Homeschooling Day in the Life: Jessica, Homeschool Mom, Adjunct English Professor, and New Business Owner

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 Jessica, homeschool mom, adjunct English professor, and new business owner.

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 Jessica

I have been homeschooling my 3 daughters (ages 8, 10, and 12) since my eldest was in Kindergarten.  I always knew I wanted to homeschool, for one because I couldn’t imagine being away from my children all day, 5 days a week, and secondly, because I am an English professor and had very specific ideals of how I wanted my children to be educated.  We have a Charlotte Mason/classical inspired approach to our homeschool but it’s full of real life, mess, and grace.

Early Morning

I wake up around 6-6:30am, make a cup of coffee or tea, and have a quiet time of prayer, reading the Bible, and a chapter from another book I’m reading.  While I wait for my water to boil, I start a load of laundry.  Ideally, I also fit in a short work out during this time.  I’ve found having this time to myself at the start of the day is essential to a smooth morning.My girls start waking up around 7:30am (I am lucky that they are not super early risers!), and begin their morning chores while I make breakfast.  After we eat breakfast, we clean up and then go for a short walk around our neighborhood.  If it’s a smooth morning and no one wakes up too late, we are home from our walk by 8:45-9am.

Morning Time

We do Morning Time 3 days a week, and this is something I have been doing for many years though it has changed as my girls have grown.  We always start with a hymn, prayer, and a story from the Bible.  I rotate scripture memory, faith memorization (things like the 10 commandments, the 7 deadly sins, etc.), and catechism.  Then we read a myth, fairy tale, or Shakespeare retelling (20min max).  Overall, this usually takes us about an hour.  We used to do more during Morning Time, but I’ve found if we linger too long, it’s harder for them to transition into their individual lessons.  

Individual Lessons

On days we don’t do Morning Time, the girls move straight into their individual lessons after our walk.  I like to have them do math first, when their minds are fresh and to get it done!  Then they do any other table work such as grammar, copywork, spelling, dictation, and map drawing.  I typically slip away for a few minutes to switch the laundry, vacuum a room, or dust something, while still keeping close in case they need help. Then we move onto their readings for literature, history, biography, and science.  My older 2 do their readings on their own and then narrate to me, record their narration using the voice memos app on my phone, or do a written narration.  I read with my youngest (who is in 3rd grade) and then she narrates to me.  We also have a narration jar with creative narration prompts that they like to use to keep things fun and interesting!

Afternoon

The goal is for everyone to be done with their work by noon, though my eldest is in 7th grade this year and her work load is increasing, so she sometimes has work to finish in the afternoon. On most days, everyone is in charge of making (and cleaning up!) their own lunch.  

Because I also work, I reserve a couple hours in the afternoons to work on my classes, grading, reading, and my business.  The girls take this time to play, read, create, do handicrafts, and go outside. This time of our day looks different depending on what day of the week it is; sometimes we have extracurricular activities, sometimes I have to leave for work, and sometimes we are home.  Once a week we have a Tea Time where we make tea and eat something yummy while doing composer study, artist study, and/or an all-together read aloud.

Late Afternoon/Early Evening

They may watch a show or play video games for 30 minutes as long as all their work is done but I typically postpone their screen time and encourage them to find other things to do, and they usually end up forgetting about screen time altogether.  The girls are responsible for helping keep the house and their spaces tidy, so this is time for chores and clean up: laundry, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning their bathroom, picking up their things and putting them away, etc.  I start making dinner between 4-5pm.

Evening

Daddy is home now and we always eat dinner together as a family.  Usually I do most of the after dinner clean up, but the girls and daddy help clear and clean the table, and vacuum crumbs. They usually go play outside while I finish cleaning up, or we might go on a walk together.  Everyone starts getting ready for bed around 7:30pm. We might have a little family TV time, or my husband and I take turns reading with the kids.  We try to have them in bed no later than 9pm.  Though my eldest loves to stay up too late reading which sometimes throws off our morning routine. ‘Tis life!

Encouragement

Work with your family rhythm; no one has the perfect schedule or the “right” way. Start with meal times and what you already do when you are planning a daily rhythm/schedule. It will probably look a little different day to day, and it will shift as children grow and things change. It’s all ok. Make time for the things that matter most.