Homeschool 2011-2012, part 1

For those of you who don't know yet, after a lot of praying and researching, Byron and I have decided to homeschool our children! We took a long time to come to our decision and we feel like homeschooling fits our family and is the best decision for us. So, on August 1st we will officiall start our homeschooling journey! (We actually started homeschooling in January 2010, but I wasn't really calling it that since Gabriel wouldn't actually enter Kindergarten for another year.) I am so excited to be back to teaching and especially excited that I get the priveledge of teaching my own children!!!

I have had so many people wonder what homeschooling looks like for us, how we are going to do it, and what we will be using that I have decided to write a series of posts on our homeschool this week. Today I would like to focus on our daily schedule. I have a pretty intense schedule lined out for Gabriel - but I know he is up for it. The good thing about homeschooling is that if this schedule isn't working, I can always change it. So with that being said, here is our intended daily schedule for the year!

7:00 – 8:00          Get up, get breakfast, get dressed

8:00 – 8:30         Music practice (violin or piano)

8:30 – 9:00         Collect materials and Circle Time

9:00 – 9:30         Handwriting/Journal/Spelling

9:30 – 10:30         Saxon Math

10:30 – 11:00         Break

11:00 – 11:30          Grammar and Phonics

11:30 – 12:00         Reading

12:00 – 12:30        Lunch

12:30 – 12:45        Break

12:45 – 1:15           History (MWF) Science (TTh)

1:15  – 1:35            Read-Aloud

1:35 – 2:15            Screen time

2:15 – 2:45           Free Reading

2:45 – 3:45          Art on Monday

                           Spanish on Tuesday and Wednesday

       School is over at 2:45 on Thursday and Friday

Pretty full day, huh! If I don't answer my phone between 8:00 and 2:45, you now know what I am doing! (Just a warning - I probably WON'T answer my phone during school time - just leave a voice mail - I promise I'll call back.)

My next post will describe a few of these things a little more - which curriculum we are using for each subject - and what "Circle Time" is exactly. I'll also post our yearly schedule (I am very excited about that, too), what Selah and Miguel do during school time and the style of homeschool we are going to be doing (bet you didn't know there were different styles!). Stay tuned!