In my journey as a stay at home homeschooling mom, I’ve always loved reading the DITL details of other mothers. Time has passed since I began researching how to homeschool, and my life has changed to include working from home remotely, helping my husband manage his new small business, and to homeschooling with four small children under six years of age. I want to provide a window into our little world to hopefully provide solidarity and ideas for other moms with similar blessings!
My homeschooling schedule has changed quite a bit over the last couple years, but one thing has remained the same: morning time! This is a precious time of day when we can start the morning off together, focusing on what is most important to us: our faith, our family, and truth, goodness & beauty. We begin with our Morning Offering, blessing over our food, our Spiritual Communion prayer by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri, and by praying in our own words for our special intentions. Then we either listen to a well-narrated Bible reading or I read from our children’s Bible. We try to always put first things first, giving God the “first fruits” of our day, and prioritizing prayer and thanksgiving before everything else. We then do some memory work which includes some Scripture memory passages, poetry, and a Catholic hymn that coincides with the liturgical season.
At this point in the homeschool day, my baby is ready for a nap, so I leave the older three to play independently at the table while I put him down, grab my coffee, and work for about 45 minutes, or as long as the kids stay content and occupied with independent play 🙂 My oldest will typically start her math work at that time, and I review with her and address any challenges at that time.
Our homeschool day in the life is filled with blessings!
“Humility isn’t a matter of beating yourself up for your failures; it’s a matter of receiving joyfully the limits within which you live, learning to be the beneficiary of gifts that are beyond your ability to produce, control, or manipulate.”
–Jonathan Rogers, “Productivity Shame and the Joy of Limits“