Schedule??!!

I have read a few (wonderful) blogs lately and have enjoyed reading how others' homeschooling days go. I have a couple good friends that homeschool and the way their days go are as different as night and day. One is very strict and rigid. The other is quite lax. Their different styles work for them beautifully. Which is one of the things I LOVE about homeschooling: it can be done in so many ways, and can work just wonderfully. I have more contact with the one that is a bit more rigid and I have found myself feeling very inadequate since my day looks nothing like hers. Since I still feel kinda new at this homeschooling thing, I have doubted my ability to figure out what will work for my family. Having a new baby girl, who we all ADORE, btw, has made this worse!! :) The schedule we had going last year was working pretty well. I knew I could improve in some areas, but for the most part, I was feeling great about things. Then I got pregnant....I was sick.....I was tired.......slowly our schedule started going to pot. THEN, I had little Audrey and boy, oh boy, what a ride it has been the past few months. Trying to homeschool with a newborn has been way harder than I thought. Before I had her, I thought to myself, "She will sleep all the time and we will do school then. Piece of cake." But, I didn't count on being sooooooo TIRED. Did I mention I was really tired???? Ok. I did. We didn't have much of a schedule while I was trying to cope with being sleep deprived. We got the basics done. Three days a week. That was all I could muster. The past few weeks have been better. Audrey is getting into a more predictable sleep pattern, which has made our days better. We are finding our groove.....great now that school is almost over for the year! Shhh, don't tell my kids we will be doing "school" all summer long! LOL! You never are "all done" learning, right??!!

Here is a schedule, that is NEW and is working for us....for now!

6am- Audrey wakes up for the morning. Feed her. Change her. Kiss her. Get Will off to work. Get my bed made. Start laundry. Read my scriptures.

7:30-8:30 Put Audrey down for a morning nap. Other kids up by then. Have them eat breakfast. Read to the kids from whatever chapter book we are working on.

9:00-10:00 Let the kids play or watch TV (gasp) or play the Wii (GASP) while I work out on the treadmill. I know, I NEVER used to let them do this first thing in the morning, but I HAVE GOT to work out or I will not be a happy momma bear. (p.s. note that we are NOT starting school by 9am like we used, pre-Audrey!!! "It's OK", I keep telling myself!!!)

10:00- 11:00 Start school. I usually ask Sasha what she wants to do first since she has more to do each day. (I gotta cool off from my workout before I get in the shower!)

11:00-11:30 I get ready for the day. I usually have the kids work on a few jobs while I get ready. Empty and reload the dishwasher. Empty the garbages. Whatever. Audrey is usually up by now. Kiss her some more.

12:00- 12:30 I read aloud to the kids if I haven't already. We just finished "Mr. Popper's Penguins". CUTE book.

12:30- 1:00 lunch

1:00-3:00 School time. Kids read to me. Math. Journaling, handwriting. Whatever didn't get done in the morning. Read our library books. I get a ton of books each time we go to the library and I make sure the kids read\look at them all before we return them. Audrey usually goes back to sleep at around 2pm.

3:00-4:00 Free time. Sometimes I let them watch TV. Usually I don't. They can play outside or downstairs. Crafts are always welcome. Baking. I usually have Sasha practice the piano during the late afternoon. I am probably doing laundry......

4:00- 5:00 Make dinner. The kids take turns picking a meal and helping prepare it. This is a new thing we have been doing and I LOVE it.

Our evenings vary. Both Will and I are gone one night a week for our church callings. We play games with eachother, make treats whatever. Not much structure.

Baby in bed by 7pm, and the rest by 9pm. The end. I still have been doing "school" three days a week. The other days I run errands, do things for my calling, clean the house (with the kids' help, of course), work on sewing projects or spend time at the park. This is how our days have been going lately....not sure how long it will last. :)