What does a typical day look like?

[faithfulmama]

Hi,

I'm sure this question has been asked many times before, but here it is again! My oldest son is currently in his second year of Montessori. He goes 5 half days and up to this point I think it has been great for him. (He started when our life was in some major transition and the structure has been great for all of us.) Anyway, I am strongly considering homeschooling next year rather than having him return to school. Next year will be his "Kindergarten" year and he is required to go full day and that just doesn't feel right to me. I don't think that I'm really ready to "let him go" so to speak, or that he is really mature enough for that either. Also he is starting to show that he really needs a lot of one on one instruction as he approaches the more academic works at school, and I feel that would be better provided at home, not to mention saving the tuition!

In any case, I just would love to hear some examples of what a day looks like. I know this probably varies widely! But I am curious how it all comes together. We have the older son (5.5) and another son who is almost 2, and I also have a small home based business to maintain. I am of course worrying about being able to do it all!

[pigpokey]

Every day is different because of their outside activities. However most days my K son

(1) Reads out loud to me. This is his second year of reading instruction and he's a few grades ahead of age grade so I can be pretty flexible with him about what he reads to me.
(2) Listens to an audiobook too hard for him to read.
(3) Does some math. Currently we are working on drilling addition facts and have just started two digit addition with regrouping.
(4) Attends a sports practice. He has tumbling team 2x a week and swim team 2x a week.
(5) Plays with his big sister (6).

We do some of this in the car. E.g., if we want to leave the house before we've had time to do paper math, we will pop in Professor Finkle Gr. 1-2 math in the car DVD player. But to be honest if they will get down to it and be focused, DS can do his book/paper work (numbers 1 and 3 above) in a matter of minutes. DD, 1st grade, takes longer because she has more to work on.

We do some of it while waiting for DD, who does many more hours of outside activities than DS. We watch other instructional videos during car time. He has playdates several times a week, but I'd say not most days.

For what it's worth, a lot of the K curriculum can be got to in life context. E.g., the kids were playing in the warm pool after swim team and I pointed to the clock and said "When the big hand is on the 12 and the small hand is on the 3 that means that it is 3 o'clock. You may play until then and then come take a shower." So that's what they did. This is not something that can necessarily work in a group classroom because the teacher has too many kids to monitor, to let them all learn in a context.

[craft_media_hero]

Our days vary a lot. We are in a transition mode right now, moving, wrapping our minds around a new baby, and just the normal holiday stuff, plus school finals for mom and dad. So we are very relaxed lately, and I'm going to re-evaluate "the big picture" over January, when I'm off of school. This is what we've been doing lately.

I have a 6yo firstie.
Usually in the am, after breakfast, I ask her to make a list for herself. Math, reading, and writing are always on the daily plan. Usually we put art and music on as well. Then we decide if we have the time/motivation to add in science or social studies or others. On the back of her list, I write my list: poetry and fairy tale, those I will read to her.

So she puts a little check box by each subject as she completes it. I let her go in whatever order she wants, as long as it works for me, too. So sometimes I'll ask her to do music next because she can play independently while I'm in the shower. Ditto with the read-alouds, we'll do them whenever it's convenient for both of us, often taking our read aloud books with us in the car if we have a window where we're waiting for dad to get out of class or whatever.

Writing, at the beginning of the year was very mom-directed. We did three letters a week, using kinesthetic methods. Now that she has the UC alphabet down, I let her write whatever she wants, as long as she's writing some words every day. She likes to make the grocery list or take polls and stuff like that. She's just now getting back into writing stories again. Sometimes we count mazes or other fine motor as writing practice.

Math has mostly been workbooks lately, because I have that new mommy morning sickness, and just don't have the energy for a lot more than that. But I also will just count math as playing with the abacus or pattern blocks, doing dot-to-dots, etc.

For reading, at the beginning of the year, we did a zero book program. It was kind of mommy labor intensive, but totally worth it as my dd needed a special approach at that time. Now I think she's on or above her grade reading level, and she chooses a book to read to me daily. Reading is the one that she dislikes the most, so I don't really push it. We still do book free practice when she's especially touchy---my girl does not like having to "learn" how to do things, she just want to "know" it.

In the evening, she does karate in a group class or yoga at home with me. We also walk a lot to where we need to go during the day, and that often becomes our nature study time as well as exercise.

ETA Oh, I should add that it is my goal to not "school" too much of the week. We've been doing "the list" maybe four days a week. Saturdays we always go for a nice long family hike, and Sundays we just relax and clean up the house.