A Day in the Life ~ A Busy but Typical Day

Our days are filled with a mix of doctor appointments, homeschooling, and out-of-home classes. I try to make sure that our mornings are kept free for home learning. However, the orthodontist is right across the street from where Tim goes to the brain injury day program, so we do like to get that appointment out of the way when we drop him off. All in all, this is a pretty typical, out of home day.

6:30 ~ I get up and get ready for the day. I wash the left over dishes in the sink and lay them on a towel to dry. I am finding it easier than I expected to live without a dishwasher. This is good since it is not on the top three list of needs to achieve in the next six months. Once the morning chores are done, I sit down to blog and find YouTube videos for our poetry tea breakfast until the kids start arriving in the room.

8:00 ~ Everyone is awake and around the table for breakfast. I put on a short biography of Langston Hughes for the children. We have studied him before, but he is mentioned several times in some of our civil rights books. I am happy to review him, since he is one of my favorite poets. We begin our poetry tea (breakfast) while watching several YouTube videos of his poetry.

• Mother to Son
• I, Too
• Merry Go Round
• Let America be America Again
• Thank You Ma'am

I find that a poetry tea is special if the food is different than usual. It does not have to be complicated. This morning we had cold homemade pizza, strawberries, applesauce and organic gummy bears.

8:50 ~ After our tea, Tom Sawyer brushes his teeth really well for the orthodontist. We take Tim to the day treatment program and arrive a few minutes early for the orthodontist. The orthodontist's waiting room is like a vacation for my kids. There are movies, iPads and video games for them to play with. They also have cookies and every kind of hot beverage imaginable. Tom Sawyer chooses green tea and settles down to a video game until his name is called. Once he is out of sight, Little Red Riding Hood and I sneak a cookie (Tom Sawyer can't eat them with his allergies). This appointment only takes a few minutes for them to adjust his hinge to the next level. They hope to have his jaw stretched enough to put braces on him by next March. He has been behaving awesomely through all of this, which is amazing, especially considering his extreme sensory issues.

9:40 ~ We are home again. We have a 20 minute free time while I make a few critical phone calls.

10:00 ~ We start school. I explain that we will be working until 12:00 and that we need to really concentrate this morning. We have less time than usual and we need to get through as much as possible. We do get through a fair amount. Of course, nothing is ever completely easy and a piece of Tom Sawyer's hinge falls back out of his mouth. I call the orthodontist who tells us to come right back to the office.

• Two chapters of F.W. Woolworth Five and Ten Boy
• Teaching Textbooks Math 5
• Language arts workbook pages
• Reading time
• Journal
• CNN Student News

12:00 ~  We run back to the orthodontist and get the piece put back on and tightened! Thankfully, they take us right back when we arrive. We return home.

12:25 ~ The kids do 10 minutes of chores (this is 20 minutes less than usual). They make the beds, dust the library and put away the dry dishes. I prepare a quick chef salad with biscuits for lunch. The kids have some free time while I make some more phone calls, rotate laundry and pack us up for an afternoon out on the road.

1:15 ~ We leave for an afternoon of out of the home classes. Our first stop is to Lego Club in the next town over about 25 minutes away. We only have Lego Club one time a month. I get the time mixed up and we arrive 20 minutes early instead of 10 minutes late. Thank goodness for a little grace.

2:00 ~ Little Red Riding Hood is one of the presenters today. She has her birthday Lego set with her and shows it to the group. The kids then receive their challenge for the month. They are to make a mosaic out of Lego pieces.

3:30 ~ We leave Lego Club to go to their dance classes. Thankfully, Grandma picks up Tim from his day treatment program so we don't have to squeeze picking him up into our travels.

4:00 ~ The kids are settled at the dance studio, and I head out for my power walk. I have my camera with me today, so I can combine exercise with two of my favorite hobbies ~ photography and exploring our city. I try to cover a few miles of walking during dance classes. I took pictures of a few interesting buildings on this outing.

The outline of this church in another building is curious to me.
I wonder what church this was and how it became part of this building?

I returned back from my walk in time to see the candy cane hoop dance. Nutcracker preparations are in full swing.


We returned home at 7:00 pm and had a quick dinner. An end to a great day.

Blessings, Dawn