Day in the Life of Homeschool Mom

Before I could call myself a working from home and homeschool mom, I had a traditional M-F job. I dreamed of having the flexibility of staying home with my son, but had no idea of how I could juggle it all without already having a schedule and goals already set for me. It sounds silly when I put it that way, looking back on the hesitation I had, but hindsight is 20/20, right?

Speaking from the other side of the fence, I'm going to tell you what I do all day as the driver of this home-based vessel. Get a glimpse into a realistic day of home education and working from home.

I figured I would walk you through what a typical day for me looks like from my first cup of coffee to falling asleep after midnight! In my mind, it's more manageable to attack my day in chunks, so that's exactly how I'll break down my routine.

Early Morning

I get up by 8 and take care of the animals. We have a full house of fur babies- three cats and three dogs who all think they're human children. I feed them all and let the dogs out before unloading the dishwasher and pouring myself some coffee.

My son wakes up shortly after and that's when I will get breakfast going for them, usually something quick. During this time, my son eats his breakfast and plays or watches educational content on his tablet. You can find out why I love that device and don't mind him having access to it here.

Between about 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., I get my first portion of work finished. This includes answering emails, organizing orders, responding to comments, and writing posts or editing footage!

I organize my thoughts and the order I want to accomplish tasks with this Hustle and Homeschool template pack. There is an option to plan a week or a day, so you have the option to focus on scheduling hourly or daily.

Another way that I set up a plan of action for myself is by mind-mapping. This has helped me by being able to write things down and make more sense of their relation to one another. Having all of my thoughts out in front of me and not having to fear that I forgot a component has been amazing!

I am grateful to be able to work from home, but it comes with a huge amount of self-discipline and intention in order to be successful and consistent. Finding the routine that works for me has been the key to making our days go smoothly, but there is always room for adjusting and improving. It's all about learning as we go, but we have loved the process!

Late Morning

Around this time, we'll brush our teeth and change into a different set of lounge clothes. My favorite thing about working from home is that I don't have to dress up for anything but special occasions!

Since we don't go all out for breakfast around our house, lunch comes early! I start on lunch by 11 a.m., which ranges from quesadillas to whatever we're craving that week. I enjoy cooking now that I have built up my confidence in the kitchen, so every week's menu looks a little different.

What are some of your go-to lunches?

By this time, my son has dragged most of his toys and activities out, so he cleans up before washing his hands and coming to eat lunch. This helps to reset before starting the next half of the day, which helps SO much! This has become an expectation and he knows that is his responsibility. After we eat, we can jump right into something else rather than having to first clean up.

Afternoon

Once we get the kitchen table and dishes taken care of, I set up for school. This includes getting out all of the materials and tools necessary for the day. I also queue up any videos that we will be using. This preparation helps me to get in the mindset of the topics we're going over for the day AND cuts down on the time my child will be wasting waiting for me to get everything ready.

I have learned to minimize any down time so we make the most of intentional instruction and meaningful discussions while we're doing school!

Home Education Schedule

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We usually take about an hour to get through our learning and then have a snack. Who doesn't love a little treat after some hard work?

For us, school doesn't start at a certain time each day. Homeschool offers so much flexibility and unique accommodations for your child can be made by the person who knows them best! Some days we don't get around to school until 4 p.m. and that works too!

Evening

Making dinner or grabbing something for us to eat comes next in my routine! This usually happens around 6 p.m. for our family and we finish by 7:30 p.m.

My son is usually playing and watching television by this time, meaning he will again clean up before we get ready to eat.

After eating, it's time for a family activity. We love playing trivia or my son's favorite- Trouble. It gets super competitive but is my favorite part of the day.

Next is time to shower and get my son ready for bed.

Night

By this time, it is about 8:30 p.m., so I let my son watch 1 show of his choosing before bed and then we round up any toy stragglers and head to do our usual tucking in routine!

I am definitely a night owl, which is why my next chunk of work comes at this time. From about 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. I finish any of my tasks that I set out earlier in the morning. Any pieces that I am unable to knockout, I add to tomorrow's plan and shut everything down for the night.

After Hours

Aside from our family activity after dinner, this late night part of each day is very special to me. My husband and I unwind together with our shows and catching up from the day.

Before heading to bed, I check off a few tasks that make the mornings go much easier.

I load and start the dishwasher, clean the coffee maker and set the timer, then get myself some water. My husband takes care of the animals once more and we climb in bed to rest before doing it all again!

How would your homeschool day look different than mine?

I would love to hear about your ideal day working from home or tackling home education!

Of course every day comes with differences in our schedule and to-do lists, making it new and sometimes unpredictable. This is a glimpse into the rough outline of what I do each day, which will be different from yours.

I hope you were able to get an idea of how I manage home education and working from home!