Come spend a homeschool winter (but starting to feel a bit like spring) day with us at ages 13 (7th grade), 10...
Keep reading for a Day in the Life: 13 Years Old & 10 1/2 Years Old!
At what age does one stop using the 1/2 when referring to how old one is? For the sake of keeping things orderly in the archive of day in the life posts, I’m going to stick it out for a bit longer.
These are my favorite posts to write because they are reminiscent of old school blogging days (with better pictures) and offer a peek into everyday life. I find the ordinary days when looked upon in retrospect often shine brighter than even the most incredible vacations. God bless these ordinary moments.
Day in the Life: 13 Years Old & 10 1/2 Years Old
6:15 AM Wake Up
My goodness I’m trying to ease my wake up time back to 5:30 or 5:45, but I’ve just been sleeping so hard that 6:15 has been the earliest I can muster. Once out of bed I start the coffee and the hot water for tea, turn on the living room fire, and grab my computer. With a cup of Earl Grey I retreat to the couch to write and send my newsletter and finish my blog post on slow cooker BBQ brisket.
Eventually David and I get dressed, put on our weighted vests, and head out to take Finley on her morning walk. I grab two Brazil nuts and an apple to eat on the way. Our walks are so much hillier here and I like that it really gets my blood pumping, even though it’s only about 1.5 miles.
8:15 AM Breakfast Time
By this time the girls are awake but not moving very fast. I turn on the griddle and pull out eggs, fruit, and bagels while they try to cuddle the dog and ease into the day. They cook up their own breakfast, I make David some steak and eggs, and sip on two cups of bone broth myself. TMI but I’ve been playing around with foods that work better for me during different phases of my cycle and luteal phase definitely prefers warm liquids, soups, stews, etc.
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We eat breakfast together, talk about our days ahead and any other random things that come up. Often there’s an inquiry about the calendar from Hailey and a “did you know” science fact shared by Kaitlyn. David takes off to the office, the girls clear their plates, and I finish cleaning the rest of the kitchen and get myself dressed for the day.
9:15 AM: School Starts
The girls, Finley, and I meet up in the playroom to get going with our morning time activity of the day. We finished our girls and mom devotional and our music study on Chopin, so now we are alternating between reading a guidebook to raising chickens, art cards, poetry memorization, and we’re about to start this book. We spend 20-25 minutes or so on that before transitioning into math. We still follow this schedule for the most part.
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12:15 PM: Lunchtime
Lessons are done for the day by this point and we all head to the kitchen. The girls pull up World Watch News while I get lunch ready. Yes I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old and I still use these divided plates. They just make lunch so fun to put together and who doesn’t love a snack plate style meal, right?! For David and me, I cut up two chicken breasts and simmer it in a jarred Indian korma sauce, then add leftover rice.
As we finish up lunch, the girls help me with other kitchen things. Kaitlyn has been into learning sourdough, so she helps measure and mix that while Hailey tears and washes collard greens. It’s so nice to have their help but by 1:15, a friend has shown up at the door and they’re off. I’m grateful for the peeks we are starting to get into spring weather, where the sun is shining and we can all play outside!
As the girls take off, I finish up kitchen stuff. I start the collards cooking, dry and season the chicken wings and record it to share on Instagram, and wash and prep the cauliflower. I take Finley for a quick hike, respond to a couple emails, and move laundry.
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3:30 PM Work Out and Chill
When David is home, we pick our workout time based on how it fits around his calls. Usually it’s sometime mid to late afternoon. The girls are still out playing, so we head to the gym to do a Madeline Moves lower body workout. We’ve been sticking to the 30 minute versions instead of the 60 and I feel like I’m getting a little lazy with it. I need to figure out a way to motivate myself to push a little harder instead of just going through the motions.
David has another call after our workout, so I get dinner stuff going, then when he’s off we decide to wake advantage of the pretty day and sit outside for a minute. We built this patio area as a place for David’ smoker to sit, but it’s become one of my favorite places to sit. I’m sure pollen will take it over soon, but right now it’s just such a nice place to look at the mountains, breathe, and catch up for a few minutes. He’s been traveling more for work lately and it’s nice to have a little time to connect.
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5:45 Dinner and Sports
The girls come back in around 5:30 and we all eat dinner together: Baked wings, collard greens, roasted cauliflower, Annie’s mac and cheese, and apple slices. We always seem to end up eating at the island on barstools rather than the table. As we finish up, Hailey goes to change into soccer gear, while we clean up the kitchen. I turn on how water for tea and eat two sea salt caramels. David and Hailey take off for practice.
Kaitlyn goes to shower while I finish some laundry, set up coffee for the morning, and make sure the kitchen is all wiped down. I go shower, too, then Goose and I meet back up in the living room. She convinces me to let her watch a Jake and the Neverland Pirates (hilarious, but apprently she was having a nostalgic night) by offering to massage my head and shoulders for the first 5 minutes of each episode. Deal.
While she does this I research things to do in… SCOTLAND! That’s right, after much contemplation and runaround, we finally decided and booked a family trip to Scotland to dip our toes into European travel. If you have any suggestions, please send them my way!
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Hailey and David get home around 8:30. Hailey gets a snack, Kaitlyn drags her feet, and eventually they both head up for shower and bed, respectively, around 9:00. David and I sit and chat for about another 20 minutes before we follow suit. It’s kind of crazy to reach the ages where our bedtime is roughly the same as the kids. And goodness knows they could stay up later than us if we let them, but for now it’s reading time (or Yoto listening) in their rooms until they fall asleep.
And that’s a wrap on our day! I keep thinking I should do a one week sprint of all day in the life posts because they certainly all look a little different, but that might overkill. We’ll see. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and spending a day; hope you are having a wonderful week!
