Day In The Life Of A Homeschooling Mommy Blogger

Things change and we have to learn to adapt to that change pretty quickly. I became a work at home mom 2 years ago and last year I became a work at home homeschooling mom. I’ve learned pretty quickly how to adapt to change because that’s just what we need to do.

You should probably know that I am not homeschooling a kid who is capable of being trusted to just follow their school work either. My son is starting Kindergarten this year. This means I have to be present and active in his homeschooling time, at least for the curriculum end of it.

Being a blogger and a homeschooling mom is not easy but it gets easier as you figure out what works for you. The thing I like to remind people is that if you want to blog as a job or a career path, you can’t look at blogging as a hobby then.

Blogging is your job and you have to treat it as such. You can’t slack, you have to keep showing up and keep working. Yes you can set your own schedule, yes you can take a day off here or there, but you have to work at it.

Today I want to share with you how I make Blogging and Homeschooling work for me.

Woman typing on a laptop with a kid in lap

Coffee and Take Stock

The first thing I do in the morning is get my coffee in. While I’m going through the wake up process I take stock in how I am feeling. I consider my mood, my motivation levels, and the things I have to complete that day.

I feel that this is an important step to any morning routine. As a blogger if I just don’t have it in me to write another piece of content I don’t. Instead I work on something else that does interest me that day.

You can’t ignore the tasks you need to complete but you also need to recognize when it’s just not going to work in your favor to do a certain task that day.

If you wake up really hating the idea of writing a certain piece of content and you try to force it, it’s going to take a long time to finish and the piece isn’t going to be all that great.

Taking stock of your own mood is a good place to start your day.

Cuddles and Breakfast With The Kid

By 10 am my son is ready for his second breakfast and I am ready to eat for the first time. We sit down and eat and I assess how he’s feeling and what his behavior might be for the day.

This time is so important to planning out your day. Part of what I love so much about homeschooling is the ability to make decisions based on moods or motivations. You can choose the best assignments to do on any given day without a fight.

Here’s how I see it, if I know a day is going to be a good day to practice words why would I try to force loads of math on my son. It’ll be a battle, he will get frustrated, have bad associations with math, and won’t retain anything I teach him anyways. However, if we practice writing out “one, two, three” he’s learning while doing something he is in a mood to do.

Offering different types of worksheets and seeing which one your kids pick is a great way to see what they are motivated to work on that day. As with anything it may take small gentle pushes from you to get them interested in other topics they need to learn, just don’t make it a fight.

Set Up Plan For The Day

Once you have an idea of what your motivations and your kids motivations are like you can sit down and plan out your day. At least this is what I do.

I will sit down at my desk with my post-it notes or my Trello boards and set up my schedule for the day. I pick the projects I want to work on and get them setup while my son gets some play time with his dad.

Then I go through his workbooks and worksheets and find the things we are going to be working on that day. I immediately plan out the teaching portion or the real life example portions of what he will be learning. I also plan out a craft if we are doing one that day.

Set Up Schooling For Kids Where Your Workspace Is

Once I have a plan I sit my kid at my desk or at the sofa and coffee table near my desk. We go over the physical teaching portion of our curriculum – this is using real life examples to learn different concepts.

After he’s got the concepts down you can move on to the worksheet portion of the school day. This requires a little less hands on and attention. You explain, show them how to solve a problem or give an example and you keep an eye on them while they work through the worksheets. This is typically when I check my emails.

Once the worksheets are done it’s either craft time or tablet time. This depends solely on his mood and my mood. Crafting time requires loads of my attention, tablet time requires zero attention from me. I like to try to alternate this with one day craft and then next day tablet.

Work On Mindless Tasks While Helping Child With School

Setting up schooling where I work allows me to keep an eye on L to make sure he completes his lessons while also giving me the ability to do some of the more mindless tasks.

The mindless tasks you choose to do at this time solely depends on you. For some people the mindless task is social networks and networking. For others it’s creating freebies. I personally find creating images to be my mindless task.

Once School Is Done Set Up Independent Learning

Once you complete schooling it’s time to set up independent learning. This could be using an educational program like ABC Mouse on a tablet or it could be allowing an hour or so of educational programming through PBS Kids.

I like to throw in extra coloring time, giving easy practice worksheets, and more in order to keep him busy. Independent learning helps your child to find the motivation to do things like learning or assignments on their own. This prepares them for a lifetime of needing to motivate themselves in school and eventually work.

My Work Time

While L is doing his independent learning I will start working on the writing, editing, and posting portions of my work day.

I do my hardest tasks that require the majority of my attention at this point. I generally get to go this entire time without interruptions too. This is because I spent most of the morning and lunch time doing school work with the kiddo.

Sometimes my work time gets split up into two separate times in the day. I might get some work done in the morning, some in the afternoon, or even some work done after L goes to bed. I’m actually writing this post after L has already gone to bed.

My blog is my job so it’s a priority in my life and I have to work on it every single day. Yes there are advantages to this job that a regular job doesn’t typically have. However, I also have to be extremely disciplined in my work and make this job my priority.

woman holding child in lap while typing on a laptop

Clean House

After my early afternoon work is complete I typically take 30 minutes or so to clean up the house. This is just my normal daily cleaning and tidying up of the home. I clean up toys, get the kitchen spotless again, and do whatever big chore I need to do that day.

If I don’t schedule in this time to clean my house I will push it off until late in the night when I don’t really feel like cleaning.

Cook Dinner

After I clean up the house I take time to start and cook dinner for my family. Over the summer my dinners are typically all quick and easy meals.

Weekly meal planning helps a lot in not just making sure I order the correct groceries for delivery but it makes the day of cooking easier too. I like using eMeals for my meal planning. It’s affordable and has loads of great recipes with the option to order for delivery or curbside pick up at your local grocery store.

Relax For The Night

After dinner I typically take an hour or two to relax. I check social media, play video games, or just spend some time watching TV or reading. This is my time to decompress a bit from the day.

It’s also the time where we start getting L ready for bed. Once L is in bed I might get a bit of extra work done or just go to bed myself depending on my energy levels.

This is a great time for you to get in self care too. You can do whatever you need to do to relax and take care of yourself.

Bed Time

Finally, it’s bedtime. Bedtime takes about 2 hours for me. It’s not that I have an overly complicated routine that I follow. It’s that I have anxiety and ADHD so I spend 2 hours imagining every single horrible or awkward situation that’s ever happened to me before falling asleep because of exhaustion.

Day In The Life Of A Blogger Who Homeschools

Honestly I found that the best thing you can do as a blogger who homeschools is to learn to go with the flow a bit. Obviously structure is good, but sometimes it’s not possible. You have to learn to be flexible with your schedule.

This is what my schedule looks like on a day to day basis. I recommend taking this and building a schedule that works for you and the needs of your family. Be flexible, test, restest, and don’t be afraid to change it as your life and needs change.

Stay focused, treat your blog like a job, make it a priority in your life or it will only ever be just a hobby for you.

What’s your biggest struggle with blogging and homeschooling? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite work at home boards.

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