A Day in the Life of Our Preschool

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, and I’m always curious how everyone else uses their time and what they get done in the day. I know I’m not the only one, so I thought I’d share what our typical day looks like.

For a long time I didn’t have a schedule as much as I had a routine, but with littles that need to be fed or all hell breaks loose, I started keeping a closer eye on the clock.

I no longer homeschool high school, so that has freed up some of our time compared to last year, but Aamina is starting with school-type work this year. I don’t believe in formal preschool, but she does enjoy working on lapbooks and some workbooks (especially the ones with lots of stickers!). Since a lot of her friends are already of schooling age, she really likes her school time.

Along with making some time for preschool with Aamina, I’m making self-care a priority, in sha Allah (God willing), so I’ve been trying to go to the gym multiple days a week. In a perfect week, I get to the gym five days. Of course that doesn’t always happen, but it’s the goal.

With all that said, here’s what a typical day looks like for us!

• 6:30am – Up for Fajr. Go back to bed even though I want to stay up and get stuff done
• 7am – Kids wake up. Make oatmeal or yogurt with granola for the kids. Feed Salihah while I eat my own breakfast. Check email
• 7:30am – After I finish my breakfast, I read an Islamic book with the kids as part of our morning routine. If they seem interested, we’ll review the arabic colors and numbers we have on our whiteboard. The books we cycle through for morning reading time are:
  • Muhammed and Maryam (Perfecting the Pillars series – discusses tawheed, oneness of God, in detail)
  • Mini Tafseer book
  • Book from I’m Learning Allah’s Names series
• 8:30am – Clean up breakfast and start getting kids ready to leave. May go to friend’s house, or to the Y
• 10am – Yep, took that long to get ready to go. Finally leaving the house
• 12pm – Get back from the Y. Make lunch for everyone
• 1pm – Clean up from lunch, put Salihah and Amatullah down for a nap (in an ideal day, this lines up together)
• 1:30pm – Aamina asked to do some schoolwork, so we read a book, worked on her arabic worksheets from Ad-Duha
• 2:00pm – Set Aamina up with her preschool workbook (she uses this independently) while I take a shower
• 2:30pm – Salihah wakes up. Nurse Salihah, and set her up with toys to play
• 3:30pm – Start dinner. Ask Kira to watch the kids so I can actually cook a real dinner instead of jazzed up frozen pizza
• 5:30pm – Dinner with family
• 6pm – Kira leaves for fencing
• 6:30pm – Put Salihah to bed
• 7:30pm – Start the process of putting Amatullah and Aamina to bed
• 8:00pm – Try to relax with a knitting project
• 8:30 – Amatullah wants a blanket, that is currently already on her bed
• 9:00pm – After going back and forth from the kids’ room numerous times, I give in and cheat on my diet (again) and get ice cream from DQ down the street
• 9:30pm – Amatullah wants more water
• 10:00pm – Start wrapping up what I’m doing to go to bed
• 10:30 – After a couple fits, Amatullah stays in bed
• 11pm – Go to bed myself

On a perfect day I would go to bed by 10pm, but most nights Amatullah doesn’t stop asking for blankets, water, ice, or whatever suits her fancy until nearly 11pm.

In any case, that’s our day with fitting in some school with Aamina! How does your day look?