After stressing about our lack of rhythm, I think we finally have some daily and weekly routines that work for us. Our homeschooling has some regularity to it, and I’ve spaced out our weekly outings and household chores so we get things done while still feeling relaxed. I even printed an outline of our daily rhythm for my oldest to keep in her room, so she now follows along with no complaints or stress about what comes next. Things are great.
Except, they aren’t.
photo by sean dreilinger
You see, while I feel like I might have the hang of this rhythm thing for our homeschooling and housekeeping activities, I still feel a major lack of balance between those things and . . . well, everything else. There are so many things to fit into any given week: housework, school work, play time, my time, family time, and time with each child individually.
As it is, my down time is usually spent as family time. Mostly, I’m just fine with that. I like my people. But during busy weeks, my down time is usually spent sitting in a quiet place in the house doing one of the following: meal planning, budgeting, lesson planning, or scheduling. While I actually enjoy a quiet afternoon spent planning out our next block of school, I can’t tell you the last time I heard the whir of my sewing machine or planned a chapter in the book I’m going to finish someday. Then, during really busy weeks, my only alone time might be spent running to the grocery store or taking a long bath. Nice to do alone, but not exactly creative tasks to refuel mom.
To be honest, I know I’m not great with time management. Plus, I have an endless list of projects I’d like to complete. I’m sure by the time I finish writing this I’ll have added another five items to the list. So, yes, I realize I’m to blame here and that it’s all about balance. Balance is my nemesis. We go way back. Actually, I chose it as my word to remember in 2010. Still working on that, obviously.
Despite the imbalance, I’m happy. I try to remind myself that I’m busy living the life of my choosing. I’m busy planning our school time, not finding a sitter so I can chaperone a field trip I didn’t want to go on in the first place. I’m busy baking bread instead of bringing a tray of sweets to a class party. I’m making bean bags for math games instead of forcing drill sheets down my kid’s throat.
If I have to choose, I’ll take unbalanced and happy any day.
(But a teeny bit of balance would be nice.)
Michelle is a wife, mother, writer, and Cajun who prefers everything extra spicy. Follow along at Lagniappe Academy, as she continues her quest for balance.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
You should plan next years curriculum during the summer. I have 2 school age kids, one preschool, and a baby. I took 2 three ring binders, and used dividers for each month. I put in all the worksheets I wanted for each month that went along with the theme. I purchased the curriculum books online that we wanted, and made a schedule for each week. I wrote which pages we planned to do each day. Now, I know what we are doing each week, what the themes are for the month, and the kids can help keep track of it too. I worked on it for a few weeks, for several hours each week. Now, its done for next year. Check out my site for different planners I have made for chores, groceries, budgeting, and schooling. http://www.my4kiddos.com Next year will be my first year homeschooling, and well like you I was worried about it quickly getting out of control. Good luck I hope you get some free time. I also made a three ring binder that has reading comprehension pages in it, that both kids can read from.
This will be our first year homeschooling. :) I my five year old{well in about two weeks he will be LOL} is excited and so am I. He went through a pre k program and I am just not as thrilled about it as I thought I would be. Also I am nervous and worried if I am doing right but I know I am. :) I am so glad you posted this because I feel the same way. My free time even now is working at home or going to the store. But I also would rather choose that than a perfectly balanced life with no time with my son. :) Thanks for posting and can’t wait to hear more from your adventure!
You are speaking truth to your heart … there are so many seasons in homeschooling.
This time is precious because of the intimate and continual time spent with your young children. And while those personal dreams lie aside for now, you may yet yearn for this season again when your children are older and you can take up activities for yourself, but when older/ high schoolers do so much without our help and presence.
I agree with your conclusion ~ embrace the love and happiness of living intensionally in this season! May the balance come gradually as you all grow in the homeschooling journey. :)
Nadene´s last [type] ..Loving Living Books
Enjoyed reading your post! I struggle with the same desire for rythym in my days, so it helps to know I’m not alone in living my “non-9-to-5″ life!
Janet from Creative Writing´s last [type] ..Apr 16- Creative Writing Activities- Teaching with Hands-On Strategies
Hi we are winding down on our 3rd year of homeschooling.. and while I have to say that I pretty much know what I am doing now.. there is always a hunt (in my opinion) for the perfect curricullum that will mesh together with your child. One thing that I have never found is all the time to do everything that I want to do! haha :-) One thing I have come to realize is that I do spend a lot of time on the computer and I have tried to be better about this. Limiting my time… There is so much more I can get done if I can do that! A great suggestion a friend made to me this past year that I plan on trying to incorporate into our homeschool this year coming up is: to do 4 days of school and the 5th day catch up on things that you did not have a chance to complete; their schoolwork, etc.. but what about teaching them the skills they will need to know when they get older like making bread, sewing, cleaning. You can use part of this as an apprentice day… go grocery shopping, give them so much money to buy the things they need: cereal, snacks, deodorant.. (I have never done this myself but I have heard from others who have) they have choices to make about budgeting and is that “expensive” cereal worth it when they can’t afford the snack they want.. you are teaching them important life lessons and math all in one.
I am always in a pursuit of finding time to do stuff… and I read a book on scheduling, set up a strict schedule, ugh it was torture for me.. I am not a schedule person I have come to find out. I have a sort of schedule in my head. hehe My kids 7 and 9 work out of “workboxes” with my own tweaking hehe and when I am ready to do a lesson with them we will do it. This works well for them and me.. they know what I expect and try to do it. (Not always hehe) I have found a blog from Money Saving Mom. She has amazing cleaning lists, they have helped me a lot. I put a link to her blank one but if you look around her site she has one that is all filled in so you can see how she does it. She breaks it up in tiny pieces which helps so much!!!!! http://moneysavingmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/generic_cleaning_list_set.pdf
I hope this helps! Best of Wishes on your homeschooling journey!
Timers work great for helping with time management. Sometimes I just set the timer and tell my kids, don’t come to me unless there is an emergency or someone is bleeding. You can take care of yourselves for _____ minutes and when the timer beeps I will talk to you and help you again. Of course if there seems to be a true problem that I have to deal with I will step in, otherwise it can wait a few minutes.
I also begin all my school years with a “schedule” then when we get a good rhythm the “schedule” has just become our rhythm and we are flexible when needed. It doesn’t matter whether we do math first or last. For my kindergartner, it did matter that we do reading/phonics first, because by the end of our school time I would forget that we hadn’t done it.
Learning what works best for you and your children is part of the fun of homeschooling.
Suanna´s last [type] ..IM NOT PERFECT