Homeschooling Day in the Life: Alicia, Founder of Learning Well Community and Learning Well Journal

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 homeschool mom, and founder of Learning Well Community and Learning Well Journal.

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

I’m Alicia. 👋 I’m the founder of Learning Well Community and Learning Well Journal. This is our 17th year of homeschooling. I have four kids…two have graduated, so we’re down to two in homeschool!

I’m so grateful you’re here and I hope you enjoy following along on our day tomorrow. ♥️

Before Homeschool

As soon as my kids started hitting the teen years, somebody hit the gas pedal and things started to move very fast. Where before, when the kids were small, my days seemed very long, I planned my life around naptime, and lessons were planned around toddlers’ and babies’ taking over the math lessons.

Today, I’m homeschooling just my 11th grade and 6th grade girls. My boys have graduated homeschool and moved on to jobs and higher education. There is definitely something bittersweet in all of this, but so far this school year, I am having the sweetest time with my girls. For most of the day it’s three ladies in the house—someone is always playing the piano, baking something, or crafting something.

Mornings definitely change as the kids get older too. When the kids were small, I would wake up early and creep around being so careful not to wake them up too early. Today, my girls set their alarm and head downstairs.

Before we begin school around 9/9:30a, I have a short list of things I like to get finished:

• Fold a small load of laudry and start another
• Coffee w/ a few minutes of quiet time
• Gym w/ my 16-year-old
• Quick shower and get ready

Sometimes I can sneak in an admin task or two, but usually I can’t because I do want to start school, so I have to be back from the gym by 8:30a.

My daughter has been coming to the gym with me for over a year now. I love that she now knows how to train for herself, not for a sport or anything else. Last year, we were going in the afternoons when we had finished school, but it really made the days feel choppy. Going in the mornings makes the days feel so much longer and relaxed.

A Look at Our Homeschool Day

Our school morning is finished and here’s a look at what we did today:

Altogether:

• Bible
• Philosophy
• Current Events

Then I check in with my older daughter and see how her school work is going. Sometimes I will have to help her with an issue but mostly she is self directed from her. I’ll check her work when she’s done. Here’s what she did today:

• chemistry reading and vocabulary
• Latin vocabulary lesson
• finalized a composition assignment
• created a portfolio entry for her history course

Vera needs more direction. After our subjects altogether, I read her grammar and math lessons. She’ll work on those for a few minutes and save anything she doesn’t finish for after lunch. Then I will read her a history or science lesson. Today we read about the dark ages of Rome and she added a bunch of pieces to her book of centuries.

Afternoon Tips

This year so far, our afternoons are feeling very slow and productive. We do have some activities during the week that make our weeks busier, but for the most part, we have the afternoon to get a few things done around the house, go for a walk, and I can work a little bit too.

It has not always felt this way. Until this year, the days have felt really speedy and sometimes chaotic with driving kids around, work schedules, and too many activities. Now I have just two kids to teach and one of them can drive—it’s great!

But when the days are busier, I like to challenge myself to just get one thing done in the house to make it look better and feel cozier when we walk in the door. Even just 15 minutes can make the house feel so much better!

Things We Can Get Done Around the House in 15 Minutes:

• Fold a load of laundry
• Put a load of laundry away
• Tidy one surface
• Tidy one drawer
• Plan the next two dinners
• Empty the dishwasher
• Vacuum the living room

When we homeschool our kids, our homes are definitely lived in. That’s a good thing! Just a few minutes a day can keep things under control.

An Evening Routine

Evenings are the best time to get ready to have a better day tomorrow. Going to bed with the kitchen cleaned up and dishes put away, school work ready for the next day, and leaving some space in there to relax and read for fun—all so essential for having a great day tomorrow.

Thank you for spending the day with us. Even after all these years of curating this account, I am still not tired of peeking into someone else’s day in the life. Homeschooling can feel lonely at times. These features make it feel less-so. Enjoy this time with your kids, my friends. It is such a gift.

If you enjoyed following along on our DITL, follow me on my personal page @overatalicias I’d love to see you there too!

Here’s to a great school year for all of us and to a new season of DITL features here on Learning Well!

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.