Not Back to School Blog Hop: A Day-in-the-Life

The "Not Back to School Blog Hop" topic for this week: A Day-in-the-Life. I'm not sure if we have typical days around here. ;) How 'bout "Days of Our Lives?"



[Deep voice.] And these are the Days of Our Lives... [Yes, I was once a Days of Our Lives addict. When I was young. And childless. Now that my life IS a soap opera, I don't need to watch one.]

A typical summer day begins...

*The big kids try to sleep in. The little kids and the dog wake them as they run up and down the hall, screaming with glee.

*Or, on a "food preservation" day, I wake everyone early to go pick produce before it gets hot. (Not that it's been hot here this summer!) Our family picked around 180 pounds of blueberries in July and put 150 pounds in the freezer. We're now moving on to beans. Twenty, 2 quart bags, in the freezer so far. Corn starts in a week or so. The kids LOVE to help! (And I have a bridge to sell you...)

Once the big kids go back to school...

Lizzi leaves with Dad by 7am for high school. Anakin departs by 8:30am. Usually the little boys and I head to the couch for some read aloud time. Then LilDude (8) plans his day using his homeschool schedule pocket chart. He enjoys planning his own schedule. (Don't we all?) His plan indicates when he'll be working independently or with me so I can do other tasks when he's scheduled to work alone.

This year he'll be learning with:

• Bridges math** (from The Math Learning Center) along with LOTS of Living Math books.
• Sonlight Core 3 history (with many hands-on activities...) 
• Writing Workshop--I'm originally a high school/middle school English/language arts teacher. Serious. How the whole "elementary school math specialist" thing came about is one big mystery. So I'm reverting to my roots and doing some writing workshop style lessons with him.
• Art--We'll return to Roger Kukes' Drawing in the Classroom.
• Science--Determined to use the bazillion materials I have on the shelf, I think we'll start with some AIMS books.
• Music--Violin lessons continue. 
• P.E.--I try to incorporate mandatory time outside. :) Outside play time is so crucial to child development. 
• Foreign Language--I'm conflicted. I taught the older kids Spanish. But GG came to us fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese. Despite our efforts to retain it, he's lost it already. I don't know whether to try to focus on that, teach Spanish, or work on the language from LilDude's birth country, Korea. 

**Math Classes--LilDude will join me in a homeschool math class one morning/week. On these days, GG (age 4) will do preschool play with his friend and another mom while I teach. This year we'll begin with a class on Place Value Structures, using base 5 to explore what we know about place value. Each class will begin with a living book and continue with lessons using hands-on manipulatives, games, and some interactive calendar activities. [Class blog entries begin in Sept!]

On the rare days that I work outside the home, my students go to Nana where she gifts them with a lifetime of elementary school teaching experience. Her creative ideas are endless!

When LilDude's school schedule ends, it's time for lots and lots of play. Well, actually, his schedule is filled with play time. But that's what our homeschool life is all about!

[Deep voice.] And so concludes the Days of Our Lives...

So what does a day in your life look like? Join the blog hop! ;)