Day in the Life 2021 (with a 15, 13, 10, 8, and 5-year-old)

homeschool day in the life 2021

I love getting to peek into other homeschool families’ daily life and schedules, what about you? We all know that things change in different seasons of family life. For that matter, things may change depending on the day of the week, caffeine intake, or surprise snow days! (Hey, here in NC any snow only lasts for an hour or two, so you gotta skip the bookwork and go play in the slush while you can…)

Earlier this week I took notes through a fairly typical Monday in our homeschool. Currently my five children are ages 5 (Kindergarten), 8 (3rd grade), 10 (5th grade), 13 (8th grade), and 15 (10th grade). You can see past Day in the Life posts here: 2018, 2019, 2020.

Homeschool family day in the life 2021

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Want to peek into our homeschool day in the life?

5:30 am: I hit snooze again

I’m not sure exactly what’s going on with me these days, but it is translating into a need for a lot more sleep. This has looked like early bed times and the inability to get up at 5 to get in that extra work time. I hate the feeling of being “behind” when I wake up later than anticipated, but I also hate the feeling of mind-melting emotional crazy brain that comes from too little sleep.

5:40 am: Work Time

I roll out of bed and quickly work to embed today’s new podcast episode in the accompanying transcript blog post. There’s a bit more work to be done replying to relevant comments (and deleting the dozens of crazy spam ones), working on emails, and making sure everything runs smoothly this week for Humility and Doxology and the Homeschool Conversations podcast.

6:30 am: Coffee and Pilates

Due to my repeated snooze button hits, I have to do this work pre-coffee. But thankfully this morning there’s not too much to do, so I can go grab a giant mug of steaming black coffee before beginning my pilates workout. I’m loving my memebership in the Balanced Life Pilates community, especially because the workout calendar eliminates all need for me to plan or decide what to do on any given day. I don’t think Robin intends for me to be hydrating during the workout with coffee, but Mama has got to do what Mama has got to do.

I take a brisk walk while listening to The World and Everything In It Podcast (my daily news and culture podcast; host Nick Eicher was a recent Homeschool Conversations podcast guest, too, so you should definitely check out our chat here.)

Time for a quick shower and reading the next chapter of Isaiah before heading downstairs for Morning Time.

Side note: life with big kids is awesome. You’ll notice I did not have to make anyone’s breakfast or help anyone get dressed. How much things have changed from those all-littles years!

8 am: Morning Time

Homeschool family day in the life 2021

Our favorite part of the homeschool day! This is the time we gather together to read, recite poems, memorize Scripture, and nurture a shared family culture. We kick things off with World Watch News and The Big Bash.

(You can see our current Morning Time plans here and download your own memory work printable for free.)

Homeschool family day in the life 2021

9 am: Children’s Homer and Sentence Diagramming

The teens move off to work on independent work. My 15 year old son is taking several online classes including dual enrollment classes from the local community college. My 13 year old takes math and writing online as well. We have a standing appointment on Thursday afternoons to go over the work that I assign to them. That is one of my favorite times of discussion!

Homeschool family day in the life 2021

While the big kids work independently, I read aloud The Children’s Homer to my younger 3 children. They’re loving the adventures of Odysseus! While I read, they draw and play with blocks.

Homeschool family day in the life 2021

After enjoying Classical Academic Press’s Writing and Rhetoric program in the fall, we’re trying their Well Ordered Language program this spring. It’s good to review some grammar, and it is all taught with the quintessentially quirky CAP flair. I have to say I’m not as huge a fan of WOL as I have been with every other CAP program, but it is fitting some needs we have right now. Plus, I’m experienced (and confident) enough to just skip stuff I don’t want us to do. The curriculum is my tool, not my master.

10 am: Kindergarten time

I have made a commitment to prioritize one-on-one time with my littlest guy this year. We do a brief reading lesson, work on the next lesson in his favorite Kindergarten Math book, and read aloud from My Book House series by Olive Beaupre Miller.

Homeschool family day in the life 2021

Of course, I’m periodically interrupted with urgent questions about math and adverbs, but mostly my son and I are able to focus on his work.

Meanwhile, my 13 year old is making a Greek mask out of salt dough in the kitchen, so her younger siblings have to take a moment to watch her progress. (Craft projects are so much more fun with older kids! She figured out how to do this all on her own as part of a Humanities assignment I gave her!)

Homeschool family day in the life 2021
Homeschool family day in the life 2021

The 8 and 10 year old continue to plug along on their assignments, and I help as needed.

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11:30 Midday Randomness

Some kids are already hungry, so they start fixing lunch. I print off a bunch of chemistry pages for my 15 year old, who is enjoying an online Chemistry course taught by my friend Dr. Kristin Moon. I research a tech issue I’m having for my online work.

And I put random food in the crockpot for dinner tonight. Anyone else prefer to throw things together and see what comes out instead of following a strict recipe?

12:45 pm Tea and Coffee

My 13 year old daughter shares my love for podcasts, and she asked me last year to participate in her own podcast endeavor. So we record our next book discussion of Persuasion by Jane Austen for our “Tea and Coffee” podcast. We also discover anew that homeschoolers may have incredible vocabularies but also may not know how to pronounce the words they have read…

1:15 pm Blog and Podcast work

Time for fitting in a bit more of my blog and podcast work!

Prefer to listen to your content? Subscribe to Homeschool Conversations on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss a single episode!

2 pm SQUILT Live

We love SQUILT Live lessons, and this month’s focus is on musicals. The younger 4 kids and I all enjoyed learning a bit of the background for the musical Newsies today!

Homeschool family day in the life 2021

3 pm: Grocery store, Library pickup, and more

Walmart pickup.

Library hold pickup.

Cleaning, sibling conflict resolution, getting prepped for dinner.

All the random accoutrements of family life.

6 pm Dinner

We sit down for a family dinner with John. Dinner conversations turn hysterical as kids from the little guy to the teens discuss Oddyseus’s various, shall we say, escapades.

Then it’s off to the front living room for family devotions!

Homeschool family day in the life 2021

After finishing family worship, John reads aloud Nate the Great to our youngest. I catch up on some Voxer conversations, then admire the elaborate wooden block creations downstairs.

A bit of time to read, and then it’s time for bed! (I haven’t been able to stay up long these days.)

Homeschool family day in the life 2021

Homeschool Day in the Life in review

I’m so thankful for these golden days where all my children are home together. The end of that season feels very imminent. I’m so thankful all 5 kids and I can share so many read alouds and family moments during the day, and I’m so thankful that my husband prioritizes our family devotion time each evening.

This has felt like a very disorienting year in many ways, but even when all things seem in flux around me, God stays the same. He continues to teach and bless, even in the midst of challenges.

And He preserves me and enables me to press on by His grace, even on the days (or weeks) when things feel very emotionally difficult.

What does a typical (or not so typical) homeschool day look like in your family? I’d love for you to share your own stories in the comments below! It’s always such fun to see the infinite variety among homeschool families.

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5 thoughts on “Day in the Life 2021 (with a 15, 13, 10, 8, and 5-year-old)”

  1. Really interesting to get an insight into your daily homeschool life – I’m impressed at how well you manage all the needs of the different age groups of your children.
    My kids loved the adventures of Odysseus too!

  2. Thank you for sharing! These are always fun! I decided to try the balanced life pilates because it was only $4 for the 1st month through your link. It was just what I was looking for for exercise. Thank you for sharing that too.

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