Homeschool routine

What does our homeschooling day look like? How do we get the 'domestic' side of home done?


The day starts the night before.
Go to bed with most of the housework done, try not to leave any dishes for later, have an idea what you are doing for school tomorrow.
We put a pot of porridge in the thermal cooker so breakfast is cooked and ready on rising. Put a load of washing in the washing machine.


Morning: Make bed on rising, ablutions etc, get dressed. While you are waiting for the kettle to boil for your morning cuppa, empty dishwasher from last night. If you don't have one, get one! LOL


Enjoy pre made breakfast with children. While children are getting dressed and making beds get washing out on line.


We tidy house together, vacuum, sweep or wipe down beaches and clean bathroom. Feed chicken and get wood for the fire.


School starts: By 9am we sit down to start school book work.


While the children are having morning tea I get lunch and dinner made. Lunch is usually something easy like tuna mornay. Dinner is something that can be prepared and reheated or put in the thermal cooker to delightfully stew until dinner time. Use time savers like the bread machine and/or slow cooker. Involve the children in the preparation if you like.


Keep working until lunch with children. 


Lunchtime: Shared lunch


Afternoon: Finish off any book work but preferably get into hands on stuff. Out in to the garden, craft or a trip to the park. Bring in washing from line, folded and taken straight to bedroom etc


Dinner: Enjoy the family meal together around 5 pm or 6 pm depending on the older working members of the family. Get dishes done, clean benches.


Children are bathed and can then have free time on computer, or watching some tv.


Bed: Story and bed by 7:30 for children


Mum looks over work for tomorrow, choses dinner for tomorrow if there's no meal plan etc.


Time out: Enjoy time alone with beloved, curled up watch a movie or just chatting with a cuppa and nibbles :o)


Before going to bed, put porridge on for next morning and washing in machine. Lights out.

Maths grade 1

A very happy boy enjoying his maths work.

Part of My Father's World programme

Front door improvements

We didn't have a covered front verandah or porch, we had to walk straight into the house and traipse dirt into the house. So I asked Beloved to extend the eaves and add a seat so we could sit and pull our shoes on and off, also a place to keep the shoes outside but safe from a chewing dog ;o)


DS20 made me a terrific seat, the shoes hid underneath. I think it looks very cosy. DD16 sits outside to have her breakfast admiring the new day. It was all made from recycled timbers and cost virtually nothing. Even the mirror was old, the note the back said to the installer "here's 50 cents for a drink up at no. 47" LOL 
The paint was left over from the fence and the window was an old one from our "Steptoe and son" stockpile.
We still have to put the eaves and I think we will have to buy them. We have the screen doors to hang on.

Back to homeschooling

Our little ones have been really sick with Scarlet fever. They have missed over a month of school, so as they got well enough I started doing schooling work with them. I am pleased to have the boys home as their health improves, it is asthma season for our littlest and ds7 still has very itchy skin and suffering with dry eyes. I can't imagine a school being able to accommodate this so frequently. We are hoping it all improves of course.

I forgot how much I love homeschooling! The children are enjoying themselves so much, they even ask to do school work on Saturday:o-

I have applied for registration and eagerly await my visit. So here' s peep at what were are doing and where. Fingers crossed it ticks all the boxes and pleases the homeschooling registration man :o)

http://www.mfwbooks.com/

There is a lot of paper work to handle so I'm using a portable filing cabinet. So far so good. A section of the main curriculum, the work sheets and then each child's work.

Portable filing box

We have snuggled up for stories here

Nice view for the little ones :o)

New light

Saving with foamy soap pumps

A foaming soap dispenser 

We bought one of these commercial soap dispensers because we ran out quickly with 7 people washing their hands. So this was the least industrial I could find.

It came with a box of refills that were quite expensive but I hoped I'd be able to refill. I scarified many empty containers until I mastered it and here's the trick :o)

 Drill a small hole in the top and use a syringe to fill. I used the point of scissors to make the hole.








I used 150 ml of chosen shampoo and topped the rest with water. The containers take 1 litre but I couldn't fill it to capacity as they collapse as they empty in the 'real' refills. I got near enough and it mixed as I filled it so slowly. It works and feels as cleansing as the ready made real refills :o)

Craft room update

We are getting the pergola section of the craft room done. Slowly we gathered the metal and have welded and painted the bits ready to be set in place. Looking good, it will make a great outdoor area. If Pooh is feeling well enough tomorrow they might go up :o)

The craft room is going to share it's space and be a school room. I've been very busy sorting and I've run out of space :o-
I wonder if Pooh will make me another room? lol

LEGO in Canberra

We attended the Lego Exhibition in Canberra on the weekend. We waited in line for an hour, yes, one hour! The exhibition was so full, so hot and very hard to see :o( It would have been great if it had run for a week and the crowds were less so the children could get a good look. On the up side it was $10 a family and the money went to the hospital, pediatrics section.

Pooh giving advice

Advice not received

Then is true thrifty living style, we didn't buy lego from the exhibition at inflated prices, we popped over to Big W and found it to be a fair bit cheaper. We had promised the boys they could spend their money at the Lego Exhibition. Close enough and they were happy.