The School Day Routine

We haven't started school yet.... I was planning to start today but we have a couple items still en route to the house, so we'll be starting this week... same as our local elementary school. I'm really ok with that because we never really totally ended schooling around here! And having everything totally ready to go 2 days delayed is MUCH better than trying to start unorganized!!!

Last year I learned that I was task-oriented versus time-oriented. I still have some times that guide my day like mealtimes but I use the tasks that need to be done of organize my day:) And a routine also allows the flexibility needed with caring for an infant during the day:)

All that being said, here's our "hopefully this works" routine: Italics are meals. BOLD are activities done together!

Get up and Eat Breakfast
Morning Chores
Math Lessons
Morning Meeting
Bible time and Verses
History/Science – readings, narrations, projects, labs
Anna- Independent work / Mommy Reading Time with Chris
Anna & Chris – Independent Work / Mommy Time with Lydia
Playtime/Outside/ Lunch help
Lunch
One Year Bible reading
Chris, Lydia & Nate- nap /Mommy & Anna - Reading Time & Grammer
Anna – nap, finish projects,etc
Homework time with School Friends / Playtime
Clean up rooms/Dinner Chores
Dinner

I've made little chore "pockets" for the kids based on Managers of Their Homes book. I'll post more on them later.

During independent work times, the kids will have their assignments laid out for them. Chris (4 yrs) and Lydia (3 yrs) will get their tasks from file folders stuffed with work and activities that I have pre-chosen and then some for them to choose. Anna (2nd grade) will have a sheet tucked into a plastic sleeve and I'll write the details of the assignments on the sleeve.

I moved history to before lunch and with the whole group so we can do it together. But it also means that Anna has some MOmmy-time work while the others are napping. I like this because the after lunch tasks are ones that she likes and they don't seem to be as "demanding".

"homework time" isn't probably that "normal" for homeschoolers;) We will be watching 2 kids afterschool for a couple of weeks. They are a sweet brother and sister that my kids have grown up with:) Anyway, last year it worked well to have Anna working at the table with them as they completed their homework. She liked "fitting in" with them and I think they liked having someone else to chat [or commiserate] with as they worked!

The parts of the day that I am looking forward to the most are the group times and the individual times.... LOL... sounds like the whole day!! WE've really enjoyed doing history together this summer so it will be fun to continue. And I really have wanted one-on-one time with Chris to help his progress with his reading... so I'm exicted that we could see him and reading start to "take off". And Lydia is getting to the stage where she wants to do more but I'm always tied up with something else when she asks... so it will be nice to have some time with just her. Anna and I will enjoy naptime, working on reading & grammer things;)

Check out more Day-in-the-life at the Not Going Back to School Blog Hop from Heart of the Matter this week;)

Wednesday Night "Trick"

Being a pastor's family with three young children Wednesday nights are a rush, to say the least!! We're rushing through dinner preparations, rushing through dinner, running around the house getting little ones dressed. We've been saying for months we need to do something different. We've tried eating dinner earlier but we're still left with a pile of dishes or the kitchen not put back together.

We've got a good set-up with Brian working in the home office during the day! So today I had planned to fix a pretty normal dinner meal (but big for Wed. night). To ease the rush of the evening I decided to fix our main dinner for lunch....... we sat down and peacefully(as peaceful as a young family of five can) enjoyed our main meal!! And then for supper we ate more of our typical much meal, sandwiches, fruit, chips, and warmed over leftover veggies!! It worked!! Maybe this can become a regular switch for us!!

I wanted to share our recipe for lunch. It was soo very easy and one of our favorites before kids....and surprising to us the kids really liked it too!! YAY!!

Marinated Boneless Pork sirloin Chops

Marinated Boneless Pork sirloin Chops in Worcestershire sauce while I prepared the onions. Then I sauteed in the onions in soy sauce in a skillet. I took the onions out after a minute or two and then cooked the pork chops with soy sauce and a 1/4 cup of water (so they didn't dry out or get stuck to the pan) to 170 degrees (I love my meat thermometer). Then I threw the onion back in to make sure they were warmed. We like to eat ours with mashed potatos. The sirloin chops can be expensive, so you have to look for them on manger discounts or sales:) But they're tender and worth it!!