A day in the life....

Heart of the Matter has been hosting different blog topics in the last few weeks, and this week's topic was "A day in the life". With that in mind this is a photographic journal of our Thursday:

The baby had me up very early, so after I had breakfast I had time to start on the laundry.  I also made sure to put all the school books we needed for the day on the dining room table as well as Michael's schedule for the day.

I use Homeschool Tracker, the free basic addition, for all my lesson plans. I print his assignments before I go to bed at night, and then put them on the table with his books in the morning.

At that point the baby was getting sleepy, and since it was only 7am  I was more than willing to go back to bed. I wrote a note for Michael instructing him to have a bowl of cereal and then read The Golden Goblet until I woke up.  I was able to nap for almost an hour and he got a jumpstart on his reading for the day. A win win situation!

Once I was up Michael wanted to do his typing and spanish lessons, which he claims are his least favorite part of school.  He is doing really well with both of them though, and I think he is starting to like both of them now that he can see some improvement.  When he didn't like his score on Rosetta Stone he voluntarily did the lesson again, getting 100% the second time!  He is doing just as well with the typing and seems eager to learn more letters so he can type real words.  The instant feedback seems to be the key with both of these programs.

After that we laid on the bed and I read to him from Stand Up, Shake Hands, Say How Do You Do: What Boys Need to Know About Today's Manners.  We have a 1950's copy from when my husband took an etiquette class and I find that most of it still applies today.  We read the section on phone etiquette and spent a while discussing why dealing with someone that is physically present takes precedence over someone you are dealing with on the phone.  After that I asked Michael to look up his vocabulary words in the dictionary.  He chose to do this on the floor so he could be near his baby sister as she played :)

This freed me up to start some pasta sauce that could simmer  in the crockpot all day.  We try to eat healthy, whole food meals but with a baby in the house it has to be planned ahead of time.  Also, we were picking up my husband at the airport that evening  and I wanted something that would be ready as soon as we got home. It worked out perfectly and we ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.
When Michael finished his vocabulary he joined me in the kitchen and had his snack. Every morning we make sure to take a break an have our
elevenses, as hungry children don't learn well.

 After the break is math, which Michael is able to do fairly independently.
When he is done I check his work and go over the topic again if need be. Our final subject for the day is Science.  We did an experiment on sedimentation, relating it to the way the Nile river deposits silt  in the delta area.  Michael recorded the results in his notebook, and then together we put away all the school supplies and books.

We had lunch, and I gave Michael some chores to do, an then he was allowed to go outside and play until it was time to pick up Ean from the airport. All in all a pretty good day!