Here's the long and short of it. School is important because we are homeschooling parents (or at least most of my readers are). Our main job of the day for about 180 days of the year is to educate our children. This takes time and effort. It also really does require some organization. A lot of moms like to say that they just can't work off of a schedule, but I believe that, even though they might not have one written out, their day has some sort of rhythm to it. How could you survive if every day was up for grabs with no plan in place? That's my point...you wouldn't. You would be, or maybe are, frazzled and pulling your hair out.
That's why, even if you just can't fathom living by a strict schedule (your day broken down into 30 minute blocks), you can live (and actually will be more at peace) if you have some sort of schedule to your day.
A basic schedule can look something like this:
6:00 get up, pray, shower and dress
7:00 Kids up and dress
7:30 everyone eat breakfast
8:15 out the door for Mass
9:30 Get home from Mass and begin school
12:00 break for lunch, clean up lunch and recess
1:00 more school work
2:30 errands and/or free time
5:00 make dinner
6:00 eat dinner
6:30 clean up kitchen
7:00 Free time
8:00 family rosary
9:00 kids to bed
10:00 mom to bed
There you have it; a very basic schedule that lends a backbone to your day. A rhythm that you can get back into if you have a morning or a whole day of distractions.
Now, if you're looking for more detail (especially if you have a lot of children to school), take that time from 9:30 to 12:00 and 1:00 to 2:30 and break it down by child into 30 minute time blocks so everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing and who you are supposed to be working with. This will eliminate 5 children wanting your attention at once and everyone will know what they are supposed to be working on.
You may not need this much structure forever, but if you do need it, then use it. I'm telling you, structure is a good thing and sometimes even a necessity. You will find more peace, as will your children, if there is a structure in place. At a bare minimum, let them know what time is set aside for school and what to expect when they enter into school mode. Kids like structure more than adults, I think, so do everyone a favor and bring some of it to your school day!
God Bless!
To see all of the posts in this series, you can go here.
