Q&A: “Snapshot” of a Typical Day? (for this Mom of 7) – Jess Connell

by Jess Connell · March 25, 2016

Q: Can you give a snapshot of what a typical day looks like? From getting up to going to bed. Also include ages of your children.

A: Kids ages, currently: 13, 11, 9 (our lone daughter), 8, 5, 3, 1

Here’s my typical day:

6:15/6:30- Get up, drink coffee, then go walk/jog for about 45 minutes. When I get home, drink coffee on the porch, come inside, and copy Scripture by hand. Try to meditate on unusual/meaty parts I notice. Check Facebook, make sure if I posted an article that day that it posted correctly. Respond to any comments/messages that I can.
7:30-8 Kids start getting up. They get to work on daily chores if they can before breakfast.
8am– Breakfast (it’s usually something easy… cereal, or oatmeal). Usually, I skip breakfast (if I feel hungry, I snag something with protein or a slice of Good Seed with butter), drink coffee, and now my children are old enough to get out and put away breakfast by themselves.
by 8:45– remind them to clean up/get dressed/do any last minute things they need to do before starting school
9am– Start school (we start at 9 no matter where things stand with chores.)– this is when we do our Bible study and all of our read alouds together.
10/10:30– baby lays down for a nap, or sits in high chair for a snack, and we finish up whatever else we have going with school.
by 10:30/11– We’re usually done with read alouds and they move on to their personal work. We usually do a quick clean up to tidy the living room back up at this point.
Between 12 & 1– lunch, after-lunch chores
by 1:30- lunch is finished. They do another round of chores, as needed (i.e., throw in another load of laundry/dishes, gather trash, whatever). My oldest might work on debate research; the middle kids play Legos or pull out games/books for the afternoon.
2pm- baby and 3yo lay down for naps. Baby lays down alone in crib. I sit with 3yo in my bed for about 10-15 mins until he falls asleep. Or, on the rare days when I want to and can take a nap, this is when I lay down with the 3yo. 1-2 days a week, ladies might come to my house from 2-5 for discipleship/counseling.
3:30- afternoon snack time
Between 4-5-– baby and 3yo wake up. They get snacks (unless it’s close to 5, at which point I might have them wait til dinner). I make dinner (if it hasn’t already been cooking in the crock pot.)
5:30-6pm-– We usually eat at 5:30 or 6pm. That takes about 30-45 mins.
After dinner: Everyone pitches in to clean up.
Evenings– each night is different. (Right now: Mondays– debate w/ my oldest, so my husband stays home with other kids; Tuesdays– family night/hang out time; Wednesdays– home fellowship for church; Thursdays– this is Doug’s day off so we usually are out shopping/running errands, or home watching movies or playing games; Fridays– this is usually when we have church events or have someone over; Saturdays– depends, but often a laid back night getting ready for Sunday mornings; Sundays– evening church service that my husband leads and we usually stay visiting with other families until about 10pm– our one consistent late night)
On normal nights, our little kids (6 & under) are in bed by 8, and our older kids are in bed between 8:30 & 9. 1-2 nights a week, we stay up later, depending on the church calendar.
{Note: Now, my husband usually puts the kids to bed. He took that over about 5-6 years ago maybe, once we really started homeschooling intensively. I found that by the time we got to bedtime, I was DONE, so this is a way he serves our family. While the kids are getting to bed, I might take a hot bath, read quietly, hammer out the outline of an article that popped in my head that day, or just sit quietly and stare into space. Being honest.}
Then about 9 or so, once all the kids are for sure down, he comes back out and joins me and we typically watch a show, have time alone together for talking and intimacy, and try to get to bed before midnight. Our goal is 10:30/11, but truthfully, that probably only happens 1-2 nights a week. Most nights right now we hit the sack between 11-12.