Katie Sheasby of Daily Life Homeschoolers at Home on Tuesdays

Today we’re talking with Katie Sheasby of Daily Life. Katie is a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew this year with me and I thought it would be nice to get a glimpse into her home and life and find out how she homeschools.

Kemi: Tell us a little bit about your children’s ages and grades?

Katie: I homeschool my 11 year old little girl in 6th grade.

Kemi: What homeschooling method do you use?

Katie: We are eclectic. My little girl hates writing with a passion, but loves math and science. We use a lot of lapbooks, copy work, living books, unit studies, and workbooks. She likes hands on learning so I make sure to add in as much hands on learning for history and science as possible.

Kemi: Can you give us a peek into your typical homeschool day?

Katie: Each day is different! We try to wake up early (by like 7:30) and finish our day by 3, that doesn’t usually happen. We take care of my grandmother who has Alzheimer’s, so our days depend on her mood and if she decided to sleep or not the night before.
We start off with morning work, either a few sentences to correct, a difficult math problem that she should be able to solve, a logic puzzle, or a history/geography hunt where she has to use the map, globe, or list of presidents to answer questions. It usually takes a few minutes and then she does some copy work.
For the rest of the subjects she picks the order. She does math on the easel and then transfers it into her workbook. We use key to math and love it. Science and history are both separate unit studies. Bible is included in history and she completes note booking pages. She reads living books, completed lapbooks, and does hand on activities. She also watches a lot of videos from the library and YouTube. She completes art projects, time lines, map work, and science experiments.
For literature we are reading different books and doing worksheets on them. (Some I find free online, a lot I make up) She hated the different readers with short stories, so now I teach her literary elements, have reading comprehension questions, and other activities depending on the book. After reading the book she watches the movie and writes a compare and contrast paper on it. So far she has finished : The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda. Depending on the amount of writing on the worksheets she may also do a writing lesson. (Her least favorite subject).
Some days we add in grammar lessons from a workbook. We try to fit in typing, but sadly it doesn’t always happen. We might work on a product we are reviewing, or may skip a subject and spend all day reading. School days can range from all day to just a few hours. And some days we don’t get any book work done and we focus on life skills.
  When the book work is finished we work on cooking skills (if I am feeling patient lol). She has gymnastics a few times a week, and she likes to play with the dog and her dolls.
Kemi: We love to see where homeschooling happens. Can you give us a peek into your homeschool room?

Katie: We homeschool in the garage. See pic below.

Kemi: So you know that Homemaking Organized is all about homemaking or the details of home. We love to find out how others keep their homes. Can you tell us about your own homekeeping and how you manage to fit it in with homeschool?

Katie: My grandma gets in to everything and gets very upset if things are messy so we have no choice but to keep things clean. We try to do a deep clean every Sunday where we dust, vacuum, sweep, mop, scrub the bathrooms, and change the sheets. It takes all day because I can only stand a few minutes at a time.
AJ has to help out a lot. She takes out the trash, puts away dishes, vacuums, and pitches in where ever she is needed. Every night before bed we try to pick everything up and make sure the dishes are done. The house may not be perfect, but it is usually presentable. We don’t have too much stuff at my grandmothers either. AJ has her dolls, legos, a few games, and then outside toys. Each day we do a load of laundry, but laundry still seems to be never ending. The floor is often messy because grandma likes to throw things on the floor so we vacuum as often as possible.

Kemi: Katie do you have anything else that you would like to share?

Katie: We take care of my grandmother throughout the week and then we go to our regular home on the weekends. We are not a typical family, living in two houses and dealing with Alzheimer’s can be difficult but it also brings us closer as a family. Throughout our journey I have learned to cherish the good times, get through the bad times, and focus on God through it all. I have two posts on my blog that focus on how we school and deal with Alzheimer’s. Caregiving While Homeschooling  and G-is-for Good Times With Grandma

Kemi: I’m very impressed with Katie’s story. She reminds us what selfless love looks like. Be sure and drop by her blog and check things out.

Katie Sheasby lives in sunny Southern California where she homeschools her 11 year old little girl. She blogs about daily life, from taking care of her grandmother with Alzheimer’s, to homeschooling an only child. She shares lesson plans, crafts, activities, field trips, reviews, and more. No two days are ever the same!
You can find her…
Pinterest.
Twitter
Facebook
Google+

Linked up with….