Typical Homeschool Day at Great Peace Academy

A Day in our Homeschool Life

We are not the wake up at 6:00 a.m. with breakfast on the table and Bible Study complete by 8:00 kind of family. We generally sleep late and stay up late. Perhaps that is why I homeschool. So I don’t have to rush out of bed and the door in the morning to get my son to the institution across town. Er, Um, I mean, I homeschool to meet his spiritual and educational needs. (Did I just let that slip?)

We usually start our day at about 9:00 a.m. Little Man gets up before me and makes his own breakfast. Usually a bowl of cereal maybe some fruit and a cup of juice. Sometimes he will toast a waffle or make a pb&J. He does NOT like eggs at all, so that is not an option. 

I get up and put on a pot of coffee. With Beloved still out of work, we figure out what we each make our own breakfast.

We each get dressed, or maybe we don’t. Half the time we homeschool in our PJ’s. I know that is one of those secrets homeschoolers are NOT supposed to talk about.

For a typical school day I do try to start school at about the same time each day, about 10:00. We work until noon when we take a one hour break for lunch, followed by 2-3 hours in the afternoon. If he works quickly we finish up quickly.

This year I registered him for a different homeschool gym program. So that will mean Mondays we will go out for gym. And we are continuing Making Memories Homeschool Support Group this year on Fridays. We also have a monthly LEGO club and a monthly Chess Club with some of our homeschooling friends. Each of those clubs meet 1 time a month on alternate bi-weeks.

Because we are eclectic homeschoolers with unit studies for many of our areas of learning. I plan overall goals for my school year. I have a vision for when we will finish up, and what topics we will cover by that time. 


I then break down those topics into workable subjects and approximate time of completion. Then I make plans on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to meet those goals. 

I am pretty flexible when it comes to any plan that I make. I will often re-think and repurpose materials. I don’t generally work inside a homeschool curriculum box. I pull materials from a wealth of sources. I also try to leave plenty of room for my advanced learner to explore areas of passion.

For Bible:
Bible Study Guide for All Ages
Hannah’s Hundreds (Scripture Memorization to Song)
Read & Share Bible DVD
2 Times Daily Bible Reading

For History & Literature:
We follow a Biblical history chronology and dive in deep. As we progress through Biblical time periods I pull relavent literature from a variety of sources and world history from Mystery of History as well as other resource.

For Science:
Apologia’s Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day along with additional resources that I find which go along with this study.

For Language Arts:
I make my own language arts program pulling from a wide variety of resources. This year I have discovered, “Designing Your Own Language Arts Curriculum” by Jimmie Lanley which has given me even more confidence to continue to do so. I specifically use: Write Shop for creative writing, but also pull from additional sources as I feel the necessity. 

For Math:
Khan Academy
Calculator Activities

For Music Appreciation:
SQUILT: Super Quiet Uninterupted Listening Time by Mary Prather. These complete and simple lessons are leading Little Man on an adventurous discovery of music.

For Art:
A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels by Tricia Hodges. I have loved chalking for years, I’m thrilled to be able to teach some of these techniques to my son, and I am learning a few myself. 

I am always on the look out for additional materials to stretch my sons mind and help him to think differently. I use Prufrock Press for gifted education resources, and utilize materials that I can incorporate into areas of study we are already in. 

So you can see that I am very eclectic in my approach to homeschool. I like having a general idea of where we will end up by the end of the academic year, but the path to get there meanders every which way. 

What about you? What routine or schedule do you keep? What style of learning are your kids or what style do you prefer to teach? Please tell me I’m not the only eclectic (and perhaps scattered) homeschooler.