Homeschooling Day in the Life: Nicole, Homeschooling Mom of Six Children From Teen to Infant
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 Nicole, homeschooling mom to six children from teen to infant.
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 Nicole
I’m Nicole and a homeschooling mom to six kiddos, ranging from 14 years to 5 months. I married my best friend, who I met in 8th grade, and we live in the Pacific Northwest. We love to take advantage of all the gorgeous outdoor places we have to explore in this area. I’ve been homeschooling my children for 9 years (10 if you count pre-K!), and although I never would have imagined this path, I have learned so much along the way. Serving as the primary educator for my children has brought me such joy, growth, creativity, and the opportunity to keep learning right alongside my children. We draw from the Charlotte Mason and classical homeschooling methods, and I seek to bring truth, beauty and goodness to our family studies. We also keep our faith at the center of all our learning, and I will never regret all the extra time I get to spend with my children.
Wake Up
Our morning starts with a gentle wake-up, especially with a young infant in the mix. I’ve had seasons where I set my alarm and get up and get the show going much earlier, but with a young baby that I’ve been up and down with throughout the night I’ve learned to get sleep when I can. My kids wake up on their own generally between 7-8am, and so they actually serve as my current alarm and I get up and going alongside them.
Breakfast
Some days we have breakfast on our own, but most days I make a hot breakfast. I notice the difference in my kid’s focus and mental acuity when they’ve had a hearty, protein dense breakfast. We eat a lot of eggs, sausage, protein pancakes, and sourdough toast with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast. My kids also love tea with breakfast.
Independent Work
We used to start our day with a collective Morning Time, but several years ago I realized starting with independent core subjects such as math, writing, spelling, etc were easier to do first thing when brains and attention spans were most fresh. My oldest three (8th, 6th, and 4th grade) start their day with independent subjects they can do on their own. My oldest also has a handful of live online courses she does in the mornings. I do some hopping around to help kids as needed in this independent block.
Coffee, Prayer, + Reading
This is one of my favorite times of the day! While my older kids are working, I drink a cup of coffee while doing morning prayer from my prayer book and reading a chapter or two of scripture. Then I spend some time snuggling up on the couch and reading picture books to my 2 youngest (7 & 4) while the baby nurses or plays on a playmat. We’re working our way through all the classics in our home library, and we’ve read dozens of Babar, Madeline, Beatrix Potter, James Harriett, and Brambly Hedge books this year.
Pre-K Activities
Once we’re finished reading some picture books, I work with my first grade son on all his schoolwork and try to keep the 4-year old occupied with any number of pre-k activities we rotate through. She loves to paint, use tenengrams, do puzzles, water wow activities, and use sensory bins. I’ve always kept a wide variety of sensory bins organized in our garage so i can pull those out and use them to help keep younger kids occupied while I work with older kids.
Lunch + “Morning Time”
We all break for lunch around the same time, and usually eat leftovers or make a big snack board. After lunch most days we spend some time together doing our family subjects. For many years we did this in the morning, but now we do it after lunch the morning time name stuck! In this time slot we always do a Bible study and history, and we rotate through our beauty loop subjects of art, poetry, and a composer study. We try to do a weekly Book of Centuries Entry, as well as some narration notebooking on our history topic.
History
History is the subject where we really come to life! We all love learning about history, and go through history on a 4-year cycle alongside our co-op. I read lots of living books, DK history books, we watch documentaries and youtube videos on our history topics, and I love creating hands-on projects and cooking recipes to really bring the subject to life for my kiddos. I’ve taught history for eight years at my co-op as well, and I’ve started writing history curriculums to share all the projects I’ve developed. I love the memories we make through this type of experiential learning!
Afternoon
In the afternoon, my older kids usually have some work to wrap up and my youngest three still do a nap and rest time. We also have four kids practicing piano and they use an afternoon block to practice. I use this time to get work done, help my kids with any schoolwork questions, do some house chores or prep dinner, and sometimes I can squeeze in a little rest or walk. This season of infant to teenager is so lovely but also very full, so I do not have many pockets for down time these days.
Evening + Sports
Our family loves playing sports and our kids play a variety of sports throughout the year. We find it helps keep our kids active, engaged with other kids, learning from teamwork and respecting a coach, and helps develop stamina and discipline. Because we are able to have slow mornings and days at home, it usually feels okay to have fuller evenings with sports activities. Right now we have baseball and softball season up and running, which tends to be one of the busiest seasons, so we have a lot of slow cooker meals and simple dinners to keep life sane.
Even so, I try to make the majority of our meals home cooked and we still squeeze family dinner together every night we are able. Most of the year we have family dinners with everyone at the table at least 4-5 nights/week. This time has always been very important to my husband and me as a time to connect, slow down, have shared conversation, enjoy good food, and build family relationships. Of course, dinners often feel chaotic and manners are still being taught! But the goal is to raise children that enjoy lively conversation and good food over a family meal.
Bedtime
My kids all roll into bed at slightly different bedtimes based on age, and my husband loves reading to our kids before bedtime. As the age-span has grown larger, he usually has a couple different books going with different kids and will rotate through them. He is currently reading the Narnia series to my 7 year old and The Lord of the Rings to some older kids. I often read picture books before bed to my youngest. After the younger kids are in bed, my husband and I often go for a neighborhood walk to wind down the night. We love the rhythm of moving our bodies before bed and it’s one of the few chances we get to connect alone throughout the week. Recently my husband started reading a chapter of Middlemarch to me after our kids are down for the night. I usually wind down for good around 10:30 or so with a good book in bed, and then fall asleep hoping I get a good night’s sleep with the baby!
