Homeschool

So here's the general setup of my days:

Wake up - breakfast - workbook pages. The kids love the workbook pages, I have to keep them from doing too many in a day because the work gets sloppy, but Joseph can get 5-8 quality pages done in a day. These mostly focus on letters, numbers, shapes and colors.

Snack Time at 10am - Quiet Time - The kids have no toys in their rooms, and we have some special "school" toys that they LOVE to play with, but I only allow them to play with them in their own room during quiet time. One toy at a time. This helps keep these special toys in good condition because they're more calm when using them, plus the toys are more special because they aren't always available. I spend a little time with each child in their room, one-on-one, while the other is playing in their own room. With Joseph he is currently learning the presidents, states and continents. He's doing pretty darn well. I'm not having him recite, because he has a hard time pronouncing and recalling the names, but I ask him questions like, "where do we live?", or "where's Disneyland?", or "where did Daddy serve a mission?", and he's able to point out KY, AZ, CA, UT, TN, FL, Washington D.C., P.R., Mexico, and Canada so far. When he points to them I say the name so he can become familiar with them. He can also point to the first 4 presidents pictures so far. Rosie is working on letters, numbers, shapes and colors.  

If we have time I'll let them watch a show on PBS and then it's nap time. I'll read a chapter out of the book we're currently working on. Joseph and Rosie love Narnia and Junie B. Jones. I'll ask them about what we read last night and ask them questions during the reading to test and enhance comprehension.

Instead of doing breakfast, lunch and dinner, our family finds it easier to do breakfast, early lunch, late lunch and then dinner. The lunches are small, but I do that because nap time is best done at 12:00, but if they eat their only lunch at 11:30 then they are starving by dinner. If I wait until after nap time (2:30) to have a full lunch then they aren't hungry enough for dinner. If they have a small meal at 10:30 and a small meal at 2:30 then they are appeased throughout the day.

After late lunch we come upstairs and listen/look at the phonogram cards. Then it's just play time until dinner. Really the whole day feels like playtime because the kids love the activities we use to teach, but I think it's important for them to have playtime alone (quiet time), playtime one-on-one with me (during quiet time), and playtime with just the two of them. This teaches them to entertain themselves, it gives them time with me, and it teaches them to play nicely with each other. 

This routine has really saved my sanity because moving from one activity to the next eliminates any "I'm bored so I'm going to pick on my sibling or get into trouble" time.

After dinner the kids like to spend time with their daddy, or on Mondays we do FHE and then a special treat. Then it's time to get ready for bed. We read scriptures, say prayers, brush teeth, get p.j.'s on, and then we read another chapter from our book before the kids go to bed (8pm in the summertime, 7:30pm in the winter).