What homeschooling looks like...

At least at our house it looks like this:

If you were wondering how it is going - it's great. We are using a program called K12(click on it if you'd like) that gives us all of our curriculum for free through the school district. I have a monthly phone meeting with a teacher who can see Elijah's progress and grades as we enter them in online. I didn't think I would like doing school this way but I actually do. It provides the structure I need and I just get to add in the fun. And especially he gets to play a lot more. The nice thing about this program is that it is fully accredited so if he was in high school he would receive a diploma just like everyone else - instead of trying to pull together a portfolio to show colleges. Right now Elijah takes these classes from K12:

Spanish
Language Arts
Math
Science
& Art

We start our day at just before 8 AM with breakfast. After that we empty the dishwasher and get it loaded with our morning dishes. We then proceed to our other daily chores which vary. At around 10 AM we start our official school. Elijah has handwriting practice and Spanish which is on the computer and he is able to do those pretty independently. We then work on the other subjects. Art and Science are only twice a week - alternating days. Mike is going to start teaching the Science lessons in the evenings just so he can have a role in the whole thing. We are usually done with our formal lessons by around noon.

(Here's a screenshot of our page at K12.)

After lunch Elijah and Andrew usually start playing - though Elijah does have violin to practice. We go to the library about once a week and pick up books for Elijah to read independently or to enrich the things we are studying - and to get myself and Andrew some books. Elijah also usually attends the monthly meetings at the library for boys his age and they play games and discuss different topics. His violin also has group lessons once a month. I mention those because they are little things we do to give him some social activities. He played soccer in the fall and will be playing some more sports in the spring. Hopefully these type of activities will increase in number. Luckily we have a neighborhood full of kids that he is able to play with every afternoon.

Anyhow, I just thought some of you might be curious how it works around here. I don't know how long we'll do it. I love it and it has enriched our lives for sure. I am also glad I was able to start when I only had one child to teach. Hopefully when it's time for Andrew to start Elijah will be even more independent in his work. I might put Elijah back in by middle school or later. Each year that will be a decision we will have to make - prayerfully and with our kids input. So, that's a little window into our school life!