Some have asked how I homeschool the children and how I manage the little ones as I teach the oldest one. To give you a glimpse of our homeschool, here is a photo story of a typical day:

I sit in the middle and to my left is Matthew doing his math:

To my right is Andrew coloring/writing in his preschool book:

The girls are free to play about as long as they don’t interrupt, and here they are sitting nearby playing with each other:

Here are the spelling words for today on the white board (and yes, Matthew knows what the word “repent” means since we just reinforced it during our morning devotion):

Our very loose schedule for each day is as follows:

• Breakfast and clean-up
• Morning devotion
• Play a game or do an exercise
• School time
• Lunch time
• Naps for the little ones and “quiet time” for the oldest which means reading quietly on his own
• Free time after everyone wakes up. On occasion I do a history lesson with the boys at this time.
• Dinner time

Looking at this photo essay of our lives may imply a calm and peaceful day as one would hope, but let me assure you that it almost always goes with many interruptions and foiled plans. The youngest one keeps coming to me while I teach the oldest one. I let her be near me as long as she keeps quiet but once she starts to interrupt, I redirect her to somewhere nearby to play. This eventually worked and she played with her sister for a while. Andrew, on the other hand, becomes distracted in his own little world. Instead of coloring as he’s suppose to be doing, he decides to line up his crayons and create a picture of some sort. Emmaline comes to me from time to time to show off her latest arrangement of her toys.

The question that seems to intrigue most people is: “Don’t they get distracted while they do their school work when the other kids are playing nearby?” The answer is a resounding yes. However, I find that even though they get distracted, they have also learned how to work in this type of environment. They do well despite various interruptions. One of the reasons I want the younger children nearby is so that they can see what their older siblings are doing. Children are extremely perceptive and I don’t want to underestimate their ability to learn new things. I’m very well aware that whatever I teach the oldest child, the younger ones are also learning along albeit at a much lower level or degree.