I am Jessye of Snohomish, Washington. As a (mostly) stay at home mama, (I work for a zip line tour company 2-4 days a month) most of my day is spent exploring with and engaging our son – and I wouldn’t have it any other way! We thank God everyday for a husband and father who works hard everyday to provide for us and allow me to stay home. We spend nearly as much time outdoors as we do inside.

Thane is nearly 3, and we are expecting a little girl in October. Thane is a busy little man who loves nature, hiking, biking, our chickens, music, tumbling, and reading – he spends 2-4 hours a day reading with either my husband or I.

Our Morning:

Today was a fairly typical Tuesday. Daddy left for work at 05:30 – if he goes to the fitness studio he leaves even earlier. Thane woke up earlier than usual too, but I don’t mind since he typically spends the first 30 – 45 minutes of his day snuggled next to me in bed reading books. He really loves reading Richard Scarry and Bill Peet books in the morning.

Our daughter, who will be born in October, has a condition called Thanatophoric Dysplasia. It is a form of dwarfism that not only affects the development of her arms and legs, but her chest as well. She is not expected to live more that a few hours at most. We have been aware of this for nearly 4 weeks now, and though at times we are overwhelmed by grief, we also thank God every day for the blessing of calling this precious baby girl our daughter. We take every opportunity we can to cherish our little Mercy Tirzah-Athalia.

As we lay in bed in the morning, Thane will pat my belly and say, “Hi baby Mercy, I’m your big brother.” He likes to “read” her simple Sandra Boynton books and sing the doxology to her as we snuggle. I have to admit, because he woke up early today and I am not sleeping as well due to the pregnancy, he did get to watch 20 minutes of programming on our Kindle in bed with me so I could “rest my eyes” just a little longer. We limit his screen time to an hour or less a week.

After we got up, dressed, and checked on the chickens, it was time to eat breakfast – which usually includes either scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese, or soft boiled eggs with funny faces drawn on the shells. Today we had scrambled “spinach-eggies” and pancakes with strawberries.

Once Thane helped me put the dishes in the dishwasher and sink, we brushed our teeth and it was time to start school. We start with prayer, a Bible lesson, and by working on a memory verse. Our verse this week is Lamentation 3:25, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.”

After this, I give Thane a massage as we sing some fun favorite songs. Then we do a variety to activities designed for vestibular stimulation, and to challenge balance, co-ordination, and motor skills. A number of these activities are taken from Sasse’s book, Active Baby, Healthy Brain.

Then we move onto puzzle books and thinking skills games/activities, Farmland Math, further reading and letter work. (We use a customized Toddler Kit from Timberdoodle.) We round off our 1 1/2-2 hours of school with some songs and finger plays and some STEM activities – today that was play dough and Plus Plus Midis, but it can be different almost every day.

After school today, Thane went outside and played at his sand table while Mama did some chores. Then we got out our Slackline and spent some time walking and bouncing on that before checking on our mealworm farm (we raise mealworms for our chickens) and building a reading tent in the backyard. We read some books, watered the vegetable garden, picked some strawberries and ate lunch.

Our Afternoon:

After a foam sword fight, it was time to wind down with a couple more books and then Thane took a nap while I prepped dinner and spent some time singing to little Mercy.

When Thane wakes up from his nap, he is very snuggly, so today, like most days, I lay down with him and read a few more books. While he is sleeping I try to plan some activity that encourages Thane to engage with nature. (I often reference Asia Citro’s book, A Little Bit of Dirt. We also like her blog funathomewithkids.com – our favorite post being the recipe for edible chia seed gak.) Today, however, this didn’t happen, so when he was ready to play, we went outside and decorated the driveway with sidewalk chalk.

After another foam sword fight, Thane discovered that if he took all the toys out of his soft-sided toy bin, he could fit in it or wear it as a turtle shell! Daddy came home and Thane asked him to read some fairy tales in the reading tent.

I took off for the fitness studio shortly after that leaving the two of them playing with squirt guns in the backyard.

Our Evening:

I came back from the gym to find Thane and Daddy reading on the sofa. They had worn each other out playing chase and sword fighting in the backyard.

Dinner this evening was spinach salad with homemade pickled beets, hard-boiled egg, cheese, cucumber and tomato. We had garlic bread as well.

After the table was cleared we had Family Worship. Daddy prayed, we sang a hymn, read from a children’s Bible, and sang another hymn. Thane doesn’t know all the words to the hymns, but he sings what he knows. He likes to play his little drum these days, too, because we have learned that even unborn babies enjoy music, and particularly like music with a steady beat as it bears similarity to a heart beat. Our closing prayer was said by Thane tonight.

Then we had some berries with chocolate sauce.

After we tidy up for the night, it was time to get ready for bed, read some more books, turn out the lights and listen to Daddy tell us a fantastic adventure story about Max (based on Maurice Sendak’s character from Where the Wild Things Are.)

Just for Fun:

Thane enjoys a weekly class at The Little Gym. This happens on Friday mornings and we usually do not do school this day. We also go hiking or on some other (typically outdoor) adventure with Daddy at least every other Saturday.

I am Marlo of Wichita, Kansas. We are a family of six. (That includes our fur baby.) Dad flies planes, the pup dog is constantly in the middle of everything, the baby seems to have her night and day mixed up, and Mom homeschools two frolicking boys on no sleep and a jug of sweet tea!

Our Morning:

My morning begins early with multiple wake ups by the baby. If I’m lucky, the boys sleep in and I can get a few hours in before 7:00 or 8:00 am. I wish I could say we consistently wake up at the same time every morning, but we don’t.

If I’m feeling ambitious, I cook eggs, toast and bacon. (I’ve got super picky eaters.) If I’m exhausted and on my last leg and it’s only 7:00 or 8:00 am, we do a quick drive thru to our local Chick Fil A. (Yes, they know us by name, not quite to sending Christmas cards level, but first name basis for sure). I find getting out of the house and just having the pressure off of cooking first thing helps me and the kids get started. (That and the surge of sweet tea first thing helps this mama!)

We get home and dive in. We usually start with read-alouds. We combine our Timberdoodle with Sonlight. A good snuggle on the couch with a good book starts the day off right.

Next we hit math.

We break about every thirty minutes for outdoor time, practicing piano, chores (sweeping the floor or dusting to fun music, etc). I also find the hands-on portion of Timberdoodle makes for great “breaks”. It’s educational, but the kids are so involved and excited it’s more of a “break” to them.

I keep these things pretty loose. If the kids are getting overwhelmed, then we stop and rest our brains for a few minutes before continuing.

Our Afternoon:

Lunch – ugh! You can tell I’m not a cook. I remember talking with other homeschool moms and laughing about the joke that we signed up for the homeschooling part but nobody warned us we would have to feed them three times a day!

Lunch is usually ham, rotisserie chicken, or turkey with raisins, smoothies, or raspberries with cinnamon and sugar. (Weird right? One of the grandparents started the cinnamon and sugar thing on raspberries. I had never heard of that before!)

The youngest two go down for naps. (Knock on wood. Please, God, let both of them nap simultaneously for at least 30 minutes).

This is when we do the bulk of our lessons. My oldest has learning differences and this is a great time for us to spend one on one with reading, writing, etc. History we pretty much leave up to the read-alouds and science I try to go for a few “wow factor” experiments just to get his interest up!

Our Evening:

Dinner. Didn’t I just get the kitchen clean? A favorite is chicken tetrazzini and if I’m on my game, it’s defrosted from a bulk batch I made and divvied up for such a time as this.

The high point was – I got my kids all day long! What a joy and blessing!

The lows? It’s tough – there were arguments, spats, times where I questioned my sanity but then I hear, “Hey, Mom! Brother and I caught nine toads and they are in the kitchen!”

In a jar with a lid – whew!!! Details, boys, details!!!

“Do you want to help us catch some more?”

Yes. Yes, I do . . .

Just for Fun:

My oldest takes taekwondo, Suzuki piano, language therapy, and speech.

My toddler takes a music and art class.

It keeps us running for sure. There are times I think we should just take a month off and not run from place to place. We will do that soon I hope! We could all use a breather!

Hi! My name is Jazmin and I am a homeschooling mom. My husband is in the military. We live in Georgia.

My son, Jeffrey, is 8 years old and dreams of being President of the United States; so much so that all of his library books for the last two months have been about past Presidents, especially Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln.

My daughter, Journey, is 5 years old and spends most of her day singing and dancing around the house. Currently her playlist consists of the Moana soundtrack and Trolls soundtrack.

As a family we like to read and all things Scouting.

Our Morning:

On a typical Monday morning, the kids get up and make their breakfast together, usually consisting of waffles, fruit and juice. Dad is at work and Mom is probably checking emails and sipping tea.

At 8:30 am, after the kitchen is put back together, is when school gets started.

Jeffrey, the oldest, does his independent studies first, such as English (Christian Light Education) and reading comprehension (various short readers), while the youngest, Journey, gets alone time with Mom to do short lessons in Math (Horizons), English (Christian Light Education), and Reading (Hooked on Phonics/Christian Light Education).

Our Afternoon:

After morning studies, we eat lunch as a group (Mom and kids) while watching a science show, such as Magic School Bus or old episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy. We keep lunch simple (various sandwiches, chips, and fruit) so that we can focus on our science conversations.

After lunch is cleaned up, we head back to the classroom. The youngest does art activities or puts together puzzles on her own, while the oldest works on Math (Singapore Math). When math is done, we either do a science experiment from our earlier show, or talk about something interesting in history.

The afternoons are mostly interest led. At about 2:00 pm, the kids have quiet time, where they can read books of interest, draw, or build with Legos. During this time, Mom does laundry, wash dishes, and prepare for dinner.

Our Evening:

By dinner time, Dad is usually home and plays with the kids. They go on nature walks, wrestle, or just hang out and watch a movie.

The family eats dinner as a whole, and all electronics are turned off. It’s time for the family to replay their days, and for the kids to give Dad one fun fact that they learned during the day.

After dinner, the kids trade off bath time and playing on their tablets. Dad handles dishes and Mom is able to relax and read.

Dad does bedtime which usually consists of hugs, kisses, and more than one book.

Just for Fun:

• Scouts
• Homeschool PE
• Soccer
• Church Bible Study

Find Us on YouTube: 

www.youtube.com/jazminmcghee

Hello! My name is Anne. My family lives in Washington State and consists of my husband, M – my two daughters, G (age 3), and E (age 1), oh, and our 3 cats – Shadrach, Meshach & Abby. People often comment that Shadrach is the biggest cat they’ve ever seen. We like to think of him as “fluffy.” 

I’m a stay-at-home-mom while M works hard as a commercial electrician. Aside from taking care of my girls during the day, my next love is projects. People around me know I’m always cooking up some kind of DIY – usually something to make our home feel more like the “afters” in the TV show Fixer Upper instead of feeling like the actual 1920’s fixer upper that it really is. :p

Our oldest, G, is constantly keeping me on my toes – sometimes she’s super sweet to Baby Sister, sometimes she’s knocking her over while she tries to crawl. :} She looooves singing and dancing, especially when Papa (M) is home to accompany her on the piano. She’s really gotten into drawing (on her white board) and coloring recently, and I love watching her scribbles evolve into recognizable shapes!

Our youngest, E, is one of the happiest babies around. She’s been a great sleeper all her life, and I think being well-rested makes her so easy-going –unless she gets frustrated. She can go a little bit “hulk baby” on us sometimes, but it usually subsides pretty quickly. She’s not beyond being reasoned with. She is mastering her crawl currently and seems to really be enjoying her newfound freedom to navigate through the house. She loves helping me sweep by putting things into her mouth and is great at helping me rearrange low shelves. 😀

Our Morning:

Ah, mornings! Being that I’m home by myself with the girls most days, I often stay up too late in the evenings working on projects that aren’t really baby and toddler friendly (painting, etc). Then when morning comes I wait until the last minute to wake up – the last minute meaning as soon as one of the girls wakes up. I think I can count on my one hand the number of times I’ve successfully woken up before them and gotten anything productive done. But I like to think I make up for it in the 4+ hours after they go to bed.

Moving on, our mornings really depend on who wakes up first. If my youngest wakes up first, I’ll usually nurse her, and sometimes she’ll want to lay back down and will fall back asleep. (Yay!) If my older daughter wakes up first, she’ll usually come snuggle in bed with me and we’ll wait until Little Sister wakes up. If they both happen to wake up at the same time, it feels kind of like the whole day rolled out of bed on the wrong side. Everyone wants morning snuggles, but there’s only one Mama – and it can get a little rough.

After we’re all awake and changed out of our PJs, we trek downstairs for breakfast. We eat lots of oatmeal, lots of yogurt, and lots of fruits for a typical breakfast. Sometimes pancakes or breakfast sandwiches if we’re fancy and not in a hurry.

Since both girls still nap during the day, our mornings are usually when we head out for errands if we need/want to get anything done. With the girls so close in age, I usually carry one in one of my Tula carriers while the other sits in the cart or stroller depending on where we’re going. I feel like I’ve got a much better handle on life as a mama of 2 that way – not worrying about anyone darting off, or flopping on the floor. :p

Both my girls are still pretty young, so when we are home, we try to learn by playing. Lots of “Please pass me that green pig! Do you remember what a pig says?” and not really any established curriculum yet.

The girls play nicely together for the most part, so while they’re occupied I’ll work on catching up on household chores. 🙂

Our Afternoon:

Ah, the afternoon! Both girls nap from approx 1:00 pm to 3:00 or 4:00 pm depending on the day and what we’ve accomplished and been doing. I love getting a little reprieve in the middle of the day to catch my breath.

I usually eat my lunch right after they fall asleep, and then work on laundry in our basement laundry room, or gardening outside (with their monitors nearby) while they’re sleeping. I prioritize tasks by, “Could I get such-and-such done while the girls are awake?” If the answer is yes, then that’s what I do, saving sleep times for the harder tasks.

M starts work pretty early in the morning, so he’s usually home right around the middle-end of the girl’s naps. It’s nice when he gets a few minutes to unwind, change out of his work clothes, and sometimes play the piano before they wake up. They both get pretty excited when he comes home. It’s adorable.

Our Evening:

Once the girls are awake from nap and Papa is home, we figure out how our evening is going to look. Sometimes Papa has work at his second job to head off too, and if that’s the case, we usually head out for a walk or something so the girls and I don’t feel stir-crazy. If Papa is home, we often head to a park or out for dinner to get to all spend time together.

M’s sister and her husband are some of our favorite people to hang out with, so we visit with them in the evenings when they’re free, too.  

We just recently started the Hello Fresh meal service, so that’s been fun to explore some new food items and has been really nice having everything so easily prepared!

Just for Fun:

As for outside activities, most revolve around our church. Papa (M) helps with the sound equipment for our Sunday worship service, and goes to practice with the team most Thursdays.

I’ve been working the past few months getting ready for our church’s big “KidsCamp” (VBS) program! My job before I “retired” to be a stay-at-home-mom was as an administrative assistant. I love organizing and creating spreadsheets and documents, so helping with registration and what-not was right up my alley.

Hi, my name is Kit and I’m a homeschooling parent. My husband Jake is a mechanic and I am a home baker. Our daughter Elsa is five years old and she loves any and all Legos and building materials. She also loves animals, baking with me, and because of Timberdoodle’s hands-on nature, she loves school too.

We are all animal lovers and so we have several pets. We have three dogs named Waldo, Saya, and Louie, two guinea pigs named Pumpkin and Lucky, and three African dwarf frogs all named Pookie. We joke that the Pookies, as we call them, are our own little rock band because they sing to us every night.

Our family loves to hike, go to museums, read, do projects, and watch movies. We are a very close and active family.

Our Morning:

Yesterday was Friday and because Elsa loves school it was a busy school day. We use the Timberdooodle Kindergarten secular curriculum and plan to supplement with other online and library materials as necessary.

My husband was up at 5:00 AM and left by 6:00 AM. Elsa got up at 6:30 AM, like always, and came to wake me up. We brushed our teeth and then had breakfast by 7:30. Elsa set the table for breakfast. Our breakfast was squash and chocolate protein smoothies and toast.

We immediately started on school after breakfast. We began with science by reading the book Look Inside Your Body. We also did two Ready, Set, Bodies projects.

Next, we did social studies. We completed three Sticker Dressing Emergency Services scenes and read one section in This Is How We Do It.

Then, we took a break to get physical activity and get some laundry and dishes done.

Our Afternoon:

In the afternoon, we did thinking skills by playing three rounds of Little Red Riding Hood.

Then, we took a break for lunch. Elsa set the table again. For lunch Elsa had gluten-free dairy-free pizza (she has Celiac and so can’t have gluten and she’s allergic to dairy) and mixed veggies. I had hard-boiled eggs, cooked carrots, and fruit.

After cleaning up from lunch, we played with Legos and did Math drills.

To round out the afternoon, Elsa built a STEM model soldier by herself while I watched and offered encouragement.

Our Evening:

In the evening, my husband came home to have dinner with us. For dinner I had a large salad and Italian spiced toast. Jake and Elsa had olives, chicken, and cantaloupe.

The high points of the day were seeing Elsa complete the soldier model without help and seeing her enthusiasm for school.

The low point of the day was when Elsa got frustrated when the STEM model pieces were hard to get together.

We finished the day by reading three books for the reading challenge, cuddling, and getting ready for bed.

Just for Fun:

For extracurricular activities, we go over to the neighbor’s for play dates, go to the park, and Elsa takes a tumbling class once a week. The effect on our daily routine is that we work our schooling around these activities.

I am MaryAnne in California. I have a husband named Mike and four kids: 11-year-old Emma, 9-year-old Johnny, 7-year-old Lily, and 4-year-old Anna.

Our Morning:

My kids are usually up at 6:00 am. They fix themselves breakfast and start on school work while I get up and shower.

We’ll have a morning devotional, and they do school work, play, and practice musical instruments until lunch.

Board games are popular in the morning time for free time play. The kids often eat lunch as a picnic outside our front door. They will spend up to a couple of hours chatting afterwards.

Our Afternoon:

After lunch we often go to the park or swimming (our condo complex has a pool, and California’s mild weather means we can use it most of the year).

The kids finish up any school work they have, and often they will work on a craft. Polymer clay or sewing are popular choices. They often play with LEGO sets or Playmobil in the afternoon.

If everyone has practiced and completed any schoolwork or chores that remain, they are allowed up to one hour of family television.

Our Evening:

The kids almost always go to bed by 7:00 pm, so there isn’t a lot of time between dinner and bedtime. Sometimes they’ll swim or go do something quick with their dad after dinner, before bedtime.

The 9-year-old and 11-year-old are allowed to read in bed until 8:00 pm; the 4-year-old and 7-year-old almost always fall asleep instantly. We have a fun bedtime routine including songs from me and stories by Dad.

Just for Fun:

Music is our family’s main extracurricular. My 11-year-old plays cello, the 9-year-old piano, and the 7-year-old violin. The 4-year-old likes to screech away on her violin as well.

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Mama Smiles

From  Emma’s Perspective

Hi! My name is Emma. I am eleven years old. I have two younger sisters, Lily who is seven and Anna who is four. I also have a younger brother, Johnny, who is nine.

I love baking.

We have two fish, Basketball and Orangey.

Our family likes to go on road trips.

My dad is a professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and my mom is a blogger. Her blog is called Mama Smiles, and I have a blog called Maker Emma.

My Morning:

At 6:00 AM, I woke up and read on my Kindle.

Then at 6:40 I went downstairs and chatted with my Dad.

Then at 7:00 AM, Dad leaves for a conference.

At 7:05 AM I eat breakfast.

At 7:15, I work on my Timberdoodle Curriculum Kit.

At 7:50 I make a chart of people in my family.

At 8:40 I drink a mango smoothie.

At 8:43 my Mom takes a picture of my chart.

At 8:50 I help my little sister Anna with her Timberdoodle Curriculum Kit.

At 9:30 I go to a cello lesson.

At 10:45 I come home from my cello lesson.

Then at 11:00 AM I have a picnic lunch.

My Afternoon:

At 1:00 PM I come back from my picnic and do Ninja School with John and Anna.

At 1:45 PM John goes to a friend’s house.

At 2:00 PM I play a game with Lily and Anna.

At 3:46 PM I work on my Timberdoodle Curriculum Kit some more.

At 4:40 PM John comes home and I keep on doing Timberdoodle.

My Evening:

At 5:00 PM I read.

At 5:20 PM, I eat pizza for dinner.

At 5:40 PM, we go upstairs and watch Gortimer Gibbons on our projector.

At 6:40 PM I get ready for bed.

At 7:00 PM I get in bed and read.

At 8:00 PM I turn off my Kindle and sleep.

Just for Fun:

I played outside for a while during the picnic. I also worked on my blog for a while, did Khan Academy and worked on my 6th Grade Timberdoodle Curriculum Kit.

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Maker Emma

From Johnny’s Perspective

I live in California with my mom and dad and three sisters. I want to be an inventor when I grow up.

My Morning:

6:20. I woke up.
7:20. I had breakfast.
7:40. I read.
8:46. I did My Crazy Inventions book.
9:20. I played CLIKO.
9:43. I went on the swing.
10:33. I read.
11:03. Set up picnic.
11:30. I had a picnic.

My Afternoon:

12:10. I practiced French.
12:25. I played Bloxels Builders.
12:54. I played with a balloon.
1:05. I cleaned up the picnic.
1:15. I made a Ninja School.
1:45. I went to my friend’s house.

My Evening:

5:22. I had dinner.
5:40. I watched Gortimer Gibbons.
6:52. Get ready for bed.
7:00. Go to bed.

Just for Fun:

I play the piano and I like soccer and basketball.

From Lily’s Perspective

I live in California with my mom and dad. I have a brother named Johnny and sisters named Emma and Anna.

My Morning:

6:00. I woke up.
7:00. I played with Anna.
8:41. I drank a mango smoothie.
8:42. I did Timberdoodle.
9:10. I wrote to the Kindness Elves.
9:16. I stuck the letter in the Kindness Elf mailbox.
9:26. I played with Anna.
10:00. I played with Anna.
10:11. I did Timberdoodle.
10:30. I picked Emma up from her cello lesson.

My Afternoon:

3:00. I played with Emma and Anna.
3:46. I ate a snack. Mom picked up Johnny from a play date.

My Evening:

5:40. I watched Gortimer Gibbons.
6:40. I finished watching Gortimer Gibbons.
6:50. I got ready for bed.
7:00. I got in bed.

Just for Fun:

I sing in a choir and I play the violin. I like to play with friends. I like crafts.

From Anna’s Perspective

I am four years old. I live in California with my mom and dad, two older sisters and one older brother.

My Morning:

6:00 am. Wake up.
8:00 am. Emma helps me with school.
9:00 am. I write a letter to the Elves.
10:00 am. I pick Emma up from her cello lesson.
11:00 am. I eat lunch.

My Afternoon:

Noon. I practice violin.
1:00 pm. I play with Lily and Emma.

My Evening:

5:00 pm. I eat dinner.
7:00 pm. I go to bed.

Just for Fun:

I play a lot. I like playing with Lily.

Hi! I’m Josie and I’m mom to Samuel (5) and Ellie (1). I am new to homeschooling as the parent (my son is going in to kindergarten this fall); but both my husband, Jed, and I are homeschool grads. We are both so grateful for the opportunities we gained from our schooling experiences, both personally and professionally–and we are hoping to share similar opportunities with our kids.

Jed works in bank finance, and I am currently in an online BSN program (so I’m still a homeschooler!). Samuel is an avid early reader, and loves swimming, Legos, and drawing.

Ellie is an avid walker and climber, and wants desperately to be able to do anything her brother does.

We have two dogs, an outdoor cat, a wonderful, supportive extended family, and we love to play board games.

Our Morning:

Today is a pretty normal Wednesday. Jed usually heads out of the house right around the time the rest of us are rolling out of bed in a snuggly, story-telling fashion.

We usually start out with some yogurt and fruit, prayer together, and drawing time. Then we launch into school.

At the moment, we’re using Sylvan summer supplement workbooks for writing and math, but we also like to play the Pete the Cat Cool Cat game and simple dictation from readings (right now we’re reading aloud the Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborn). During this time, Ellie generally nurses and then plays with HABA blocks or Miffy Hide and Seek or similar.

As a break, Samuel will often play Legos or Picasso Tiles or MiniLuk. While he’s doing this, I usually work on dishes and laundry.

Our Afternoon:

We often go to my mom’s house for lunch. My parents live about a mile away and are such a great resource to us.

The afternoon is my time for my school work.

If my folks are home, they often hang out with the kids, occasionally watching Magic School Bus, visiting the grocery store, or just reading and playing.

Our Evening:

When Jed comes home, we often have some variation of chicken and rice and salad or similar for dinner.

We pray together. We talk about Jesus. We hug and snuggle. We then take showers and start the marathon to bedtime;-)

Just for Fun:

Swimming, ballet, and church. We also love to take walks and frequent local libraries and bookstores. We also love to cook together.

I’m Cristi from Colorado Springs. We’re a military family with one college student traipsing around Europe for the summer, one high school student hanging out by the pool saving lives, and one middle school student trying to beat me at board games.

Our Morning:

We’re all marching to different schedules this summer. My husband headed off to work, then our youngest daughter wandered through the kitchen to fix some toast. I was wasting time curriculum shopping online, but took a break to measure out her morning medicines and fix myself some scrambled eggs.

We spent most of the morning playing board games. It was a “forbidden day” — Forbidden Desert, followed by Forbidden Island. Since they’re both cooperative games, we either both won or both lost. We ended up with one win, two losses for the day. (Please don’t tell my daughter that she was learning critical thinking skills; she thinks it’s vacation time.)

Our son popped through to grab some iced coffee before leaving for his lifeguard job.

Our Afternoon:

After an afternoon occupational therapy appointment, we headed home for “feet off the floor” time. I squandered my free time by messaging with a friend on Facebook, while my daughter listened to a new audiobook from the library. (She loves the Rush Revere books.)

Our Evening:

It’s Friday night and we’re heading to a bonfire with the youth group at church — hotdogs, chips, and s’mores. Since the weather cooled off today, it’ll be a great night around a fire.

Just for Fun:

During the school year, we often squeeze in Science Olympiad study sessions with teammates around the city. For now, we’re enjoying a nice break from robot building, hovercraft designing, and materials science studying.

Our evenings are often spent at scout meetings, church, or a baseball field.

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Through the Calm and Through the Storm

Hi, We’re the Low family – 2 girls in Preschool and K1. Originally from Singapore, we moved to Hong Kong on account of my husband’s work in Sports Media.

Sydney is our older daughter in Preschool and Kennedy is the toddler and baby of the family.

Sydney is really precocious, she started reading and doing simple subtractions at 2.5 years old without formal lessons. It came to a surprise to us when we went to visit family on a long holiday. Since then, I’ve been trying to keep up with her.

Kennedy is the 1.5 year old toddler who thinks she is her older sister’s equal in everything and always wants to join in.

We are a game-playing family so I’m always trying to coach the girls to be able to join us!

Our Morning:

We don’t ‘school’… we learn throughout the day. This means it’s actually the very first thing the toddler and I do when we start our day as she always wants her head in a book. So we snuggle together and read a few books in bed before getting her ready for the day. When it’s my turn to get ready, she’s usually on my bed fiddling around with a puzzle and Daddy gets the older one. This is precious time since he is obviously mostly at work. I try not to intervene then. After that, we switch up.

Dad gets ready and Sydney works on a thinking activity, like Purpllinkr, on the bed. I go to the girls’ bedroom and tidy up while Kennedy pulls more books off the shelf for me to read.

Finally, we gather together for breakfast and our day is only just beginning!

After breakfast, Kennedy plays in the bedroom independently for 30 minutes while we are outside learning. This is when we usually pull out BambinoLuk to start the gears and then move on to other hands-on work/games to scaffold her learning, like Tiny Polka Dot or the Math-U-See rods.

When we are done, the girls get about an hour’s free play together with either one of them dragging books to my feet to read to them.

Then it’s time for the toddler’s cat nap and this is when we get to do some messy play with our Mad Mattr or Playfoam, or do an art activity.

When the toddler gets up, both girls get to play with Tiggly or Square Panda on the iPad for 10-15 minutes before Sydney gets to play independently in her room while I spend time with Kennedy. Then Kennedy and I play with our SmartMax or Hexacus blocks, read more books (usually begging me at this time to do one of the First Things to Spot books). When this is all done, I prep for lunch and we eat!

Our Afternoon:

Today we had spaghetti bolognese for lunch. It’s a sure fire food that I know I don’t have to fight the girls to eat. While they are finishing up with fruit, I read to them a few selections from the What Your Preschooler Needs to Know since I have their rapt attention.

Then I send them off to play while I clean up but again dragged back to read more books (notice a trend?) to them.

Around 2:00 pm, we all take a break. The girls nap and I try to squeeze in a quick 30 minute workout. I put together dinner, read emails, catch up on Facebook or plan what we are going to do toward the evening.

Sydney gets up from nap 30-45 minutes before the toddler so we have that time usually to work on Mathematical Reasoning, The Reading Lesson or Thinking Skills book. Today she sped through 15 pages of Math until I had to stop her to get the toddler up from nap!

Once up, we all schlepp to the playground and burn off some energy for an hour or so. Today, I met up with my ex-colleague who has a 6-month-old so the kids all kinda played together.

Then we gather back home and they all played some more while I put dinner together. Other days I’ll put on some TV in the second language they are learning.

Our Evening:

Dinner cannot come soon enough because it means Daddy is about to walk through the door. The girls adore him and it means I get to focus elsewhere for a little bit. If I’m quick, I get to jump in the shower right before dinner. For some reason this is when the girls start being silly with each other. At this stage, its still endearing and funny to watch so I hold my tongue as long as they are eating well. Usually they do and then we do baths while one of us cleans up.

This is Daddy time territory so I try to butt out. But today I promised Sydney we’d play a round of dominoes after bath so that’s what we did! And the toddler pulls out all the books, this time for Daddy to read!

I say a quick good night to Sydney and put the toddler to bed while Daddy puts Sydney to bed. Their bedtime is l-o-n-g! But by that time, I’ve already checked out…..

Just for Fun:

Sydney does 2 days of Mandarin co-op in the morning. This allows me to spend more focused time with the toddler and we are usually outside more since she is all about gross motor activities… (and books….)

Both girls have swimming lessons on the weekend and look forward to Sunday school

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