Understanding how our day works gets into the details, but we also have a weekly rhythm that helps us achieve our goals as a family. Each day can feel very full, but we are intentional about building blocks of unstructured play time into each day. There is a schedule for the whole day, but the kids aren’t manically trying to get from one event to the other every night, barely getting home in time to sleep, get up and do it again.

As the kids get older, our extracurricular activities will likely increase, but we will continue to be intentional about protecting their unstructured blocks of time.

Obviously, every week looks a little different as schedules change, but this is our initial format and we build from there.

Sunday

This is the day when the kids get so much of that socialization people seem so worried about when they find out we homeschool.

• We leave for church around 8:30am, and the kids look forward to spending the morning with their friends in Children’s Ministry. 
• Service ends about 12:30, and we head to a park for lunch. Afa and I will have lunch with friends, do a Bible study, or have a mentoring time while the kids play at the park and eat a packed lunch. 
• Our next meeting starts about 3:00pm, and the kids have another opportunity for free play with friends.
• After this, we get with our region leaders for our personal mentoring time, and the kids are usually hungry again by this point; so we head somewhere they can eat again.
• By the time we get home, the kids get baths, brush their teeth, and watch TV until bedtime. 
• This is the time that Afa and I spend together without our phones. We plan for the next the upcoming week and talk about how the previous week went. We usually have time for an episode of our before heading to bed.

Monday

• As the week starts, Afa heads to work, and the kids and I stay home to work and do school.
• The kids and I often visit the La Brea Tar Pits Museum and the LA County Museum of Art of Monday afternoons.
• This is our night to have discipling times with a few married couples in our lives, so we leave as soon as Afa gets home, and we are at each couples’ house for about 2 hours. This again is free play time for the kids. TV time starts each day at 7pm, so when that time comes, they are allowed to watch TV even at friends’ houses.

Tuesday

• Tuesday is Library Day! Our local library hosts free activities for kids on Tuesday afternoons, so we head over to return books, check out new ones, and join the weekly activity.
• This is one of our flexible evenings. We can schedule studies, have friends over for dinner, or spend time serving people who need extra love.

Wednesday

• On Wednesdays, we alternate church meetings with men and women. On weeks when the women meet, I will usually leave as soon as Afa gets home from work, and I will do either a Bible study or a discipling time before our midweek church service. Then I will grab dessert with a friend if we can afterwards. This is one of the most encouraging times in my week.
• Weeks when the men meet are also some of my favorite times, but for a different reason. This is my opportunity every two weeks to spend time completely alone. I will usually take the kids swimming when I’m done with work on Wednesdays. After swimming, we come home, and the kdis do baths, eat dinner, and head to bed to watch TV. I then have a few hours of silence and isolation. I write, read, rest, watch TV….whatever my heart desires that evening.
• While I generally protect this time, there will always be exceptions when someone else needs a friend, and I will have sisters over while Afa is at midweek service.

Thursday

• We usually go swimming for our Thursday afternoon activity.
• Our small group Bible Talk is on Thursday nights and is also a regular opportunity for our kids to hang out with other kids and adults. We also get to serve our friends by picking people up and taking them home, so the kids have a good example of loving others with our time.

Friday

• This is our other flexible evening when we can have people over or go out to do fun things. While we usually fill our Tuesday evenings quickly, we do not intentionally plan events on Fridays. We are happy to have them, but it can also be quite the treat to have a whole evening with just one another.

Saturday

It’s our fun day!!

• Afa will usually do a short devotional with the kids on Saturday mornings
• Ana Lia has surf camp or lessons usually every other week, which last 2-3 hours. The boys love this time at the beach to hang out and play in the water. We often invite friends to hang at the beach with us so that we are all getting “socialized.”
• Saturday afternoons are often for Bible studies, spending time with friends, or hanging at the park.
• Saturday evenings are for dates, which might be out by ourselves, out with friends, or in by ourselves. We don’t get to do this every week because there are often other necessities at this time, but it’s usually the goal.