Some of our day

I am not raising children, I am raising people who will one day be adults. In order for them to function as adults, they need to learn academically, spiritually, and domestically. They need to learn life skills like vacuuming, cleaning, etc. They need to learn to work together so they can collaborate with co-workers or employees. They need to know how to do a job well done and how to do it efficiently. As a mother of 4 wearing many hats, I can't possibly effectively school the children AND keep house AND cook nutritious meals all by myself. There are just too many bodies in this house for 1 mom to do it all... In comes life schooling!

We are working on our morning routine to include devotional, family work time, mom's lessons, and learning time. So here are some pictures of our day:

While Pumpkin Pie and Strawberry waited for others to finish eating breakfast, they read together in the rocking chair.

I know the shot isn't pretty but I thought it was pretty cute that Strawberry was trying to help Butterfly with her jobs.

These first pictures are of family work time. The last couple days I have had at least 1 child under the weather which meant that I wasn't keeping up with family work time. As a result, the floors were covered in toys, the bathrooms needed some tidying, and the laundry needed to be put away. I made a list of all the jobs that needed to be done and then had the older 3 kids rotate picking which jobs they did today. I had to help Pumpkin Pie with most of her jobs as she is still learning how to do the sweeping and can't reach where all the dishes go. I also had my own list to do. Strawberry joined in as she rotated through all of us and helped us with our jobs. What would have taken me days to finish a couple of months ago trying to do it by myself or trying to get the kids to help with them whining or otherwise not participating took 45 minutes! AMAZING. A HUGE part of that success I attribute to discipline and teaching techniques I have learnedfrom Nicholeen Peck at Teaching Self Government.

 After family work time it was time for our read aloud. I have fallen behind since we have had some busy evenings so we popped a bowl of popcorn, got out a large blanket, and gathered with individual piles of books for reading time. I read for about 45 minutes out of Carry on Mr. Bowditch. What an amazing story of a man who learns despite all the obstacles in his way and then goes about teaching others. What a difference in behavior and attitude those men have once they learn really useful things and have skills. Not to mention the inspiration regarding math and the importance of it! I definitely need to add this book to our permanent shelf to read again in a few years! While I popped the popcorn, Tiger practiced piano.

Strawberry helping to make the popcorn

Pumpkin Pie doing her reading lesson with me in the McGuffy readers.

Tiger could be found sneaking in some Pre-Algebra.

Later in the day we did some mom's teaching time. Today we were studying flowers. We dissected tulips.
Of course Strawberry needed a flower to tear apart too...

Butterfly really enjoyed this activity.

Nap time was essential. Strawberry slept while I studied my own materials, Pumpkin Pie and Butterfly made valentines for a friend, and Tiger read a book.

While dinner was being made, Tiger and I engaged in a game of Upwords. Although the rules forbid the use of a dictionary, during your choosing of the word, I allow one because it certainly helps with vocabulary. Words learned today by Tiger included quips, citron, and slubs, nog, etc.