Homeschool Day in the Life-ISH (a 6, 4, 3 and 2 year old)

Three years in, I'm still learning every single day. We are navigating every messy and beautiful step of this at home learning journey together.  Homeschooling gives us the chance for our experience and simplicity loving family to do life together in a way that feels intentional and best right now.  We believe that opportunities for learning abound, and we want to be ready to make the most of them. 

 

Rigid schedules are just not this momma's friend.  Yes, I have a weekly plan taped to my fridge, but make me actually follow-it, and I'll break into a sweat! This team mixes up organized planning, non-conforming,  and living in the moment.  Rhythm and routine are much preferable to a schedule.  The times that I am sharing are very much on the "ish" side.  Rarely does the clock drive our day. 

 

We had a nice rhythm going in the fall, with both girls settled into our days, enjoying our learning time. Then in November, as expected, when we travelled to China to adopt Evie and Eli, the homeschooling bottom fell out.  Learning was less workbooks and more real life.  We travelled all of November, slept for the next weeks, holiday-ed and introduced, then started wading through medical appointments and scrambling for our new normal.  Life had been turned upside down in really good and really hard ways, so we spooned ourselves a heavy dose of homeschooling grace. 

 

Now, we are back at, trying to meet the needs of four little people under six, two of which would prefer that we'd switch the family language over to Mandarin.  We try to do all of our schooling in the morning through early afternoon, but sometimes find ourselves schooling on Wednesday nights or Saturday mornings. 

It's messy right now, and all very "ish" in terms of curriculum, routine and rhythm, but good family transitioning is molding hearts, right?  Let's hope so.

So, here is our day, in a very "ish' kind of way...

 Between 6:30 and 7ish, I wake up and mentally organize the day around an afternoon nap that I'll never actually take.  Then I force myself to don tennis shoes and hit the treadmill for 45 minutes of  exercise while I read a book, listen to a podcast or catch up on texts.

 

7:30 Day prep, write, respond to emails. 

8:00-8:30ish Kids start coming downstairs. I know it's going to be a smoother one when the big kids come downstairs dressed with beds made.  The littles' clothes are laid out downstairs the night before.

8:30ish  Breakfast  One of the bigs takes a "breakfast helper" turn, emptying the dishwasher, setting the table, helping cook and pouring drinks.  Good connection and life skills are high value in our home learning. 

9:00-10:00ish  Day Prep: Bath, make beds, get dressed, fuss, play, and prep for learning.  A basket system works for us, laid out across our dining room table. Each big has a side of the table lined with baskets filled with tasks and all the materials that they need for each. 

10-1:30ish Learning Time

Sophia attends a hybrid school with a "creative classical education" curriculum.  T/Th are actual school days, and we are given assignments for the other three days.  Claire does Pre-K with me, using Five in a Row for reading, science & social studies and Explode the Code for phonics.  Both curriculums need to be added to, so we blend them together and add some to it based on interest and need. 

 

We make sure the toys are put away, put on some softer music, grab some books and head to the couch to start with reading.  We'll read the book we are rowing, a nonfiction science/history book and a couple books of their choice.  The littles are usually on and off the couch, alternating between listening and totally distracting us!

During this reading time, I prefer to read more classical literature, but we are very "ish" with that as well, often just pulling in some fun books.   Lots of talking, teaching and question asking goes on from the comfort of our couch. 

After reading, we go in to the dining room table to talk through the baskets I've laid out for them.  The baskets include all their work, journals, workbooks, books to read to me, plus they'll each get a basket with the fun things like the iPad with a timer, Leapfrog Tag Readers, or HotDots.  They both use workbooks, but I try hard to give them as many hands on things as possible.  To please the Montessori learning lover in me, the baskets can be worked through at their own pace in the order of their choosing. 

They mostly work at the kitchen table, but work on the floor as well. 

An occasional addition is a craft basket with some random crafty things to spark some creativity.  I work hard at not controlling what they make and being OK with the ginormous mess. 

While we work, I've set out some things for the little ones to do on the floor such as puzzles, stacker pegs, and lots of Melissa and Doug toys. 

Eli LOVES to learn, so I plan a few things for him to do each week as well.  The little people are uber needy right now, so we are struggling with keeping them occupied.  I deal with my high guilt factor with them by heaping myself up some grace and remembering that they mostly need to play and be loved right now.  In my dreams, I've hired a mother's helper to alternate between kids and dishes!

 

We are in an "ish" year, so remember that these pics are just snapshots of the times when we were rolling with our learning.  There are no pics of times when I hid in the laundry room with a cup of tea, my iPhone and some chocolate!
 
Lunch is typically a nice break for us, before we come back and try hard to finish schoolwork before quiet time from around 2:00-4:00.

The little people sleep, and the big girls play outside, read, color, play or watch a movie during quiet time.  We work our booties off to try and have the house straightened up so that quiet time can be very chill for all of us.  On a dreamy day, I sit on the couch with tea and do some organizing, writing/blogging or emailing.

Sometimes during nap, we work on an art project based on one of our books. 


 4:00-5:00 Errands, playing outside, watch a couple shows and dinner prep.

Mark returns home around 5:30, and we eat by 6:00ish.  :)

Our evenings are filled with playing outside, nursing Evie, crying, cleaning up messes, making lunches, begging for snacks, and playing.

Around 8:00ish, we drag the sometimes resistant little people to the couch for a Bible story and family prayer time.  Perfection is non-existent here, as we are usually pulling Eli and Evie on and off the couch and reminding bigs to not giggle during prayer. 

Once the littlest are in bed, I do a read aloud and have Sophia read to me again. 

Relaxation in sight, Mark and I wearily head downstairs for a couple hours of finishing up the day, catching up and chilling out. 

Our days are "ish" right now, as we keep trying to find that new normal.  We are working to step off the "on a mission to manage it all" pace, and trying to find more time for silly, more time for riding bikes and more time to get out and make up some new memories.
 

Root Growth

 

But time has gradually inscribed on my heart that winter, with all its surface bleakness,  

is for the vegetative world a time of intense creativity.   

While barren to the human eye,

trees in winter experience their greatest root growth. 

Their life force reached out, plunged deep

roots into the sustaining soil.

So it is with us as well.

~Wendy Wright

 

Something assures me that God is being intensely creative with our family too. 

 Calling us to look deeply and love well.  

 

With our faith plunging deep, teaching us to be sustained even in our weakness.

 

Showing us what fragility looks like and how much its presence changes us.

 

What journeying together really requires.  

Each learning to hold the hand of another, giving up the desire to follow our own plans.

 

Pushing us to keep walking on an ever unknown, ever winding path. 

 Gradually  releasing the pull of the comfortable life.  

More awake, magnifying the power of a single moment 



and calling us to linger within it together.

Seeing the beauty of His plan unfolded, and how to be intentional with the gifts given us.

 

Feeling the cold and hard, but also released by the beauty emerging from it.

Hard things have their many hidden rewards.  

So, we release our family again and again,



drinking deeply from this wild and precious life. 

SnowJam 2014

The weather forecast called for snow, but we didn't pay too much attention.  But then, Mrs. O left a surprise in our mailbox.  We read about Sadie and the snowman that she built, looked at the snowman building supplies given to us and wondered with great hope. 

 Daddy was expected to fly in that afternoon, and we had just left a doctor's appointment near Sophia's school, so we  treated ourselves with drive through hot chocolate and picked up Sophia early from school. ( Thank God!)  Then, ever so gently, white flakes started to fall as we made our way home. 

By the time we pulled into the driveway, every little face held a smile.  Leaving the news off, we celebrated the gift of snow with snow angels and a mini snowman. 

The big girls and Eli played until ther toes turned purple, then  headed in for more mugs of hot chocolate.  Expecting Mark home in a few hours, we baked up some chocolate chip goodness and filled the crockpot with chili ingredients.    We had big plans for a fun snowy family night. 

By the time we tuned into the rest of world, the stories of people stuck in their cars had rolled on in.  Mark's flight arrived around 4, and he headed onto the interstate. Our bigs continued to play outside ALL day, oblivious to the traffic nightmares happening all around us.  Two inches of snow had fallen, and the roads....all roads....were gridlocked with wrecks everywhere.  Mark debated stopping at a hotel, but figured most would be full near the airport.  As he crept toward home, he debated puling off on an exit, but every exit was icy and filled with wrecked cars.  He debated about stopping to sleep, but saw stopped cars surrounded by tractor trailers and abandoned cars.  He made the decision to keep moving, and arrived home at 7AM the NEXT day! Two inches of snow had resulted in a scary all night drive, with us at home praying and feeling quite sorry for daddy!

 

After a big sleep and a Texas sized breakfast, we were finally together as a family, ready to enjoy the wonder of the "snowstorm". 

 

 

So very grateful for the snowy surprise, Jennifer! 

Chinese New Year!

 

 

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Party, party, party!   If you are going  to finally start leaving the house, you gotta do it big! Chinese New Year brought us out of hiding as a whole family.   Eli and Evie were a little shell shocked by the festivities at first, but ended up having a big time!   (Now that we are all out of the house, our next project is a family picture.)

 

 

We got invited to a super fun party in honor of the Year of Horse!  We got to meet lots of new families, meet some online only buds in person and see some friends that we need to see much more often.   The organizers did such a an awesome job of decorating and planning.  This party really kicked up our celebrating about six notches!

 We dined on some Chinese-American eats with some cute, little Chinese-Americans.

 There was a group picture that could never quite come together!

 Be still my-still new to having four-heart.  Look at them holding hands!! 

 Just before we left, they made my China momma, lantern loving dreams come true with a lantern release. 

 We lit ours, then squealed with delight as it lifted into the air, joining the others in the beautiful, glowing sky. 

 To end the night, they set off fireworks, Eli cried his eyes out in fear, and we packed up and headed home!  Such a fun, fun way to celebrate the culture that is so dear to our hearts!

Chinese New Year: Small Group Style

Secrets out.  We hit the small group lottery!  The families in our group have blessed us in a huge way.  They pray for us, stand with us, and inspire us.  Doing life with them is a gift.  Our group of kids is not so small!  This crazy rock pic is missing, Lucy, Zoe, Finn, Henry, Rachel, Ellie and Annie. 

This past Sunday, we got together for some Chinese New Yearing at Jay and Angela's.  We gathered together for a Chinese feast and lots of laughs. 



 

 

 

 

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.  ~Unknown