Learn with Joy: Joy's Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 6-year old)

I have been meaning to write about this, I just don't know when to start and how. A lot of people who have heard about us homeschooling are curious to know how we do it and what usually transpires in a day. I believe today is the perfect time to share about it. :)

So, how does our homeschool day look like? My daughter firmly believes that everything we do inside our house is part of homeschooling (I am thankful for that). Whether we pray, eat, play, read, do the laundry, wash the dishes, clean the house (even the bathroom), or do lessons - all of these are part of our homeschool. So, let me just give you an idea of how our day looks like.

Morning, between 8am-9:30am
Around this time my lovebug wakes up. Sometimes, when we let her stay up late at night, she would wake up past 9am. I am a person who believes in the benefits of sleep. I don't force my daughter to wake up early in the morning. I let her sleep for as much as she wants. That is one of the things I like about homeschooling, I don't have to wake up my daughter just to make it to school on time. Also, I don't have to force myself to get up and prepare. ;)

I usually get up an hour or two ahead of my daughter. That's when I do my morning prayer, Bible reading, and checking my social media accounts. My lovebug wants us to eat breakfast and have our morning prayer together. That is why I have to wait for her.

As soon as she wakes up, she greets me, "Good morning, Mom! I love you!", says her morning prayer, uses the bathroom, folds her blanket (if she's using her own), changes her pajamas and folds them properly, then reminds me to "let's pray for the good morning." After the prayer, she gets a book/s and reads it/them. Most of the time, she brings it/them downstairs and read it/them while we are having breakfast.

Between 9:30am - 10:30am
We go downstairs and eat. We're blessed because we have my aunt who cooks for us. After eating breakfast and taking our vitamins, when my aunt is cooking and preparing the dish for lunch, my lovebug asks me to let her help and I let her. She either prepares the veggies or wraps the spring rolls. 

If I'm doing the laundry, she helps in sorting the clothes. Sometimes, because she insists, I let her do the first rinse of her clothes since they're small and she can easily wring them. If I'm washing the dishes, she soaps the small utensils and then rinses them.

If we're in my in-laws' house, we do our nature walk. I also let her stay with her grandmother so she can help her feed and bathe the dogs, or water the plants. Sometimes, she helps her grandma picks or harvests some vegetables from the garden.

10:30am - 12noon
This is the time when we usually do our "lessons". However, before we do it, sometimes she asks me to play with her dolls for 15 minutes (yes, she's specific with time). Afterwards, we review our Chinese and French by listening to the youtube lessons. We do actual conversation in Chinese. Then count 1 to 10 in French. Then I read the book for the week (I wrote here why I love FIAR). After reading, we do the lapbook and other activities tied up with it. If she is fast, she can finish the activity that is meant for two days in one sitting. When she's finished, she asks me if it's okay with me if she reads 2 or more books. Of course! ;)

Between 12noon - 1:00pm
We eat lunch together. Then I prepare for my online work while she continues to enjoy eating, haha! 

1:00pm - 6:00pm
This is my work time while it's her combined free time and learning time. I let her decide what she wants to do . There are times when she paints. Other times, she rides her scooter. It's also a time when she does her copywork when she's not able to do it in the morning. Most of the time, she's either playing or reading more books.

6:00pm - 8:00pm
We eat dinner together. After cleaning the table and washing the dishes, we go upstairs to take a shower/bath, brush teeth, and then prepare for bed. It sometimes takes two hours to do all of these, specially when my lovebug is feeling "I'm not yet sleepy, Mom!".

8:00pm - 9:00pm
Read more books, hahaha! This time I read to her. It's part of our routine. If my husband is around, he does the read aloud and give me some break, haha! Then she reads her Bible, while I read mine too. We do Bible journaling on our Bibles. She sees me doing it one night and she is hooked. Then I call her attention to clean up within 5 minutes. I turn off the main light and switch on the lampshade. My husband calls to lead the bedtime prayer. On weekends, when Daddy is with us, he also leads the prayer and naturally, he doesn't need to phone call anymore. ;)

9:00pm - 10:30pm
This is when I do the other work (or continuation of work), like checking my emails, social media accounts, and read a book or blog post. As I mentioned above, I put so much value on sleep, that's why I make sure that I also get a good amount of sleep. 

That's how pretty much our homeschool day looks like. Nothing extravagant, nothing unusual. It doesn't always look like this, though. There are times it changes, and as much as I would like to stick on a strict schedule I don't, because it stresses me out. Homeschooling has taught me to be more flexible and more patient, I have also learned to think and do out-of-the-box stuff. It has taught me a lot of things, to be honest. And I say, that's one of the blessings of homeschooling.

How about you? How does your homeschool day look like? Please feel free to share in the comment box. Thank you for visiting. Happy homeschooling! Blessings and joy to you! :)