A Day at Harper's Academy

Simple Homeschool has been hosting "A Day in the Life of" posts for different homeschooling families. We really haven't been homeschooling that long but we still can participate in the posts. Plus, I thought it would be interesting to come back to this post in a year or so and see how much we've changed and grown.


As of right now, we've been homeschooling for a little over 3 weeks. We started the first week of January 2011. Ian is 8 years old and Jameson is 15 months.

The routine we follow is more of a guideline and is open to change most days.

5:30 am- my alarm goes off. I hit the snooze button a few times and am up by 5:45 and get myself ready to exercise for about a half an hour.

6:30 am- I sit down and relax for a while, check my email, and work on the computer

7:00 am- I get myself ready for the day, have a cup of coffee and if the boys are still asleep then I'll get a little bit more work done on the computer

My husband is usually up and about by now and will leave for work anywhere from 6:30 to 8:00 am, depending on what's going on that day at work.

8:00 am- time for the boys to get up, dressed, we all have breakfast, and do a few household chores. On good days, we get done early and start school early. On bad days, well, we eventually start school.

9:00 am- school time! We use Sue Patrick Work Box System to organize our school day and school work so I don't have set times for when a subject needs completed and we have to move on to the next. Generally, though, we do language arts first thing so Ian can work using a fresh mind because it's his toughest subject. I put most of his harder subjects or the ones that require more focus in the first couple of boxes to be completed in the morning because that's our best time of day. During school time Jameson is usually playing near us or sitting on someone's lap.

11:00 am- we break for lunch and more household chores. Jameson usually goes down for his nap between 11:30 & 11:45 am. Ian goes outside for awhile. It's winter right now and one of his main chores is bringing in wood, after he's done he'll play outside for a while.

1:00 pm- we finish up school. Ian has several independent boxes to work on at this time so I'm usually back online to check emails, on facebook, sewing, or otherwise working on something around the house.

2:00 pm- school is usually done by now and Jameson is waking up. We break for a little snack and some cartoons.

Afternoon and Early Evenings are pretty unstructured. We do whatever we want and the time always just seems to slip by!

5:00 pm- I usually start dinner.

My husband will usually come home from work anywhere from 4- 6 pm, depending on what's going on at work.

6:00 pm- dinner time.

7:00 pm- boys take a bath or one will bathe and the other will shower. After that they get in their PJ's and run around the house for a bit or watch TV with me or dad.

8:00 pm- Boys to bed!

8:30 pm- I look over any worksheets Ian did that day and fill the boxes for tomorrow. I have a schedule I follow so filling them takes me very little time and school work is organized and ready to go for the next day!

9:00 pm- I'll get myself ready for bed. If I have a pending order I'll sew for awhile if not I'll just sit in bed and read, crochet, or watch TV!

And that is how a day at Harper's Academy usually goes! I hope you enjoyed this peak into our lives.

~Heather~