Our Daily Rhythm

Our day does follow a predictable pattern. It is very flexible .....it is not governed by time although I do use time as a benchmark. This is our our days look like this winter....

We wake , fix and eat breakfast. The little kids then get to play until about 9am. At 9 I bring out all the books that Sam and I are working on-

MUS, primer
HWT- Kindergarten
our story of the week-chosen from amblesideonline Year 0 and Five in a row
100 EZ lessons
Speech work.

We rotate through these until done for the day. Sometimes we will need to put one up when he loses interest and come back to it during are daily morning time. Everything will get done in this morning session but sometimes a lesson is done in 2 short segments instead of 1 longer segment depending on his attention. Charlotte comes and listens and colors with her books as she sees fit. This portion of our day can be shorter if Charlotte is content to play in another room and Sam is very eager or it can be longer when Charlotte joins us for most of the lessons. Either way is fine.

I am trying to implement a little yoga at the end of this time. This is something new and somedays it is a better experience than others. This is not a habit yet but a habit in progress. It usually works out better when older sis joins in.

The little kids then have the rest of the morning to play inside. I use this time to do chores and to work with my older daughter as needed. There are days that I spend most of this time helping the little kids entertain themselves. This is especially true when we haven't had a great deal of time outside during the week.

Lunch is next at 12pm followed by a rest time. Rest time is really hit and miss after lunch.

Around 1pm we either head out for errands, a local co-op, or a nature walk depending on the day of the week.

Around 2pm I hope to have the little kids outside to play and I hope to stay out there for about 2 hours.

Around 4pm we head indoors for a snack and a rest time. They are ready to lounge after being outside for 2 hours. They then play inside until dinner time. I use this time to check email, do a pick up and start dinner. My older kids are usually chatty at this time and I spend time listening and talking with them.

Dad is home at 6pm and we eat dinner followed by baths, more play time -usually on the computer next to dad. Next is a story and then bedtime.

We have been really lax about a bedtime for Sam which all started during the 9 weeks that I was on bedrest for Charlotte. This is the habit that we have been working on this month.

That's a really good day.

Tuesdays don't follow that pattern.

Tuesdays the teens have a class that meets at 9am.and Sam has speech at 10am. We drop teens at their class head over to Speech.On good weather days we play in a park until 10 am ....the past 2 weeks we did Sam's schoolwork in the car. This actually worked surprisingly well. We pick up teens at 11am , eat lunch and the teens have another class that day at 1:30. The little kids and I either head back to another park or to grandma's house depending on weather. We arrive back home at 3pm. If Sam and I did not do anywork in the morning we will try to finish it now. Thankfully, we only have about 10 more of these Tuesdays left this year.