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Homeschool Day in the Life: Abby, Charlotte Mason homeschooling mom to four

Day in the life Abby

A homeschool day in the life looks different almost every day, right? Over on our Instagram page, we love to give you a peek into lots of homeschool days regardless of how they change day to day.

Today, we’re going to give you a peek into the homeschool day in the life of Abby, Charlotte Mason homeschooling mom to four kids with a passion for encouraging other moms along the journey.

We can all learn and be inspired by one another, regardless of our homeschool approach. It’s not about looking good for social media, it’s about the connection going on inside our homeschool walls and sharing with others what works for us.

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We might all homeschool a little differently, but we can always look for ideas from each other that inspire, encourage and equip us in our own homeschool days. So each week we create blog posts for you to access later of each of those “days in the life”. We hope you keep coming back for more inspiration. Keep going, mama! These days at home are so worth it!

Meet Abby

Abby

Abby is a Charlotte Mason inspired homeschooling mom to four, from 7th grade down to preschool. A Chicago girl at heart, she lives on the coast in Florida, in the same little beach town where she met her high school sweetheart and planted their family roots. When not homeschooling, you’ll most often find Abby family surfing, having beachside play dates with friends, or anything sun and sand! She and her husband, John, love to travel and incorporate real life learning opportunities anytime they hit the road.

Abby began homeschooling her oldest in preschool, and has proudly entered her 10th year of homeschooling this year. This year in particular, she is focused on the term “unhurried”. Her desire is to be intentional with an enjoyable feast of ideas in the morning hours before busy afternoons of dance company, martial arts, music lessons, or church events hit! Abby’s favorite subject is history, and you’ll find that woven into her lessons in many ways throughout the day. Enrichment, whether through their Charlotte Mason co-op, volunteering at a local community garden, or trying their hand at brush drawing, brings joy to Abby’s heart, and is a major theme of their homeschool.

Abby shares over at @rootedinrest , and aims to encourage women in their current season of life.

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Good Morning!

Day in the life Abby

Last year I tried to be more aware of cultivating an atmosphere in our home that encouraged learning. Continuing in that direction this school year, I decided that we would focus on slowing our mornings, as our afternoons tend to be very busy.

I’ve always been a “get up, get going, and don’t get distracted” homeschooler, so I do feel as though I’m fighting my nature a little bit here. However, it has been the best decision for our family. Don’t get me wrong – there is still a lot of learning happening in these morning hours, but the books themselves wait until about 10:30.

Our morning rhythm includes my husband, who leaves for work by 7, waking the kids up and saying prayers. Most kids get started on what we call contributions (also known as morning chores) such as doing their own laundry, freshening the bathroom for the day, or unloading the dishwasher from the night before. As our life skill for the school year, one child has the responsibility of helping me with breakfast each morning. We rotate between three simple breakfast dishes – baked oatmeal, eggs, and whole wheat waffles. Most are just about ready to do this unassisted by now.

While breakfast is being made, there are storybooks being read, and toys from our “warm up bin” (STEM toys) being played with. Occasionally some kids choose to start working to get ahead on their afternoon independent work.

This continues until we tidy up from breakfast and split off for our morning Bible time.

Breakfast Gathering

Breakfast Abby

Our breakfast gathering and Bible time is sweet and slow. As the kids eat, I often pour a second cup of coffee and read. We start with a devotion, then move on to some theology before they break off and start on their individual quiet times. My older kids use the “SOAK” method (Scripture, Observation, Application, Kneeling in prayer) for their journaling. My younger two sit with me as we read through a storybook Bible and do some illustrated narration. Rushing this part of our day had been the habit for years, so carving out plenty of intentional time for this in our mornings has been life giving. It sets the mood for the remainder of our morning together.

A Natural Transition

Natural Transition

As much as I could keep it slow and steady all day long, we do eventually need to transition into a studious mindset. Transitions can be tough for kids, especially younger ones. Since we don’t leave the house, hop in a car, and enter a new environment for school, I use a morning nature walk as our transition into our school day.

We tidy breakfast, throw on some flip flops and go on what I call a “walk and talk”. On these walks we discuss anything from the morning that needs to be shared or spoken about (Bible questions, the plan for our afternoon, etc.). We also look for something to add to our nature journals. We’re gone for about 30 minutes, and we enter our home once again but with a change of pace and expectation. Everyone grabs a drink and a snack and we sit down for our morning basket time that takes us into the lunch hour.

Family Subjects

Family Subjects

What subjects do you do as a family?

The majority of our subjects are done together before lunch. I keep it all together in a basket and we typically move the basket from the school room to the living room floor. Some of the books in this basket are done every day, and some are rotated.

The things we do daily are our read aloud, New City Catechism, Morning Exercises, Patriot’s Almanac, and Sing a Song of Seasons. In rotation is Laying Down the Rails, poet (Maya Angelou for us this year), composer (Liszt), artist (The Florida Highwaymen), missionary story (YWAM books), and then we either do our history or geography curriculum.

We got to most of these books this morning. We only spend a few minutes in each book, but as Sonya Shafer, who I greatly admire, says “Small, constant touches can add up to something great.”

Lunch

Lunch

I’ve found that simple is key when it comes to cooking and serving three meals a day to 5 or 6 people. Over the summer I wrote down an easy to follow lunch menu and it made each day one decision easier! It worked so well that we have continued it this fall. My favorite part of this system is that I run on autopilot, buy ingredients in bulk, and rarely have to think about it when I’m grocery shopping.

Our weekly lunch menu is as follows:

Monday: packed lunch (we are either at co op or volunteering at a garden on Mondays)
Tuesday: whole grain nuggets, fruit
Wednesday: grilled cheese or pb&j on sprouted bread, veggies (today we had some cucumbers from the garden on Monday, and some apples that were gifted to us from NC)
Thursday: build your own smoothie bowls (I make a base, usually strawberry banana or chocolate peanut butter, and set out a few toppings such as coconut, hemp seeds, granola, etc.)
Friday: black bean quesadillas, veggies on the side
Saturday: cheese and turkey crackers, fruit

Independent Subjects

Independent subjects

After lunch and some more time outdoors, my kids go through their afternoon checklists and get some work done each day. I’ll help them write out a list at the beginning of the week, and they can accomplish it in any order they choose as the week goes on, so long as it is complete by Friday evening. I love giving them a chance to do things how they’d like to. This freedom has actually produced more effort than when I timed each subject down to the 15 minute mark. I’ll often find them checking off their list in the morning hours to be ahead and finished early.

My oldest is completely independent during this time, save for her language arts lessons, but I still stick close by to help my boys. Sometimes, they begin to get a little restless, so we play a game where they go in the back yard and I call them in at random with silly voices one at a time to cross something off of their list.

Their independent work by grade per week is:

2nd Grader:
Math (4 lessons)
Science (done together with brother)
Reading (3 lessons)
Handwriting (4 lessons)
Logic (1 lesson)

5th Grader:
Math (4 lessons)
Science (done together with brother)
Spelling/Writing (2 lessons)
Handwriting (4 lessons)
Logic (1 lesson)
Typing (2 lessons)
Assigned History Reading
Violin Practice (daily)

7th Grader:
Math (4 lessons)
Science (5 lessons)
Spelling/Writing (2 lessons)
Handwriting (4 lessons)
Logic (1 lesson)
Typing (2 lessons)
Assigned History Reading
Violin Practice (daily)
French (2 lessons)
Missionary Study

Bedtime Books and Songs

Bedtime books and songs

The day is done, the books are closed, the bedtime stories have been read by dad. This is always the moment of reflection. Did I sew into their minds AND their hearts? Did I encourage self discipline AND freedom to explore? Was there pencil and paper AND eye contact?

Today is a closed chapter. Tomorrow is a fresh start.

Thank you all for having me today. I really enjoyed sharing glimpses into our home. It encourages my heart to know there are so many other intentional families out there trying their best to answer these questions each day as well.

I hope that if there was only one takeaway from what I shared today, it is that a schedule should serve your family, not the other way around. I’ve held myself to a less than life giving routine for years, and it has been in the unconventional that we’ve learned to thrive.

Don’t be afraid to go with your gut, isn’t that why we’re doing this, after all?

Signing off for the night. It was a joy connecting with each of you! I’ll be over at @rootedinrest from here on out!

Thank you so much to Abby for sharing your family’s day with us!

Day in the life Abby

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.

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