Everyday Homeschooling

When I first started homeschooling, I wanted desperately to know how other homeschoolers actually spent their days.  I know that school is in session for about six hours every day.  That seemed like a lot of time to spend each day on teaching.  I had read The Well Trained Mind, and looked at the recommendations in that book and was flabbergasted by their daily schedule.  How did actual homeschoolers do it?  They seemed too relaxed to be spending six hours each day holed up at home with cranky kids.

Now that I’ve been doing this for a few years, I recognize that every homeschooling mom has her schedule.  Some are quite spontaneous.  Others are very structured.  I feel like I am the middle ground.

Here is how I spent today:

7:00am My 6 year old daughter wakes me up by bouncing on the bed.  She goes downstairs to get somecereal while I freshen up briefly.  (Teaching my kids to get their own breakfast was one of my best parenting coups!)  I join her downstairs a few minutes later and turn on the coffee pot.  I check email while she eats.

7:30 My nine year old son gets up and comes to eat breakfast.  After he eats, my daughter plays in her room and my son plays computer games.  I do dishes and tidy up a bit as the house is really (really, really) messy.

8:30 We get started for the day.  We have a tiny house and all school work gets done on the kitchen table.  I usually put out the books and supplies the night before.  They can choosethe order of the subjects.  My daughter starts with science and we read about weather, make a weather chart that we’ll fill in over the next week.  My son starts with Mythology and begins to read about Pegasus.  They usually have 8-10 things in their pile for each day.  These things might be a book to read, a workbook, a spelling test, etc.  I try to put everything that they’ll be working on in one pile.  After the first four things, they get a break, which lasts for 20-30 minutes. 

9:30 Break time, snack time

10:00 Return for more work.  My daughter flies through her work and finishes for the day by about 11:00.  My son is complaining and whining today about having to do schoolwork.  I am really hoping that one day he’ll realize that all the whining only makes it take longer.

11:00 My daughter finishes her work and gets lunch, then has some free time.  My son eats his sandwich while simultaneously complaining and working on his math problems.  Mom needs a break from all the whining.  I leave my son at the table with his writing work and go downstairs to get on the treadmill.  Just as I get started, a good friend calls who needs to talk.

11:30 I actually get on the treadmill now and go for about 30 minutes.

12:00 I get a very quick shower and throw on some clothes. 

12:30 Time to leave the house to get to a meet up with our homeschool group.  My son still has a few subjects to cover today and so we’ll have to do those when we get home.

1:00-3:00 We are at the playground near our home for a playground date with several other homeschooling families.  The kids have a  blast!  And I get to talk to grown ups! 

3:30 Once we get home, we decide to take a 15 minute break before getting back to work.  Since my daughter has already finished all her schoolwork for the day, she is able to go outside and ride her scooter.  My son quickly finishes up his Spelling and Handwriting Practice.

4:00 My son is done his work for the day.  Now we all get some free time until it’s time to start dinner.

I started using Math U See last year after I realized that my oldest child was having a lot of trouble with his math facts.  Although he seemed to understand what addition and subtraction are, he could never remember that 2+3=5.  And when it came to regrouping (sometimes called borrowing), he was a mess. 

Prior to Math U See we had been using a popular math curriculum that was said to be very thorough.  But, there were a lot of flash card involved and my son hated it.  We needed a change.

Math U See is a combined DVD and workbook course.  For each lesson, there is a short (5-10 minute) video lesson.  During this lesson, Steve Demme, the creator of Math U see, uses manipulative to explain the math concept in question.  I think he does a good job of making the concept understandable while maintaining a little bit of goofiness that my kids enjoyed

The teachers’ book suggested that the teacher should watch this DVD lesson before presenting the lesson to the child.  showing the DVD to the child was optional.  After watching the DVD, the teacher is supposed to go over the concept using the Math U See manipulatives, basically mirroring what Mr Demme did on the DVD.  Once the child understand, he shows the math concept to the teacher, also using manipulatives. This is to demonstrate mastery of the concept.  Finally, the child does the corresponding workbook pages.

Honestly, I never have watched the DVD prior to a lesson.  Always the slacker mom, I just watch it with my kid and then we talk over or review anything that doesn’t seem to make sense to him.  In general, the DVD is enough for him to understand the concept and he can then do the workbook pages without much help form me. 

We started with the Alpha level of Math U See, rather than try to jump into his “grade level.”  I think the makers of Math U See also encourage this, with the caveat that you can move quickly through the stuff that your child already knows.  It was good for us to start at the beginning and to finally get a solid understanding of the basics.

My son really liked Math U See and I really liked that he finally was understanding the math concepts.  There was enough review that he also eventually learned his addition and subtraction facts.  All without flash cards!

I have since come to understand that my child is both a visual and a kinesthetic learner.  His prior math program didn’t fit his learning style.  But, Math U See was a great fit for him.  He was able to visualize the math concepts as he watched them and then practice the concepts with the manipulatives. 

Bottom Line: I highly recommend Math U See, especially for visual or kinesthetic learners.

Everyday Homeschooling is a blog for everyday moms who happen to teach their kids at home.  You won’t find any stories about perfect mothers or perfect children here!  We deal with the joys and the sorrows (and the stresses) of raising and teaching our wonderful, fun loving, exasperating children.