Marina, 9, is one of six children in the Sabisky household. She lives in west London with her parents, Ed and Kate, and her brothers and sister: Andrew, 15, Anastasia, 12, Nicholas, 11, Richard, 6, and Christopher, 3. Marina is home-schooled with three of her siblings

I drag myself out of bed at 7.30. I hear the baby singing Sing a Song of Bincess. His name is Christopher, but we call him Cherub. I go into his bedroom and take him out of his cot. I carry him downstairs. He weighs a ton. Daddy goes off to work on his bicycle, and I have breakfast - apple juice, toast with butter and strawberry jam and a satsuma. Sadly, there are normally no croissants, which are my favourite. All my brothers and sisters wander in to eat. The Cherub starts his first breakfast, which is dry bran flakes. He's the only one to have two breakfasts, which is why he has a perfectly rounded tummy.

I put my plate in the dishwasher and sit on the stairs to read. At the moment I'm reading Blind Beauty. It's about a horse, and I've read it five times. While I am reading, Cherub and Richard play trains very seriously. With 15 minutes till work time, I put on my trousers and a top, which I like to be plain and blue. I tidy my room - I share with Richard - then brush my teeth and hair.

Seven minutes before work time, I am ready. "Marina, Anastasia and Nicholas, work time," shouts Mummy at 9. I run downstairs and begin. Unless we're working together, like spelling, history or reading a play, we're in different rooms. I sit at a table next to the dining room. No talking. I like home schooling: I do more of what I want and work with Anastasia, Nicholas and Richard. Andrew works part time at college. I started home schooling at the age of 4 3/4. I will probably go to college like my brother at 14. I don't know what subjects I'll do, but when I grow up I'd like to be a runner and keep a village shop in Dorset. I like village shops but they seem to be closing down.

First it's maths. I hate maths. It's horrible! You just write numbers down and people tell you if they're wrong or right. There's no actual story in maths. Most weeks I do a Bond Assessment - a maths test with 40 questions in it. After about 45 minutes I start English. Writing this Life in the Day is my English today.

I have also put together a newspaper, The Moon, using pens and paper, though some of the pictures are from the computer. I can type (I learnt using Mavis Beacon, who is very bossy) and I can use the internet. I also play games on it - my favourite is Bug on a Wire - and I'm writing a magazine. It has a review of my best book, Warrior Cats, an article about planets, a poem, a recipe for chocolate cake, fashion tips and What's On. It will also have my Life in the Day. I like English. I like to write stories about animals, not people. I also write poems, which are normally sad. I once wrote a funny poem about my baby brother, who loves to hear it when he is on the loo and "something is coming".

After my English, I help making flapjacks, as we are having a party soon. The best bit is eating them. Yum yum. At about 11.30, Cherub makes his porridge for his second breakfast, which he eats with banana and strawberries. Sometimes I help make lunch. Cherub likes to stir food, and when Cherub and I make a meal there's always lots of garlic in it - we love peeling it. We can make bolognese and red tuna - garlic, onion, tomatoes and tuna. We normally have lunch together in the kitchen, so it can be noisy. We eat chicken, lamb or beef casseroles and, once a week, fish. I don't mind eating it now but I used to hate it.

I then run off to do clarinet, which is very fun. I do my scales and my grade-2 pieces. Then I like to play Edelweiss from The Sound of Music and two from Andrew Lloyd Webber. I watched the choosing-a-Maria programme on TV. I thought the judges were mean to the wrong people. Clarinet is for about 45 minutes. After, I read a book, then I'm off outside. Because we live in a mews house we have no garden, so we play on the cobbles. Often Richard, Nicholas and I play spies, and we have hide-outs behind dustbins or up trees. One hide-out is big and, we pretend, invisible.

On Thursday and Friday in term time (we keep to normal school terms) my exercise fits around the drop-off and collection times of Cherub's nursery school. While he's at school, we either borrow someone's dog to walk or play tennis in a park nearby. On the other days I go to classes: ballet on Monday and Tuesday, swimming on Wednesday. Whenever I leave the house I take Piriton and two EpiPens with me because I am allergic to most nuts and sesame seeds. I normally take my food to my friends' houses. I don't like going to hospital.

Once we get home, between 5 and 7, it's tea time. We all rush to get our tea: eggs, fruit, toast or soup and chocolate cake, which Cherub loves. We used to have to call chocolate cake "the congestion charge", because if he heard it mentioned he wouldn't finish his tea. On Fridays I sit back, enjoy and think: "Aah, tomorrow is the wonderful weekend, when we shall watch TV in the evening." Very occasionally, I go out at night to the theatre. Recently I've seen Coppelia and The Wind in the Willows. I am going to see The Tempest soon. When tea is over, it's bath. I have a hair wash, clamber out and put on my pyjamas. I read my book, Tennis Shoes, about a little girl called Nicky. Sometimes she is a little like me. She is very determined and has a temper. I fall asleep thinking about the three babies I hope to have. I know they'll be Cherubs.

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