A Day in the Life of Homeschool Mama Abbie
A Day in the Life of Abbie, Homeschool Mama of Eight
I’m Abbie, a 36-year-old mama to 8, ages almost-13 (this month!) down to 3 months, including 6-year-old identical twin girlies. I was home schooled myself until age 15, at which point I started my college career. My experience with homeschooling was fantastic, and I always planned to home school my own kids but still find myself in awe sometimes of being almost 10 years into this journey. I currently teach high school Spanish at our homeschool co-op where all 8 of the kids attend in some capacity one day a week. We love it! We have a smorgasbord curriculum at home, picking and choosing from this and that, which is one of the BEST things about homeschooling–the ability to customize according your own family’s needs/interests. Excited to meet you all and share our day with you!
GOOD MORNING!
(Not shouting; just trying to sound peppier than I feel). I’m Abbie from @m.is.for.mama, and I get the fun privilege of taking over @learningwellf or a day in the life today.
On Wednesdays, my day starts at around 4:30 when I wake up to feed my three-month-old and then get dressed to go teach a Body Pump class at the gym at 5:45.
I’ve been a fitness instructor for 12 years, and I love it!
P.S. Lest you get an unrealistic idea of my discipline levels…I only get up this early twice a week.
Tell me… what time do you like to get up in the mornings? Are you an exerciser too? If not, what gets your blood pumping (literally or figuratively). Can’t wait to meet new homeschool friends!
Our Morning
It’s a dark/rainy/dreary day here, so pictures won’t be pretty, but our “morning routine” looks something like:
✅7:30 AM – gather at our island and eat breakfast while someone (usually my husband, Shaun, who works from home, but my oldest, Ezra, in this case) reads the daily selection from the One Year Bible. I nurse the baby during this time.
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✅8:15-9:30 – Morning collective. The kids and I gather in the living room and work on memory verses (Eph. 4 currently), poetry (studying the works/life of Emily Dickinson), our monthly hymn, and any other shared subjects (today, American geography/state capitals). My youngest, Shiloh, naps through this.
✅9:30-10 – morning clean-up/chores like wiping down the breakfast table, loading/ unloading the dishwasher, and sweeping.
✅10 – Everybody works on math while I go from kid to kid answering questions and then feed Shiloh when he wakes up.
Hiring Help…my mom!
My mom not only homeschooled me and my brother, but we also get to hire her to help out with our homeschool routine two days a week. My kids love their “Softa!” From 10-12:30 or so, she and I flow between kids, helping with math/spelling questions, changing diapers (both Shiloh, and the 2-year-old, Honor, keep us busy in that department), and getting snacks.
She also works with the older two boys (7th and 6th grade) on writing/literature while I work with Theo and the twins on reading and math facts, and Della (8) reads and prepares her narration.
Then, we break for lunch, which we already did a while ago, BUT our rainy/dreary day took a turn for the “exciting” when a transformer got hit, and we lost our power.
It’s still not back on, but I will keep posting as long as the backup battery for our wifi (and my phone battery) last.
School Day Interruptions
Thanks to our power outage fun, I didn’t eat lunch until 2 today and am behind on where I wanted to be with posting. But really, isn’t being able to adjust your day and roll with the punches one of the very best things about homeschooling?
So good! Almost as good as these gorgeous roses my mom brought in from our flowerbeds (which she planted…yup, she’s the best). My plan for the afternoon was to flip laundry + prep dinner while the little boys (4, 2, and 3 months) napped, and the twins (6) read/played (and the older kids had free time or finished up any lingering work), but the no-power situation has thrown a kink in that, so, instead, I will grade math and finish cleaning the kitchen from lunch, in between nursing sessions.
On Wednesdays, I teach two fitness classes, so I have to have dinner ready (on the days we are not going to church, where they serve a meal) and school completely wrapped up by 3:30 when we head to the gym.
Checking In
Hey guys! Still Abbie from @m.is.for.mama here. Just thought I’d do one more post about yesterday, since our power didn’t come back on until 10:30 last night (but praise the Lord it did as quickly as that!). After I taught my second fitness class (#bodycombat) of the day, we went to the Wednesday night meal at our church, feeling a bit like electricity mooches since Shaun and I aren’t in any Wed. Bible studies currently (the kids still went to theirs, and we chatted/ helped clean up). We came home around 8 and did bedtime routines (teeth, potty, p.j.s) in the semi-darkness, then the kids were off to bed!
I did something I never do and went to bed at 9, which was a blessing in disguise, since I live in a state of mild sleep-deprivation.
Not exactly a COMPLETELY representative day for us, but this view of our “doing school” (math facts, reading, science) on the rug is pretty typical.
I’m sure all homeschooling mamas with kids in multiple age groups agree that sometimes you just gotta gather everybody around and get it done. I feel like it both elevates the understanding of the younger ones and helps the older ones learn to how to explain concepts better as they elucidate them for the littles.
How do y’all handle multiple age groups at once?
Enjoyed sharing our day with you! Thanks for following along!
Thank you so much to Abbie for sharing your family’s day with us!
If you want to see more Day in the Life photos and videos, be sure to check out our Instagram profile. There are highlights of each takeover at the top.