A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler: Randa Clay
This is a new category of content here at Homeschool Roundup. I don’t know about you, but I’m always curious what other people’s average homeschool day looks like, how long they spend on school, ages of kids, curricula used, etc. Knowing what others do can provide us with ideas, inspiration and even comfort that we’re not the only ones struggling! I’ll start…
Ages of children: 6 year old and 3 year old boys
Number of years homeschooling: 2
Curricula: Math U See Alpha, First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 1
My 6 year old is entering 1st grade this year and it will be our first year doing Classical Conversations. We usually start our schoolwork around 9am after going to the gym and I’d say we’re spending maybe an hour and a half on average right now. Sometimes I let him choose what order to do things in and sometimes I dictate that. I try not to spend too much time sitting at the desk, so we do things that don’t require writing on the bed in our little spare bedroom / schoolroom. We usually start with math since that’s his least favorite, and often will break it up, doing a little bit, moving on to language arts, back to math, etc. We’ve found that not having to do it all at once helps keep the grumpies away.
I looked at lots of spelling curricula, and eventually decided to use the Webster’s Speller instead of something more involved, and we use it for handwriting and phonics as well. Some days we pull out the Bananagrams
We’ve recently added the CC memory work to our morning and he loves that we’re memorizing it together. We’ll use it for our “spine” for science exploration and history as the year gets going.
Some days, just to shake things up, I put all our regular stuff aside and just say “what do you want to learn about?” We did bees last week, for example. We watched YouTube videos about hives and honey harvesting, found some bee coloring sheets, learned about parts of their bodies and how they assist in pollination. It’s a fun break from the routine.
Finally, I’ve been looking for a more focused Bible program to use, and I think I’m going to use the Character Journal site for now, but suggestions would be very welcome.
We school year round, but take more days off during the summer, and take 2-3 weeks off at other times such as holidays and when he finishes a math book.
My biggest challenges: keeping the fun in schoolwork (I am not Fun Mommy), handling the grumpy attitudes and lack of focus like a mature adult, and keeping the 3 year old busy
