This week is our first week back in school. It’s about a month and a half earlier than usual, but with our littlest addition arriving in August, starting early just makes sense. My hope is to get a month of school in before we welcome Baby Boy and get into a loose daily rhythm that I’m sure will change and evolve as our family grows from five to six.
Today I want to share my hope for what our days will look like this month and beyond, with obvious tweaks here and there when baby comes: nursing around the clock and the unpredictable ‘schedule’ of a newborn being the biggest changes. I know we will find our groove eventually and I think a baseline this month will help.
My oldest, Luke, will be in first grade this year and my middle, Lily, will be in her second year of preschool. I also have a two year old, Jude. My hope is to have two to three days at home a week. These days will be much slower than others and will give us ample time to set a school rhythm. Our mornings usually being around 7, with the kids waking and eating breakfast. Following breakfast I am going to give the big kids time to get dressed and play for an hour or so while I do my chores for the day and clean up after breakfast.
Our School Day
School will begin around 9:00 and we will all start together in our playroom area. We will discuss our calendar, read some poetry, work on memorizing a Bible verse, and do a few read alouds. This week we are memorizing James 1:17 because I am currently studying James and we haven’t started Awana, yet. We are beginning the year with an author study on Kevin Henkes, which I am super excited about. Henkes books are sweet and simple and his characters are absolutely lovable.
After we finish up together, I will work with Luke on language arts, handwriting, and math. We usually do this at the dining room table while the other two play. Then Luke will go play with Jude and I will work with Lily on letter work, handwriting, and math.
We will gather together again to do a History or Science lesson. This is a change from last year because I did both History and Science everyday. Our first unit will be on Safety. We will then break for playtime and lunch.
Something I am hoping to add in this year is an entire house reading time. We did this a few times the last few months and it was glorious. I set the timer for 10 minutes and everyone found a comfy spot to read some books. Even Jude participated, he wants to be like the big kids so badly.
If the kids earn ten stickers throughout the morning for doing their work with a happy heart (basically the morning is semi-smooth), they each get a bit of screen time. After screen time, I will put Jude and Lily down for nap/rest time and then Luke and I will get cozy on the couch to do his reading lesson. At some point throughout the year, I hope to start Lily on reading lessons. We use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and even though I taught first graders how to read for five years using guided reading, this is a great way to teach reading at home without a lot of materials. It took Luke about a year and a half to complete 100 lessons and he is reading at around a late first grade/early second grade reading level.
After Luke’s reading lesson, he gets to watch a show for his reward. His current favorites are dinosaur documentaries (which honestly and figuratively put me to sleep). Luke still takes a rest time after his reading lesson and reward because by this time we all need to go to our corners for a bit. Our school day is done and I can prepare materials for the following day, rest, do tasks around the house, and read and write.
On days when we are out of the house, our rhythm will look a bit different. We will start earlier in the morning so we are able to get out of the house and Lily will not do seat work with me.
This rhythm has evolved from a slightly more rigid routine we used last year and my hope is it will work well for us. I am optimistic I will learn more this year about treating our days more as an experience to be savored rather than a check list of things to cross off. I have so much to learn, friends.
Tell me, what does your daily rhythm look like, whether you homeschool, are at home with littles, or your kids attend school outside the home?