A Better Day and Our Schedule

Today was much better! The children all got up on time.....because it was snowing! At first it was barely visible, but by 8:30 or so, the fat flakes tumbled down. It really was beautiful! I let them play outside until they were frozen, and then they thawed and we began school. We worked a little bit out of the order of our schedule, but I can be flexible. Especially when attitudes are happy! The children were able to play in the snow as much as they wanted, AND we completed all of our school work in a timely manner.

Here is the daily schedule that I use as a goal. You will notice that there are very few actual times listed, because we pay more attention to completing the tasks in order than in watching the clock. This schedule is different from last semester's because we are not currently having cross country practice. The children and I are running either on our treadmills or on our trails, and I am letting them choose when in the day then want to run.

5:00 Mama--Bible study, run
7:00 Mama--shower, dress; All children--up, chores, breakfast
8:00 Mama and all children--Bible lesson at kitchen table
8:30 Mama and all children--Read aloud time in den, then move to schoolroom for timeline activities and other related tasks (all pertaining to our unit study on Mississippi History)
9:30 (or so) Mama--math with Olivia; Julie--work alone, Clay--play with Sam in their room; Leah--LeapPad, Leapster, computer game, or just draw
NEXT--Mama--phonics and math with Leah; Olivia--school alone; Julie--play with Sam in den and feed him a snack; Clay--school alone
NEXT--Mama--Sonlight reading with Leah and Sam (Leah has a snack); Olivia, Julie, and Clay--school alone
NEXT--Mama--IEW, spelling, and other schoolwork with Clay; Olivia and Julie--school alone; Leah and Sam--activities in schoolroom
NEXT--Mama--Literature with Olivia; Julie and Clay school alone or free; Leah and Sam--finish activities, clean up, watch TV or play outside
1:00 PM--Lunch
NEXT--Mama--science with Clay (if not finished before lunch)
NEXT--Sam takes a nap. The other children are free.
5:00 Afternoon chores

Julie completes 99% of her schoolwork alone. I am available to answer any questions throughout the morning.
I check all of the children's schoolwork throughout the morning and have them make any corrections.

I spend my afternoons finishing laundry, doing some housework, checking emails, blogging, paying bills, cooking supper, running errands, and various other household tasks. Since we don't have xc practice, some afternoons I even make time to play board or card games with the children.