Day 7 or, our new daily rhythm

Easy. Relaxed. Productive. Cozy. Fun!

*We have this term's composer (Chopin) playing in the background during all quiet times, meals and table work

Start off the day with a snack and our read-alouds (Mr. Popper's Penguins, Little House in the Big Woods)

Daily table work (penmanship, phonics, math, drill), except for Fridays when we read a living math book and explore the concept introduced in it and/or do some hands-on math and/or play a board game or card game that involves logic or math

Then it's time for the day's mainlesson (or if we had a late start, lunch first):

Monday~ Canadian geography

Tuesday~ science

Wednesday~ poetry

Thursday~ religion

Friday~ natural history

We break for lunch and the day's chores (more on chores and housework later...)

If it's Thursday, we take a walk with The Boy to deliver his papers (his first job- he's had it since October, and is managing well!)

Then we finish up any mainlesson or notebook work, spend five minutes or so on our nature calendar, and another 5-10 minutes on French. And that's it. "Multum non multa"- not many, but much. Or as my dad prefers to put it, "KISS"- Keep It Simple, Stupid (and yes, when it comes to keeping things simple, I am profoundly stupid).

After a quick tidy up, the rest of our afternoon is free for Many Fun Things (and maybe a few Happy Chores*):

~ art projects

~ movie and popcorn (Fridays)

~ listening to audio books while we do ...

~ handwork projects (knitting, crocheting, finger knitting, sewing, embroidery...)

~ giant Playmobil, Lego or Calico Critters set-ups (and play!)

~ paper crafts

~ seasonal crafts

~ sculpey

~ sketching/ drawing

~ photography

~ extra fun and/ or seasonal reading

~ and so many more choices! It's great having a list to choose from during bad-weather days when the afternoons seem unnaturally long.


* Happy Chores are different from regular chores. Regular chores include things like dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning toilets. Happy Chores are ones we enjoy doing or that we enjoy the results of- decluttering, organizing, planning, researching, baking, etc.