by Tessa | Homeschooling
Relaxed Homeschool Schedule: A Day in the Life With a Newborn, 2yo, 5yo, 8yo, and 11yo
I always love reading “homeschool day in the life” posts by other people to see how they do things so I thought it was my turn to share.
Since the birth of our littlest one a couple weeks ago our household rhythms have been thrown off balance. We also had a stomach bug come through the house (I walked over to my mom’s across the yard at 2 days post partum so the baby and I would escape it) and the boys took a while to get their energy back. But I feel like we are slowly easing back into our relaxed homeschool schedule.
Keep in mind that this is an ideal that we strive for but we don’t always hit these targets. This also just applies to days when we are nearly fully at home. If we are out and about, we adapt and mostly just stick to our daily anchors of high 5, snack time, and tidy time.
6am WakeUp
My husband’s alarm goes off and he goes downstairs to do his devotion time for a bit before heading out to feed cows. Until the birth a couple weeks ago he would hand me my phone so I could do a quick YouVersion devotion and pray for strength and wisdom for the day and for God to guide my words. Then I would write for about an hour in
Evernote on my phone while attempting to keep all the little ones asleep. I’ll build up to writing again but, for now, I have mostly been taking the extra hour of sleep or lay awake praying for the day and cuddling with and watching my littlest one nurse.
7am Coffee & Journal
I try to sneak away from my bed-sharing 2yo to go downstairs for my coffee and praise & prayer journal. I only succeed about 25% of the time. I’m often joined by my other early riser as well, the 5yo. Of course the baby always comes with me. Occasionally the 11yo also wakes up earlier than normal and comes downstairs to read on the couch. The 8yo is my sleeper-inner and is almost never up before 9. When the kids wake up they get their own breakfast on the go. It is a relaxed time of self direction and the kids have learned that, while my lap and arms are always open to cuddle, I am not very chatty until later.
8am Social Media or Emails
Adam comes in for a bit after he is done morning feeding time until he has his morning operational meeting in the barn at 9am. This is a new part of our routine (he used to go out to feed at 7:30 and we wouldn’t see him until noon) but even he has learned that I’m not very chatty and, if he wants to chat and play, the 5yo and 2yo are where to direct his energy. I often do a bit of social media posting and interacting at this point too.
9am High 5s
Adam goes back to the farm and the rest of us start with High 5s. This is a routine I’ve been working on since my eldest was 5, so over 6 years. (Short description: make bed, get dressed, gather dirty laundry, eat breakfast, tidy kitchen.) It still doesn’t happen without a phone alarm (which currently sings “Baby Shark,” at the childrens’ request, and always results in lots of giggles) and plenty of reminders. But this is always my starting place as it covers off the maintenance of the biggest two household tasks: laundry and dishes. Sometime this one task takes us all morning. That’s just how life goes sometimes.
9:30am Morning Time
At least that is the goal. We hit it 2-3 times per week when I really make the effort. This part of the rhythm was added in about 3 years ago when I got really ambitious and excited about all the lovely things I was reading about circle time and morning baskets. I have kept it pretty simple and I’ll write a little more about what exactly we do next week (otherwise this post would be even longer than it is).
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10am Learning Cards
We split off into our Learning Cards. (More detail in my post on
Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Grade 6, Grade 4, and Grade 1) These are done at the boys’ own pace, though I do remind them that the more they do right away, the more they can play in the afternoon. This is the time when I’m on call to direct or assist with learning card while I try to get some blog work in. The toddler plays. Sometimes with a table toy (like dice or pompoms) and sometimes with his brothers’ Lego creations.
Noon Lunch
Adam comes in from chores and likes to make lunch for us. I used to have lunch ready when he came in but he was always craving something else so he took over a few years ago. This means we either visit while I catch up on my kitchen tasks or folding laundry in the kitchen (which is where all my clean laundry is stored, small house quirks), or at this point I usually just sit and rest for a bit 9with a nursing baby of course) and wait until he feeds me.
1pm Quiet time
The 2yo goes down for a nap so he cuddles with his Daddy for half an hour in our bed upstairs before Adam sneaks away to goes back to work at 1:30. (Note: He is the first of my kids to nap on a very consistent schedule.) During this time, I nap on the couch with the baby as the older 3 go outside or play quietly with Lego, play a boardgame, or read and attempt to keep themselves quiet so I don’t growl at them.
2pm Catch Up
The 2yo wakes up and one of the older 2 boys goes to get him. He comes to snuggle with me on the couch or is read to by an older brother while I help the other rather quietly with some earning stuff that was not done earlier as we try not to wake the baby, who is still napping in my arms. I used to try to fit a bit of homecare in at some point after naps but, at this point, it often looks like me just directing the older kids to do their homecare tasks from their sticker charts while I cuddle the baby.
3pm Snack time
This has been an anchor in our day for years. We have a small snack and gather for a simple lesson in History or Botany or a mom-chosen show.
Snack time was added to our daily rhythm when we first moved to this farm. I just had two kids at the time, 5yo and 2yo, and I worked in the barns 8-10 hours a day. They came with me as I had no childcare so they “worked hard” too all day. They played with calves and raced Tonka trucks up and down feed alleys and helped pitch straw into calf pens. I remember the hard work of this time period but they remember the fun of helping mom.
By this point in the day I needed to feed them something to tide them over until a late supper. We would make this a fun “tea time” and the three of us would sit around a little table and have very grown up conversations and sometimes I read poetry or Little House books… In spite of the backbreaking work of starting up this farm, I have some sweet memories of that time too.
When this is done the kids go play while I rest or read or check social media.
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4pm Chores
We have a phone alarm that tells the 11yo to go to the barn for chores. He pushes feed up for the dairy cows, sometimes he scrapes manure out of stalls or helps find cows who have been lazy and haven’t gone to the milk robot for a while. Sometimes my husband texts me and asks for the 8yo to come assist with chores too. They love working with their Dad on the farm sporadically but having regular barn chores on the sticker chart is a privilege that they have to earn. This takes anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour.
The other kids keep playing.
You can read more about how we use chores to teach responsibility in work in my post about Raising Men, Not Boys: Chores.
5pm Tidy Time
Tidy time is another regular anchor in our day. We use it to bring peace back to our home, not that getting them to actually tidy is always peaceful process! My checklist and schedule loving 11yo is very consistent with this though. Not because he necessarily sees the value of a tidy home (though the more he trips on dump trucks or steps on Lego the more he understands) but because the reward is some screen time.
I tell the boys what I need tidied, the messiest room or two plus the living room where Adam and I sit in the evening. I don’t keep a clean house all day but I do like a peaceful room after the kids are in bed. Plus the bathroom is down the stairs and on the far end of the house, through nearly all the downstairs rooms, so we need to make sure the path is straightened up so no one breaks a foot on the way there in the middle of the night… again.
While they tidy, I get supper on the go. Sometimes the middle 3 tidy while I teach my eldest how to cook a meal. Sometimes my 8yo comes to help me because he is so eager to learn everything about being a grownup (including a strong desire to drink coffee).
6pm Supper
We eat when my husband comes in from the farm. Usually at 6 but sometimes he is later. If he is going to be after 7 then the kids and I will eat without him and he just reheats his food.
7:30pm Bedtime
We start bedtime routines, which is really just potty, brush teeth, fill water bottles then upstairs for story and prayer with Daddy. The 5yo has lights out at 8pm, 8 & 11yo have a reading lamps beside their bed and turn them off at 8:15 & 8:30.
Our 2yo will sometimes join his brothers for stories, otherwise he hangs out downstairs with me, and folds his hands when he hears the boys praying upstairs through the monitor. (Sidenote: best idea ever to have a baby monitor for the boys’ shared room so they know we can hear them whisper and giggle if they don’t go to sleep but we can also hear if they are scared or sick or need something.) Toddler is usually asleep by 9ish and so far just falls asleep beside his sister as I rock them both or cuddled under a blanket on the couch beside his daddy.
10pm My Bedtime
This is HUGE! I can’t emphasize enough the value in setting a consistent bedtime. I also have no issues going to bed earlier if I haven’t napped or if the baby has been awake more at night.Adequate sleep is a gamechanger! Our 2yo, who still occasionally wakes in the night, currently sleeps in the side-carred crib so Adam tends to him through the night and I get to cuddle and nurse my newest bundle all night.
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You May Also Like:
Relaxed Homeschool Schedule for a WAHM Mom of 6
Raising Men, Not Boys: Chores
Homeschool Curriculum Choices: Grade 6, Grade 4, Grade 1
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That looks like a very intense relaxed homeschool schedule so I’d like to remind you that this is NOT something that I decided one day and implemented. This is just the natural flow that our days have developed over the years. I don’t hold anything to their set time except our main anchors (high 5s, lunch, snack time, and tidy time).
I believe that God blesses a household with more peace in relationships when we order our days, or at least attempt to keep a measure of order within our days and in our families. If you’re looking for a rhythm for your own family, start by just looking at the flow that your day already has and write it out. You’ll find that your family already has a rhythm and, if you don’t like the rhythm, feel free to begin slowly tweaking so it works better for you. Maybe just start with a High 5 routine.
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If you think the High 5 chart that my family uses might fit your family, I’ll email you my
free printable morning routine. It is simple enough for a toddler but thorough enough for my tween and me.
by Tessa | Homeschooling
How do you establish a common baseline as what skills are necessary to survive and contribute to society? Also, how do you determine how a person meets those criteria in a timely fashion so the system is efficient? I agree that the system does a disservice to some individuals but for the majority it works.
These questions were posed to me by a friend after I shared a photo on my personal Facebook timeline stating that a fish should not be judged by it’s ability to climb a tree.
Here’s the response I gave this friend:
Wouldn’t living/participating in society be the best way to establish the skills needed to live in society? Also, do we need to establish a common baseline? Or perhaps instead of teaching everyone specific facts, we could teach them how to acquire the required knowledge for themselves? For example, the baseline I have for my children includes seeking/trusting the Lord and making Him the center of their lives, learning how to manage finances, taking care of their family, and having integrity in all they do. Those are skills that they learn through participating in society, and church, and getting involved in business and family affairs. I could care less if they ever learn how to solve a quadratic equation, or memorize who the 6th prime minister of Canada was, or know exactly how photosynthesis works.
And what is the definition of “timely fashion?” People used to be married with careers before age 20 and nowadays we still have 30-40 year olds living with their parents who, according to “the system” have been told they are adults but, according to society, do not have the skills necessary to venture out on their own. There are also many individuals who are still pursuing conventional education at those ages who don’t actually begin contributing to society until 10 years later than those who chose to learn career skills within their career instead of in a classroom.
As for efficiency and the system working for the majority of individuals, my personal experience has been very different. Most people I know hated school and learned more about how to live in society after their conventional schooling was finished. They don’t remember and/or use most of the information they were taught in school and, instead, acquired the skills necessary for their vocation through actually participating in that field. I also know way to many people who were made to feel stupid (and some were actually directly told they were stupid) and therefore they still believe that, because they were a fish who was asked to climb a tree, they must be stupid. It is heartbreaking that those “fish,” so to speak, are now too afraid to swim. It may be “efficient” for us to put everyone through the same system, but has not proven effective.
Here is an article where the author states that “The truth is: the sooner you start learning from the real world, the sooner you will find success. School is great as far as it can teach you basic knowledge and allow you to network. However, going to college is not the end — it’s only the beginning.” (Note: Some of the pictures are offensive and I do not necessarily agree with every opinion of the writer, but he does make some good points that are worth considering.)
Another great article on this subjects reminds us that “wisdom, insight and intelligence aren’t a function of how many years you spent in school.”
Please don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that college & university are worthless. There are certain instances when it can be very beneficial to attend conventional schooling. What I am saying, however, is that conventional schooling does not help us establish a baseline of skills necessary to live in and contribute to society. Many people thrive in their careers, not only in spite of not completing college or high school, but because of it. It gave them those extra years of experience that they would not have otherwise gotten. In fact, some of the greatest business minds that I know never completed high school. Many of the other great business minds I know are not even working in the field of their degree.
The common baseline of skills is established, and learned, by getting involved in society and applying. Skills are learned in a timely fashion (when a person needs them) and effectively applied. My opinion is that the “real world” is nothing like the “classroom world.” We even tell kids, when they graduate from high school or university and start working full time, “welcome to the real world.”
Where do you stand: should we have a checklist of skills or facts that children need to learn before they become contributing members of society? Is there a specific timeline that we should expect our children to learn them? Is there a particular way that these skills should be taught?
