A Typical Week, or Something Like

I kept a rough log of our learning-related activities the first week of May. A typical week at our house looks something like the following.

Monday

6:15 am - Up, coffee, Bible, shower
8:00 - Try to rouse kids--with the emphasis on the word try! It is Monday, after all.
9:00 - Finishing up breakfast (E - Bible reading, book of Job)
Mom - email and blog updates

Note: Activities in parentheses indicate students working independently of Mom. You may assume I was in on the other activities.

9:30 - Mom and E - kitchen cleanup (B - shower, then independent work; C and D - Bible reading, then independent work)

Note: Our children were born in alphabetical order. Their ages are: A 19; B 17; C 14; D 12; E 10; F 6. Grades in school: A senior; B junior; C freshman; D 7th; E 5th; F kindergarten.

10:00 - F - Bible and phonics
10:20 - E - This Country of Ours
10:45 - Mom - housework
11:00 - B and C - How to Read a Book (E - math and handwriting)
11:45 - E - piano practice/instruction
12:00 - Mom checked D’s and E’s math work (E - independent reading)
E - narrated readings to Mom

Note: A slept until noon--not uncommon for her this year. I didn’t try to log her learning activities. Suffice it to say that she met my requirements. Her courses this year are geometry, biology, U. S. history, and literature. For the 3 latter classes, she is basically finishing up several living books for each, narrating to me orally or in writing for reporting purposes.

12:30 pm - Lunch, cleanup; Mom - email check
1:30 - (B - independent work)
1:45 - (C, D, E, F - chore time) Mom and A - prayer time
2:00 - (B - Spanish class at high school)
2:30 - Mom - financial paperwork
2:45 - (E - math; D - piano)
3:00 - (A - geometry; B - reading) Mom - geometry study
3:30 - C, D - discussion w/Mom; narrations
3:45 - (C - piano)
4:00 - Mom - errand
4:15 - (B - violin)
4:30 - Mom - reading
4:45 - Mom - supper preps
5:20 - C - narrating
10:00 - Our cat, Peter Pan, came home with an arrow through his front leg and chest!

Tuesday

6:00 am - Up, coffee, Bible, breakfast
8:00 - Kids up
9:00 - Extracted arrow from our tomcat’s front right leg and chest
9:30 - Mom - tea (needed after above activity!), shower, kitchen cleanup
(B, C - reading; E - Bible, math)

Note: I’m failing miserably at keeping track of the independent work of B, C, D and E. Suffice it to say that they are meeting our requirements. They spend much of their schooltime reading a wide range of books, then reporting to me in oral narrations. Written narrations are called for once a week. They are doing their math lessons pretty much independently.

10:15 - Mom - email check
10:40 - F - Bible and math
11:10 - E - spelling (C - algebra)
11:35 - Mom - lunch preps
12:30 pm - Mom - checking A’s geometry
1:00 - Lunch - discussed geometry (prisms) with all
1:30 - 5:00 - (B to Spanish and then weight room, errands; A to weight room, errands)
1:45 - Mom - rest (C, D, E, F - finish lunch, cleanup)
2:15 - Mom - make bread; cleanup; listen to E’s piano (C, D, E, F - work in yard)
2:50 - E - narrations

Note: Afternoons often include 30-60 minutes of computer time for each student, which may be games, email, blogging, or educational work like spelling bee work or ACT practice

3:00 - Mom - geometry study
3:30 - Mom - checking B’s geometry, C’s algebra
4:00 - 5:30 - Mom - caring for cat, discussing with neighbor; C, D - narrations; B - geometry discussion
5:30 - 7:00 - B, C, D, E, F - helped prepare supper
After supper - All sang and studied Bible with Dad

Wednesday

6:00 am - Up, shower, coffee, online stuff
7:00 - Wake kids
8:00 - Leave for music lessons (D - Bible memory work in car)

Note: Music lessons are an hour away. We listen to music or a book-on-tape about 50% of the time. This week, we are taking a break from listening to anything…

9:00 - Mom, B, C, D, E - read or work on other educational pursuits while D and C take piano lessons, B takes violin lesson; lessons end 10:45
9:30 - E - science reading (then math); F - Bible, phonics

Note: These two youngsters prefer to work in the car during music lessons--the music teacher’s home is a bit noisy for reading and narrating.

10:00 - Mom, E, F - errands
10:45 - 12:30 - Drive home, errands
1:00 pm - Lunch
1:30 - Mom and E - Library to seek books about the ancient Romans (C and D - cleanup; B - Spanish at the high school)
3:45 - 4:30 - A - geometry w/Mom
4:30 - B, C, D, E - narrations

Thursday

7:30 am - Up, coffee, Bible
8:00 - Breakfast; Mom - email check, online research
8:45 - F - Bible
9:15 - Mom - shower (B, C, D, E - cleanup; start independent work)
9:50 - Mom - help neighbor
10:00 - F - math
10:45 - E - This Country of Ours; narrations
11:15 - Mom check math for B, D, E; discuss geometry with B
11:45 - A - geometry
12:40 pm - Lunch, quick email check
1:30 - Mom, E, F - cleanup, work time (C, D - biology lab together with Mom overseeing)
2:30 - E - piano practice; more math (C, D - work time)
2:45 - Mom - reading
3:20 - Mom - online work (B, C - continue independent work; A to job at 2:45)
B, C, D - narrations

Friday - This will not be a typical day at all…

??? - Mom up
8:00 am - Kids up, breakfast
9:00 - F - Bible; read-aloud book about the underground railroad (B, C, D, E - independent schoolwork )
10:00 - Mom - Get ready for expedition; check map
10:30 - Kids help pack lunches and car
11:15 - Leave for expedition

Note: A and B stayed home to carry on their normal activities, including their evening jobs.

12:00 - Stop for lunch in a parking lot, downtown Elroy, Wisconsin
1:00 - Arrive at Bob and Laura’s rustic homestead; meet others and chat
1:30 - Get organized and begin our Underground Railroad Experience, in which we played at being slaves running away through the woods!

2:30 - Most slaves arrive safely in Canada; some Moms, like me, were caught by bounty hunters.

"I’ll never see my children again! Lord, protect them."

3:00 - Drive home; stop at grocery store for roasted chicken
4:00 - Home; prepare supper and eat
6:00 - Mom takes a nap--wery unusual, as Samuel Weller said when his step-mother had a kind word and a glass of pineapple rum for Mr. Weller, Senior.

Note: I’m reading The Pickwick Papers by Dickens now, often late at night, which may explain the last journal entry in more ways than one.