Homeschool Day in the Life: Alicia, veteran homeschool mom and founder of Learning Well Community

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 Alicia, veteran homeschooling mom and founder of Learning Well Community!

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.

Learning Well LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate links from Amazon or other programs are used on this website. For more info, please refer to our disclosure statement.

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 Alicia

Hey friends! We are BACK from summer break with Wednesday day in the life takeovers!

Kicking off this school is me, @overatalicias 👋🏻! I’m so excited to share our day with you! We have four children, but our oldest has graduated so we are down to three students. They are 16, 13, and 8, so if you have teens and want to see what a high school day looks like, you’re in luck!

On Mornings

Each morning, after the kids wake and do their morning chores, I have breakfast for them and we gather around the table. Even my 19 year old who has graduated high school joins us. With each person bringing their own Bible to the table, we start our day with a reading. We are working through the minor prophets right now. Then we read the Proverb of the day. This is the most important part of our morning.

After this, we read from our catechism. I ask them 5-10 questions and help them memorize. Sometimes we work on memory verses here as well.

This year, we are diving into church history and missionary studies so we read a chapter or two from our books to end our Bible morning meeting.

When we’re finished, my oldest gets ready for work, my other kids pick up their next subjects.

I used to be more worried about all the subjects, being “behind,” staying on task, and the like. While I want my kids to be well educated in math, science, and the rest, if they leave my homeschool being just OK at algebra, but solidly rooted in God’s Word, I am completely fine with that.

Sometimes we miss the blessing the homeschooling gives. Sometimes we let the public school mindset creep in, telling us that we have to pile on more, more, more. But I’ve realized over the years that homeschooling is extremely efficient and that ‘more’ oftentimes gives us less. Less time, less freedom, less peace.

So we start our days like this–learning more about God and who He is–and I’m resting in the confidence that He will give us what we need for the rest of the day.

On Homeschool Homes

There is nothing more aesthetically pleasing than scrolling through Instagram at the beautiful flay lays, gorgeous stacks of books, and homes that look like they were swiped from Cottage Living magazine. I love that. I do. But I think we need to be honest as we’re scrolling, that their houses look messy in the middle of a homeschool day too.

We typically start around 9am and finish around 2pm, with a lunch break somewhere in there. In between subjects, I’m switching laundry, loading the dishwasher, and making my grocery list. We start our day with a clean slate, but by the end of our school day, our clean slate is very, very messy.

I have a friend that tells me all the time–“A messy house means you have happy kids.”

Homeschooling is messy. The paper scraps, half-drunk cups of water, and books are everywhere. We don’t have a classroom, we have a home. And our home is very much lived in.

I like it that way.

At around 2pm, when we are done with lessons, we set a timer and quickly tidy it all again. Someone clears the dishes, someone else sweeps and vacuums, and everyone picks up their own books and puts them away in the cupboard. We can carry on with whatever we have for the rest of the day with a pretty tidy house and that feels very good.

We do another quick pick up after dinner too. But I feel like it’s a good balance of “lived in” but not quite gross 😉

On Teens

Here is a photo me and my house and my other house on wheels. If you have teens, you know life looks very different than the days of leading your chicks all around at once–everyone has their nice nap routines and snack routines. Life was simpler then.

With teens, it feels like every day is different. There is a somewhat gravitational pull away from us as they’re coming into their own, starting to create their own identity apart from their parents. This is all good, even though it is hard sometimes.

What I’ve learned is this:

🚗 parents of teens drive–a lot! (even high school parents)
👦 to use the driving time for conversations that are tricky–we’re facing straight ahead, which is sometimes easier than looking straight into each others’ faces
🥘 have a lot of easy meal ingredients on hand
🧹 to remain diligent to having them do chores and keeping their rooms clean–this is a lifelong skill and I’ve noticed their tendency is to try to bend from these things because they seem juvenile. They’re not. Ask the college-age person with the roommate with moldy food in their bed.
😴 sleep is not better with teens now that you don’t have infants. In some ways for me, it’s worse. Teens love to talk at night. Their circadian clocks are weird. It’s a different kind of exhaustion.

Lastly, I would just say, with teens–embrace it. Keep hugging them even though their big. They’ll pretend they don’t like it. Don’t listen. Stay connected. Stay plugged in. It goes so fast. One day soon, we’ll be sitting in our clean houses with a full tank of gas wondering how it all passed so quickly.

On Staying One Step Ahead

Since my oldest got his first job five years ago, life has felt busier and less structured. I’ve battled with this and tried to figure out how on earth I could be the Organized Alicia circa 2008 when things clicked along better, faster, and more efficiently.

Those days are gone. But I’ve realized, I don’t need to have a master plan of the whole school year intact or anything like that. I just need to be one step ahead on these busy days.

How can we be just one step ahead you ask?

Look at the calendar the night before and think through your day.
Know what you’re having for dinner as you make breakfast.
Keep one load of laundry going each day.
Wake up before everyone else.
Write in small notebooks your kids’ assignments for the day so when they wake up, they know what’s happening for school.

It’s been my pleasure to spend our day day with you. I hope you were encouraged. Keep pressing forward, friend. This homeschooling life is so, so good.

Thank you so much to Alicia 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.