30: The additional children show up at my door, and they enjoy breakfast with us.  I love doing this, because it keeps us all on the same meals, snacks, and schedule for food throughout the day.

8:00: Everyone has finished eating, MY kids are finally dressed, the youngest has gone potty (yay, no accident this morning), and it's time for cleaning up.

Now everyone works together to get all the clothes, toys, and trash off the floors so I can sweep up everything.  While they are doing this, the kitchen is also being straightened up from breakfast so we can start setting up school.

Samuel also practices piano first thing so he doesn't forget during the day.  House filled with music, cleaning accomplished, great way to start a morning!

8:30: The house is looking pretty clean because we all worked so well together today!!  Time for shoes, and coats, and playing outside to burn off the morning excitement energy.

While everyone plays outside, I get my time with Mira as well as prepping all our classwork for the day. I am SO thankful that our curriculum comes preset, days labeled, and extremely organized.  This saves me tons of time and energy.  I go to the cubby boxes and pull off the top sheets for today.  I do a quick double check to make sure I have the right reading books, and get ready for school!

9:00: PreK and Preschool.  This is a start time every day for the younger crew.  They do better in the mornings, and they are focused!  After playing in the sun they were all being sweet, happy, sharing, and kind during their hands on activity.  They did a great job coloring, flashcards, stories, and working together today.

While Prek and Preschool were busy, my mom had the K/1st graders working on their Life of Fred Math (for fun review) and some of their handwriting practice.

10:00: By this time, the younger crew has finished school and playing, so they go back outside to run til lunch time!  Now the younger kids are busy playing, I bring in the 2nd graders to work on their NEW math books!!  They were so excited they finished their 2A books, so today was a fresh excitement over the 2B books.  They diligently worked on their Math until it was time to go back outside.

11:00 Now I have lunch fully prepped, in the oven (because I was working on prep while they did Math).  I love cooking and prepping while I can talk to them about their lesson at the kitchen table, and they are independent enough to handle it well.

The kids were falling behind in our Banks of Plum Creek book, so while they were climbing trees, they listened while my mom read to them.  Looking out and watching 3 kids in a tree, and the rest quietly playing while we did story time was wonderful!  They retained the story and asked questions and loved it all!

12:00: Lunch is finally done cooking!  Today was Meatloaf, Potatoes, and Broccoli (according to our meal plan).  This meal plan I found was preset completely.  Comes with shopping list, recipes, and 6 week meal rotation for Breakfast, Lunch, and Snacks.  This lets me follow a list, and not have to spend hours thinking and planning and finding variety...it's all done for me! I found it here and I love how easy it is to follow!  It's kid friendly, easy, and affordable!

12:30: By this time, everyone has eaten and now it's time to catch up on our Kids Baking Championship!  My cousin started off on this season, so every Tuesday we watch the Monday night recording of the show, and it has made some fun additions and ideas to our weekly cooking class with homeschooling!  The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning and seeing how other children can bake!

1:15: The show is finished, and now the younger half (K and under) go lay down for naptimes.  I tell them all do a one hour quiet time, and most of the time they all sleep!  This is my "mommy breathing" time.  I can do nothing, and my house stays quiet!

My mom decided to do the 2nd grade work today focusing on handwriting, and Bible while I got my quiet time.  Then after that I step in and finish off with our history and science.  Atoms, molecules, state history.. it's so much fun!

2:00: Naptime is over and now it's OUTSIDE TIME!  Everyone gets to run, play, explore, and thoroughly enjoy the sunshine and warm weather for today!

While they are playing, it's time to rotate laundry, sweep again, dishes cycled, and do another quick "declutter" for the afternoon.

4:00: Dinner prep time!  Everyone gets to come inside, watch a history movie, read books, puzzles, and calm down a little while I figure out what to prepare for dinner.

5:00: Kids are being fed, Samuel is ready to go to basketball game and piano, and soon everyone else gets to go home!!

The rest of the evening I get to watch Samuel play basketball, then go to piano lessons just in time to get home for stories and bed!  The other kids get a good evening with daddy, while I embrace my special Samuel time.

I love days like today!  The sun is out, my energy is good! (thanks to ZEAL!), everyone has been in a good mood, and everything is flowing perfect!

Now, not every day is like this, so I deeply cherish the days it is :)  IN between all of that is baby snuggles (because if she's not in her wrap with me she gets sad), toddler hugs (because I'm HIS mommy), and lots of other amazing moments!

Days like this is why I love and cherish my homeschooling.  I get an amazing day, full of amazing kids, and it's done in a way and schedule that fits our family perfectly.


Here is a short video entailing some of our sweet memories from today :)
 Typical Tuesday!