*Back in February, I did A Homeschool Day in the Life post. I always enjoy reading what other family’s do in their daily lives, so I thought it might be fun to do a post in the summer time as well. I do want to mention that we do not homeschool in the summer. We take a fairly large summer break and at this point in our lives, it works really well for us. Now, I personally believe that learning never stops. This summer, I am doing the reading with my 6 and 8-year-old a couple days a week. As well, I’m doing flashcards with my 8 and 11-year-old. I always look for ways to incorporate learning into our daily life.
On this particular morning, I actually went to bed on time the night before! In all honesty, I have been working on getting up early but I am definitely not always perfect at it. I am a work in progress, just as I’m sure most of you are.
6:00 a.m. My alarm goes off and I lay in bed for a couple of minutes, but I don’t want to fall asleep, so I don’t allow this luxury for long. This morning, my throat is a little sore so I go into the kitchen to put the water on for some tea. Before doing this, I turn on my laptop so it can boot. While the water is warming, I sit down on the couch and begin working on my blog a bit. I generally try to work ahead with blogging, but I’m a little behind this week so I work to edit today’s post.
7:00 a.m. I quickly check my Facebook but cut that short so I can go have a shower. My dear Dilly is already up when I get out of the shower. He is in major lego building mode this morning, as he and I went on Pinterest last night and I printed a couple of different pictures for him to try and build. Oddly enough, he has generally been sleeping in until at least 8:00 a.m. lately so this was a newbie.
7:30 a.m. I get into the kitchen to begin prepping breakfast. This morning we have blueberry bagels for breakfast. This is not a regular breakfast, but we had a treat today. We also had oranges this morning. After I am finished eating, I read a chapter from the Bible out loud for the kids. We also read from a book called “Courageous Christians.”
8:00 ish We leave the table and the kid’s go to get dressed. I usually float around making sure the younger two remember to brush their teeth and do their hair. I still help Dilly with his teeth most of the time and with making sure that his hair isn’t sticking up. ‘Nea needs to be reminded to get ready as well.
After this happens, the kid’s do their morning chores. Currently, the girls are responsible for cleaning up the entire kitchen. This includes clearing the table, emptying the dishwasher and loading, emptying the dishrack and putting the dishes away, emptying the garbage’s and recycling, and making sure the table and counters are wiped. Dilly does a little chore each morning as well. His chores include clearing the table, taking out garbages, straightening shoes, etc.
After this, the kid’s go for Room-time. During this time, the girls do their personal morning devotions. I’m honestly not always as good at checking in with this as I should be. Definitely, something to work on. During this time, I set the timer for 30 minutes to do some of my Chores. I start the morning’s laundry, begin vacuuming, make some beds. I also quickly do my hair and get my earrings in. I also end up helping Dilly with his hair during this time because he ran off to play earlier in the morning. (I have recently discovered that using a timer to do my household chores helps immensely with keeping myself on task)
On this particular morning, the children are going to Daily Vacation Bible School at a local church. This is happening for 5 mornings this week from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. so we rush to get going. We only ended up leaving by 8:55, which is really a little late. When we get to the church, they are just beginning so I help Dilly find his class and then head back home.
9:10 a.m. I get home and promptly put on my exercise clothes and actually do the entire Jillian Michael’s 6 pack Ab’s DVD! It’s been months since I’ve done an entire exercise video. With the kid’s being at home all the time, this week is definitely feeling like a break. This morning I’m trying to brainstorm how I can do this regularly. It feels so good!
9:40 a.m. I am done! I get a drink of water, grab my Bible, and journal and sit down underneath the fan. (I’m reading through the Bible this year using a plan I found online)
10:25 a.m. I am done my Bible Reading so I go get re-dressed in my day clothes. I finish up my morning chores by vacuuming the basement, put the laundry into the dryer, and wiping the bathroom counter and sink.
After I finish all that, I head into the living room and set up my laptop, again. I set my timer for 60 minutes and I will see how much writing I can get done this morning. I am currently trying out batch working which means that I am actually working on writing all my blog posts for the month over a few days. I never have the time to spend 3 or 4 hours writing at a time, so I take an hour here and there wherever I can.
11:25 a.m. I am done my work time. I finish up just a few small tasks before I have to leave to get the kids.
11:50 a.m. I get into the car and head out to the church to pick up the kids from VBS. Today, BJ is heading to a friend’s house to have a playdate right after VBS, so I just bring ‘Nea and Dilly home.
12:10 a.m. We get our lunch ready and eat.
12:30 p.m. The kids do their chores after lunch. I wash the dishes and fold the laundry that I washed earlier this morning.
I am done earlier than usual, so I head outside to water my garden and flower pots. I decide to tackle vacuuming and sweeping the front cement pad while I am out there. It is made of textured paving stones, so it is much easier to shop vac it than to just sweep. Dilly and ‘Nea come outside and spend time playing in cardboard forts that they made earlier in the week. They had asked earlier in the week if they could please bring boxes inside. We said no, but that they could build something in the garage.
1:30 p.m. I come inside. I generally try to spend 30 minutes of one on one time with a child from Monday-Thursday. Today is Dilly’s turn. He asks if he can make crafts with me, as we had looked on Pinterest the day before for dinosaur/dragon crafts and activities. We start by getting out all his tiny dinosaurs and putting them in muffin tins. We then add water so we can freeze them in the freezer for later play. Next, we make a fire-breathing dragon using a toilet paper tube, construction paper, tissue paper, and googly eyes. I do most of it as he likes the idea of crafts better than he likes doing them.
2:20 p.m. We all head for Quiet Time. We do this every day that we are home, as it gives us all a chance to have time to ourselves. It’s usually about 1-1.5 hours long. I usually use this time to pray, read a book, and maybe take a short nap. Today, I spend some of my time on social media and then I took a short nap.
3:30 p.m. ‘Nea and I are done our Quiet Time, but we realize that Dilly has fallen asleep. He must be tired from going to VBS each day. ‘Nea has a freezie and raisins for snack today. ‘Nea wants to wake up Dilly so I let her do so as he doesn’t sleep well at night if I let him sleep too long. He isn’t interested in getting up, though. He wakes up but ends up laying in bed for at least another half hour. I guess he’s really tired.
4:30 p.m. The kids have free time to play together. I start making supper. My Mom phones so I multi-task while I talk to her.
5:30 p.m. Bernd and BJ arrive home. Bernd picked up BJ from her playdate on his way home from work. We all sit down to eat.
6:00 p.m. The kid’s go off to play and Bernd and I chat about our day.
6:15 p.m. I start clearing the table, putting away the food, and washing dishes
6:30 p.m. We all go for a Family Bike Ride. ‘Nea had wanted to, earlier, but Dilly was sleeping so we couldn’t.
7:00 p.m. We get back home as it’s Bath Night for the kids. BJ goes for a shower first. Dilly asks Daddy to play Lego with him.
8:00 p.m. Everyone except Dilly is done Bathing. Each evening that we are home, we try to spend time with a child for about 30 minutes. As we have three children, we have a kind of elaborate little chart to keep track of who’s turn it is. Today, it’s my turn with ‘Nea and Bernd’s turn with BJ. The left-out child gets to go to their room and play by themselves.
8:30 pm. We put the kids to bed.
This is the time that Bernd heads to his downstairs office to start working and I do some blogging work. Today I worked for an hour and then spent some time on social media.
10:00 I get ready for bed and read for a while.
10:30 I turn out the lights and go to sleep.
This is what our day looked like on this particular day. Obviously, each day looks a little different, but the general gist of our days at home doesn’t change all that much. How about you? What does your summer look like?
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