How Do You Do It All?

I had someone ask me yesterday how I do it all -- the schooling, the housework, the hands-on projects. This really struck me as funny because I can't tell you how many times I find myself wondering if we're doing enough. I thought that maybe it's just a misconception brought on by the fact that I feel the need to talk about, well, just about everything we do.

At any rate, I was telling this mom a bit about our schedule and I thought that others might be interested in hearing it, as well...and, maybe commenting and sharing a bit about how you do things. Not for comparison reasons, though. No one's allowed to compare! We do that to ourselves, as humans and especially as homeschool moms when the truth is, we're all created uniquely.

Let each one test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself without comparing himself to somebody else. - Galatians 6:4

I generally get up by 8:30 and I wake the kids by 10:00. We are so not morning people. I use the hour and a half before I wake the kids to get myself ready for the day, spend some time in Bible reading and prayer (lots of prayer!) and a little computer time. After I wake the kids, they have an hour to get themselves ready, check their chore charts and get some breakfast.

During the hour before we start school, I try to throw a load of laundry in the washer and fold the load that's in the dryer. This system has been working well for me. I'll throw the load in the washer into the dryer at lunch time, so that it's ready to be folded the next day and there are no clothes sitting wet in the washer for a day or so. Yeah, ask me how I developed this system.

I'll also use this time to take care of whatever other housework needs to be done -- making my bed, vacuuming and dusting a room, unloading the dishwasher. More involved projects get saved until the weekend or, occasionally, for the afternoons after school has been completed. This system has served us well since the house is generally at least straightened up and fairly clean at any given moment.

We start school by 11:00, covering "the basics" in the mornings: Bible, reading, grammar, writing and math. We all do Bible together and Brianna goes to her room to do her work independently. She'll come to me if she needs help with a concept, but generally she works independently.

I usually finish everything that requires my direct input by 1:00 and the younger kids will work on math and handwriting on their own while I fix lunch. We're usually ready to resume school by 2:30, after having enjoyed a little down time after lunch.

The afternoons are our fun time when we do history, science and any related hands-on projects. Josh and Megan do their music homework and we're finished for the day. The kids finish anything that they may not have finished before lunch and then they're free for the day.

I try to check their work before dinner, so that it's done for the evening. I mark their mistakes and, if they need to make corrections, I write a note at the top of the next day's work. They know to check for the note and make any corrections the next day before they begin that day's work. If anything is marked "see me," they know to come find me because I need to explain something to them.

We're usually finished with everything by 4:00 or 4:30 and I've got some free time -- or time to spend with Brian or the kids -- until I start dinner at 6-ish.

What about your day? How do you get it all done? You can leave a comment or, if you blog about it, feel free to leave your link in the comments.