There are as many different ways of homeschooling as there are homeschoolers. There are some qualities that every homeschooling family should have (areas which are required to be obedient to God's Word, such as training children to be obedient, being kind to each other and areas like that) but much of homeschooling depends on each family's opinion and personal preference. Some examples of this would be unit studies vs. textbooks, a rigid schedule vs. doing school when ever is convenient that day, schooling year round or only eight months of the year and areas like that. Most of us fall some where between those extremes. As you will see, as you read about our day, I am just a normal homeschooling Mom with the same joys and frustrations as most other homeschooling Moms.

I usually wake up about 6:00am. I spend some time reading the Bible and praying. Then I exercise. At 7:00, the children begin to wake up and we eat breakfast. Joshua, age 11, helps me scramble the eggs while Joseph, age 8, sets the table. Josiah, age 6, who is a bundle of energy most of the day, is not a morning person. He sits on the couch with his favorite blanket. Jessica, age 5, and Jennifer, age 2, alternate between attempting to help and getting in the way.

After breakfast the children do their morning chores and then we head down to our "school room" in the basement. After prayer, I spend about an hour reading to the children. Usually in the morning we read a biography. After we read, I have one of the children tell me about what we just read (narrate). I ask the younger children to tell me one or two things about what we read. I have the two older boys tell me in detail what we have read. This helps me to know that they truly understood and were paying attention.

After reading to them, I spend about an hour working with Joshua. We go over his math problems from the day before. I also check his Learning Language Arts Through Literature workbooks and his copywork. We go over any problem areas. Then we read his Sonlight books together.  

Joshua spends about five more hours of the day doing a lesson in math, working on his language arts, practicing typing, working on his notebooks (he has history and geography ones this year), reading for half an hour (his choice of book), memorizing his King's Kids verses, copying great works of literature, and reading some verses in the Bible and writing in his Bible journal.

After the hour Joshua and I spend together, it is Joseph's turn. While Joshua is an auditory/visual learner, Joseph is pure kinesthetic. It took me some time to learn to teach him. School does not come easily for Joseph. He can tell you how a car engine runs and he can draw wonderfully creative pictures, but he forgets his letter sounds from day to day and struggles to remember what a quarter is worth. I spend about 1 1/2 hours with Joseph on his phonics, math and King's Kids verses.

After this, I do math, phonics and King's Kids verses with Josiah, which takes about forty-five minutes. Josiah learns quite quickly but he will be bouncing or wiggling a foot or nodding his head up and down the whole time we are studying together.

While I am teaching Josiah, my husband, Jeff, comes down stairs to tell us goodbye. He works two jobs. He is gone from 10:30 am to 3:30 PM.  Then he leaves again from 7:30pm to 12:30 am. This is a difficult schedule for him but we do enjoy our long late afternoons/evenings together.  

During the time I am working with the three boys, Jessica and Jennifer are in and out. Some of the time they play together. Some of the time they draw (in Jennifer's case, scribble). Some of the time one of them is on my lap. Occasionally (okay, some days often), I need to stop working with the boys a minute to get something for them or help them in the bathroom.

After I finish working with the three boys, I spend a few minutes with Jessica working on her letter sounds, numbers and King's Kids verses. I think she enjoys the "one-on-one" time with me more than the actual school work. She really enjoys this time together. She is very much a social being and relationships are important to her.

After I finish school with Jessica, I go upstairs to make a late lunch.  We rarely eat lunch before 1:00pm. The children take turns being the "Kitchen Helper." Their age depends on how much they help me. The younger children set the table. The older children basically make lunch on their own.

My children all are ones to take their time eating and linger at the table. Since I usually finish eating before them, I often read to them while they finish eating. Right now we are reading Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends by Sarah, Stephen and Grace Mally.  It is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it. I often have to stop and explain it to the younger children.

After the lunch dishes are done, Jennifer goes down for a nap and we have "notebook" time. Each child has their own notebook(s) of areas of special interest. Joshua does all his notebooking on his own. I work "one-on-one" with Joseph, Josiah and Jessica. I meet with Joseph on Monday, Josiah on Tuesday, and Jessica on Wednesday to work on their notebooks. This year Joseph and Josiah have chosen a military theme and Jessica a nature theme to their notebooks. Since none of them are fluent writers and readers yet, they mostly draw pictures about what we research
and then dictate a sentence or two to me. On Thursdays we have art after lunch and Fridays we have free time.

After our Notebook time, the children do their afternoon chores. Then they are free to play until supper time. I have about two hours to do housework and laundry before I need to start supper. Realistically, I don't get two hours worth of work done. By this time Jennifer has woken up and wants shoes on to go outside. Jessica wants to go out too and
can't find her shoe so I help her. Josiah falls down and skins his knee so he needs a Band-Aid along with some TLC. The phone rings. A neighbor child knocks on the door asking if the children can play. Like most homeschooling Moms I feel like I am always playing "catch up" with the housework and laundry. Only I never catch up!

Jeff comes home from his first job during this time. We spend a few minutes chatting while I work. Then he goes off to have his private devotions and exercise (as a Type 1 diabetic, exercising must be a priority for him) while I prepare supper. I call the Kitchen Helper of the day in from outside to help me.

We all sit down to eat about 5:30pm. I love this time of the day. I enjoy hearing the children tell their Daddy about his day. I enjoy watching my family enjoy the meal I prepared for them (okay, Josiah doesn't enjoy the spinach). I enjoy looking around at my family and being thankful for each of them.

While I do the supper dishes, my husband often spends some time with the children. Sometimes they play hide-and-go seek. Sometimes he reads them stories. After that he does speech therapy with Josiah then we all sit
down for family devotions. 

After family devotions, Jeff leaves for his evening job. The children have baths and then I read stories to the children for an hour or more.  In the evening we read a children's book for Jennifer's sake (like Winnie-the-Pooh or Barenstain Bears). Then we spend the bulk of the time reading classics such as the "Little House" books, Sarah Plain and Tall, Sign of the Beaver, Old Yeller, Trumpet of the Swan, Mr. Popper's Penguins and many, many more.

After stories the children go to bed about 8:45 or 9:00pm. The exception to this is Friday nights. Each Friday night the older four children take turns staying up an extra hour with me. (Jennifer already gets a lot of individual attention because she is so young. Also, she can't stay awake that late anyway.) The children can choose whether we play a game, read a story, draw, work on their notebooks or anything of their choosing.  Jessica often actually asks to do housework together! The individual time is special and it is amazing how much the children open up their
hearts to me when it is just the two of us.

After the children are in bed, I pay bills or fold laundry or read. I always try to make sure I am in bed by 10:00pm. I am a much better wife and mother when I have a full eight hours sleep.

So that is a typical day in our household. When writing our daily schedule it is difficult to include all the little important "interruptions" like the need for discipline sessions, spontaneous hugs, little chats with a child, and all the other very important events that are impossible to "schedule."

You will probably find a lot of similarities and a lot of differences to your day. What a blessing that God has made each homeschooling family unique such as He has made each individual unique.

If you feel it would be an encouragement or a blessing to someone, you have the Stilwell's permission to forward this article in its entirety. They just ask that you include this note at the bottom of the article with their name and e-mail address (Jeff and Kim Stilwell, jkstilwell@juno.com) in case someone wishes to contact them. Thank you.

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