I don't even remember when I did the first one but it was back when instagram was fun and we just shared our days, with no thought of curation or influencer culture. It's a lovely practice of noticing every November and as one who loves to notice details, I was immediately on board. My early editions feature chubby checked toddlers and overflowing bags of library books, root vegetables on cutting boards and messy tables filled with art supplies. There's often a morning shot of my morning coffee and every single collection ends with Jared reading to our children.
I have a hesitant relationship with social media these days. One of the reasons I started a blog again was to engage in long form writing and sharing. But I did hop back on instagram to participate in this year's "Day in the Life" photo prompt. It was fun and kind of exhausting.
I love getting a glimpse into other people's lives, I will ask endless questions about how other people run their households, school, menu plan etc. People are so fascinating to me. And so in that spirit, I share snippets of an ordinary November Monday.
Morning: my morning is started in the early rise, while it's still dark. My husband and I read and pray together then we workout. He makes us coffee while I journal and read my current non-fiction (Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley). The children slowly wake up and start on school or play or talk to me.
We start our homeschool morning around the table, the children eat breakfast while I read to them. A short Bible reading and discussion, a biography of a saint and then picture books, history, art history or Shakespeare depending on what day it is. We also go over our memory work at this time, we're working on a poem, a Psalm, a passage of Shakespeare and whatever facts I feel we need to brush up on. We switch the poem, Psalm and facts on a monthly basis. I love memorizing poetry with my kids!
Mid-morning: once we have nourished our bodies and our minds and spirits with truth, beauty and goodness, we move on to independent work. I also call this ping pong time where I bounce around from child to child, whoever needs me at the moment. I eat my breakfast and enjoy a cup of tea at this time as well.
Reading with my youngest, helping my oldest with her math facts, doing grammar with my middle- these keep my mind busy! My little guy and I are reading James and the Giant Peach together which means he reads a paragraph, I read several, he reads one more and then I finish the chapter.
After lunch: lunch time is when I read a chapter of our current read aloud which is The Hiding Place. Our geography focus this month is Europe, I try to pick our read aloud to co-ordinate with either our history or geography focus. Our homeschool book club is reading A Place to Hang the Moon. We read it aloud last year and I loved it so much. I'm doing a quick re-read so that I can lead the discussion next week. I often eat lunch (and have more tea!) after the kids while the house is having quiet time.
Mid-afternoon: a browse at the thrift shop for books to bring to the book club's book exchange party. Christmas and books play a pretty big role in A Place to Hang the Moon which makes it such a great November read. We found a lot of treasures to gift and to have on our own shelves.
After supper: the house has been tidied, supper has been eaten. We've sung our monthly hymn together while my oldest accompanies on the guitar. We say the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer together and then I clean the kitchen while Jared reads to the children. They're currently reading through the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. These nightly liturgies have become linchpins for our week and increasingly precious as our calendar fills up and we have to work a little harder to keep the evening times sacred for our family times.
These ordinary days are good and I love the practice of taking pictures every hour or so to remind myself of the beauty in them.