Military Special Needs Network
Proudly Supporting all Military Families with a Special Needs Dependent
A Day in the Crazy Chaotic Homeschooling Life
This blog post is the first in what will be an ongoing series developed to share the realities of homeschooling. If you are a military homeschooling parent interested in sharing your story, please contact Jessica via email: JessicaEastman@MSNNblog.com.
We began homeschooling one year ago this month. My oldest son hasautism, he’s 7, and I have two other boys as well, ages 3 and 4. A typical day
around here has evolved quite a bit since we started, and every day looks
different. I have learned to roll with the punches and have thrown lesson planning
out the window. Many people ask how to start homeschooling, or what our days
look like. Here’s a sneak peak of what happened today:
7:00am: All three boys piled into bed with me and watched Transformers for an
hour. We talked about robots, electricity, legos, colors, planets, and on and on.
There was a lot of talking.
8:30am: Coffee, for mama. Several bowls of cereal for the kids. I check email.
9:20am: Legos. The kids build their versions of Transformers and we talk about
moving joints and how robots have different “parts” than humans. This leads to a
discussion about ball and socket joints. I pull up some pictures on Google and
Youtube videos about joints, and print out a few coloring sheets. We sing some
songs about bones.
11:00am: Snack. And more coffee for mom. The boys go outside to the
backyard to jump off things and get all their energy out.
Noon: Naptime for the 3 year old. The 4 year old camps out on the couch with
the iPad and does some preschool apps, like Handwriting Without Tears and
B.O.B. Books. I turn on “SuperWhy” in another room for him when he loses
interest in the iPad (about 25 minutes later). My 7 year old and I settle down for
some bookwork. Today he does two lines of handwriting, 2 worksheets of math,
one verbal language lesson, one “chapter” out of his reading book, and one
science sheet. Some days we do more, some days we do less.
1:30pm: The 3 year old is up from his nap. Lunch for the kids, and break time for
mama. I browse Facebook and stuff my face with chocolate for about 30
minutes.
2:00pm: I casually supervise a map activity, where the boys are sticking animals
to the continent where they come from. They get the globe out and stick it in
front of the sunny window, and we discuss earth rotations and nighttime and
daytime.
2:45pm: We head over to the park for a play date with another homeschooling
family.
4:00pm: Home, and time to greet Daddy who is home from work. The boys tell
him all about our busy day and I pour myself another cup of coffee. We bum
around the house until dinnertime.
One comment on “A Day in the Crazy Chaotic Homeschooling Life”
Comments, discussion and insight always welcome!
Military Special Needs Network 
Hi, Jessica. I came across your blog as I was looking for homeschooling special needs. We have a daughter with special needs. I’m just always interested in what others are doing. I’m always open to new ideas.
Learning happens naturally, and it seems like you’re incorporating your kids’ playtime into educational lessons and keeping it fun. Nice work. 🙂
I’ve never liked ‘lesson planning’ myself. Which is one of the reasons the Time4Learning curriculum I use is so perfect for me. However, more importantly, it’s perfect for my daughter with special needs. She really enjoys the interactive an animated lessons. It’s almost like playtime for her, but she’s learning and having fun at the same time. Learning should be enjoyable and something you don’t dread, right?
Well, thanks for sharing your day with us. I just thought I’d comment. I just started a blog recently and sometimes I wonder if anybody ever stops by because I don’t get a whole lot of comments. lol