"Not" Back-to-School Blog Hop: Day in the Life

This year the twins are in third grade and my oldest is in sixth grade. The kids wake up between 6:00 and 7:30 am.  Before 9:00 am they are responsible for getting dressed, brushing their teeth, making their bed , taking care of Bearded Dragon Max and Daisy the Bunny, and eating breakfast.  Then they play until 9:00 am.  Mommy and Daddy wake up between 7:00 and 8:30 am (depending upon how late we stayed up the night before.)  Then we have coffee (either in bed,the porch, or the living room), I read blogs and check e-mail, and Ted reads the news on-line and takes the dogs out.
Whoever is out of bed last makes the bed, and I put the dishes away, followed by daily vacuuming (we have two Golden Retrievers.) During this time there is a constant, "Bentley !!! No!!!" (Bentley is our one year old Golden Retriever puppy who steals stuffed animals and shoes.  For extra fun this morning, he grabbed one end of a roll of toilet paper (still attached to wall) and decorated the house with it.
By this time its usually around 9:00am.  Daddy goes into his office (he works from home), and the kids and I head downstairs, Bentley takes a nap, Sasha gets comfy on the couch ( she thinks it's hers) and Sheba (the cat) follows us downstairs.  Depending upon how I feel, I start by working with the kids or allow them to work individually.  Some days I need more coffee and time to face the world. 
The kids have a daily schedule of things to accomplish and a list of optional activities.  I am very flexible with this.  One day Chris just wanted to work on writing his current story, and he asked if he could skip his list.  Absolutely !  Last week Katie just wanted to sit and finish reading her book so I said, "Of course."  Before our whale watch last week we spent an entire day just learning about whales.
Katie and Chelsea's Daily Schedule (independent work):
Read an American History book ( I have a basket of books from the time period 1600's that we are studying) and write in your American History Response Journal
Math workbook pages ( after we have done a lesson together)
Journal
Reader Response Journal

After any group activities (this varies greatly: last week it was whales, this week we will write "summer" books together, and I read A History of Us to them daily) they are free to choose optional activities until lunch time. 

Katie and Chelsea's optional activities:
Write a story
Art
Reading
Science Nature Journal

Chris's Daily Schedule of Independent Work:
Read an American History book and write in your American History Response Journal.
Math workbook pages ( after we have done a lesson together)
Journal or Reader Response Journal
Chemistry
Computer Game programming

Chris's optional activities:
Write a story
Art
Reading
Legos
Science Nature Journal

By this time it's lunch time, and we head upstairs to have lunch with Daddy.  After lunch we have been swimming in the lake and/or going in the boat  (of course this will change soon ).  Then the kids play inside or outside.  After 2:00 pm they are allowed to use electronics.  Today they are snuggled in K&C's room and Chris is reading them the second book in the "Gregor" series.  Between 5:00 and 5:30 pm we have dinner and the kids take showers etc.  After dinner everyone reads until bedtime.  The girls are in bed at 8:00pm and Chris is in bed by 8:30pm.  Then Mommy and Daddy read, watch Netflix, or do computer work.  Once a week we have movie night after dinner and then there usually isn't time for reading.

This year we will meet weekly with other homeschoolers for a book club, and the kids are taking a water color class once a month.  As it starts to get cooler, we usually add more extracurricular activies.