More about the same

I am so encouraged today. Mainly because I managed to get a workout in early this morning, which just made the whole day wonderful. But also because I've been reflecting about this whole concept of traditional learning, and realizing that we are achieving it, just in a different sort of way. I must admit that I feel guilty about and therefore avoid going to the gym or scheduling a playdate in the early mornings. I'm always thinking that I should be at home in the classroom "teaching" the kids. And actually, I should be. But is there anything wrong with school starting at 11am instead of 9am? Or concepts being taught at 2 and 3pm rather than before lunch? I'm really having to reflect on, think about and wrap my head around the fact that school, for now is going to look way different for my children than it did for me. It doesn't start at 8am and end at 3. It's at anytime. It feels spontaneous and meaningful. Basic and full of purpose. I guess our school is traditional learning in a non-traditional setting. That concept seems so obvious. However, my traditional brain has a hard time seeing this new individual method. It was fun today. Just a really full day. I liked being unconventional.

Finding flow

At least for now, we have found a home schooling flow that is working wonderful for our family. There are days when I'm tempted to try and squeeze in extra learning here and there, but I FORCE myself not to knowing that I've covered our objectives for the day in small blocks of time. Here is how we are rolling each day.....I love it. Just for the teacher in me, I'm gonna write it out in blocks of time. This is how I organize it in my head anyway. Mommy's of young children always break down the days with blocks of time. (Morning time, play time, snack time, lunch time, nap time, witching hour time, dinner time, bath time, bed time) Okay... this is a typical MWF schedule. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Georgy doesn't have preschool, we go to CC on Tuesdays, and our art teacher comes on Thursdays so school looks much different on those days. We may use those days as our Nature Study days and/or catch up days.

6:45 or 7:00- George is our alarm clock! Joshy is usually not too far behind as his brother is loudly whispering his name to get up. Riley gets up closer to 8. Jamie does wake up time and breakfast (glorious I know). I wake @ 7:30 shower and relieve Jamie.

7-8:45am- Play time, teeth time, dress time, take Georgy to preschool time. (MWF)

9:30 or so-11:30- School time. We almost always start with calendar, reading, spelling, language,writing and if time permits, math.

11:45- Pick up George

12-3:00- Lunch, Play, Bible Story and music, Color, Potty, Nap. MWF George usually will not nap because he and Josh have missed playing and doing school together all morning. They catch-up during this break. It's nice for me also because I can take advantage of household chores, dinner prep, computer time, or closing my eyes time. TTh- George and Riley both nap and Joshy and I will read aloud, paint, catch up on unfinished school lessons or introduce a new math lesson, bake, play computer...something "special."

3-5:00- Gym, Play dates, Free time and finish dinner.

5-6:30 or so- Family time, dinner, bath

6:30-7:30- History Lesson with narration page. This has been a surprisingly wonderful block of time for us to do school. Everyone seems to want to participate and all enjoy coloring and reading after dinner. It's great for both Jamie and I to do school. Sometimes we skip history and do homework or just play, but it's a natural flow for all of us to come together at this time. It's become something I really enjoy. It helps that I love our history book "Story of the World."

7:30-8:00- Teeth, Jammies, Story, Prayers and bedtime.

I knew when our family started homeschooling that the flexibility in our schedule would be a huge bonus. We still try and have consistent time blocks for predictability and overall sanity, but I've settled into this flow for now and it feels really good.