Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Everyone else is percolating right along, but it’s lunchtime, and the two middlers, Brown Bear Daughter (10) and Karate Kid (8), have only finished their Saxon math lesson and listened to me read the Bible aloud. We eat lunch, courtesy of Organizer Daughter, and then I herd the two slowpokes back to the table to do handwriting, easy grammar and dailygrams, copywork, multiplication practice worksheet, and a history workbook called Story of the USA.. A lot of our lesson plans come straight out of the Fourth Grade Sonlight curriculum, but I modify and cut and move stuff around as I feel necessary.

We’re reading two books aloud right now: Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloane and Imprisoned in the Golden City by Dave and Neta Jackson. After we finish reading, Brown Bear Daughter and Karate Kid do a lesson in Cost Benefit, Jr. by Stephanie Herman, an economics curriculum I received as a gift for review purposes and liked so much that we’re using it in school this year. They still have to take turns reading their reader, a biography of Thomas Jefferson, and then we’re done–just in time for Karate Kid to get ready for karate, or Kuk Sool Won as it’s called at the place where he takes lessons. (It’s a Korean thing.) Karate Kid is a brown belt, and he says he’ll be a black belt before he’s twelve. Betsy Bee, Z-baby, and Brown Bear Daughter watch Cyberchase, a math show on PBS while I take Karate Kid to his lesson.

Dancer Daughter and Brown Bear Daughter both have dance tonight, and I still have to put supper (stew) on to cook sometime in between playing taxi. I sometimes think we’re way too busy, but if you have eight children and each one of them does only one outside activity, you still have a lot of taxi service to do. Dancer Daughter (almost 16) and Computer Guru Son (almost 18) are both taking driver’s ed from their dad in the evenings and on Saturdays and whenever they can work it in. That’s one class I gladly leave to Engineer Husband. He also tutors kids (his own) in math as needed, and he teaches science to Brown Bear Daughter and to Karate Kid in the evenings. They’re finishing up the Apologia Botany book right now, and my house is full of “plant experiments” that I must be careful not to disturb.

Our evening is a whirlwind of supper, dance, science, baths, and trying to go to bed at a decent hour. We don’t make it—again, but as Scarlett once said, “I’ll think about that tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day.”

Having disposed of the older set, figuratively speaking, in Part 2, we return to the younger four: Brown Bear Daughter (10), Karate Kid (8), Betsy Bee (6), and Z-Baby (almost 4). In our last installment, I sent Brown Bear Daughter and Karate Kid to the table to do their math lesson. They didn’t actually start because they were discussing how to build a space ship out of furniture and blankets–or some such project–so I had to not-so-gently remind that it was math time not space ship time. I’m working on the gentleness, which is a certified Fruit of the Spirit, but usually I find that a firm tone of voice, slightly louder than usual, gets more results.

I sit down with Betsy Bee to read her reader, Part 2 of Jake and Mike Take a Bike Hike. Those who have been through this set of readers six times already, as have I, will recognize this story immediately as part of that sparkling series of books associated with the curriculum Sing, Spell, Read, and Write. I do not fall asleep while Bethy Bee is sounding out words such as b-i-k-e and c-a-k-e and r-a-k-e. We are, as you can guess, studying the “silent e,” and all kidding aside, I find that teaching a child to read, seeing the words on the page come alive, is one of the most rewarding parts of homeschooling for me–if I can just stay awake long enough to see it happen.

Bethy Bee and I continue with school by doing her Miquon math, her Sing, Spell, Read and Write workbook, and her Explode the Code workbook. She likes workbooks. Then, she asks for a break. She’s actually about finished for the day, but she doesn’t know it since she hasn’t learned to distinguish schoolwork from other work or from play. We’re also reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, mostly for Betsy Bee in the evenings, although the other “youngers” listen, too. Some coloring, lots of play, and her classes at co-op on Friday mornings and that’s about the extent of Besty Bee’s schooling at this stage.

Brown Bear Daughter and Karate Kid are still working on their math lesson. Z-Baby wants to do school; she also wants to watch television. I resist the TV idea and sit down to work on her alphabet book with her. We’re working on the letter “B” this week. We draw or paste a big B in the middle of of page 2 of a spiral notebook, and then one of us draws or glues pictures of things that start with “B” on the page. No, I don’t have a genius; she doesn’t really know what starts with “B”. I just tell her. We read a Picture Book Preschool book, and she loses interest in school and goes to play/make a mess with Betsy Bee. Something with water and Barbies.

Brown Bear Daughter and Karate Kid are still working on their math lesson. To speed them up, I threaten no afternon activities unless they finish all their school work for the day. Brown Bear Daughter gets serious about the math lesson, and Karate Kid follows her lead. Hooray! we’re done with Saxon math. We celebrate with a short break. I check my email and make a phone call. The math finishers start some project that they won’t want to put down in order to finish up the rest of their school work.

To be continued.

We intend to get up early. Our last name is Early, for heaven’s sake. The parents who are ostensibly running this homeschool believe “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Wait, we believe half of that maxim. Engineer Husband is great with the “early to rise” part, and I used to be good at “early to bed.” But now it seems that this homeschool/home is open twenty-four hours a day. The four teenagers/young adults don’t believe in bedtimes at all; they just fall into bed as the Spirit moves them. And Engineer Husband usually puts the four younger urchins to bed after one more drink of water, one more snack, a second toothbrushing, one more story, a prayer for each urchin, and “play-me-a-tape-please.” And that’s all before they get into bed the first time.

I can hear the comments already: “You were going to blog about a typical day in your homeschool, and you’re already writing about bedtime.” But I have learned that our typical day starts the night before. If none of us makes it to bed before midnight, then we can’t very well rise with the chickens. And typically, we don’t. We also don’t have any chickens. So a typical day in our homeschool starts around 8:30 or 9:00 A.M. –or later sometimes.

1. Morning jobs: Each of my eight children, including Eldest Daughter who is home from college this summer, has a morning job which is supposed to be completed satisfactorily before breakfast. Dancer Daughter’s job is to make breakfast, so she at least must finish her job before breakfast. This morning we had muffins (from a mix), fruit, and milk.
2. Breakfast is rather informal, but I do try to keep the food in the kitchen or the dining area and out of the living room. Everybody finishes their jobs, eats, and generally tries to wake up before
3. Bible reading and prayer. We’re reading Proverbs, a chapter a day, right now. Last year we read Psalms, the year before we used Greenleaf’s Guide to the Old Testament. I’m planning when we finish Proverbs to start through a harmony of the Gospels. Each of the eight urchins, except for the youngest, has his own day to pray aloud for all of us. Then, in theory, we start the day’s schoolwork.

Oh, by the way, I decided to write this ?-part series as a result of a call for articles on homeschooling at My Three Pennies/Choosing Home. Go over and check it out if you’re interested.