(Homeschool) A day in the life of

I know a lot of you out there don't like homeschool or mabey you just don't understand it. This is a post for all of you who have questions about homeschooling, whether you think I am crazy for doing this or if you are just curious about what we do all day.

First I have a check list for each child with all of the things that are required each day and then also weekly requirements. It looks like this
Every Day
Read with Mom
Write in Journal
Read scriptures
Math
Typing
Read 20 Minutes
Spelling
Group activity
Weekly
History/Geography
Science
Art/Music
Life skills (Sewing/Cooking Ect)

So each kid is responsible to mark their chart everyday. When they are doing school they know that all they have to do is look at their chart to figure out what they are supposed to be doing.

We start off the day together reading aloud. I have found that this is the best way to get the kids in the mood to start school, since all they have to do is sit and listen to me. Each child gets to pick their own book, we usually have a chapter book that we are reading as well as picture books. Right now we are reading "The trumpet of the Swan"
After reading they get started on their individual assignments and I sit in the room with them and help them if they have any questions. They usually have a snack around 10:00 and then continue with their work. Most of the time they are done with their individual work by noon.

After lunch we will do the weekly stuff together as well as the group activity, which will be anything from cleaning the rooms together to playing board games or other educational games that I come up with. By 1:00 they are done with school. If they get done with everything before one and they are bored, we have tons of educational computer games that they play.

We also have a playgroup every Friday at the park with other home school families. I also want to start taking them on field trips every once in a while. Tomorrow we are going to Thanksgiving points Animal farm.

When I finally decided to keep the kids home this year, I was terrified. But now that they are here and we have a schedule set up, I am really starting to love it. I enjoy knowing everything my kids are learning, I like having the freedom to change the curriculum if I need to. I enjoy observing my kids and understanding their different styles of learning. For example, Bowen has the best memory, he can remember facts and details about everything. The other day we were reading in our history book about archeology and it mentioned king Tut and Bowen went off for five minutes telling me all about King tut and who discovered him and where. But Bowen hates to write and will complain for hours about writing in his journal. Where as Crysania has a hard time remembering details but she writes the best stories and loves to make up her own little worlds. Her Journal entries are very entertaining to read even though her spelling and grammar are awful. I like knowing the kids strengths and weaknesses so the I can help them build their school around their own needs instead of the needs of 30 other students.

I am not saying that homeschool isn't hard, there are days I just want to send them away so I can have some sanity. But over all I am glad I made the choice to homeschool.