Please welcome my friend, Michelle Balisalisa, as she shares A Day in the Life of her sweet family. Michelle and I met a few years ago through mutual friends and have gotten to know each other better through our shared CC campus. Michelle and her husband Ralph are generous, fun, and hard-working. I hope you enjoy this look into their home!
Crazy busy.
Those are the two words that sum up our life, but we love every minute of it.
We are the Balisalisa family and we have three little ones (ages 8, 6, and 3). This is our second year homeschooling after our oldest daughter attended public school for kindergarten and first grade. We are a crazy busy family with a lot of extra curricular activities. In addition, I have my own businesses selling Premier Designs Jewelry and Thirty-One Gifts.
When it comes to school, this year I decided I was not going to run our day on a specific schedule. We never do the same subjects in the same order. In the beginning of the school year, I made a lesson plan so I know what needs to be covered by week and then I divided that into subjects by day. I empower the kids to pick the order of our subjects for each day.
We use Classical Conversations as our core curriculum. Our family likes to “notebook” (see Beth’s previous post on notebooking) as a way to learn our CC concepts. This year, we added in Ambleside Online – year 1. Because we do most subjects like a one room schoolhouse, I decided to keep the kids on the same year of Ambleside rather than split them into individual years. We also are using Apologia Astronomy and Story of the World volume 2 all together. The kids do separate levels for math, reading, and language arts. We use Saxon math, First Language Lessons, Explode the Code, Spelling Workout, A Beka readers, and Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
Our typical day goes something like this:
7:00am Older two kids get up and have breakfast with Daddy
8:00am Mommy (so not a morning person) and littlest one get up
and have breakfast
8:30am School starts with Bible, Awana and weekly CC review
9:00am-11:00am School work
11:00am–11:30am Kids take a morning break playing outside while mommy
works
11:30am–12:30pm School work
12:30pm–1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm–2:30pm Finish up school work
2:30pm–3:30pm Quiet time for kids and mommy works
Our schedule after 3:30pm depends on what day it is and the activities we have that night. Our upcoming fall schedule includes two ballet classes, one hip hop class, three weekly soccer practices, Awan
a, swimming lessons, small group, two soccer games, and a baseball game. On top of all that, I try to have one to two girls’ night outs for my Premier Designs Jewelry and Thirty One Gifts businesses.
a, swimming lessons, small group, two soccer games, and a baseball game. On top of all that, I try to have one to two girls’ night outs for my Premier Designs Jewelry and Thirty One Gifts businesses.
Like I said, crazy busy! I gave up the dream of having my house looking like a model home for now. I always have wash that needs to be done and there is always something that needs my attention. Dinners aren’t always as planned as I would like and often dear hubby is running one kid one way while I go the other way. But above all, I am grateful to our Heavenly Father for our crazy busy life and that He called us to homeschool our children. And even more thankful for the strength He gives us every day. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13
Does anybody have a daily schedule for a Challenge B child? This is our first year and we are really struggling.
Beth, thank you for the question! I’m going to seek one out for you!! I’ll let you know asap!
Thank you so much!
We had our first CC experience last year with our oldest in Challenge B. The goal is for the student to become independent and so with that goal in mind, I let him pick his schedule. The catch was he had to do math every day and he had to read every day. Other than these 2 things, I left him pretty much on his own (or so he thought). He did all his Latin on Wednesdays. He did other subjects on which ever day struck his fancy. He liked to do all of the weeks work per subject at 1 time. I would proof papers as they were completed as long as he was respectful of my time and didnt try to have me read his work the night before he had class. I also would check his binder when he was not looking to see about the check marks. It worked for the most part. Not being prepared for a class was not pleasant and he may have tried it once, but not more than once. He learned to work on weekends or stay home when there was something he wanted to do more another day. He learned to take a book with him in the car. He would come to me when he wanted more of an explanation or he would hunt down the answer himself. It was a good experience for us although it was very stressful for me. Trust. But I looked at it this way…. I would rather have him learn this lesson in “8th” when I dont keep grades than in Ch1 when I do 😉 I hope our experience helps!
Thanks. I hadn’t thought about doing all one subject at one time. I thought they had to work on each one for about an hour every day. Maybe she can do her flashcards everyday but her projects she can just get done at one time. I may try that. Thanks for the suggestion. Any other suggestions are welcome as well!!
I love seeing how everyone’s schedule is different. Personally, I can’t handle so much ‘busy’ but I know that everyone has a different temperament! Thanks for sharing your schedule, Michelle!
me either, Amy! As much of an extrovert as I am, I have a bit of an introverted homebody in me too. 🙂 I NEED my still time. 🙂
but, i should add, michelle & several of of my other friends thrive on activity. so, that’s why i’m so grateful michelle shared! others are homeschooling the same way as her. 🙂