As with everything in life, there is an ebb and flow to the homeschooling day...and even the homeschooling career. What an elementary household (all littles) routine looks like will differ greatly from our routine (all teens)...
Day in the Life of a Homeschooled 11th Grader
- 8:30 - wake up, morning chores, fix breakfast
- 9 - breakfast and read-aloud time
I refuse to accept flak for letting my child sleep in this late. There's ample research to show that teens need more sleep and have a different circadian rhythm than adults. A later start to our day has proven time and again to result in a better, and more productive, day!
- 9:30 - start school - Generally the kids try to do their online work first...just in case we are having a 'internet trouble' day (happens a LOT more than it should!). If there's an issue, they switch to offline stuff and try their online stuff again in the afternoon...
- Noon - lunch break & family time - Dad comes home for lunch and we have a quick family meeting while everyone is together.
- 1 - back to school - Offline stuff, if they were able to get online in the morning. Or vice versa.
- 4:30 - afternoon chores & shop time - Quite possibly their favorite time of day, this combine farm chores and hobbies, is primarily outside, and lets them do what they love -- hands on projects!
- 6:30 - dinner & family time -- On 'good' days, this begins the quiet, relaxing portion of the day. On 'bad' days, our crazy evenings kick off closer to 5 or 5:30 since it's an hour drive to activities. (Where 'good' and 'bad' are defined from my uber-introverted perspective!)
- 10 - bedroom time - no computer - quiet projects and reading -- The rule is, don't keep mom and dad awake. And no screens after 10pm. Someone once told us we shouldn't give them that much freedom without checking in, but it's not like they could sneak out...with no car and seven miles to the nearest road. No one is walking that far in the dark...
- before 1am - lights out -- Because, hey...8:30 is rolling around again before too long.
Naturally schedule looks very different from an elementary school student. With all teens in the house, this schedule is somewhat fluid and different for each child, but this is the basic flow.
The High School Homeschool Room
There are four main components to our high school homeschool room, and each serves a unique purpose...
- The bedroom doubles as an office. Each teen has a loft bed with a desk built in beneath it. They have a computer that they use for much of their schoolwork, including online classes, research, and writing papers.
- The kitchen table is where we do 'together time,' including morning time and any other family-style projects. It's also where they sit when they need parental assistance with schoolwork.
- The shop is their favorite school location! This is for votech-type classes, hands-on projects, and general hobby time. Both boys take after their grandfathers in feeling most at home while tinkering around, designing and making things...
- Finally, the car / hotel / doctor office locale is our last resort for schooling. This is for those days when the schedule is packed full, we're running to and fro, and they simply have to get things done. It's not their favorite (or mine) because of the numerous distractions and the difficulty of trying to research or watch online classes on a tiny tablet screen...but we do what we must.
And that's our homeschool setup and routine! What does your high school routine look like?
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