Carnival of Homeschooling- Logistics of a Homeschooling Family

As the mother of 6 children, my life is complicated already. Just getting all the children up, dressed, teeth brushed, and fed before noon is a major accomplishment. Add homeschooling 5 of the children to the mix, ferrying them all to various extracurricular activities, and fitting enough time to keep the house tidy and at least one cooked meal on the table each day keeps me moving at a frantic pace.  

We have never put our children in "away school" so this will be our 9th year sitting at the table learning phonics, arithmetic, spelling, science, history, English, and religion. If our family continues to homeschool all the children, we could conceivably still be sitting at the table each day reading and working out math problems for the next 15 years since Julia Ellen won't even be starting Kindergarten for another 3 years.    

Logistical management is what every homeschooling mom spends much of her time doing: planning days so learning occurs in whatever form that takes, while also fitting in housework, cooking, shopping, bill paying, doctor's appointments, errands, volunteer work, exercise, children's activities, and squeezing in a tiny bit of alone time to renew her spirits. Some families also sign up for extras for the kids such as music, sports, arts, and/or scouts outside the home. Making the schedule "work" is sometimes a difficult task, but sometimes it all clicks, such as me signing all the kids up for this fall's swimming classes on Saturday afternoon. Let us learn how others homeschoolers cope with "trying to fit it all in."

Summer is a great time to try out all those extra classes and projects. Neo at The Tiger Chronicle shares her son's summer vacation in Summer: Part 1 and Summer: Part 2.  

Denise presents More Than One Way to Solve It posted at Let's Play Math!.

Kim shares some great ideas to learn art, poetry, and science outside in A Child's Garden: How We Conduct Nature Study posted at A Child's Garden. 

Read Aloud Dad shares one of my favorite children's authors, Robert McCloskey, with his kids in Burt Dow, Deep Water Man. The setting for many of Mr. McCloskey's books is just across the Penobscot Bay from us and my kids love getting out the Maine Gazetteer (page 14 and 15) and tracking the rainstorm in Time of Wonder as it goes across from the Camden Hills to Little Deer Isle. 

M.O.B. Mothers of Boys shares some ideas to get those creative juices flowing in Storytelling Games for Boys. 

Annette at A Net in Time share her upcoming year's routine for her son at Organization of my school year. 
 
Amy at Hope is The Word has already started her school year and shares a typical day in School Day Snapshot.  

Linda and Arby of The Homeschool Apologist share the difference in their homeschooling methods and styles since they started teaching their kids years ago in He Said/She Said #2: How Has Your Teaching Changed?.  

Christina at Home Spun Juggling shares some great advice in What I've Learned This Summer.
Alejandra at A Guide to Raising Great Kids shares some tips on making sure our kids are having fun and learning to be good hosts in The Perfect Play-Day. 

Linda Dobson presents Just One of the Many Reasons to Choose Homeschooling for Your Family posted at PARENT AT THE HELM.

Gidget shares a resource to help kids learn those multiplication tables in Favorite Math Resource - EVER! posted at Homeschooling Unscripted.

Mrs. Gaddy gives us some tips on Using Life Experiences to Teach practical living skills to our kids at momSchool. 

Jamie at Homeschool Online Blog reminds us that we homeschooling moms need to care of ourselves and exercise to maintain a positive attitude and stay healthy in Too Busy for Exercise?

Miss Nirvana shares an easy and recognizable craft in Eric Carle Style Art posted at Nirvana Homeschooling (we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar just last night to the little ones).

Kelli presents September as Chicken Month (!) in Monthly Unit Study posted at 3 Boys and a Dog Deals.
 

Victoria reviews Lesson Planning via Bento posted at Teaching Mommy. 

Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers shares A Typical Homeschool Day at her house.  

Pamela at Blah, Blah, Blog writes about her method of trying to logically fit in all her children's activities in I Guess It's Fall.  

Merit K gives us some ideas about higher level classes in Back to School with AP | Your Mission, should you choose to accept it posted at Mission Possible!.

Janice at Why Homeschool shares some of the challenges of having a homeschooler apply to college in Homeschool to College- Part 2.

I had some logistical challenges hosting the carnival this week with my computer performing the "black screen of death" early in the week and a planned 2 day trip with the big girls to go down to our new home (with no internet access) to clean and receive delivery of our new washer and dryer. Luckily the Auburn, Maine library is WiFi capable. But these are just the sort of little time-consuming glitches that we homeschoolers have to deal with every day.

Thank you for coming to the Carnival of Homeschooling and hope to see you next week at The Common Room.