Friday, February 16, 2007

Scheduling vs Routine

In response to requests for her schedule, Amy Scott has posted her order/routine, a must-read for those homeschooling (or considering it) with preschoolers. Incidentally, it has always been my opinion, and I've seen both sides, that homeschooling fits better with the routine of little ones than does having your older kids attending a formal school.

Some valuable excerpts from the attending comments:

Cindy says ~
Just make sure you are consistent with training and inspiring each child and they will be such a help to you when #4 and #5 come along! Cutting the clutter –in your home and in your scheduling does help quite a bit too–simplify, simplify!

Another Heather says ~
I have five at home from almost 8 to almost one and I am expecting again. The baby never did sleep well during the day (no morning naps) and now he is almost walking. In the meantime, 2yo big brother likes to sit on him or stuff his face in the carpet!! I try to just take school as it comes. Some days it doesn’t! I figure right now, keep the baby’s face out of the carpet, get the meals on, keep the clothes clean, keep the house as clean as possible (believe me, it is not like I like it) and do as much school work as we can. Oh, I try to clean the kids occassionally, too! I generally turn them loose on homework and monitor from the kitchen. Then I check it when I can.

My husband, bless his heart is my reality check. He comes homes and tells me not to compare myself to others, do my best (which he thinks is great) and ease up on my expectations.

And from Mx5, another "older" mom:

My 5 kids range in age now from 7 to 17. When they were small, we got into the routine of “doing school” whenever the baby (whomever that happened to be) took his/her afternoon nap ... . Since my dh was a youth pastor and gone most evenings, we felt strongly that in order for the kids to have face-time with him they needed to be able to stay up later, and get up later ...

We’ve afternoon schooled for all 12yrs. of our homeschooling experience and it really works for us, even now. Our kids are joyful, intelligent, and love Jesus. It works for us.


Last August I posted my own schedule, although clearly I am in a different season of life from these moms. But I love the questions at the end. Enough to repeat them here:

  • Where does your husband fit in? Are you giving your primary relationship your leftovers?
  • Is there margin in your life? That is why I use one and a half hour increments. I try to schedule only one hour’s worth of work in each.
  • Are you getting enough conversation? How about your kids?

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posted by Rebecca @ 11:35 AM 2 comments