Oldest 2 leave for HS at 6:35 - their putterings wake me up, to start coffee and check email. Everybody else (hubby, 11 y.o. and 9 y.o) gets up between 7:30 and 8.
First comes the chore checklist, (feed animals, trash out, laundry sorted/put away), breakfast, dressed and "brush/brush" (hair and teeth).
Then we start "school": Saxon Math first, always. I help constantly and consistently, sometimes while folding laundry. Spelling Power next, then BJ English, Wordly Wise Vocab, and then the fun starts: History via "The Story of the World". We incorporate writing with that, either as a group effort or individually.
We're done with the 'must do's" by 1 pm or so. Some afternoons we do a video from the library or the Teaching Company; Sometimes we do a craft or play a game or make a diorama for a book we've read. Rainy days we like to read scary stuff. Monday and Wednesdays is D's volleyball, Tuesday's and Thursday's are L's wrestling, Tuesday early afternoon is ART at the Art Center, Monday is Drama at the theater, First Friday is Marine Biology 4H, and FRIDAYS are for FUN! We get together with other HS'ers and play, canoe, beach, wade, basketball, jacks, chess, tennis, popcorn/movie theater - whatever!
Everybody reads before sleep: 9:30 to bed for everybody.
The best advice I can relay is to start a timeline when they're young, and keep adding to it , as the mood, your current reading, or curriculum deems it cool to do so. The passage of time, for history and your family will be very clear!
~ sallyoyo
