School Schedule

It's hard to juggle two different grade levels with kids who learn differently, but with careful planning and multitasking it is feasible to teach multiple grade levels! Here is a peek into our school day.

The highlighted words are links to the websites for the different curricula I use. I earn no commission from these links and have not been asked by any of the companies listed to write reviews, I just wanted to share what I've found to be useful in our homeschool journey.

Both Opal and Mae start school while I get ready for the day. I write down their seatwork assignments on this board so they know what they need to accomplish for the day.


School usually starts around 9:30-10:00 and we are finished school around 2:00 or 3:00. Some subjects I teach to both girls simultaneously and other subjects are taught individually. For easier flow I will put the girls initials O & M for subject taught together, M for just Mae's subjects, and O for Opal's subjects.

O & M: Apologia Bible

• I'm trying a new curriculum for bible this year. We love Apologia for science so on a recommendation, I am doing Who is My Neighbor and I got Opal and Mae the older and younger journal notebooks. Click HERE to check out Apologia.

O: Abeka Language

• After Bible, I send Mae back to work on seatwork as Opal and I tackle Language. I've always used Abeka for phonics, reading, language and spelling. Click HERE to browse Abeka. They offer every subject you can imagine!
• SPELLING: I let both girls complete spelling on their own and I check over their work through the week. They have homework on Tuesday and Thursday where they write their words 10X each. On Thursday I give a practice test and Friday test. Each day I vary the spelling activities (rainbow write; write 3X each; consonants red/vowels blue; pyramid write; you choose). The girls like the varied spelling activities and they especially like when I let them choose the spelling activity!

M: Abeka Language and Reading, Saxon Math

• I swap out girls and Opal goes back to seatwork and language while I work on language, reading, and math with Mae. Abeka is used for both language and reading. I use Saxon math for both girls. You may be wondering why I lump Mae's work together and space out Opal's work. Mae is able to handle back to back subjects, but Opal gets overwhelmed. This was learned through trial and error. It took about 6 months until I figured out the how the girls learn best. Click HERE for Saxon math.

O: Abeka Reading, LUNCH, Saxon Math

• After working on so many subjects with Mae, she has plenty of independent work so I move on to Opal. Depending on if it's a test day I can sometimes get math in before lunch, but on testing days math comes after lunch.

O & M: Apologia Science & History

• Just like Bible, I combine both girls when I teach science and history. We love Apologia science and this year we are doing the Chemistry textbook. The girls love the science experiments and I love the notebook journals. I like that I can teach both girls from the same textbook, yet the journals are age appropriate. Mae is still using the junior notebook, while Opal moved up to the older notebook last year. Opal isn't thrilled that she has more stuff to do in her notebook, but that's part of growing up...more responsibility!
• History is a bit more tricky. I've tried BJU Press, Tapestry of Grace and The Mystery of History. None of us were impressed or thrilled with any of these. Last year I ditched our curriculum and I went with a DIY approach to history. I looked up the state standards for history for both girls and then I searched online and the library for the different topics. The Teachers Pay Teachers WEBSITE  has tons of free activities and the library is free so this was a huge win for us. We learned about Jamestown, the Pilgrims, the Native Americans, the formation of our country, the Revolutionary War, the first 10 presidents and their major accomplishments, the Civil War, slavery, and we dabbled in the Republican and Democratic parties. We also looked at the ancient civilizations of Egypt and China. We took fieldtrips to Jamestown, Washington DC, and did a Civil War tour and visited the Virginia Civil War Museum to follow up with what we learned. The girls loved watching Liberty's Kids on YouTube which helped them understand the Revolutionary War. Finally, I found fun geography workbooks on Amazon that I completed with each girl individually.
• I plan to DIY history again this year and I'm super excited that this year is a voting year and the girls can learn about the democratic process!

O & M: Art, Piano, PE, Foreign Language

• We are fortunate to live in a huge homeschool community! Another fellow homeschooler, a former art teacher, teaches art twice a month and the girls LOVE her.
• We joined a run club so twice a week in the fall and spring the girls run for an hour.
• They both take piano lessons with a wonderful lady who is a former music teacher.
• Finally, through our local library I've rented the Muzzy language videos and the girls are learning Italiano during their summer break! The girls like to watch the video in English before they watch it in Italian. This helps them learn the story line and then they watch the Italian version over and over until they start learning the language. I like that you can have subtitles in both English and Italian as well!