Want to see how I juggle multiple ages and grades with our new homeschool routine? This day was a little unique: we did all our normal schoolwork and went on a field trip. Here’s how the day flowed, how I rotate between three kids, and how we shuffle our schedule when life happens.
What you’ll get from this post
- How our school morning starts: Bible time, then handwriting first
- How I rotate between a 5th grader, a 3rd grader and a 1st grader
- The kitchen timer trick that ended chasing kids around on breaks
- How we do schoolwork in the van on field trip days
- A free natural history museum field trip in Savannah
- How we move our four-day school week around when we need to
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Bible time and breakfast
We start with Bible time. Usually either Bud or I do it with the kids, but this morning he joined me, which was nice. We do a devotional and work on scripture memorization. I’ll be honest, we’ve been slacking on memorization for a while, so we’re really trying to bring it back this year. (If you want to see the very start of our morning, check out our homeschool morning routine.)
Handwriting first
Right after Bible time and breakfast, we head upstairs to the school room and start with handwriting: just one worksheet every day. Last year I let handwriting slide, pushing it to the end of the day and skipping it most days. Doing it first means it actually gets done.
Then I light a candle. It makes the school room feel so much cozier, and I love the relaxing smell. In fall, it’s all pumpkin candles.
How I rotate between three kids
Here’s how the morning flows so I’m free to sit with the child who needs me:
- My 5th grader watches his English lesson online through the Ron Paul Curriculum.
- That frees me to teach my 3rd grade daughter The Good and the Beautiful language arts. In one lesson, she looked at a painting, talked about what she liked, and copied a paragraph (or wrote her own).
- Meanwhile, my 1st grader plays the games on the Hooked on Phonics app.
- When my 5th grader finishes his English essay, I sit down with him to check it.
- When my 3rd grader moves to her independent work, I read the Hooked on Phonics story with my 1st grader.
- Then math: my 5th grader works on his own, and my 1st grader does what he can independently while I’m right there to help. My 3rd grader starts her BJU Press online history.
When anyone finishes a worksheet, they bring it to me. I might not check it right away if I’m working with someone else, but I try to as soon as I’m done with that child. My 5th grader uses a planner to keep track of all his lessons.
Going at their pace
I also have The Good and the Beautiful level 1 language arts for my 1st grader, but right now we’re sticking with Hooked on Phonics. We were on unit 20 of 24, and I think he could use more time there before moving on. That’s the beauty of homeschooling: you go at whatever pace your kid needs.
Kitchen timers for breaks
This year I got each of my big kids a kitchen timer for break time. They set their own timer, so I’m not chasing them around the house keeping track of who took a break, when, and for how long. It makes it so much easier. And when kids are on break or busy, I grab a minute to switch the laundry.
Field trip: a natural history museum in a hotel lobby
Our field trip was to the JW Marriott in downtown Savannah. It’s a unique hotel with a natural history museum right in the lobby, all about dinosaurs, and it’s free to see. Our kids love dinosaurs.
A wedding coordinator there invited our whole family for a tour and set up a dinosaur scavenger hunt for the kids, which was so sweet. The kids searched for each item on their papers and found animals from Africa and a fossil found in Germany during World War I. Bud came too, so it was a fun family outing and did double duty: we got a site tour of the venue to share with our wedding couples.
Schoolwork in the van
We packed lunch to eat in the van and brought some schoolwork. It’s about a 20-minute ride each way, so the kids did the things that didn’t need me: video lessons and independent work. My oldest watched his Ron Paul history lesson on the way back. When we got home, we had only about 20 minutes left and were wrapped up by 4:10. Then their friends came over to play.
Why we did school and a field trip on the same day
We do a four-day school week, and usually one weekday is our fun day for field trips. But I’d traveled that weekend, so we skipped Monday and Tuesday. Bud had a wedding Saturday, so we planned school for Wednesday through Saturday to still get four days.
I knew the outing would take only about three hours and wouldn’t start until 1:00, so we could get most of our schoolwork done first and not take off another school day. Filming added a little time to our morning, but it all fit.
It’s a good example of how you can make your schedule work for you. Move things around and do school when it fits what’s already going on.
Key takeaways
- Start with the subject that tends to get skipped, like handwriting.
- Rotate: while one child watches a video lesson, teach another, and give the third an app or independent work.
- Kitchen timers let kids manage their own breaks.
- Bring video lessons and independent work in the car on field trip days.
- Look for free field trips close to home.
- Shift your school days around when life happens.
What viewers say
We are doing the level 3 of the TG&TB too. Her art looked so great! I love how homeschooling allows us to be so flexible… school work in the car is always a great way to use that time in the car! Such a fun trip! Thanks for sharing your day with us mama!
@lifewithginab on YouTube
The kitchen timer idea is so good!
@lifewithginab on YouTube
Things we mentioned
- Hooked on Phonics: our 1st grader’s reading app.
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FAQ
How do you homeschool multiple grades at once?
I rotate. While my 5th grader watches a video lesson, I teach my 3rd grader, and my 1st grader plays reading games on an app. Then we switch.
How do you manage homeschool breaks?
Each of my big kids has a kitchen timer and sets it for their own breaks, so I’m not keeping track of everyone.
Can kids do schoolwork in the car?
Yes. On field trip days, our kids watch video lessons and do independent work during the drive.
Is there a free natural history museum in Savannah?
The JW Marriott in downtown Savannah has a natural history museum with dinosaurs throughout the lobby, and it was free when we visited.
More from our crew
- 5th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Picks 2022-2023: Language Arts, Math, Science, History
- 3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum Picks 2022-2023: Language Arts, Math, Science, History
- Homeschool with Me!: Teaching Multiple Kids
Full transcript
Hi friends thanks for joining me today for this day in the life to look at our homeschool routine for the 2022-2023 school year we are having actually a unique day today where we have a field trip to go on as well so join along I'm starting this video out with our Bible time that we do in the morning if you want to see the beginning of our morning my morning routine and how the kids start the day before breakfast I do have another video that I'll link to below that you can check out this morning was kind of a rare morning it's usually either my husband or I who does Bible time with the kids
But he decided to join me this morning and so that was nice so we usually do a devotional and I'll leave a link to what we've been using recently down below and work on scripture memorization I'll be honest we've been a real slack with that for a while so we are really trying to bring that back this school year right after Bible time and breakfast we head upstairs to our school room and start the day with hand right writing every day just one worksheet because that was something that I was kind of letting slide last year
And pushing off to the end and not doing most days so we are knocking it out first thing for today now look you're gonna Trace all by yourself over here okay pencil you're gonna color or Draw well this is foreign wow great job those are big mountains so I didn't color them up and great job can't wait to see they're working on their handwriting and I am going to light a candle I love having a candle lit during our school time it just makes the school room feel
So much Cozier plus I love the smell it's a relaxing smell and Vibe for the room and of course now it is fall time I am loving the pumpkin smelling candles how are you feeling good this needs to be okay and everything looks really nice and clean there very good now my fifth grader is going to watch his English lesson which is through the Ron Paul Curriculum so that's online and that frees me up to sit with my third grade daughter and teach her the good
And the Beautiful language arts and while I'm working with her my first grader is able to play the games on the Hooked on Phonics app so adult good job look at the painting on the next page in this painting the artist Johann Heinrich Johan's father was a painter and art teacher eventually 25 of his descendants children and grandchildren became artists too that's a lot what do you like about this painting copy the paragraph in purple Below on your own paper or if you want you can create your own paragraph foreign if you missed my video about how I am preparing my kids for this school year I talk about how I got kitchen timers for each of my big kids this year
So that they could use them for break times so they're setting a timer instead of me having to chase them all around the house and keep track of who took a break when and for how long it just makes that a lot easier okay Maggie is on a break Titus is watching his English video and Finn is in the bathroom so I'm going to take this opportunity to switch the laundry over to the dryer my fifth grader is done with his English essay so he's wanting me to go ahead
And check that so I'm going to sit down with him now and read over that rolls around circles only to meet the bottom wow look at that great thank you always good job they look blue okay my fifth grader is on a break and my third grader is finishing up her independent work for her language arts so now I'm able to sit with my first grader and read the story that is in the Hooked on Phonics lesson that he's doing today I also have level one language arts for him from the good
And the Beautiful and right now it looks like we need to keep doing Hooked on Phonics we haven't finished it yet we're on unit 20 out of 24 and I think he could use some more time and that before we continue on in the good and the Beautiful but that's the beauty of homeschooling is we can go at whatever Pace our kid needs wow good job looks so good Maggie art project for today she's so silly now my fifth grader is working on his math
And my first grader is working on his which he can do some of it independently and then I'm right there to help when he needs it and my third grader is starting to watch her bju Press online history okay five plus two is seven down here oh we gotta write the seven on this line once any of them are done with their worksheet I have them bring it to me it doesn't mean that I can check it right away if I'm working with someone else
But I try to do it as soon as I'm done working with that child what's she doing my fifth grader has a planner so he can keep track of all of his school lessons and school work today we have a little field trip planned to a hotel downtown and this hotel is very unique they actually have a natural history museum right in the lobby it is so cool and our kids love dinosaurs and it's all about dinosaurs so come check it out with us eating lunch in the van bringing a little school work to do in the van
Okay we we grabbed all our lunch and brought it in the van with us they also grabbed some of their Spork that we still have left to do we are on our way to Downtown Savannah there's a wedding coordinator at the JW Marriott that we would want to go visit today she invited our whole family to come and take a tour and do like a dinosaur scavenger hunt for the kids which is super sweet we are headed down there Titus has his Ron Paul Curriculum history he can watch on the way back semester eating lunch
So it should be fun what do you see is it down there have fun yay find it on your on your paper find it yeah good job here there's a lot of different animals all from Africa of course there's a lot of watches out of that okay wow I found it was found in Germany during World War One oh wow it's now replenish your pool supply oh foreign once we got back home we just had like 20 more minutes of school work to wrap up they were able to get a lot of stuff done on the way there
And on the way back it's about a 20 or so minute ride down there and back so they were able to get a good amount of stuff done in the car which is great they were able to do the things that didn't require me so like watching some video lessons or doing some independent work so yeah we were all wrapped up with everything by 4 10 and now their friends are over playing and they get to just enjoy the rest of the afternoon so definitely a later day than we normally have
But I'm so glad that we got to have this chance to like go have a mini field trip and my husband got to go with us too so that was super fun to have like this family outing and it was dual purpose because we were able to get this site tour of the venue so that we have more information to share with our couples so it just worked out so great so if you've seen any of my past videos you know that we do a four day school week
And I actually just did a video last week explaining why we do that and how we do that what it looks like so if you're interested in that I'll put a link up above and you can go check that out next and in that video I explained that we normally have this fun school day during the week where we can go do a field trip and so you might be wondering if you saw that well why did you do school work and a field trip on the same day
And that's because I already traveled this past weekend and so we didn't do school Monday or Tuesday now my husband has a wedding on Saturday which is tomorrow so we were planning on doing school Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday so that gives you four days in a week and then I knew that this outing wasn't going to take too too long we were probably gone for a total of three hours so I knew we could still get both done and it not be too late of a day
So it worked out well so I didn't want to have to take off another school day in order to fit this little field trip in and since it wasn't going to start until one in the afternoon I was figuring that we could get all of our school work done before we left but of course since I am also videoing today that added a little more time to our morning so anyways all we had was a little bit left to accomplish afterwards so it it worked out it all fit into one day
So I'm thankful for that and that's just another good example of how you can make your schedule work for you you can move things around and do school when it works well for your schedule so hopefully that's encouraging to you to see how we kind of shift things around and tweak our schedule in order to make it work with other things we already have going on other things we want to do so that wraps up our homeschool day and the life now that the kids are having their play time I'm gonna go get a workout in
And then it'll be time to start making dinner and all of that and just have a nice restful evening thank you so much for joining me today and I hope you all have an amazing day and I'll catch you in the next video Happy schooling foreign