A DAY IN THE LIFE HOMESCHOOL MAMA SHANNON KELLY
Ever wondered what a day in the life of Shannon Kelly looks like? She’s the homeschool mama to three and lover of great literature.
There’s something I love about peeking into the virtual windows of other homeschool mamas and seeing how they make this thing work. Today I’m going to show you a look at the day in the life of homeschool mama Shannon Kelly. If you follow along over on Instagram, you’ve probably seen our weekly feature, Day in the Life of a Homeschool Mama.
This feature is where one homeschool mama, each week, takes over the Learning Well IG account and walks us through her day.
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Here’s what Shannon’s day looks like, who shared her day on Instagram a few weeks ago.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SHANNON, HOMESCHOOL MAMA TO THREE
Hi, I’m Shannon Kelly. I live in Southern California. I have four kids ranging from 1 to 11 years old. This is our 7th year homeschooling.
I’m humbled to be sharing a day in our homeschooling life with you all. Years ago when my husband and I were dating he told me he wanted to homeschool his future children. I’m pretty sure I rolled my eyes and I know I thought, “I’d never do that. How will they be socialized?” Fast forward to now and that just makes me laugh. I could never have imagined I’d be homeschooling. It’s hard work and it doesn’t come easy for me, but I believe it’s worth it. I hope I can be an encouragement today to anyone who needs it.
THAT SWEET BEGINNING OF THE DAY WHERE MAMA CHARGES UP
Good Morning. I’m Shannon Kelly and I’m excited and really nervous to share a day in our homeschool life with you all. I’m an introvert to the core so having a spotlight put on our family is very intimidating, but I hope I can be an encouragement.
So here it goes….This is how I prefer to start my day ( not how I always start my day, because that just can’t happen). I like to be up before my kids are and have time to myself, to read the scriptures, pray and drink my coffee (the first cup of the day is the best…alone?). I find that when I’m up before my kids it’s easier for me to greet them cheerfully and I’ve prepared my heart in hopes that I will be better prepared to handle whatever the day holds.
DAY IN THE LIFE OF A HOMESCHOOL MAMA: MORNING TIME
Over the last month, bread making has become a very enjoyable part of our life.
Most mornings, when we don’t have somewhere to be, are spent baking bread. I find this to be a very comforting process. Whoever gets up early enough gets to help shape the dough and get it into the oven. I like to call this “life school.”
I’ve never been comfortable in the kitchen so I would really like to help my children in this area. So much of our time is spent in the kitchen. Plus who doesn’t love making something delicious and beautiful with their own hands and being able to eat it for breakfast or serve it to others!
Our morning time holds the most important part of our school day. A while back I listened to an Ambleside school video that asked the question “What does the atmosphere of the home say is worthy?”
I’ve thought about that a lot sense. Our morning time encompasses what I want the atmosphere of our home to say is worthy because when it comes down to it of coarse I want my kids to understand math and spelling, but the most important thing to me is that they love the Lord, everything else comes second.
Here’s how our morning time breaks down. During breakfast we read a chapter of our current free read. Right now it’s The Avion My Uncle Flew. We’re only a few chapters in and all loving it.
After that is Bible, hymn study (I use Hymns at Home), Memory Verse recitation, copy work (I have my kids copy their memory verse daily to help with memorization), catechism (I recently started using Teaching Hearts and Training Minds by Starr Meade and love how it goes over one question weekly and breaks it up into daily lessons), poetry (this term is Emily Dickinson), and lastly I pick something from our weekly list like artist study, Shakespeare etc.
SETTING UP A HOMESCHOOL PLAN
Last year I changed the way I did our school planning for each day. It seems to finally be a system that works for us.? Each night I update each child’s daily school schedule and print it out. That way it’s ready for them in the morning and they can start their schoolwork without having to always be asking me what to do next.
I also switched to using the new Ambleside Online Forms this year. With that my 4th and 6th grader work together for many of their subjects. It has made our day so much easier. I just couldn’t keep up with all the reading in different subjects for both grades along with having a toddler and a baby.
At the beginning of the year I modify the schedule to fit each child, print them up and then we check off what we get done each day. Scroll through to see close up pics of our daily/yearly schedules.
AFTERNOON: WHERE MAMA GETS A MENTAL BREAK
By the afternoon I need time where no one is asking me questions or pulling on me. Schooling the older kids while taking care of the two younger kids who are basically my super cute homeschooling nemesis can make me feel like my head is about to explode.
The best option for us when this happens is to get outside.
Breathing the fresh air and feeling the sunshine or cool breeze is a reset and helps me to think about things more clearly. I realize some of you live where it’s snowing and this might not be an option, so I’m just gonna throw this in here.
I’m not above putting a show on for my three year old if it means some quiet time and my sanity restored! I prefer outside though.
END OF THE DAY, WHERE THE NEXT DAY BEGINS
The day is winding down for us. Dinner is done. The kids are cleaning up the kitchen.
I like to have school set up for the next day for a smooth start. Before bed we’ll do our family bible time and then it’s kid bedtime ?.
I’ve really enjoyed sharing the highlights of our day. There was more I didn’t share like sibling bickering, me not being patient or kind and moments that felt like pure chaos. But that’s where repentance and grace come in and reminding ourselves that our worth doesn’t come from how well we school our kids or how well we parented today.
Our worth comes from the fact that we are made in the image of God and that cannot be lost even if we fail. God’s mercies are new every morning. Here’s to a good rest of the night and new mercies and grace tomorrow. Thank you for following along with me today!