Looking at the older post "winner routine", I just had to chuckle at how our way of doing has already undergone a massive metamorphosis.
In this new year, with growing kids and new needs, we have at last settled into a new routine. As a child I always had this thing that I could not “sleep in” because there was obviously ten thousand very important things that had to be done at soonest (or not 😁 ). And if I did try to lie in a bit, I would be overwhelmed by this extreme guilt and throw myself out of bed, anxiously looking for something very important to be done. That has luckily changed a lot and especially with having kids, the moment the opportunity to sleep late shows up, you grab it with both hands and don’t let go for as long as you can!
When starting with home-schooling however, initially I put so much pressure on myself to be up and going as early as can be, because obviously we cannot think that for a moment life could actually be a bit more relaxed now that we made this lifestyle change! And then when things didn’t happen early enough, I would feel that our day of homeschooling was a failure. Welllll, well, that has also luckily changed now and our way of doing have evolved into this lovely very relaxed new way of doing.
When starting our homeschool journey and not really being surrounded by much other homeschool families, I remember that one of my biggest concerns and frustrations was “If I don’t just repeat school at home, how does a normal day in the life of OUR homsechool then look like?”. Although we chose this new way of doing, I do still like routine and with my kids it definitely helps to ground them, so the total free learning, free time (unschool) approach would not completely work for us.
There are SO many different ways of approaching homeschooling, and when planning to do so, make sure you expose yourself to as many as possible approaches, ways and routines. Soon you will find out what would work best for you, your kiddos and your family culture. This will (and should) all revolve around what you and your family value most together with what you would like to achieve through your homeschooling.
So for those of you still playing around with the idea, those who have already started but still looking around to see how others do it and for those who are just curious, here it is in short, with the obvious daily variation. Our basic perfect homeschool day would look as follows:
We’ll wake up without a clock, whenever everyone wakes up 😃 usually around 7 o’clock in the morn. After that the kids will start sorting themselves for breakfast, while me and Martin have a quiet'ish cup of coffee and chatting through whatever we need to chat through for the day. After that the kids all do their daily chores and then by the time I’m already making my second cup of tea we would start with the schooling part. Then we would be busy for round about 2½ to 3 hours (depending on what we are busy with), after which we are done. The rest of the day the kids play and have some extra-mural activities (not too much though!) and Bob’s your uncle! Day done! I try to spend two days a week on the 3 R’s (reading, writing and Maths), and 2 days on a variety of the social sciences, biology and science side. And on our 5th day we have our outings, a lovely long playdate or just about whatever we want!
Good luck with finding your way!
Ok, so all of you out there homeschooling will definitely identify
with me here! As much as choosing to
homeschool has simplified our life and as much as my stress levels have been
reduced, if you are not careful about the following, you might achieve exactly
the opposite (as learned by myself the hard way!!), where you are left with a crazy complicated
situation and stress levels that threaten to hi-jack every level of your
being.
Look out for these 5 bloopers and grab them by the neck as
soon as you catch them trying to steel your joy!
1. Planning, planning, planning!
Even if you are taking a seriously relaxed approach, I really believe that doing some planning for every week of your homeschooling can make a massive difference and help you to get the most out of what your are doing. I usually sit down for 10 minutes every Sunday evening, and plan out the week, plan out our basic to do’s for homeschooling, plan some field trips and work it all around our social and extra-mural activities. I try and do this two weeks in advance, just helping me to feel that I’m that one step ahead. If you are as loose-headed as I am this will help you to not double and/or overbook yourself and not be caught with your pants down!
2. RELAX about what you are busy with.
This could sound completely contradicting to nr.1, but in my case it actually enabled me to become more relaxed. Let go of the pressure of what you think the perfect homeschool scenario looks like (especially if you read a lot of blogs and how "perfect" everyone else is managing). If we do not complete what we should within the one week, we just catch up in the next. If someone, including yourself, are sick, take a rest and pick up the threads when everyone feels better. If your child gets out of bed on the wrong foot and every bit of the schooling part is torture, let it go and find another way to connect with your child, the rest can happen another day. One week will not necessarily look like the other; a certain teaching method might work now, and not at all the next time you try to use it. In the safety of your basic planning, there is so much leeway for you to be as flexible as you want to or as needed by whatever circumstance.
3. Help the kids get into the right attitude.
In the past, often when I drop the bomb that we will be doing something that they were not prepared for right before we start, I sit with either a breakdown or an attitude problem, which in any case restrict the learning process. Instead, I have found that while they are busy with their morning chores, I just let little glimpses of what we will be busy with that day fall, sub-consciously prepping them for the day (this is where the planning part comes in handy). By the time we actually get to it they already have their minds wrapped around it and I have much easier learning.
4. Don’t overcook it!
Somehow, in my case, the more time I have on my hands, the more I want to squeeze into it, instead of just taking it easy and living life a bit slower! A big part of why we decided to start to homeschool was because we wanted to slow down life a bit, minimise a bit, make things simpler and be able to take in more, absorb more of life as we go. And then, within two blinks, I very soon found myself just filling all the open spaces with new things! So, some good advice (to myself as well!): Take It Slow! Take time to lie on the couch with your kids, have those much needed conversations, connect with them, read with them (a lot!). Take time to sit back and watch how they play, absorb those little laughs that will too soon disappear, make a cup of tea and lift your feet for a while, with little ones you will soon be running around again.
5. Open up some much needed mind space.
If you are a bit more introverted than extroverted like me, you will know that your batteries soon run empty if you don’t have time to hear yourself think (or just to THINK for that matter 😃). With having your kids with you the whole day (usually including and all day 101 Q&A thrown at you), it is seriously important to make place for some alone time, time to think! On one of the homeschool Facebook pages, I saw a mom rant over how she has no "me time" at all, and the reaction of so many other mothers echoed the same sentiment. I don't think it's just a homeschooling thing, I think its actually a MOM thing. And it's sadly not going to happen all by itself, you’ll have to Prioritise and Plan it into your week (see, again planning), and book some specific times out where you can become quiet. This excludes time where you do grocery shopping or have quiet time with God. I can hear you saying “yeah right, in what life is that possible”, but it’s all about living life pro-actively, planning as you go instead of just reacting at whatever life throws at you. Go for an early morning run while dad is still available, ask a friend to babysit or have the kids go on a play date and go have a quiet cup of tea somewhere else. Make time to sit down and write (that’s why I started this blog! More for myself than anybody else.), and make time to figure out who you have grown into, in this new season of your life. The better you learn to get to know yourself in every new season and situation you face, the more everyone around you, including your spouse, will be able to figure out how to connect with you.
So there you go girls (and guys if you are a homeschooling dad)! Hope this helps someone feel a bit more motivated. Always remember why you chose this road in the first place!
