It was this very subject that caused me to beg God to send me help. I was at the end of my rope, but in reality, my rope had really only just begun. It was early on in our homeschooling years that I realized that something had to change or I would never be able to keep doing this. Thankfully, God heard my prayers and answered them completely.
It was through my reading and asking other veteran homeschoolers how they "do it" that I fell into my homeschooling groove. I realized that our lives worked much better, and I was much happier, working off of a schedule. We had most of our day down to 1/2 hour segments for quite some time. The kids really were thriving, too, it wasn't just me :)
I know some people say they can't work under those type of constraints, but that is the beauty of my book...it helps you to get your day organized in a way that works for you. I would encourage you to schedule your day, but if 1/2 hour increments don't work for you, make them whatever you want them to be. Maybe you'll only make a formal schedule for your school time. Like I said before, this was the area of my day that was the most stressful, so this is what had to change first. After I got that under control, it only seemed logical to me to organize more of my life.
I'll admit that organizing comes easily to me. Scheduling also comes easily. It may not be that way for you. That's okay, just start out with a small part of your day, like your school day, for example, and work with it until you get the hang of it.
I will also admit that I usually don't follow a strict schedule in the summertime and that seems to work well for us. If we come under a busy time, I'll implement a temporary schedule to get us through, but then we just kind of fall back into a laid-back rhythm.
There have also been times during the school year when we haven't really followed a schedule and I usually come to regret it. It might take awhile for me to realize what the problem is, but once I see it, I put a plan in place and things usually settle back down.
God is a God of order. So many things in our lives happen in an orderly and planned fashion that it only seems natural that our days, especially our school days, should too.
