A Day In The Life As A Teacher Mom with a Blog

Spoiler: There’s coffee. So. Much. Coffee.

✨ Want the short and sweet version of my daily routine? Click here

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to spend your day wrangling 22 energetic second graders, then come home to two small children who believe “Mommy” is your first, middle, and last name—welcome. You’re in the right place.

This season of life is beautifully chaotic. I’m doing my best to soak it all in while my kids are still little and (mostly) think I’m the greatest—but I won’t lie, a few kid-free hours here and there wouldn’t hurt. Between lesson plans, lunchboxes, lifting weights, and squeezing in a side hustle during the rare moments of silence, life feels like one big juggling act—except the balls are on fire, and someone just asked for a snack.

I know my fellow teacher moms will understand: there’s no tired quite like classroom-all-day, mom-all-night tired. And somehow, we’re still showing up—with love, laughter, and an industrial-sized coffee.

Lately, I’ve been both amazed and mildly enraged by some of the “day in the life” reels Instagram insists on showing me. It’s like the algorithm is personally trying to test my patience. Some of these moms make it seem like their biggest challenge is getting the kids off to school before heading to a workout, a nail appointment, a leisurely grocery trip, and then unboxing free PR packages at home.

Meanwhile, I’m squeezing in a workout during the 30-minute window between leaving a full day of teaching and racing to daycare pickup. And as for getting my nails done? That feels like something out of a fairy tale. 

I wish I was seeing more content from working moms who are living 9 lives by 9am, so I’m here to provide that content for you! Here’s a peek at what a typical day in my life looks like…

(⏱️ Short on time? If you’re a fellow working mom running on coffee and chaos, and you don’t have time to read the full post, click here to jump to the quick-glance version!)

4:27 AM: Lately, I’ve started setting a silent, vibrating alarm on my Whoop (basically a screenless Apple Watch for wellness nerds) at a completely unreasonable hour each morning—just in case I magically transform into one of those unhinged working moms who works out before 5am. It hasn’t happened yet. But hope springs eternal. I’ll keep you posted.

5:00 AM
Second alarm goes off, and this time I actually get up. I make coffee in my French press, chug a large mason jar of water with electrolytes and creatine, and take my Seed probiotic and acemannan. Then I sit down for about 10 minutes, respond to work emails, sip my coffee, and do a quick scroll through social media and the news—just enough time to feel semi-human.

5:30 AM
Time to get moving. I get myself ready for the day, throw sausage on the stove for the kids, and prep my lunch. (They go through breakfast phases, but sausage and fruit have been the reigning champs for a while. Sometimes it’s eggs or a protein smoothie—always something with protein and healthy fats.)

6:00 AM
I make my own breakfast smoothie, pack up everyone’s bags, and finish assembling the girls’ lunches and snacks. (I prep most of it the night before, but they’re at school from 7:45 to 5:00, so the food load is real.)

6:15 AM
Warm up the car (because we live where winter never quits), get the girls up if they’re not already (my oldest is usually up between 5:30 and 6:00), get dressed, fix their hair, hunt down missing socks, and get them situated at the table with breakfast and—you guessed it—Blippi. Yes, we let our kids watch TV in the morning. Mornings are chaos, and getting everyone out the door by 7:10am requires teamwork, caffeine, and a little screen time grace.

6:30 AM
Daddy takes over and I’m out the door and off to work. It’s a 20-minute drive, which is just enough time to shift into teacher mode. Once I get to school, I unpack my bag, pass out morning work, update the board, and do a quick classroom tidy.

7:00 AM
Coffee number two, bathroom break, make a few last-minute copies, and squeeze in a quick planning chat with my teaching partner. We’re both pretty Type B, so “winging it” has become a bit of an art form.

7:30 AM
Students start coming in at 7:23. They either eat breakfast or start their morning work. At 7:40, we officially kick off the day with a quick review of morning work and a morning circle. We read the morning message, and my “assistant of the week” picks a question for everyone to answer—usually something like a “Would You Rather” that gets them giggling.

8:00 AM
Time for WINN groups (What I Need Now). This is one of my favorite parts of the day. The whole grade level breaks into small, targeted reading groups led by eight different teachers. My group is six kids, and we do a mix of a quick Read Live session on the computer and then Orton-Gillingham phonics instruction. It’s such a great way to meet kids where they’re at.

8:45 AM
As kids return from WINN, we ease back in with some free writing or journal drawing—a quiet brain break to help everyone reset before the next lesson block.

9:00 AM
Reading lesson. We focus on one story per week from our Open Court curriculum. We read together, listen to the audio version, break into small groups, and practice comprehension strategies like comparing and contrasting, summarizing, visualizing, and making inferences. It varies by the day.

9:30 AM
Snack and recess! (Yes, we do two recesses a day—and I will absolutely die on this hill.) Research shows kids retain more when they have time to move, play, and reset. It’s essential for learning, emotional regulation, vitamin D intake, and honestly—burning off that sugary breakfast cereal. We stay inside on frigid days, but otherwise, we’re outside whenever possible.

9:50 AM
Number Corner (part of the Bridges math curriculum). We explore patterns, calendars, time, money, measurement—real-life math that builds strong foundations in bite-sized ways.

10:10 AM
Decodable books. These align with our phonics focus for the week (e.g., ai vs. ay spellings). Students whisper-read to themselves, then we read aloud together to practice fluency. We often highlight words that match the week’s phonics rule and may break into small groups for additional practice.

10:20 AM
i-Ready time on the computer for reading or math. I like it, but I’m hopeful to switch to a more personalized, AI-driven program in the future—something that better targets each student’s needs and makes this time even more productive.

10:40 AM
Math block. This includes the lesson, hands-on activities, math centers, games, or partner work. We love making math as interactive and movement-based as possible.

11:25 AM
Recess + Lunch. I have one recess duty a week and one lunch duty every other week. When I’m not on duty, I enjoy my sacred teacher lunch: a bathroom break, a deep breath, and always cup of coffee number three. I also usually get a short 20 minutes of work done on my blog during this time. Work on writing a post or doing some SEO updates.

12:05 PM
I pick up the kids from the cafeteria and we do a whole-class bathroom break. Then we settle in with a guided meditation from Mind Yeti before jumping back into learning.

12:15 PM
Phonics lesson. We start by reviewing previous sound-spelling patterns, go through a blending chart (which includes syllabication and word meaning discussion), and then do dictation: 6–8 sounds, 6 words, and 2 sentences. Our routine is: Say it. Pound it. Tap it. Say it as you write it.

12:50 PM
Writing workshop. I give a 5–10 minute mini-lesson and then kids work independently at their own pace. Everyone is in a different stage of the writing process. I rotate between students and small groups while others use Typing Club when finished.

1:30 PM
Snack, pack-up, and classroom jobs. Since they go to specials after this and dismiss right after, we pack up beforehand. Jobs include custodians, mail carrier, botanist, IT specialist, supply managers—you name it, we’ve got it. They love having responsibilities in the classroom.

1:45 PM
Specials: P.E. and Music daily for 22 minutes each, with Art (45 mins) on Mon/Wed and Science on Tues/Thurs. This is my planning time—when I prep for tomorrow, take a breath, and collaborate with my teaching partner. We also have weekly meetings with our instructional coach and often additional meetings (MTSS, 504s, etc.).

3:15 PM
Pick up the class, do a final clean-up, circle up to debrief the day and talk about tomorrow.

3:25 PM
Dismissal and car pickup duty.

3:45 PM
Every other Tuesday we have staff meetings. I also often have MTSS or other meetings during this window before I have to bolt at 4:40 for daycare pickup. If I don’t have meetings, I quickly change into workout clothes and squeeze in a gym session—usually every other Tuesday and many Wednesdays. Mondays and Thursdays, my preschooler is with me after school, so no gym those days.

4:40 PM
Leave school or gym and head straight to daycare pickup by 5:00 PM.

5:00 PM
Drive home: a blur of passing back snacks, fielding tantrums from my emotionally exhausted toddler, and trying to survive the world’s most chaotic commute.

5:30 PM
Dinner time (ish). The kids are somehow starving again, so I whip together a 20-minute meal with whatever’s on hand. It’s usually rejected but I try to hold those boundaries and they can’t have anything else until they eat at least some of their dinner. I’ve grown to hate cooking unless I’m strictly following a recipe—which I rarely have time or patience for. Lately, I’ve been loving Cook Once, Eat All Week and trying to stick with it.

6:00 PM
I try to have the girls play and eat before turning on the TV. Violet is finally at a *slightly* easier age, so they’re doing a bit better at playing together. We’re working on breaking the eat-in-front-of-the-TV habit, and I’d say we’re winning about 70% of the time. I’ll take that as a victory.

6:15 PM
In winter, this is always TV time while I prep lunches, clean the kitchen, unload the dishwasher, and tackle the evening reset. Now that the weather’s nicer, we try to walk or play outside instead, and I do the cleanup after Violet goes to bed. This is usually when Daddy gets home and spends time with the girls too. 

7:00 PM
Violet’s bedtime routine—quick book, jammies, crib. Daddy sings and rocks her while I either finish cleaning up in the kitchen or finish making lunches.

7:15 PM
Hang with Zach and Olive and decompress. Sometimes more cleaning or a quick weighted vest walk on the treadmill (that is rare).

7:45 PM
Start Olive’s bedtime, which is… a process. Bathroom, book, quick snuggles, then Daddy tags in and stays with her in bed for a while. She comes out 3–5 times with very urgent issues like “my toe hurts,” “I’m hot”, or “can I tell you one last thing?” She’s usually asleep around 8:45–9:00pm. During this time, I either work on my blog for an hour or veg out on my phone.

8:45 PM
Done. In bed by 9:00 PM on most work nights, no matter what. I sleep decently well—thankfully, my kids are *currently* great sleepers—and then…

We do it all over again.

Weekends are a little less chaotic, and I’ll share one of those soon. But the best part of my job? We only have school four days a week here, which means I get a three-day weekend. Honestly, I couldn’t survive without it.

Let me know in the comments- how does your week compare to mine? I’m sure there are moms accomplishing more than me and moms in a phase of doing less. Either way you are all doing a great job!

Quick-Glance Version of My Day

(For the skimmers, scrollers, and moms doing 12 things at once)

4:27 AM – Set an ambitious workout alarm. Ignore it.

5:00 AM – Wake up for real. Coffee, water, vitamins, emails.

5:30 AM – Get ready, cook kids sausage, make my lunch.

6:00 AM – Pack bags, make smoothie, load kids lunches/snacks.

6:15 AM – Wake the kids, do hair, Blippi time, breakfast.

6:30 AM – Out the door. Switch to teacher mode on the drive.

7:00 AM – Coffee #2, make copies, wing the plan with my co-teacher.

7:23 AM – Students arrive. Breakfast, morning work, circle time.

8:00 AM – WINN groups: small-group reading + phonics.

8:45 AM – Journals + quiet time reset.

9:00 AM – Reading lesson with Open Court curriculum.

9:30 AM – Snack + recess #1 (non-negotiable!).

9:50 AM – Number Corner (Bridges curriculum).

10:10 AM – Decodable books focused on weekly phonics.

10:20 AM – i-Ready time on computers.

10:40 AM – Math lesson + hands-on centers.

11:25 AM – Recess + lunch (and coffee #3).

12:05 PM – Guided meditation + regroup.

12:15 PM – Phonics lesson + dictation practice.

12:50 PM – Writing workshop + small group work.

1:30 PM – Snack, pack-up, classroom jobs.

1:45 PM – Specials (PE, music, art, science). Planning + meetings for me.

3:15 PM – Circle up, reflect, final cleanup.

3:25 PM – Dismissal + car pick-up duty.

3:45 PM – Meetings or gym (if I’m lucky).

4:40 PM – Daycare pickup.

5:00 PM – Drive home, snacks, toddler meltdowns.

5:30 PM – Make dinner (rejected by children).

6:00 PM – Eat, attempt screen-free time (about 70% successful).

6:30 PM – TV time or play + clean kitchen, pack lunches.

7:00 PM – Violet’s bedtime.

7:15 PM – Wind down with Zach + Olive.

7:45 PM – Olive’s hour long bedtime routine. Blog, scroll, and chill.

8:45 PM – Get ready for bed.

If you would like to learn more about my supplement routine, read this post:

What’s Supporting My Immune System This Winter: Acemannan, Mushrooms, and Probiotics

For a helpful resource for working moms, check out this post:

Mental Load Checklist for Moms: The New Year Reset Every Overwhelmed Mom Needs