Our Homeschool Day...No Two Days Are The Same

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Our homeschool schedule is a work in progress.  No two days are ever the same!  I'm sure many of you can relate.  The schedule I posted below are typical days.  We are constantly having to make room in our day and change things around due to therapies and appointments.  Although we do have occurrences that happen every day, they just may not happen at the same time every day.  I try to remain as flexible as possible, but still keeping the flow of our day consistent.   

New to our schedule this year is our oldest two children (ages 18 and 20) are now in college.  They attend a local community college only miles from our house.  Even though only one of them drives, they still carpool as much as possible.    

You might notice that I don't break our schedule down by subjects.  We do accomplish reading and math everyday.  We do unit studies which cover one topic at a time (either history or science).  We incorporate lots of movement breaks and hands-on activities since our children have short attention spans, sensory processing disorder and learning difficulties.    

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
7 am	Wake up/get dressed	Wake up/get dressed	Wake up/get dressed	Wake up/get dressed	Wake up/get dressed
8 am	Breakfast/chores	Breakfast/chores	Breakfast/chores	Breakfast/chores	Breakfast/chores
9 am	AAR – circle/table time	Earnest	AAR – circle/table time	Earnest	AAR – circle/table time
10 am	Crystal	AAR – circle/table time	snack	AAR – circle/table time	snack
11 am	Outside time	Outside time	Outside time	Outside time	Outside time
12 pm	lunch	lunch	lunch	Lunch/James OT	lunch
1 pm	Quiet time	Quiet time	Quiet time	Quiet time	Quiet time
2 pm	Math/learning game	Unit study	Math/learning game	Unit study	Math/learning game
3 pm	iPad activities	Alex ACE	Alex ACE	Alex ACE	iPad activities
4 pm	Outside time	Outside time	Outside time	Outside time	Outside time
5 pm	dinner	dinner	dinner	dinner	dinner
6 pm	Free/family time	Free/family time	Free/family time	Free/family time	Free/family time
7 pm	Littles bedtime routine	Littles bedtime routine	Littles bedtime routine	Littles bedtime routine	Littles bedtime routine
8 pm	Mom prep/computer	Mom prep/computer	Mom prep/computer	Mom prep/computer	Mom prep/computer
9 pm	Dad TV	Dad TV	Dad TV	Dad TV	Dad TV
10 pm	Grown-up quality time	Grown-up quality time	Grown-up quality time	Grown-up quality time	Grown-up quality time
KEY:	Johnathan appointments	James appointments	Alex appointments

*AAR – All About Reading

You may want to check out our homeschool classroom or how we make curriculum adaptations to allow for easier learning.

~Nicole~

Have a comment or question?  I would love to hear your feedback!

Back to School Pictures

Introducing this year's students...

Amada (age 3)

Johnathan (age 7)

James (age 8)

Alex (age 10)

These great grade level printables are from Life as Mom.  Sorry about them being so hard to read in the above photos.  The kids colored them all by themselves and whatever colors they wanted.  Since we don't homeschool "by the grade" it's really not a big deal.  We feel it is better to teach by what the child is ready to learn next and not necessarily what the state standards dictate.  I guess that is also why unit studies fit our homeschooling method.

Do you homeschool by the grade?  If not, why did you choose not to?  How do you respond to the question, "What grade are you in?"

This post is a link-up with iHomeschoolNetwork.   

~Nicole~

Our Home School Classroom

I like the idea of having one room that is a dedicated space as a school room, but let's face it when you homeschool everything you do is a learning experience.  Last year was our first year homeschooling our younger children (ages 10, 8, 7, and 3).  Due to the nature of our children's special needs, we really have to be creative in how we teach them.  We use a lot of hands-on material.  You can read here how I have adapted some of our curriculum for our children.

After school began last year, we ended up listing our house for short sale as well as moving into a rental house.  We never really organized the school area when we moved, so we were basically in survival mode just trying to complete the school year.

Well...we are organized (for now anyways).  And here is a peek.      

All table work is done at our kitchen table.  That's just where it is convenient.  I prepare the week's worth of lessons/activities and store them in the cart next to the table.  Since we take more of a group approach to learning, this works well for us.  The kids sit on the benches (in their assigned seats).  My husband sits at one end of the table and I at the other so we can assist as needed.  

This should be our dining room, but it is where our computer sits.  This is where I research and prepare our lessons.  See the boxes under the table?

We use our family room for the daily group time (including calendar and All About Reading lesson).  When we read aloud to the kids, everyone is able to spread out in this room.  We also have a group quiet time in the afternoon so I can have a few minutes off my feet.

The following pictures are also in the family room (continuing clockwise).

This is our media and storage area.  We love to watch educational movies, documentaries, nature shows, and other novel-based movies.  These cabinets house most of our games, as well as a charging station for our iPads.  Last year we invested in 3 iPads to be used for homeschooling and it was the best purchase we made!  See how one of our sons uses his iPad as a communication device. 

These are the posters from our All About Reading program from last year (Level Pre-1), as well as the magnetic white board with our letter tiles that we are currently using with Level 1.  I sit on the couch to instruct during circle time and the kids sit in their own chairs in a semi-circle in front of me.

I found these monster manners posters at the Dollar Tree.  (I always love a great bargain!)  After we complete our daily reading lesson the kids get to pick a sticker for their Progress Chart.  

These book cubes hold lots of educational activities, games, books, and equipment.  Since I've made time to organize it, the kids are finally using the items more.

We also use our kitchen often, whether we are cooking or performing a science experiment.  In this picture we were making observations of a coconut since we were doing a unit study on Treasure Island.  Daddy was in the process of cutting it open so we could taste it.    

Our backyard...I think these pictures explain it all and one major reason we fell in love with this house.

This has been a link up with iHomeschoolNetwork.

~Nicole~

Our Curriculum Adaptations

We began homeschooling our younger children last year.  Our boys (ages 10, 8, and 7) have varying special needs which make learning and accessing curriculum difficult.  And we have a toddler (3 year old girl).  Not only are we focusing on academics, but our children are also in various types of therapy (speech, occupational, physical, and behavior).  We continue to work on life skills as part of our daily routine.    

One approach we found which really seems to work for our family is unit studies.  We choose a topic and all of our learning is based on that one topic, generally for 2 weeks.  We try to make our learning as hands-on as possible, including various field trips.  Our older children (ages 18 & 20) sometimes join us for fun activities or to share their knowledge.  

Reading:  I feel strongly that children of any ability can learn to read.  It has been my desire to teach all of our boys how to read and to actually enjoy it.  I love the multi-sensory approach of the All About Reading program.  In January we started with Level Pre-1 giving the kids a good foundation of naming and writing the letters (capital and lowercase), as well as the letter sounds.  We are beginning this school year with Level 1.  The program is so easy to follow with clearly written lesson plans and our kids enjoy the games!

Amada singing the alphabet song

Playing "get out of the wagon"

We supplement with many other reading/learning games to reinforce the concepts they are learning.

        

Amada using Hot Dots to find the beginning sound

James working on his letter writing

Using velcro to order the alphabet pieces and find the missing letters

Math:  We are using the TouchMath program, another great multi-sensory approach.  This is the math program our children were using in the special education classroom, so we continued using it.  It is a costly program, but they do offer free sample worksheets on the websites.  One way I was able to cut down on costs is by just purchasing the worksheets instead of the entire program.  We also play math games, as well as computer and iPad games.  

Our touch-dot math reference page

I have found a couple of homeschooling mom bloggers that I love and who offer printables which I have found to be very helpful.  One of these is Confessions of a Homeschooler.  Here is a link to her math page.  She has a game called add it/subtract it that I printed and laminated.  We use little manipulatives with it and the kids have a great time!

Science/History/Art:  These subjects are covered during our unit studies time.  We do not teach every subject every day, but rather pick a topic of focus and do an in-depth study of it.  Here is a link to our unit we completed recently on the solar system.

PE:  While we do not use a formal curriculum for PE, we do have a lot of structured outside time playing baseball, freeze tag, riding bikes, going to the park, swimming, or an occasional obstacle course.

I utilize our public library for resources, as well as the internet.  I guess I am eclectic for most of our curriculum and that suits us for right now.  I am a proud mama when I look back and see how much progress our children have made over the past year, and more than just in academics.

~Nicole~

This post is a link up with iHomeschool Network's Not Back-to-School Blog Hop.