There is a great article on thepioneerwoman today about school hours. I find myself telling my kids all the time, "Remember, it's school hours!" when we have to go out and about during the day. I'm always aware that some people wonder "why aren't those kids in school?" when we are out during normal school hours. Luckily, we live in an area where there are a large number of homeschoolers and most people are accustomed to seeing us :) I'd rather get our errands run early in the day, then come home and do schoolwork, projects, etc. right up until suppertime. We also participate in a support group, and we usually have a field tip, art class, or other cooperative activity at least once a week. Sometimes my kids bring schoolwork along with them to work on while we are out.
My family homeschools year-round, with breaks here and there. We don't take summer off or even a long Christmas break. We find it works for us to keep the momentum going and take vacations when school is in session so we don't have to deal with big crowds at the beach, etc. My kids "do school" on the weekends sometimes too. My oldest son, the night-owl, does most of his independent reading assignments late at night after he's gone to bed. I usually have to tell him to turn his light off, or he would stay up and read all night! He likes to sleep late and work on his schoolwork later in the morning. My youngest is a morning person, and does his most productive work first thing after breakfast. My middle one needs to "chill out" in the morning for a half hour or so, bounce around or run off some energy, and then he can sit down to do some written work.
I give each of my boys an assignment list of their independent work each day, and they check each item off as they complete it. This is usually the first thing they do, and then we all sit down together for group projects, usually related to science or history or whatever untit study we might be doing. We do our read-alouds at night, before bedtime, when we "do books." Each night we gather in my oldest son's room and sit on the floor while we let his bird out of her cage. I read our school read-aloud (usually about a chapter each time,) a picture book, a story from the Bible story book or devotional, and about a chapter from our "fun" book. Last night, we read half a chapter of The Journeyman, a chapter from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," 10 pages from Nate the Great, and a story from The Child's Story Bible. Depending on our day and how late we sit down for books, we may do more or less. One great thing about this time is that my older two still get to enjoy picture books, and this year my youngest has listened to books such as Johnny Tremain, Treasure Island, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and The Sign of the Beaver. When he revisits these books in several years, I think they will seem like old friends.
I love the flexibility of homeschooling and that we are not tied to a clock or a calendar for learning. Learning happens all the time, and we consider homeschooling to be a regular part of our daily lives, not a scheduled activity.
