Typical Unschooling Day

Here's what homeschooling/unschooling looks like at our house, on a typical day at this time of year:

Cimion (13 years old) gets up at 6:00 AM with my husband Billy. He makes his bed and they have breakfast together (2-3 bowls of cereal with 2% milk) and Cimion hangs out with him until he leaves for work at 7:00. After he leaves, Cimion stays in his room (playing with his legos or reading, lately it's Goosebumps) until I get up, which is about 8:00. After I get up, he'll exercise and have a snack, which usually is yogurt and fruit or a bagel and peanut butter with apple juice or a smoothie. During this time, I'm usually feeding the dog (a 6 year old black female miniature poodle named Mini) and the iguana (a 10 year old female named Buddie) , I make my morning tea and go online. By that time, which is about 8:30, I get Shawna (10 years old) up, she makes her bed, exercises and has breakfast. Cimion is usually washing up and getting dressed at this point. Jacqueline (age 7) usually stirs about 9ish, most of the time because Mini jumped on her bed and started nudging her. :-) She gets up, exercises, has breakfast, washes up, get dressed and makes her bed. I usually end up having my breakfast about the same time as her so we sit together while we eat. By the time we're all done it's about 10:00.

After that, we go for our morning walk. We aim for 3-4 days a week. I walk, Jacqueline takes her bike and Cimion & Shawna either walk, roller blade or skateboard.

When we get back, Shawna & Jacqueline are usually ready for a snack and they'll have something similar to what Cimion had. Shawna’s been on an orange kick lately so if we have any in the house, she'll usually have two. Jacqueline will almost always want fruit or cheese and crackers.

I try to get everybody settled into something inside and then I take a shower.
Jacqueline will usually watch a movie. The last few she watched were Little Women, Disney Princess - A Christmas of Enchantment and The Secret Garden.
Shawna usually reads in the family room. She's working her way through all the Pony Pals books.
Cimion usually plays Need for Speed Underground on PS2.

After I get out of the shower, we usually go out.
Sometimes we're go shopping in some of the thrift stores around here. Some recent finds have been Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets audio books for $4, a bunch of Barbie chapter books for. 25 each and Boggle for the computer.
Sometimes we go to the library, other times we have errands to take care of. If it's Thursday, we usually get together with a local homeschool group at the park and hang out. If the Discovery Science & Outdoor Center is having a homeschool lab, we'll go to that. If it's Saturday, Cimion goes to his Yu-Gi-Oh duelist league.

After we come home, we'll have lunch in the back yard. I tend to make a big lunch.
Today I made rigatoni with marinara sauce that Billy made, crumbled up ground beef sprinkled in, cheese on top and a chunk of whole grain Italian bread. Sometimes I’ll heat up marinated chicken thighs (That Billy made) with some kind of pasta side dish and veggies. Billy cooks a lot of food on the weekend and then I freeze it. It’s great that he does this because not only is cooking one of least favorite things to do, but I’m a vegetarian and having to cook meat is not my thing.

After lunch, we usually hang out outside. Sometimes they’ll ride their bikes in the front, or go on the pogo stick. Sometimes they’ll go in the jacuzzi (to cold for the pool yet). I’ve been learning to garden, so if the weather is nice, one of them may help me plant some things. Billy just put a toolbox together for them so they’ve been hammering stuff together and taking things apart. We also have a large wooden play set and a 14’ trampoline so odds are one of them will be on it. My mother just bought the house next door so they’ll go over and help her unpack some boxes. Usually by this time, the public schooled kids are out and some of their friends may come over to play.

If the weather is rainy, we'll be inside.
Jacqueline has been really interested in space lately so she might spend time reading some of the books we have, her favorite being Earth & Space. We also have some software on the solar system that she likes to play with. Today she went on NASA for kids and enjoyed it.
Cimion likes to catagorize and list things, such as his yu-gi-oh cards (he lists all all his cards and their powers and then makes a seperate list of ones he wants to trade) and cars he likes (he cuts out the pictures from his car magazines and glues them in a book I bought for him. Than he writes all the details about them, like make, model, accessories, extras, etc).
Shawna loves pretending that she has a job in an office so she'll set herself up at her desk with the computer and phone and go to work.
Cimion & Shawna have been interested in Colonial America, so they might decide to continue learning about it, like I posted about here.

Depending on what day it is, Jacqueline may have her jazz class or her Brownie troop meeting, Shawna may have her Girl Scourt meeting or Cimion & Shawna have been going to a storytellers class given by the Ocali Storytellers Guild.

We have dinner around 5:30. Usually, Billy is home by that time. I tend to make something one step and easy because I start to lose mental energy at around this time (LOL!!). I’ll make something like chicken nuggets and salad or chili with cheese and crackers or spaghetti and sauce.

After dinner they take showers and spend time with Billy. Sometimes he’ll color with them or they’ll read to each other. It’s a nice time for them to connect after being apart all day. I’ll usually go online, read or play The Sims. Currently I’m reading The Whole Parenting Guide

After a while, they stay in their rooms and we have some quiet, down time in the house. They’ll usually read but sometimes will write, (Jacqueline has been writing her second Barbie story) color or draw (Cimion likes to draw cars). Billy & I will sometimes go in the jacuzzi or watch a movie. If it’s Tuesday, we watch The Sheild.

Cimion starts to get tired at 9ish and the girls at about 9:30-10:00. Everyone brushes their teeth and gets some rest.

There you have it! A typical day of homeschooling/unschooling at our home.