Day in the Life: 3rd and 6th Grade

I always enjoy reading others’ occasional descriptions of one of their typical home school days. I am always aware of the temptation to compare and feel like I come up wanting, so I hesitate to write up a description of what we do. But I thought I’d try doing one. It seems like a good way to try and think specifically about it all.

I choose Monday of this week, partly because Mondays are always high-motivation days. Along about Thursday things are looking more relaxed, and Fridays are usually alternative learning days — we wrap up quizzes, abbreviate our math study a bit, and usually take a field trip of some kind. Winter has not been kind to our nature study this year, but in another month or so we’ll be able to get back into it.

Monday I was up early as usual, and by 6:30 I’d wrapped up my quiet time and decided to do some planning for the week. I printed out some spread sheets and wrote up what I wanted to see accomplished in each subject on each day for each child. The girls are supposed to get up at 7:00, which they more or less did, though they crept so quietly into the living room to read that I’m not sure exactly when they appeared. Everyone makes their own breakfast in our house because everyone has different morning tastes, but we munched companionably on our respective fuel-ups. Then I made my husband’s lunch, cleaned up the kitchen, started laundry, and did some exercising; the girls emptied the dishwasher, stripped their beds and got dressed.

By 9:00 my husband was gone to work, and the girls and I converged downstairs (I still in my unshowered state, they dressed and brushed and combed). Younger Daughter studied spelling and took a test, then both girls proceeded with a page of Spelling Workout. I gave a Saxon 7/6 math lesson to Older Daughter and she got started on it; then Younger Daughter and I got started on Saxon 3 and I launched her.

I had a tray full of assignments that needed to be filed in the girls’ notebooks, so I got each girl’s notebook and assigned them to file their work after they finished their math; then I got showered and shuffled more laundry.

It was about 10:30 by the time we reconvened. Older Daughter had finished her math and filing, so we did her Rod and Staff English lesson — review for a chapter exam.  After that she got started on the week’s assigned reading: Alice in Wonderland. I helped Younger Daughter finish up her math, and then she read me a selection from McGuffey’s 4th reader on the Kindle. Just before lunch we watched the video lesson for this week’s Latin for Children. It’s review week, so in addition to the vocabulary review in the book I peppered Younger Daughter with questions about the properties of Latin nouns and verbs. She still hasn’t got it down cold yet, but it’s coming.

12:00 lunch. Once everyone’s meal was ready (once again, everyone wants something a little different), we ate and listened to Story of the World on the American Revolution. We discussed it as we finished up, and then Younger Daughter dictated a summary. While she was copying it, I got Older Daughter started with the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia pages related to it, and she chose one spread to outline. While she finished that, I did a First Language Lessons 3 lesson with Younger Daughter — sentence diagramming.

Almost done with the book work! I had planned on giving a piano lesson to each girl; Older Daughter got one, but I never did get Younger Daughter’s in. Then we made a book list and headed out to the library and the grocery store.

When we got back, all Younger Daughter wanted to do was read; she’s on a Star Wars kick, supplemented by princess books, and she’d gotten a full stack of both at the library. But she only got to read for a little while before having to finish the second side of her math worksheet. Older Daughter opted to get a head start on Tuesday’s work by taking her English test early. Then, at last, she got to set up the small motor attached to a toothbrush she’d brought home from the 4H Robotics project she took part in on Sunday afternoon (the first of four sessions). It buzzed and spun in a tippy circle across the floor while we watched admiringly. I put clean sheets on the beds (my least favorite household chore).

My husband worked late, so while the girls and I had a supper of leftovers I read them a chapter of Winter According to Humphrey, our current read-aloud. Then they got showered and we all convened in the living room and read our respective books: mine was The Queen’s Own Fool; Older Daughter’s was Goblin Market; Younger Daughter’s was a Boston Tea Party book followed by a Star Wars encyclopedia. This was my favorite part of the day. We were all together, it was quiet, and there was reflection in the atmosphere. My husband got home around 8:00 and had supper. Around 8:30 I read a short passage from the Bible (something I always prefer to do at breakfast time but things are often so chaotic it doesn’t happen till bedtime), and the girls headed in the direction of bed — briefly interrupted by a crisis: Stripes, Younger Daughter’s stuffed zebra, was missing. Older Daughter read in bed till 9:15 or so, then lights out.

It felt like we worked steadily all day, yet there were still things I didn’t get to: Younger Daughter’s piano lesson, and time on the Flashmaster drilling multiplication facts. I didn’t get to question Older Daughter about her history encyclopedia reading; that will have to happen today. I’m trying to build in more review time, but I’m not always successful. Plus there was less free time than I would have liked. I think free time is really important — time to absorb the material covered during the hours of book work, and to simply create and enjoy.

But not all days are this relentless. Today the girls are going to Grandma’s for more sewing while I get a haircut; tomorrow we have a dentist appointment smack dab in the middle of the day. There are extracurricular activities on Wednesday night, Thursday night, Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. So every day looks a little different… My husband doesn’t work late every day. Tuesdays and Thursdays, instead of Younger Daughter having language, Older Daughter has critical thinking; and instead of history we do Real Science 4 Kids astronomy I. Somehow we stay on track and work through all of our subjects a bite at a time.